Deaf Education

Describimos la elaboración de un prototipo de cuentacuentos, creado como recurso para favorecer la convivencia de tres códigos de la lengua española (oral, signado, escrito) sobre los parámetros de la educación inclusiva. Desde la realidad de la Lengua de Signos Española y el desarrollo de habilidades comunicativas sobre la lengua y la literatura españolas, en la cuentística encontramos una forma de expresión literaria que bien podemos adaptar al aprendizaje de un segundo código, -oral/ signado/ escrito-, puente hacia la lectoescritura y fuente de estrategias con base en la literacidad: Presenta acciones insólitas, extrañas y perturbadoras, provoca fuertes emociones, capta la atención de los alumnos que se involucra en el proceso de aprendizaje, agudiza la comprensión discursiva, estimula la producción y percepción comunicativa, -recreada sobre recursos TICs-. Describimos los pasos alcanzados en nuestra propuesta para la creación de recurso didáctico en android, y proponemos opciones de mejora.

Since at least the time of Aristotle, vigorous debates have positioned the status of ‘images’ in communication—with one camp asserting that images are appeals to our baser yearnings and the other arguing that images are fundamental to consciousness and social reality (Knight, 2013). Gunther Kress asks: What is the role of imagery in social communication? Considered as the founder of multimodal communication and social semiotics theory, Kress’s work is foundational to inquiry situated at the intersection of language and image in social communication (Hodge & Kress, 1988; Kress, 2010). Kress’ multimodality theory adds analytic clarity for those interested in the power that images have in education. Kress suggests that education is an aesthetic experience greater than the sum of its parts (Cherryholmes, 1999; Kress, 2010). Along with Kress, I wonder how the aesthetics of education can be explained vis-à-vis multimodal theories of knowledge representation and construction. This scholar-author study hopes to answer the following question: How has Kress’s theory of multimodality used in education, and how has it changed over time? The goal of this paper is to better understand how multimodality clarifies the ‘doing’ of teaching using images in conjunction with language. My work in deaf education is aspires to understand how images can be leveraged as communicational tools in the pedagogical process. I wish to unpack Kress’s theory so that I can better understand how images are positioned relative to language in general research before digging into the specific ontological and epistemological differences that characterize how deaf students learn and how deaf educators use images, gestures, icons, and other multimodal visual representations in their work.

This is a study of d/Deaf children's perspectives on enculturation into Deaf culture and Deafhood through their experiences in Deaf schools. The study uses videotaped scenes shot in a preschool classroom in a signing school for the deaf as cues for focus group interviews with Deaf elementary school students. The scenes in the video were filmed for a larger study of Deaf Kindergartens in Three Countries: The United States, France, and Japan (Tobin et al, 2009). The larger study focuses on the perspectives of d/Deaf teachers on Deaf Early Childhood Education. My study focuses on d/Deaf children's perspectives of their past and current educational experiences and on the role they see their school experiences playing in their identity formation as a d/Deaf person.

Key Points:
1.  Early access and exposure to a natural language, whether signed or spoken, initiates the language acquisition process required for literacy development and bilingual competence.
2.  In order for a child to benefit from the cognitive advantages of bilingualism2, the development of both languages needs to be fostered in all social and academic interactions.
3. Additive bilingualism aims to develop proficiencies in two languages.
4. A developmental bilingual program addresses the social and academic language needs of diverse deaf learners while also providing instruction in content areas.
5. Developing competence in two languages requires deliberate and careful planning for the use of the two languages.
6. Effective use of bilingual practices hinges on the planned allocation of the two languages in the classroom.
7. Bilingual teachers base their selection of bilingual practices and strategies on the students’ linguistic skills as well as the content at hand.

Understanding how deaf educators conceptualize, design, and apply visual modalities in teaching, and why they use them, is a practical concern for all stakeholders in deaf education. The central problem this research focuses on is a lack of empirical evidence and theory about how and why deaf educators use visual modes in teaching. There is a high demand for and low supply of theoretical tools to guide visual pedagogies in deaf educational contexts. This problem constrains researchers and educators who seek to reform the field and exacerbates complex problems related to deaf students’ learning. Through this research, I intend to gather, interpret, and link empirical evidence on visual teaching with strengths-based research on deaf students’ visual abilities. Thus, I propose two research questions: How do deaf educators understand, construct, and evaluate deaf visual pedagogy? And, How do deaf educators engage with praxis using deaf visual pedagogy?

