In the early decades of the nineteenth century, when Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet was famously advocating for sign language to be the language of instruction for deaf children in the United States, European philosophers were founding modern linguistics. Gallaudet was not able to benefit from their breakthroughs, however, because his upbringing,…

Signing systems that attempted to represent spoken language via manual signs -- some invented, and some borrowed from natural sign languages -- have historically been used in classrooms with deaf children. However, despite decades of research and use of these systems in the classroom, there is little evidence supporting their educational…

Whether to use spoken English for the instruction of American Sign Language (ASL) is a pedagogical debate for those teaching hearing second language learners. Previous investigations have found the use of learners' first language to be beneficial for vocabulary acquisition. Studies on sign languages, however, have found that a class taught…

Teaching a second language to students who are Deaf and hard-of-hearing is unique because language learning techniques often disrupt spoken/phonocentric models of bilingual language learning that require speech before learning to read and write. Balanced bilingual educational strategies in education of Deaf and hard-of-hearing students include…

The language of instruction for Deaf children in the American educational system has long been the subject of debate: Should Deaf children learn language via American Sign Language (ASL), English-based visual communication systems, or spoken English only? It has long been the practice of the standard epistemology to encourage the use of verbal…

This research study compared learning of 6-9th grade deaf students under two modes of educational delivery--interpreted vs. direct instruction using science lessons. Nineteen deaf students participated in the study in which they were taught six science lessons in American Sign Language. In one condition, the lessons were taught by a hearing…

American Sign Language (ASL) is a visual-gestural language identified as the first or natural language of many persons who are deaf in the United States. For over 200 years, it has been the focal point of a heated controversy regarding optimal teaching methodologies for deaf children in the American elementary and secondary educational systems.…

The editor of a treatise encouraging the use of American Sign Language for both school and home instruction and communication with the deaf discusses the instructional trends leading to the theory, differences between the suggested instructional methods and previously used methods, and responses to the treatise. (10 references) (CB)

Panelists involved in deaf education teaching, research, and administration discuss the application of English-as-a-Second-Language methods for teaching English to deaf students, focusing on educational theories, use of American Sign Language, teacher education needs, and sociocultural factors. (CB)

A school district established a Total Communication Project to improve consistency in teachers' role modeling of English with deaf students, which was the primary language of the classroom, and American Sign Language (ASL), which was used as an intervention tool. This paper describes the program, its theoretical framework, and procedures for…

Discusses why and how American Sign Language should be used to teach English literacy skills. It is argued that previous studies have not systematically investigated the effects of American Sign Language on the development of English. (22 references) (CB) (Adjunct ERIC Clearinghouse on Literacy Education)