MFL & INCLUSION

DEAFNESS
& foreign language learning

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Experience indicates that it is very difficult for foreign language (FL) specialists who have not previously worked with deaf students to fully understand the difficulties they face and to see how teaching strategies might be adapted to better suit their needs. FL specialists therefore frequently rely on Teachers of the Deaf, interpreters or other communication assistants (all here referred to as support specialists), whether or not they are familiar with the language being taught, to mediate the lesson in its usual form. Another so-called 'solution' sometimes adopted is for the student to be advised to concentrate on other subject areas, thus excluding them from an important part of the curriculum, and, arguably, from skills needed to participate in the modern world.

Against seemingly impossible odds, some d/Deaf and hearing impaired students do succeed in achieving amazing results (example). How do they do it? And how are they supported in their efforts? Very little research has been done in this field, but there is lots of anecdotal evidence of good practice which suggests that the key to success lies in effective collaboration between foreign language specialists and support specialists. Evidence also suggests, however, that time to engage in effective collaboration is rarely available.

How can we facilitate effective collaboration? How can we collect, collate and disseminate good practice?

This page is my contribution.

SUPPORT FOR TEACHERS

DEAF AND MULTILINGUAL ­ A practical guide to teaching and supporting deaf learners in foreign language classes
Written by Judith Mole and Mireille Vale, both experienced linguists and support teachers, and myself, a former teacher of French, this inexpensive ebook provides information and advice on how to plan effective support for deaf students in Modern Foreign Language classes. It can be purchased and downloaded here:
http://www.deafshop.co.uk/ashop/catalogue.php?exp=&cat=22&shop=1
1.9.08 Now available in print (ISBN 978-1-905938-03-2)

For further advice on how to plan effective support in Modern Language classes for deaf students and others, see Workshops 1 and 2 on this site.

A STUDENT'S PERSPECTIVE

A deaf student's account of her experiences at university, the hurdles she faced and the measures she took to overcome them, developing in the process a stronger personality and skills in five languages!

REQUEST FOR ASSISTANCE WITH RESEARCH ­ See last item on this page

SOME LINKS TO ARTICLES ON DEAFNESS AND FOREIGN LANGUAGE LEARNING, DRAWN FROM A VARIETY OF SOURCES

From the Linguanet Forum: Foreign languages and deaf children: http://www.scilt.stir.ac.uk/Links/FLanddeafchildren.htm

Empower '97: Workshop 3: Foreign language learning and deaf children: (link currently being verified; please check later. HM)

From the Association for Language Learning's archive: Listening skills and the hearing impaired child: http://www.ittmfl.org.uk/modules/inclusion/3c/

See also: David Wilson's website on foreign language learning for learners with special educational needs: http://www.specialeducationalneeds.com
Follow the 'sensory and physical difficulties' link to the section which provides further links to articles from several European countries

SSC workshop on Modern Languages

On 9th November 2005 the Scottish Sensory Centre in Edinburgh held a day of workshops for teachers of the deaf on access to the curriculum. The workshop on Modern Languages was presented by Angela Brown and Hilary McColl.

Link to Angela's presentation here: http://www.ssc.education.ed.ac.uk/courses/deaf/dnov05b.html

Hilary displayed resources for teaching modern languages and English as a foreign language which have a strong visual and kinesthetic components. You can link to these resources here: http://www.mlgpublishing.com

Handouts included the matrix on supporting deaf learners in modern languages (see above); notes on English verb forms (see below); and a general information sheet which can be downloaded here:

Let's Sign

Some everyday signs available as posters or place mats in BSL as well as in German, Gujarati, Bengali and Urdu sign languages. See the series at http://www.deafsign.com/ds/index.cfm?scn=booknews

This tipsheet from Mobility International USA includes advice on teaching foreign languages to learners with sensory impairments:
http://www.miusa.org/ncde/tipsheets/foreignlang

French sign language
The website of deaf actress and author Monica Companys set up to market her own educational products teaching LSF (Lange des Signes Française)
http://www.monica-companys.com/

EU Project: European Master in Sign Language Interpreting (EUMASLI)
Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh secured EU funding to develop, in partnership with Finland and Germany.

