Issues Unresolved: New Perspectives on Language and Deaf Education

Introduction

Introduction INTERNATIONAL IN scope, Issues Unresolved: New Perspectives on Language and Deaf Education challenges and/or expands established thought on deafness and language in order to examine their impact on the development of deaf children. The volume's four parts include chapters reflecting the current direction of research in deaf education as it relates to communication, language , and psychosocial development. The first two parts examine communication -part 1 explores sign language and spoken language communication , and part 2 is on speech. Part 3 covers education, and part 4 focuses on social and psychological adjustment. Part 1 deals with the relationships among spoken language, sign language , and signed spoken language. It also discusses the implications of these relationships in various social al1d educational environments. In chapter 1 Susan D. Fischer distinguishes between Natural Sign Language (NSL, e.g., American Sign Language [ASL]), Natural Sign Systems (NSS, e.g., Pidgin Sign English, or naturally evolved systems that Deaf people use to communicate with hearing people), and Artificial Sign Systems (ASS, e.g., Signing Exact English [SEE] or other forms of manually coded English). In order to meet the four functions of language (i.e., convey information, serve as a model by which the child can acquire the language, facilitate social integration , and provide a means to talk about language [metalinguistic function]), and because of the existence of a critical period of sign language acquisition, Fischer suggests introducing NSL first and then adding exposure to ASS and written texts (e.g., captioning). Within a Vygotskian theoretical fra:mework, C. Tane Akamatsu in chapter 2 discusses the "socially mediated processes by which deaf children appropriate meaning from various contexts and become participating members of a society that uses various forms of meaning making, such as signing, print, and even speech." Akamatsu argues that NSL is both necessary and sufficient for establishing "inner speech" ill one's first language, but probably not sufficient for establishing links to second-language literacy. In chapter 3 Elena Pizzuto, M. Cristina Caselli, Barbara Ardito, Teresa Ossella, Anna Albertoni, Benedetto Santarelli, and Rossana Cafasso demonstrate the importance of introducing both sign and spoken languages. After studying the cognitive and linguistic abilities of eleven Italian deaf preschoolers , the authors conclude that it is important to have an appropriate exposure to a full language system ill order to develop appropriate grammatical skills in that language and that the "knowledge deaf children possess in their native sign language call be positively transferred to spoken 1 2 INTRODUCTION language, at least in those cases in which the children are also exposed to early spoken language education programs." Taking the issue of sign and spoken language introduction into a more practical educational context, Claudine Storbeck and Elizabeth Henning in chapter 4 present a model in which sign language is taught as a child's first language. In their model, knowledge schemata (i.e., academic knowledge) is learned through the first language; spoken language is learned separately by reading and writing, as well as lipreading and speech; and making contact with both the Deaf and hearing communities is encouraged. Studying the relationships between spoken and sign languages in the context of interpretation, Linda A. Siple in chapter 5 demonstrates that transliteration (i.e., interpreting from a spoken English source message to a target signed English) is a complex process in which interpreters add ASL features into the target message in order to meet the needs of the deaf consumer. Siple emphasizes that transliteration requires an in-depth knowledge of English and ASL. In chapter 6 Heather Mohay Leonie Milton, Gabrielle Hindmarsh , and Kay Ganley discuss their work with four Deaf mothers of preschool-age children. These mothers, who are fluent in Auslan (Australian Sign Language), taught communication skills (not sign language) to hearing mothers of deaf children. The results of this work show that all the hearing mothers adjusted their rate of communication to more closely match that of Deaf mothers, thus making their communication more salient to their children , and that the hearing mothers began to use strategies that reduced the need for the children to divide attention. As a result, the children's language comprehension, but not necessarily their language production, improved. In chapter 7 Jan Branson and Don Miller look at the consequences of increased cultural diversity within the Australian society in general alld among deaf people in particular. Since the number of immigrants from countries with nonwhite populations is increasing, about 25 percent of deaf students are now from non-English-speaking...