Sign Language Instruction and Teacher Preparation

Summer 1985 SIGN LANGUAGE INSTRUCTION AND TEACHER PREPARATION Madeline M. Maxwell Observations about the difficulty teachers have in understanding deaf children are frequent, both in the papers in this collection and throughout writing in the field. While deaf children's speech is rarely intelligible (Hochberg et al. 1983), the use of signs is supposed to improve understanding. An overwhelming majority of classes for deaf children in the United States are conducted, at least partially, in sign language (Jordan et al. 1979). Most teachers and programs refer to their use of signing as part of a philosophy of Total Communication (TC). As generally practiced, TC demands skill in signing and speaking at the same time. Since such simultaneous communication (SC) is not usual for interaction among homogeneous deaf or hearing groups, it has to be learned by the teachers who conduct their classes in this code. Only rarely do schools and teachers of the deaf include American Sign Language (ASL) in their repertoire, instead viewing the use of signs (with spoken words) as an aid to the learning of English, including English speech. Several facets of professional preparation work against the likelihood of finding a high level of fluency in the use of either SC or ASL among professional educators of the deaf. Most teachers -including teachers in TC programs -- are hearing speakers of English, who learn sign after their studies in education of the deaf (Corbett & Jensema 1981). A beginning teacher, then, is heavily dependent on the classes in sign taken during a college program. As Erting points out in this issue, the college training programs in education of the deaf usually concentrate on English speech and writing. Even avowed TC college teacher education programs must follow the guidelines of certifying bodies (Council on Education of the Deaf, and state educational boards), in which "Language" (i.e. English) and "Speech" are the major subjects of study. College educators of teachers of the deaf who feel differently are often afraid to speak up for fear of admitting or "taking the easy way out" [instead of making deaf children into hearing children, which the system expects]. Lip service, as it were, at least, must be paid to the hope of near-normal speech for all hearing-impaired children, and such speech is often 1985 by Linstok Press, Inc. See inside front cover. ISSN 0302-1475 SLS 47 Maxwell : 174 viewed as the prerequisite for other learning, school experience, and cognitive development. Several characteristics of teachers, according to the Corbett and Jensema data (1981) add to the unlikely event that most will become fluent either in SC or in ASL. In that report over half of the teachers in the field had taught from one to five years, and another twenty-four per cent six to ten years. Half of the teachers were under age thirty, and the mean age was only thirty-three. While immersion among native speakers is the best way to learn a language, it is not at all certain that most teachers of the deaf have contact at all with fluent hearing or deaf signers. They do not seem to stay in the classroom very long, and most of them are in preschool or elementary classes, where few deaf children (perhaps 5%) are fluent signers. Furthermore, almost half of the hearing-impaired teachers (including adults adventitiously deafened as well as prelingually Deaf persons) are at the senior high school level -- where the most not least experienced teachers are placed; and many of the preschool and elementary classes are not connected with high schools. Where, in their professional capacity do teachers of the deaf have the opportunity to learn to sign fluently? Looking for answers. In the face of this situation in the profession, courses offered at the university level appear even more important than at first glance. The study reported here was designed to answer the question: What is the status of sign language in universities and colleges that offer major concentration in education of the deaf? To gain some idea of an answer, a questionnaire was sent to the contact person listed for every teacher-education program (75) included in the April, directory, issue of the American Annals...