For further information go to http://www.eumasli.eu or download information below.

Updated 5.10.08

IT'S A IDEA!

I recently taught a hearing pupil who was very adept at signing (her parents are profoundly deaf). Inspired by a talk by Steven Fawkes at a conference two years before, I had been learning some basic signing (along with the rest of the class); we connected some of what we learned to appropriate signs. The effect on the class - and on me - was very beneficial! I didn't do this in any profoundly scientific way; it was quite simply very interesting to see how quickly the pupils can learn vocabulary through signing: I just had to make a sign and at least 90% of the group could remember the vocabulary. There was a twofold benefit in that they were learning French with pleasure; they were also learning some basic signing as well as becoming aware of the needs of the profoundly deaf. The pupil in question gained some recognition for her skills as well!

Reproduced with the teacher's permission. (Similar contributions welcome...)

21.1.08 Find here the outline and then the transcript of a talk given by Ian Sutherland, of Gallaudet University as part of a telel training event hosted by Mobility Internationa USA. It addresses a situation in which deaf and hearing students are together in the same language class.
http://www.miusa.org/ncde/spotlight/outline3
http://www.miusa.org/ncde/spotlight/transcript#ian-sutherland-on-deaf

5.9.08 In April 2009, for the first time, the Association for Language Learning's Annual Conference will cater for colleagues who teach British Sign Language. To be added to the mailing list for information about the Language World conference, contact ALL on info@all-languages.org.uk

18.10.08 The early learning of English as a foreign language by hearing-impaired children, with particular reference to curriculum modification in special needs schools (2008). This is a copy of the final thesis in special needs education, accepted by the University of Cologne, Germany, Faculty of Human Science, Department of Special Education and Rehabilitation. We are grateful to the author, Anne Royle, and to the University of Cologne for permission to make this research available here. The document is in German; the summary is in English. Both are PDF files.

Added 27.1.10 Judging from the number of downloads requested, Anne's research has generated a lot of interest, She has kindly provided a write-up of her report in English.

8.1.09 New Language Learning Linked To Early Language Experience
A Canadian research team studied groups of deaf and hearing adults to see how the onset and type of initial language experience affects the ability to learn a new language. Report and links to related studies here:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2002/05/020502072204.htm
 

16.2.09 Listening practice with vision and textual support
Videos in French from Quebec, with online activities and optional subtitles:
http://www.reelfrench.com/index.php

19.2.09 BATOD
Teachers of the Deaf have been discussing MFL in primary schools. You can follow the thread here, but you'll need to subscribe to the list if you want to join in the discussion: http://lists.becta.org.uk/pipermail/tod/2009-January/004302.html
I was invited to write for BATOD's news bulletin on this subject a few years ago. The situation has not really changed. Here's an updated version of the article.

STAR REFERENCE For further information on foreign language learning and deafness and links to information sites around the world, see David R Wilson's site: http://www.specialeducationalneeds.com
 

4.5.09 This blog from the University of Cordoba, Spain, provides information about teaching English and foreign languages to blind and deaf students. The materials available and referred to on the blog have been suggested by students enrolled in the module Teaching English to Special Needs Students withing the master programme English for Professional Qualification.
http://blindanddeafenglishstudents.blogspot.com/
 

OTHER RESOURCES THAT MAY BE OF INTEREST TO THOSE SUPPORTING DEAF LEARNERS

MLG Publishing produces highly visual and tactile materials which can be used to promote active learning of vocabulary and syntax in for any language, including English. Find their catalogue here: http://www.mlgpublishing.com

My own notes to accompany MLG's Vital Verbs Kit, showing how English verb forms might be grouped for work with Deaf students:

Here's another list of irregular verbs in English from the Churchill House School of English:
http://www.churchillhouse.com/english/verbsheet.pdf

English/BSL Glossaries for Science, Engineering , Art, Mathematics, English and ICT

Four glossaries from DirectLearn:

http://www.sciencesigns.ac.uk
http://www.engineeringsigns.ac.uk
http://www.artsigns.ac.uk
http://www.slcresources4ict.net/index.php

