Letter to the Editor

LETTER TO THE EDITOR Signing Whole English Recently I heard a speaker in an inservice on whole language comparing the shortcomings of simplified text and basal readers. If you were taught how to simplify text in your teacher training program, you probably have to be over 40 years old to remember the procedure: teachers of the deaf were taught to rewrite classroom materials, controlling the level of vocabulary, simplifying the syntax, and avoiding figurative English expressions. It was assumed in making such changes that deaf children were not able to read or comprehend authentic English. However, the result of a simplified version of a story was often a version that was uninteresting and lacking enough English structure to make it understandable. Colorful descriptions of characters and their adventures were reduced to simple, predictable (ah, hmm.. .boring) patterned sentences. As the inservice speaker made his comparison, I could not help but draw a parallel to the signing decisions of some teachers, interpreters, and parents. Why do we feel that we must sign English conceptually to deaf children? For example, in a recent data collection effort I am just now writing up for publication, teachers often signed the phrase "neat as a pin" simply as "nice." Most mouthed the expression as they signed. I wonder if they realize the task demand of that behavior for a deaf child: the child must simultaneously speechread one set of words while reading a different sign or signs, and realize that in this case, "nice" is being used in a different way. Why not just sign what is said in the first place? Do adults really think that deaf kids do not have the intelligence to learn English, as hearing children do? I know a deaf two-year-old who signs literally, I HAVE A RUN + Y (marker) NOSE correctly in appropriate situations. Even a preschooler is capable of understanding that noses don't run! But all children, both hearing and deaf, have to be taught through exposure and explanation what figurative expressions mean. When teachers use one sign instead of several to code an English expression, sign several words with the same sign (e.g., ELECTRIC, ELECTRICIAN, ELECTRICAL, ELECTRICITY ), avoid affix markers, change figurative English to simplified words, is it because they feel, as did those who simplified text, that deaf children are not capable of acquiring genuine, authentic English? Conceptually accurate English appears to be a contradiction of terms·, there is nothing grammatically accurate about an expression such as "his nose is runny" being signed HIS + NOSE + 4-hand classifier from nose downward. In this same data collection, the meaning of what was signed was also often misrepresented. Subjects who originally signed sentences onto videotape were unable, two years later, to transcribe the grammar or capture the semantics of what they had signed upon viewing themselves (without audio). As those of us who are native English users enter this age of whole language, maybe we should think about signing whole English. Barbara Luetke-Stahlman Director, Deaf Education University of Kansas Medical Center Kansas City, KS Language Literacy A New Curriculum Guide Based on work by leading theorists in the field, this new Language & Literacy Curriculum Guide was developed over a five-year period by teachers at the American School for the Deaf, working under a special project director. The guide, for all ages, organizes instruction according to these principles: • language is best learned by using it • function and use should direct instruction • all aspects of language (semantics, pragmatics and syntax) need to be included ■instruction should take place in a meaningful context The goal of this guide is the development of English literacy and usage skills in deaf students. Guides are $25.00 each plus $2.50 domestic postage and handling. For more information, call (203) 727-1300 (v) or (203) 727-1422 (tt), or write: Language & Literacy Guide American School for the Deaf 139 North Main Street West Hartford, CT 06107 380 AAD Vol. 137, No. 5 ...