Historically, robust value conflicts surrounding deafness and vision—such as disagreements about senses, cognition, language, and power—obscure research which connects them. My research will draw upon such conflicts productively to address the problem space. One benefit to these conflicts is that, even after decades of research, opportunities exist to investigate how and why educators use and theorize visual tools and discourses with deaf learners. We know that vision is used in complex ways but lack sophisticated knowledge of its dynamic interactions in learning and teaching of subject matter.

This proposal establishes a qualitative research design using case study and grounded theory methods to examine conflicting issues about how and why vision is used in deaf pedagogy. Throughout, I argue that the visual constitutes the center of deafness. Educating deaf ocularcentric people demands visual pedagogy—an imperative based on the principle of biosocial adaptation. Deaf visual pedagogy is a situated method of teaching in which deaf educators use visual discourses and visual tools in teaching praxis. Deaf visual pedagogy explicitly rejects deficit ideology about deafness in teaching theory and practices. Vision is a regenerative biosocial adaptation rooted in deaf ocularcentric ontology and deaf visual epistemology. This proposal illustrates four paradigms of deaf research but focuses on the emergent biosocial paradigm, which challenges previous paradigms due to its ecological structure and concern for the practical effects of visual theory on teaching and research axiology (ethics, bioethics, and aesthetics). Biosocial deaf education illustrates ecological relationships between biological and social processes of vision in both deaf pedagogy and research about it. This analysis contributes to the literature by clarifying issues of dissensus in deaf education research on teaching by generating novel concepts useful toward understanding vision as a dynamic valence for conceptual, theoretical, and methodological frameworks.

Language policy and planning center on how multilingualism is managed in society. Language-in-education planning is a specific type of language policy and planning that focuses on how decisions are made with respect to which language(s) and modalities are used for teaching and learning within education. Special attention is paid to understanding how decisions are made about the language abilities students need (in various languages) in order to participate in society and, in turn, how they can achieve those abilities. All planning in deaf education is, in essence, related to language planning since issues of modality in instruction are of central concern. In this way, principles of language planning and policy can inform the work of all professionals involved in various aspects of deaf education.

“[Audism] appears in the form of people who continually judge deaf people’s intelligence and success on the basis of their ability in the language of the hearing culture” (Bauman, 2004). This dissertation analyses the data collected from interviews completed by deaf people on Dysconscious Audism: the negative attitudes and prejudices whereby Deaf people intentionally or unintentionally discriminate against other Deaf people. It compares Dysconscious Audism and Audism and looks at how Social Enterprise can focus on tackling Dysconscious Audism by providing new deaf-led, deaf schools that would raise Deaf Consciousness of Deaf culture and pride in deaf identity by educating in sign language. This research identifies and exposes a newly-found form of Dysconscious Audism, termed Deaf-Elitism, that reinforces the notion that internalised class distinctions affects relationships between members of the Deaf Community.

According to official statistical data, people with disabilities are underrepresented in STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) occupations and students with disabilities are underrepresented in STEM degree courses. This article surveys official reports produced by British and American authorities, as well as a number of media sources, in order to substantiate this claim. The authors’ aim is to uncover the reasons behind disabled students being underrepresented in STEM courses and to sketch the vision for the future of disabled young people who may be interested in perusing careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.


E Fell, NA Lukianova, LV Kapilevich “Disability and Careers in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics” in Handbook of Research on Engineering Education in a Global Context, IGI Global 2019, pp-533-543.