Forest Bookshop has a 'Signs for Education' CD-ROM series which covers English, mathematics and information technology. Go to Forest books and search for Signs for Education: http://forestbooks.com/
 

Direct Learn

Direct Learn Services Ltd has two main activities: running online conferences on a variety of topics; publishing of e-books, primarily aimed at d/Deaf people and those working with d/Deaf people. For further information about these services, go to:
http://www.directlearn.co.uk

Some examples of publications related to language learning:

Deaf and Multilingual (see above)

International Perspectives on Interpreting: Selected proceedings of the Supporting Deaf People online conferences 2001 - 2005
International Perspectives on Language Support: Selected proceedings of the Supporting Deaf People online conferences 2001 - 2005. (Many of the featured papers have been revised and updated and there is also a summary of each conference discussion.)

See also Direct Learn's biligual ebooks for children in BSL and English.

More information at Direct Learn's online shop.
http://www.directlearn.co.uk/ashop/catalogue.php

Deaf Planet

A website specially made for deaf children. It's a Canadian site so the language options are English/American Sign Language (ASL) or French/Langue de Signes Québecoise (LSQ), with subtitles and sound in either language.
http://www.deafplanet.com/

RNID Publications

RNID produces a number of booklets designed to make teachers aware of how they can make their teaching more accessible to deaf learners. Some titles:

- Teaching strategies to use with deaf and hard of hearing students - advice for lecturers in Further and Higher Education.
- Guidelines for mainstream teachers with deaf pupils in their classes.
- Inclusion strategies - a resource pack (ring binder and CD ROM) which provides practical strategies and background information on a range of inclusion issues.

For further information: http://www.rnid.org.uk or contact the informationline@rnid.org.uk
 

Citizenship

The Scottish Parliament has produced a a British Sign Language video which explains the ways in which people can get involved in the work of the Parliament. Find details here: http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/nmCentre/news/news-03/pa03-058.htm

Using ICT effectively with deaf children

An article from the Guardian, looking at how information technology is opening up new avenues of communication for deaf children.
http://education.guardian.co.uk/elearning/story/0,10577,1175181,00.html
 

Translating, Interpreting and Communication Support Services across the Public Sector in Scotland: A Literature Review.
Joanna McPake & Richard Johnstone with Jo Lo Bianco, Hilary McColl, Gema Rodriguez Prieto & Elizabeth Speake. Scottish Central Research Unit 2002.

Online distance learning tutor training initiatives

Sign On-line is a project which develops online materials to support teachers, assessors and learners of British Sign Language,
particularly those in colleges and universities who are teaching, assessing and learning BSL at advanced levels.

The materials have been developed by three of the leading universities in BSL teaching and you can access the materials in both BSL and in written English. Each of the three universities has focused on one aspect of BSL teaching: The University of Central Lancashire produced materials about curriculum development; City University produced materials about BSL Linguistics: Wolverhampton University produced materials about teaching skills. RAD and CACDP are also involved.

http://www.signonline.org.uk

(Thanks to SCoD for this information)

Revising Science with British Sign Language

An A to Z of BSL signs for specialised vocabulary and equipment used in Scottish national Certificate Science courses. This is in very basic form at the moment; I'm told a more elaborate interactive version will be available on the same site shortly.

Some other sites provding help with BSL

Almost 500 common words and phrases are demonstrated here: http://www.britishsignlanguage.com
Fiding out about sign language and deafness: http://www.deafsign.com/ds/
Fingerspelling animation: http://www.british-sign.co.uk

Website for sign language users

The contents of this site have been replicated on the page through British Sign Language by using video. The project aims to give profoundly deaf people using sign language as a first or preferred language better access to the internet. The idea has been incorporated into the homepages of deaf interpreter Jennifer Ramsay. The site serves as a model for other sites seeking to improve access to information for BSL users.

Read the BBC article about the development here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/tayside_and_central/5315782.stm
View Jennifer's site: http://www.jenniferramsay.co.uk/

 

Provision for Community Language Learning in Scotland

Report of a study by Joanna McPake of Scotish CILT and the University of Stirling. Published September 2006. Available to download at: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2006/09/07093013/0

This study offers the most comprehesive account currently available of languages in use among Scottish schoolchildren. It includes consideration of provision for British Sign Language and Makaton.
 

