Ruth Swanwick

Enhancing Education for Deaf Children: Research into Practice and Back Again.

Abstract Decades of research on educational and basic scientific questions relating to deaf children have yielded a wealth of knowledge about how they learn and develop as thinking, social, problem-solving individuals. However, we currently lack channels for communication from teachers to researchers about the priorities in education and from researchers to teachers about scientific progress that might be effectively utilized in the learning context. As a result, research often fails to address educational priorities, knowledge gained from relevant investigations is rarely translated into practice, and decision-making is often governed by administrative expedience rather than evidence. To address this situation, this paper identifies the current research priorities relating to deaf education and research outcomes that appear likely to have a significant impact on the development of educational practice. Practitioner priorities also are identified, and explanations for the gap between research and practice are analyzed. Ways in which the gaps between research and practice can be addressed are proposed. The goal is to provide a catalyst for broad-based discussions about how to include teachers in educational research planning and create genuine and effective partnerships between researchers and teachers to enhance educational outcomes for deaf pupils.

Beyond languages, beyond modalities: transforming the study of semiotic repertoires

ABSTRACT This paper presents a critical examination of key concepts in the study of (signed and spoken) language and multimodality. It shows how shifts in conceptual understandings of language use, moving from bilingualism to multilingualism and (trans)languaging, have resulted in the revitalisation of the concept of language repertoires. We discuss key assumptions and analytical developments that have shaped the sociolinguistic study of signed and spoken language multilingualism as separate from different strands of multimodality studies. In most multimodality studies, researchers focus on participants using one named spoken language within broader embodied human action. Thus while attending to multimodal communication, they do not attend to multilingual communication. In translanguaging studies the opposite has happened: scholars have attended to multilingual communication without really paying attention to multimodality and simultaneity, and hierarchies within the simultaneous combination of resources. The (socio)linguistics of sign language has paid attention to multimodality but only very recently have started to focus on multilingual contexts where multiple sign and/or multiple spoken languages are used. There is currently little transaction between these areas of research. We argue that the lens of semiotic repertoires enables synergies to be identified and provides a holistic focus on action that is both multilingual and multimodal.

Literacy in the Homes of Young Deaf Children: Common and Distinct Features of Spoken Language and Sign Bilingual Environments.

The study of deaf children’s early literacy raises fundamental issues about their access to language, experiences of early interaction and literacy development. However, we currently understand very little about how young deaf children develop literacy skills given their exceptional linguistic circumstances. This review explores early literacy practices in the homes of young deaf children to identify the commonalities and differences apparent in spoken language and sign bilingual homes. The introduction of the Newborn Hearing Screening Programme (NHSP), which is currently taking place, aims to diagnose congenital deafness in the first few weeks of life, followed by immediate involvement of a team of professionals with the child and family, including a teacher of the deaf. This provides a unique opportunity to explore early literacy practices in homes, and identify ways in which teachers and parents/carers can work collaboratively to facilitate deaf children’s early literacy development.

Policy and practice in sign bilingual education: development, challenges and directions

Abstract A sign bilingual approach to the education of deaf children was first introduced in the UK in 1990. This paper reviews the growth of sign bilingual education in the UK and documents significant milestones in the development of sign bilingual policy and practice since the 1980s. This overview demonstrates how key issues in sign bilingual education have evolved and how priorities have changed over time and enables comparisons with contexts beyond the UK to be drawn. Current issues in sign bilingual education are analysed within our twenty-first century educational context in which both the advancing technology and medical understanding are providing new opportunities for deaf pupils and changing their learning and communication needs. Particular themes addressed include research into early literacy and also the role of sign language for deaf children with cochlear implants. From this analysis, new directions for sign bilingual education are suggested in terms of learning and teaching and a future research agenda.

Following Alice: theories of critical thinking and reflective practice in action at postgraduate level

This paper presents a flexible framework of principles for teaching critical thinking and reflective practice skills at the postgraduate level. It reports on a collaborative project between four UK institutions providing postgraduate programmes in deaf education. Through a critical review of current theories of critical thinking and reflective practice in higher education, the authors identified and constructed frameworks of principles for relevant skills. They selected a set of learning activities for the institutions to trial to target those skills. Students evaluated how successfully the activities promoted the skills. The investigators evaluate the methodology and provide a critique of the framework of principles. Findings reveal that the framework of principles is a robust model for the development, design and evaluation of bespoke learning activities targeting critical thinking and reflective practice skills.

Deaf Children's Bimodal Bilingualism and Education.

