Bilingual, Multilingual, and Multicultural Education Commons^™

Never Heard: The Need For Widespread Asl Education, Lauren Roberts

Regis University Student Publications (comprehensive collection)

ABSTRACT

Name: Lauren Roberts Major: Elementary Education

Never Heard: The Need for Widespread ASL Education-Increasing Inclusivity in the Classroom

Advisor’s Name: Dr. Vicki Hennard

Reader’s Name: Dr. Kelli Woodrow

All students deserve an equitable, and high-quality education. The best education should show students how to use their strengths and skills to their benefit, and help them grow in the areas they are weaker in. In terms of education for deaf and hard of hearing students, there are gaps that need to be addressed. Students who are deaf can experience isolation, poor academic outcomes, and decreased self-esteem. However, with access to …

Exploring The Acquisition Of American Sign Language By Deaf Kindergarten Children: Early Language Access And The Use Of Appropriate Resources, Jenelle Rouse

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This dissertation explores the accounts of educators and parents regarding the accessibility of American Sign Language (ASL) and its acquisition by deaf children in Ontario, Canada. It is generally known that deaf children’s ASL acquisition and proficiency is directly affected by their early exposure to the language; the earlier and greater the exposure, the greater the acquisition and proficiency, while later and inadequate exposure results in poorer acquisition and proficiency. In the face of societal and educational systems in Ontario, there have been some attempts to provide opportunities for deaf children and their families to develop and acquire ASL (Snoddon, …

Navigating Mainstream Environments: The Impact Of Modality Selection For Children With Cochlear Implants, Kristine Plasse

Doctoral Dissertations

Communication is a fundamental component in education. For children who are deaf, cochlear implantation provides access to spoken communication; however, that access is different from that which typically hearing students experience. Because cochlear implants (CIs) have made it possible for many deaf individuals to communicate through spoken language, controversy exists in the education field as to which modes of communication should be considered for children who are deaf and have CIs in mainstream classrooms. This dissertation discusses a qualitative multi-case study that was conducted using ethnographic methods in order to examine the communication practices of two students with cochlear implants …

Deaf Education: The Past, Present, And Future, Diana Burke

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

Back in the 1800's, sign language was banned from schools because of the prevailing view that sign language inhibited children who are deaf from interacting with the hearing society. Today, due to the growth of technology, children who are deaf can communicate using sign language and spoken language. These children can attend mainstream schools or schools for the Deaf. This paper will focus on the history of schools for the Deaf and my observations as a student observer at the Virginia School for the Deaf and Blind (VSDB). VSDB is a residential school providing students who are deaf and blind …

Siwi In An Itinerant Teaching Setting: Contextual Factors Impacting Instruction, Rachel Machelle Saulsburry

Doctoral Dissertations

In the last 40 years, there has been a shift in where deaf and hard-of-hearing (d/hh) students have been educated (Foster & Cue, 2009), with a majority of d/hh students now spending at least part of their school day in the general education classroom instead of residential or day-schools for the deaf. Many of these students receive specialized support from an itinerant teacher. D/hh children have unique language needs due to their access (or lack thereof) to natural language for acquisition purposes. Insufficient access to language, ASL or English, may be due to: delays in identification and/or amplification, auditory input …

Interpreting, Stephanie Jo Kent

Doctoral Dissertations

What do community interpreting for the Deaf in western societies, conference interpreting for the European Parliament, and language brokering in international management have in common? Academic research and professional training have historically emphasized the linguistic and cognitive challenges of interpreting, neglecting or ignoring the social aspects that structure communication. All forms of interpreting are inherently social; they involve relationships among at least three people and two languages. The contexts explored here, American Sign Language/English interpreting and spoken language interpreting within the European Parliament, show that simultaneous interpreting involves attitudes, norms and values about intercultural communication that overemphasize information and discount …

American Sign Language: Culture, Community, & Identity, Hannah Malenfant

Senior Theses and Projects

How does American Sign Language influence the discovery of self and identity in Deaf adults? My thesis argues that American Sign Language is an intricate part of Deaf identity and deaf children and their families need to begin to learn American Sign Language upon discovery of hearing loss. Not only does it serve as a form of communication that is the most natural and practical, but it also serves as a cultural bond. This was an ethnographic study with interviews of pairs and individuals. I found that there was often a conflict between Deaf and hearing culture. There were also …

Acculturation And Identity Development Of Deaf Ethnic Minorities, Glennise Candice Schlinger

Masters Theses

This study examined whether experiences in the family and the education systems could influence Deaf ethnic identity development. Data were collected via administration of the Deaf Acculturation Scale (DAS). Participants’ responses were assessed as outlined by the developers of the DAS (Maxwell-McCaw & Zea, 2011). Results suggested that parents’ attitude towards their child’s deafness may affect the deaf individual’s identity development. Semi-structured interviews were also conducted with four deaf ethnic minority participants: One Venezuelan American and three African American. Two hearing parents (both mothers) also participated in the interview: one Venezuelan American and one African American. Thematic analysis was used …