BBC Schools
Here's a link to BBC 2's signed programmes for primary schools 2006-7: Hands Up!

The Scottish Sensory Centre offers an extensive programme of Seminars and Workshops for professionals working with pupils who have hearing impairments. Consult the SSC website for current courses on offer:
http://www.ssc.education.ed.ac.uk/courses/list.html

IN THE NEWS

Deaf Action has plans to send sign language tutors to Malawi and Swaziland.
http://edinburghnews.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=1475202006
 

Links to information on signing with children in their early years
http://www.ltscotland.org.uk/sharednews/2006/educational/july/news_tcm4356253.asp

ICT glossary
The Quality Improvement Agency (QIA) provides this ICT dictionary for the benefit of deaf students, their Communication Support Workers and interpreters, and anyone else interested in learning signs for ICT terms.
http://www.slcresources4ict.net/index.php
 

Signing avatars
The Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) has teamed up with the University of East Anglia and the Royal National Institute for Deaf People to explore the potential of signing avatars to provide British Sign Language (BSL) support in examinations. With funding from the Teaching and Learning Research Programme, the project seeks to explore whether avatar based signing support can overcome some of the difficulties that candidates with BSL as their first language can experience when accessing SQA qualifications. Their recent announcement states: “This research will inform how SQA can best enable access to its qualification for all of our candidates. If successful, it could be rolled out across the qualifications range.”
For more information: http://www.tlrp.org/proj/tel/tel_glauert.html

Pupils struggle to hear in noisy classrooms
RNID research has found that many hearing children up to the age of 14 struggle to recognise speech well against a noisy background. The cognitive ability to do so develops as children grow older. You can read more about it here:
http://www.rnid.org.uk/mediacentre/press/2006/children_hearing_in_classroom.htm
Perhaps there are particular implications for communicative language learning strategies that make extensive use of paired and group work, especially with younger children?

The Quality Improvement Agency, National Teaching and Learning Change Programme has launched a new website, a glossary and dictionary of computer terms. This comprehensive guide is divided logically into specific areas - such as Networks, Hardware, Software, Security and Programming. It also offers instant navigation to terms alphabetically. Clips can be downloaded and saved to your hard drive. http://www.qiaresources4ict.net/

British Sign Dictionary for mobile phones
The University of Bristol's Centre for Deaf Studies has launched the world's first sign language dictionary available from a mobile phone. http://www.mobilesign.org contains over 5,000 British Sign Language signs and is specially designed with a simple interface for mobile phone displays. Users type in the word they wish to see or choose from an alphabetical list. To avoid unnecessary fees, signs do not appear until users ask for a download

A new web-based television service, or IPTV, for British Sign Language (BSL) users has recently launched in the UK. VeeSee TV airs news and other programmes in BSL and is available 24 hours a day.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/6613097.stm

Access to external assessment for D/deaf candidates. Guidance for Awarding Bodies. Version 3 Dec 2006. Published by CACDP
http://www.cacdp.org.uk/Information/PDFs/RAguideDeafCandsVersion3Dec06.pdf

Participation
The new Participation Portal for Scotland's children has a number of video clips in BSL.
http://www.sccyp.org/participation/index.php

University of Strathclyde
General advice on working with students who are deaf or hard of hearing.
http://www.strath.ac.uk/disabilityservice/information/workingwithstudentswhoaredeaforhardofhearing/

PDA in BSL Studies Questionnaire
SQA are developing a Professional Development Award (PDA) in British Sign Language (BSL) Studies which will support progression to becoming a qualified BSL tutor, or leading on to other related careers such as Interpreting, or simply for self development reasons. The PDA is designed to improve BSL skills and will lead on to the existing PDA 'Teaching in Further Education' for those tutors who wish to teach BSL.SQA are now beginning the wider consultation part of this development and would welcome feedback from Deaf BSL tutors, employers, students thinking about starting the course, previous students, individuals, training centres and anyone who feels they can give useful input. For further information:
http://www.sqa.org.uk/sqa/27862.html

The Crowded Cottage

The Crowded Cottage is a free CD-ROM resource presented in written English and signed in British Sign Language. Aimed at deaf primary aged children, it tells a traditional Scottish folk tale in BSL and English and has a number of interactive activities so that learners can practise aspects of English, for example: prepositions. There is also a bilingual glossary.