This paper provides an overview of the research into deaf children’s bilingualism and bilingual education through a synthesis of published studies over the last 15 years. This review brings together the linguistic and pedagogical work on bimodal bilingualism to inform educational practice. The first section of the review provides a synthesis of the research, addressing linguistic, cognitive and social aspects of bimodal bilingualism. This is followed by a focus on bimodal bilingual language experience and use in different learning contexts. These first two sections provide the context for the main focus of the review: education and learning. The third section reports on links made between bimodal bilingualism and learning with regard to deaf children’s literacy development. The fourth section examines further research into bimodal bilingual pedagogies. The final section considers the theoretical and practical implications of the field to date in developing a contemporary model of bimodal bilingual education for deaf children. It also charts future research priorities.

Translanguaging, learning and teaching in deaf education

ABSTRACT This paper critiques the role of translanguaging in deaf education by examining how, and under what conditions, translanguaging practices can enhance learning and teaching. The paper explores the premise that translanguaging represents an additive view of bilingualism and multilingualism for deaf learners and offers an innovative departure from, and not a re-packing of, traditional teaching methods in deaf education. In this context, the additive aspects of translanguaging are conceptualised as ways of seeing and responding to the language resources of deaf learners and ways of teaching that recognise and promote bilingual and multilingual (sign and spoken/written) language skills. The innovative aspects of translanguaging are explained in terms of the focus on language as a social phenomenon, the emphasis on individual repertoires and attention to the mindful use of languages in the classroom. Examples of learner and teacher translanguaging are given that illustrate what translanguaging offers to deaf education in terms of understanding and supporting the language repertoires of deaf learners and for the development of pedagogy. The paper concludes by suggesting the conditions under which these benefits can be realised.

Practitioner Talk on Deaf Children's Reading Comprehension: Analysing Multiple Voices

Abstract This study examined different perspectives of deaf education practitioners on deafness and reading comprehension. This involved a full deaf education support team comprising teachers of the deaf, communication support workers, and deaf instructors from a UK citywide service covering early years, primary and secondary settings. Using a focus group methodology practitioners were asked to consider what reading comprehension involves for deaf learners and identify factors that influence success. Analysis of the focus group ‘talk’ about deaf childrens reading comprehension reveals commonalities and differences across different practitioner ‘voices’ which shape different understandings of the reading comprehension issues. Themes which were identified as problematic, such as the processes of decoding and the role of sign language are drawn out as focus areas for further discussion. These findings provoke discussion of research, assessment and intervention approaches which better exploit the research–practice interface by incorporating the diverse perspectives that practitioners and other agents bring to the process.

Collaborative working practices in inclusive mainstream deaf education settings: teaching assistant perspectives

ABSTRACT This paper presents findings from an empirical study that investigated the learning experiences of deaf students in mainstream secondary classrooms, from teaching assistants’ (TA) perspectives. These findings indicate that effective collaboration between mainstream teachers and specialist teachers of the deaf (ToD) is required to ensure appropriate expectations of deaf students to support improved outcomes. A qualitative, collaborative methodology was developed that facilitated a trustworthy approach to the collection of data to represent TAs’ perspectives. The participants comprised 10 TAs, 5 mainstream teachers, 7 deaf students and 3 ToDs. Each TA had a minimum of three years’ experience supporting deaf students in mainstream classrooms. The TAs discussed their experiences in focus group discussions and semi-structured interviews. Interview data, generated by the other participants, served to validate the TAs’ perspectives of their working contexts. Consideration was given to how the TAs talked about learning and the challenges they perceived deaf students encountered, with particular emphasis on specialist knowledge and working relationships in the classroom. The TAs were explicit in their belief that mainstream teachers were frequently unaware of the challenges many deaf students experienced. Analysis revealed the degree of collaboration between mainstream teachers, ToDs, TAs and deaf students, and the limited extent to which specialist knowledge informed pedagogical and support practices.

Investigating deaf children’s plural and diverse use of sign and spoken languages in a super diverse context

Abstract This paper examines the meaning of plurality and diversity with respect to deaf children’s sign and spoken language exposure and repertoire within a super diverse context. Data is drawn from a small-scale project that took place in the North of England in a Local Authority (LA) site for deaf education. The project documented the language landscape of this site and gathered five individual case studies of deaf children to examine their plural and diverse language practices at home and at school. Analysis of the language landscape and case studies from this context is undertaken in order to define and exemplify deaf children’s language plurality and diversity in terms of context and individual experience. Concepts of repertoire are explored with particular reference to the unique type of translanguaging that the plural use of sign and spoken languages affords. Implications of these preliminary insights are discussed in terms of the development of methodologies that are sensitive to the particular translanguaging practices of deaf children, and approaches to pedagogy that are appropriately nuanced and responsive to deaf children’s language plurality and diversity.