This thesis examines written debates and discussions about Deaf ways of being and signed languages from within a selection of South Australian public print-media documents. Drawing on texts of both Deaf and hearing writers, the study also investigates Deaf and hearing relationships as played out within these discursive interactions, and documents a thirty year period in the community’s process of ‘coming to voice’ (Humphries 1996; 2008). The primary focus of the thesis is towards investigating and informing both theory and practice in deaf education.
Data is sourced from English print media texts that appeared within South Australian Deaf community and mainstream press from 1970 until 2000. Sample texts were predominantly collected via Deaf community networks, with some also found in Deaf community and State library or archive collections.
Data was subject to multi-layered analysis, beginning with grounded theory inductive thematic analysis, after which QSR NVIVO software program was used to further explore intertextuality. Next, a textual analysis, consisting primarily of linguistic metaphor analysis was conducted. This was followed by a narrative analysis and then finally by using Humphries’ 1996 and 2008 ‘strange’ and ‘Modern Deaf-self’ notions as a lens.
Thematic and narrative analysis found the media discourse tending towards a number of key themes. Much of this centred around differing views about appropriate language use by deaf people, which incorporated exchanges and at times angry debates about the validity of Sign Languages and Deaf culture. Pedagogies within deaf education, and the structures of the education system itself, generated much heated discussion, along with differing views about skills, credentials, aptitudes and attitudes of teachers of the deaf. Other key debates were in relation to the cochlear implantation of deaf children, and the public representation of Deaf people and their Sign Language and culture.
Analysis via Humphries’ 1996 and 2008 ‘strange’ and ‘Modern Deaf-self’ frames yielded numerous in-text samples of the expression of differing theories and core beliefs regarding Deaf ways of being. Also revealed within both this layer of analysis and the textual analysis are examples of a number of linguistic strategies used in maintaining and countering oppressive constructs and seeking the upper hand in debate. Such language use also reveals unacknowledged underlying theories about Deaf people held by the writers. Among the identified linguistic devices, metaphor featured heavily in creating and sustaining beliefs about interpersonal separation and connection, and the naturalness or otherwise of being deaf. Particularly important were metaphors of ‘barriers’, ‘silence’ and different ‘worlds’.
The findings challenge educators and administrators to explore their own underlying beliefs regarding the authenticity and completeness of the biology and episteme of the deaf students whom they seek to educate, and to reflect on the value or otherwise that they place on adult Deaf indigenous ways of knowing as sources of information. The study also provides insight into Deaf and hearing relationships and communication practices, as well as heightening awareness of ways in which metaphorically framed representations can help or hinder understanding.

Tesis de Maestría.
Yarza, M. V. (2015). Comunidad sorda y lengua escrita. Un estudio acerca de las representaciones sociales
que construyen las personas sordas adultas sobre la lengua escrita (Tesis de Maestría). Universidad Nacional
de Quilmes, Bernal, Argentina. Disponible en RIDAA Repositorio Institucional de Acceso Abierto
https://ridaa.unq.edu.ar/handle/123456789/165

"21st Century American Sign Language Pedagogy" by Federico A. Quintana, M.Ed., addresses the need for modern and practical teaching strategies for K-12 ASL educators. It critiques traditional academic approaches focusing heavily on research rather than practical application. Quintana advocates integrating experiential knowledge, collaborative opportunities, and real-world teaching practices. The document highlights the importance of evidence-based instructional strategies, incorporating cultural and background knowledge, and adapting ASL pedagogy to meet the diverse needs of 21st-century learners. The author emphasizes using action research to enhance educational practices and the development of resources that align with the ACTFL standards.

Original whitepaper of the curriculum design framework for the "ASL Yes!" textbooks.
Https://www.DeafCompanyLLC.com

We used functional magnetic resonance imaging to identify the neural regions that support comprehension of fingerspelled words, printed words, and American Sign Language (ASL) signs in deaf ASL–English bilinguals. Participants made semantic judgements (concrete–abstract?) to each lexical type, and hearing non-signers served as controls. All three lexical types engaged a left frontotemporal circuit associated with lexical semantic processing. Both printed and fingerspelled words activated the visual word form area for deaf signers only. Fingerspelled words were more left lateralised than signs, paralleling the difference between reading and listening for spoken language. Greater activation in left supramarginal gyrus was observed for signs compared to fingerspelled words, supporting its role in processing sign-specific phonology. Fingerspelling ability was negatively correlated with activation in left occipital cortex, while ASL ability was negatively correlated with activation in right angular gyrus. Overall, the results reveal both overlapping and distinct neural regions for comprehension of signs, text, and fingerspelling.