The disc will run on Macintosh with System 9 or a System 9 emulator, and on Windows XP.

This resource was developed by the Multimedia Curriculum Support for Deaf Pupils project at the University of Edinburgh, under the directorship of Mary Brennan and with financial help from the Scottish Executive.

Single copies are available from Rachel O'Neill, Lecturer in Deaf Education, University of Edinburgh, Holyrood Road, Edinburgh,  EH8 8AQ. Email: rachel.oneill@ed.ac.uk

Item added 6.11.07
 

Signed Language

Want information about British Sign Language? Find it here: http://www.signedlanguage.co.uk/home.htm

The site also has a facility for translating the site content into Spanish, French, German, Italian and Chinese - may be of interest to deaf students of these languages?

21.1.08 A new BSL glossary has been developed by Edinburgh University specialists to help make communication easier for deaf pupils studying physics, chemistry and biology. Experts have compiled a glossary of more than 250 signs for scientific terms. The maths glossary has been in use for several months. See them all here:
http://www.ssc.education.ed.ac.uk/bsl/list.html
An article in the Times describes the new lists:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/education/article3213283.ece

23.1.08 The Scottish Parliament announces that 'How the Scottish Parliament Works - British Sign Language video' is now available on its website. You can find out about the work of the Parliament, how MSPs are elected, what happens in the Debating Chamber, what the committees do and more. Copies of the BSL DVDs with subtitles or voiceover are also available free of charge from the Public Information Service. Contact sp.info@scottish.parliament.uk or phone 0131 348 5000 for more details.

28.1.08 SignOn!
"English for Deaf Sign Language Users on the Internet" is a Socrates project, funded by the EU. The aim of the project is to enable deaf sign language users to use written English for international communication via the Internet.
http://www.acm5.com/signon2/index.html

23.2.08 BSL Survey
The Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) is undertaking an online survey of British Sign Language (BSL) and Deaf Awareness provision in Scotland. This will inform the potential revision of their Units or the development of new Units and qualifications. Their online survey is open until Friday 21 March 2008.
SQA's BSL page is here:
http://www.sqa.org.uk/sqa/controller?p_service=Content.show&p_applic=CCC&pContentID=8215
Find the online survey here:
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=ynhXxVK1SQcnEErSsBW8Zg_3d_3d

 

25.5.08 Count us in: Achieving success for deaf pupils has been produced jointly by HM Inspectorate of Education (HMIE) and the National Deaf Children's Society (NDCS). The aim of the publication is to report on the quality of education currently experienced by deaf1 children in Scottish schools, to provide examples of good practice and to identify signposts for improvement which schools can use when planning for excellence.

Extracts relating to MFL:
... some secondary schools always withdrew the pupil from a second language without consultation with the pupils involved, based on the assumption that an additional language would be too challenging for deaf pupils.

In one area visited, deaf pupils had a positive experience in studying an additional language and were achieving well. The specific focus on grammar and syntax helped them to understand the differing language structures of English and BSL.

http://www.hmie.gov.uk/documents/publication/asfdp.html
 

25.8.08 Education of deaf children in Norway
This account appeared in the January 2005 issue of the BATOD journal. It covers, amongst other things, the right of deaf children to study foreign sign languages and written English.
http://www.batod.org.uk/index.php?id=/publications/on-linemagazine/models/norway.htm
 

10.10.08 On the Money For teachers in Scotland, a new, free resource from LT Scotland that combines numeracy with literacy and encourages attitudes, values and dispositions relevant to responsible and enterprising financial behaviour. Resources include a BSL video on DVD. For more information, go to: http://www.ltscotland.org.uk/onthemoney

10.10.08 Class Act
A website promoting access to learning for def and hard-of-hearing students in post-secondary classrooms.
http://www.rit.edu/~classact

