Language barriers negatively affect access to social services, particularly for D/deaf populations who use Sign Language. "D/deaf" is used to encompass both the cultural conception of capital-D Deafness and the medical conception of lowercase-d deafness. Language translation/interpretation is a common need among practitioners of social,…

American Sign Language (ASL) courses in U.S. higher education often inadequately incorporate multicultural content, with many educators lacking knowledge of multiculturalism and relevant cultural resources. The purpose of this study was the exploration of ASL educators' perspectives on the incorporation of multicultural content in ASL classrooms…

This qualitative study focused on the synergistic experience of a group of Deaf and hearing participants during a 2-week international study-abroad program to investigate the impact of immersing hearing American Sign Language (ASL) undergraduate majors with culturally Deaf faculty and doctoral students. 20 participants included undergraduate…

This interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) focused on the experiences and beliefs of teachers of the deaf about bilingual American Sign Language (ASL) and English education and their teacher preparation programs. It was grounded on situated learning theory, specifically on the principles of legitimate peripheral learning theory (Lave…

Educational systems change in top-down and bottom-up processes. One example is when authorities introduce a new curriculum, but it can also be changed by agents active in the system. In education, agents of change include educators, students and institutions. In this article, we explore the narratives of educators (n = 4) in the bachelor's…

Despite the upward trajectory of formal American Sign Language (ASL) instruction, evidence-based practices remain in a rudimentary stage of development. Previously, no known studies had distinctly investigated supplemental ASL laboratories (ASL labs), despite over half of ASL instructors utilizing them alongside their classes. This qualitative…

Embracing and embedding the rich cultural knowledge, languages, concepts and skills that Aboriginal families and children bring to playgroup is key to empowering families as their children's first teachers and strengthening young children's self-esteem, pride, confidence and identities. In this article, we share our story of how we have explored…

In an increasingly globalised society, the internationalisation of higher education has become a prime goal for many universities, which seek to promote the development of intercultural competencies and insert their actors in dynamics of academic cooperation, knowledge construction and negotiation of meanings in an environment of respect. What is…

While there are many difficulties faced by world language educators, both teachers and students of certain languages--languages commonly identified with countries and cultures deemed to be hostile to the United States--often find themselves in uniquely paradoxical situations. This article begins with a brief anecdotal description of the personal…