Education of Deaf Children in Israel: A case of marginalizing a minority group
Dr. Haggith Gor Ziv
Hakibutzim Teacher College, Tel Aviv and Tel Aviv University, Israel

Citation information
URL: http://www.jceps.com/archives/2480
author: Dr. Haggith Gor Ziv
Journal for Critical Education Policy Studies
Volume 13, Number 1
ISSN 1740-2743

Deaf students have different abilities from students who have the ability to hear a lesson at school. Barriers to hear experienced by students with hearing impairment can affect the language, academic, and social skills of deaf students. Deaf students can still obtain information from other senses that are still functioning, such as the senses of sight, touch, taste and smell or of residual hearing that still exist. In the world of education, one way to overcome this obstacle is by making multimedia based learning materials which consider the principles of learning for learners with hearing impairment; a series of development of the elements of audio, visual, and digital technology to facilitate the learning activities of deaf students so that the passion, quality, and achievement of deaf students can be improved.

The linguistic documentation of sign languages sometimes present a challenge with respect to the question of who to involve in the documentation process. This paper presents a way of meeting this challenge in the linguistic documentation of an endangered sign language. In documenting Adamorobe Sign Language (AdaSL), a village sign language in Ghana, the research team and the local signers, work together; each group providing their expertise in the data collection and annotation. The linguistic research team provides the linguistic insight and the local signers provide the language data, sociolinguistic information and contribute to data annotation. The whole team works on creating language materials, for example a sign database and resources for teaching, which will be made available online when the project is completed. The paper also discusses the need for language documentation in Adamorobe to preserve the endangered sign language from possible extinction. Education and empowerment of deaf societies are enlisted as means to bridge the gap between deaf and hearing research groups and ultimately protect village sign languages.

ABSTRACT
Due to the fact that the outcomes of education for most school leavers who are deaf in Northern Ireland are weak literacy skills and below average reading ages, a study was undertaken to investigate this situation. The views and experiences of teachers of children who are deaf, and of young people who are deaf in Northern Ireland, where Oral and Total Communication forms of instruction are employed in their education were compared with those of Sweden where a sign bilingual is used in education, in the context of current policy and practice.
The aim of the study was to find out if there are elements of Swedish policy and practice that could help resolve the situation for Northern Irish learners who are deaf. A qualitative approach was adopted via interviews with teachers of deaf, and young people who were deaf in both countries.
Findings are reported in relation to policy and practice in education, attitudes to deafness, status of sign language and other factors.

Keywords: education for children who are deaf, education legislation, SEN.

This exam proposes a biocultural deaf education theoretical framework to examine conflicting issues about vision used in deaf pedagogical contexts. Vision is the unifying tenet of this inquiry. Vision is a regenerative biocultural adaptation rooted in deaf visual ontology and ocularcentric epistemology. Deaf visual pedagogy is the term that describes how educators use visual discourses (including visual communication modes, languages, and literacies) in teaching and how researchers understand visual intersections in praxis. Biocultural deaf education is the term that illustrates ecological relationships between biological and cultural processes of vision. The biocultural paradigm challenges previous paradigms due to its ecological structure and concern for the practical effects of visual theory on educational value systems and research axiology (including ideology, ethics, bioethics, and aesthetics). Section 3.0 orients the reader to contemporary issues, establishes a conceptual framework, delineates theoretical elements of the problem space, and links them to methodology. Section 4.0 illustrates dissensus (conflicts), and identifies aporias (stuck places) of deaf education theory as related to the practical context of teacher training. Section 5.0 establishes regenerative pathways out of conflict (convergences of theory) and revitalizing assumptions regarding visual pedagogy for deaf learners, concluding with a dichotomy: the gaze of deaf education contrasted with a new vision for deaf education.

The report outlines the development and current state of the historical perspective of American Deaf women. Initially this paper reviews the historical study of people with disabilities and for the American Deaf.  This paper concludes with a review of the small but significant selections of historical scholarship related directly to American Deaf women along with recommendations to preserve the rich and colorful Deaf-oriented heritage; especially of the women.