31.10.08 Signing provides common language
Here's a link to a short article on the BBC website about a primary school in Brighton where children speak 24 different first languages and which is teaching them all Makaton to help them communicate. Perhaps BSL or other full signed language could be used for the same purpose, especially, perhaps, in a school where there are some deaf children? Or should the lingua franca simply be English?
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/sussex/7645132.stm

For visitors who have asked for this information, the Makaton charity website is at:
http://www.makaton.org
 

3.11.08 British Sign Language for Dummies written by a team from The Faculty of Deaf Education and Learning Support at City Lit University. Due for publication in November '08. Amazon has it to pre-order as a half price special offer, including a CD-ROM. Here's the link that worked for me:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0470694777/ref=pe_3421_13818201_pe_snp_777

24.11.08 Subtitling
A community-based website for subtitling and displaying videos subtitled in any language you choose. It's early days, but this is a growing resource that has considerable potential - and you can contribute to it. Worth a look:
http://www.dotSUB.com

17.12.08 The Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) has just announced newly revamped webpages for disabled candidates. The pages provide information about assessment arrangements for candidates with additional support needs. Related links include Guidance for candidates, parents and centres, using sign in SQA exams, digital question papers, and EAL.
http://www.sqa.org.uk/sqa/14977.html
 

9.1.09 Signed Stories
ITV's new online library of illustrated, spoken, signed and subtitled story books that deaf children and their hearing peers can enjoy together. May also be of interest to those teaching English as a foreign language to Deaf children.
http://www.signedstories.com
 

22.1.09 Exploring Collaborative Storytelling for Hearing Impaired Students
"this study attempted to explore the relationship between creativity and [the] hearing-impaired students by employing [the]
information technology to support collaborative creative activity."
Perhaps the strategies described in this study from Taiwan could be used to support creativity in foreign language learning by students of all abilities?
http://www.apsce.net/ICCE2008/papers/ICCE2008-paper223.pdf
 

6.2.09 British Sign Language Broadcasting Trust
BSLBT was established in 2008 to increase the amount of sign-presented programming on television. Follow developments here:
http://www.bslbt.co.uk/
 

6.2.09 Gamelab London
This company that creates educational software aimed at 5 to 11 year olds has recently been developing resources using deaf actors, avatars and technology, aimed specifically at deaf children - and their parents - who use sign language. For more details see the Gamelab London website at http://www.gamelablondon.co.uk
 

6.2.09 Deaf Parenting UK
Provides support services for deaf parents at http://www.deafparent.org.uk
 

6.2.09 CACDP
Will now trade as Signature - excellence in communication with deaf people. For information about Signature:
http://www.signature.org.uk
http://www.signature.org.uk/scotland/
 

13.5.09 Subtitles in 40+ languages
And if you don't already know this site, you're in for a treat!
http://blog.ted.com/2009/05/ted_open_trans.php
 

25.5.09 Language Disabilities In Cultural And Linguistic Diversity by Deirdre Martin, published by Multilingual Matters, May 2009.
An account of language related disabilities in culturally and linguistically diverse contexts. It provides practical advice to professionals and parents who have to deal with real-life situations on a daily basis. Includes a chapter on Deafness in Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Communities. For more information see:
http://www.multilingual-matters.com/display.asp?isb=9781847691590
 

5.6.09 A blog from the university of Cordoba about teaching English as a foreign language to students with hearing and visual impairments and other special educational needs. It focuses on understanding the needs of students and provides links to other sites that propose strategies for meeting those needs.
http://blindanddeafenglishstudents.blogspot.com
 

6.6.09 Lip-reading computers can detect different languages
Scientists at the University of East Anglia have created lip-reading computers that can distinguish between different languages. Computers that can read lips are already in development but this is the first time they have been 'taught' to recognize different languages. The discovery could have practical uses for deaf people, for law enforcement agencies, and in noisy environments.
The technology was developed by statistical modelling of the lip motions made by a group of 23 bilingual and trilingual speakers. The system was able to identify which language was spoken by an individual speaker with very high accuracy. These languages included English, French, German, Arabic, Mandarin, Cantonese, Italian, Polish and Russian.
http://www.uea.ac.uk/mac/comm/media/press/2009/apr/lipreading
 

6.6.09 The proceedings of the SDP online conferences 2006 - 2008 have now been published as International Perspectives on Educational Interpreting. The volume contains updated versions of the presentations and a summary of the discussions. It is available in two versions:
The ebook version is available from http://www.deafshop.co.uk/ashop/catalogue.php?exp=&cat=22&shop=1
The paperback version is available from: http://www.lulu.com/content/paperback-book/international-perspectives-on-educational-interpreting/7204161
 

29.6.09 Minority status for signing
Prof Graham Turner, of Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh, argues that signing should be treated as an indigenous and minority language:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/highlands_and_islands/8107801.stm
 

4.9.09 A video from Dingwall Academy about the inclusion of pupils with a hearing impairment in mainstream classes and the education of all pupils about sign language.
http://www.ltscotland.org.uk/video/d/dingwallacademy.asp?strReferringChannel=journeytoexcellence
 

20.10.09 English for Deaf Still a Challenge
A paper published by Franz Dotter 2008
http://www.uni-klu.ac.at/zgh/downloads/Dotter_English_Deaf_SL_2008.pdf
 

24.3.10 Free British Sign Language Audio Tours at Holyrood
Press release:
http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/nmCentre/news/news-09/pa09-068.htm
Deaf and hard-of-hearing visitors using BSL who participate in guided tours of Holyrood will be able to use hand-held audio/visual guides with BSL to learn about the Scottish Parliament. The tours give visitors a behind-the-scenes insight into some of the Holyrood building's architecture and at collections and visitors will learn all about the role and work of the Parliament and its 129 MSPs.
 

29.1.10 CPD for teachers in Scotland working with deaf/deafblind/deaf pupils
http://www.ssc.education.ed.ac.uk/courses/deaf/courselist.html
 

30.4.10 Deaf voters 'unheard' by politicians
News of the current situation and a lnk to BSL:UPTAKE, a website working wih the Scottish Government to give BSL users a chance to exercise their rights as citizens.
http://www.bsluptake.org.uk

6.6.10 An estimated 90,000 deaf people in the UK rely on British Sign Language (BSL) to communicate - but only one political party has ever used it in its election broadcasts.
Tessa Padden, a television presenter and BSL translator currently involved with the BSL:UPTAKE project at Heriot-Watt University,believes this leaves many deaf people excluded from the democratic process.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/election_2010/scotland/8640584.stm
 

25.4.09 Request for help with research

I have been working as a teacher of English as a foreign language for the D/deaf at KUL university in Poland for 10 years now. I have taught about 30 D/deaf so far, all but two of them passed their English exams and started their careers, often using English at their work.

Finding my job very challenging and rewarding, encouraged by my deaf students and a grant from Polish Ministry of Science and High Education, I plan to conduct a research project on state of the art and future challenges of tertiary deaf education, mainly in the context of teaching the deaf a foreign language.

I want to give my research an international dimension. There are not too many D/deaf students at university nowadays in any country, so to have research evidence collected in other European countries might give us a better and more realistic picture of this issue.

I would therefore like to invite visitors to this website to participate in the research. The invitation is directed both to D/deaf students who are studying or who have recently studied a foreign language, and to their foreign language teachers. If this describes you, I would be most grateful if you would fill in the appropriate questionnaire (below), in English, about your experiences of learning or teaching a foreign language. If you know of other colleagues or students to whom the description applies, please pass on the invitation to them too. Please send completed questionnaires to me at this email address: ewadom@kul.pl or to Hilary McColl h.mccoll@clara.co.uk

As there is little information about this topic, I would be also grateful for any comments you might like to make on this issue. When the research is complete I will post information about my findings on this webpage.

Thank you, in anticipation of your kind assistance.

Ewa Domagala-Zysk

 

We are grateful for the interest in this research shown by the 250 visitors to this page who downloaded questionnaires. If you haven't yet returned your questionnaire, please do so as soon as you can. You can attach the completed document to an email addressed to ewadom@kul.pl or send it to Ewa by post at this address: Ewa Domagala-Zysk at the Centre for Education of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin, Al. Raclawickie 1 4, p.313C, 20-950 LUBLIN, Poland.
 

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