The best explanation for why Deaf Education is not far more successful and intellectually engaging is fairly simple: the most powerful people within Deaf Education know very little about American Sign Language (ASL) going powerful.
I would like to make a radical claim that I am thoroughly convinced, after studying linguistics of ASL and English, that literate people can have an incomplete understanding and appreciation of both languages. Last year students at Gallaudet University had an opportunity to blow the lid off ASL and enhance academic leadership in the language and culture of the Deaf. They had an opportunity to create Gallaudet University better than anything we've ever seen or imagined. Therefore, I think ASL-English bilingualism at Gallaudet University would only be a side-benefit of this academic transformation.
Past preoccupation with academic literacy may be preventing Gallaudet University to offer the most important and practical forms of communication--where we use ASL for meaning in its spoken and written counterpart English. I could vividly remember some discussions I had with my colleagues and supervisors in English Department. They emphasized repeatingly that students needed to "think" and "talk" English in order to succeed. What about ASL? "ASL has no place in higher education!" they continued to remind me. As we did--make no mistake--we were oppressing these students.
Today we need to challenge whether courses in English at Gallaudet University, i.e. ENG 101, 102, 201 and 202, have their ASL counterparts: ASL 101, 102, 201 and 202. In the future, students will need these very capacities as university graduates. Our intellectual power depends on both ASL and English. Close, critical, strategic translation between ASL and English needs to occupy a substantial position of university life if the university mission statement emphasizing ASL-English bilingualism is to prevail.
All in all, this is not a pipedream; we the Deaf have clear evidence of this ASL-English bilingualism opportunity to develop literacy and leadership. ASL-English literacy is pivotal to acquiring the type of higher education that is the path to truth and power.
Friday, August 24, 2007
ASL-English Literacy and Leadership
Leadership is about vision. But
leadership is equally about creating
a climate where the truth is heard
and the brutal facts confronted.
--Jim Collins,
Good to Great
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8 comments:
Well-written blog.
Last night I went to the open house at Indiana School for the Deaf (elementary school) and my child's teacher said that one needed to be fluent in ASL in order to learn English easily. If not fluent in ASL, English would be more difficult to master.
Carl,
I cannot agree with you more on this topic. Deaf Education has been full of the perspective that in order to succeed, deaf students MUST think and talk English. Educators teach English using English curriculum in schools. Yet in many schools, teaching English curriculum using ASL through the air as instruction seems to be the order of the day. Research shows that this hasn't been quite successful. (See Hoffmeister's article on metalinguistic skills) Instruction using ASL through the air is INSUFFICIENT without ASL curriculum being used and taught in school. When you have both English and ASL curriculums used properly in a school, you will see more success in BOTH languages.
I can go on and on about this topic, but will have to blog or vlog or both on this when I can.
Shelley
Carl says: ""I had with my colleagues and supervisors in English Department. They emphasized repeatingly that students needed to "think" and "talk" English in order to succeed.""
I assume that you are referring colleagues and supervisors to the hearies. If in this regard, pure and simple because they are sooooooo monolingual that they are sadly incapable to learn a second language, namely, ASL. They should be forced to retire.
There is not sufficient to show any evidence by the both ASL and English which means bilingual education has not been very successful yet. They have a long way to go because there is no bilgingual education research center instead of too much time with arguement over oral through English or other that really suppress number of Deaf Child's opportunity, Compare to Spanish and English in NYC show very strengh in structure of the bilingual since 1940 or 50 not the same as ASL/English due to lack of evidence through research! There is a lot of arguements and where is the evidence of showimg how much successful in that bilingual education of the Deaf?
Handful of deaf individuals raised a good issue about the importance of various countries' sign language from LSF to JSL at Gallaudet.
I told those deaf individuals that the Gallaudet University have to embrace ASL, not widen to various sign languages for deaf international students, because of the federal funding issue.
Hopefully will see that Gallaudet University enact the policy of embracing well-founded sign languages from various countries to be part of the deaf international community along with the finesse of written English skills.
Deaf International students usually pick up ASL much easily than generally thought. I am speaking of culturallty deaf international students.
Robert L. Mason (RLM)
Educators of the deaf ought to realize that the educational facilities of the deaf embrace the visual spatial language, ex. ASL, not SEE or LOVE or Language Contact (PSE) to foster the language acquistion and development of the dominant language of its own society, ex. written English.
Indian leader, Gandhi once said "Speak our language, We will embrace your languge in return".
One of the Finnish film, Elena. The 10 years old girl came from the linguistic minority in the 1800s Finland. The educators in Finland looked down on particular linguistic usage by very small linguistic community. Elena, the character stood up to the prickly educators and refused to speak the official language used at the school until later as the head teacher finally embraced that student and other group of linguistic minority students by speaking their languages.
In the end, linguistic minority children and educators got along very well.
That is very common thread of educational obstacles due to lack of lingusitic embraceness for other linguistic minority indidivudals.
Robert L. Mason (RLM)
Speaking of ASL-English language,
I went to elementary school for my daughter last Tuesday. A teacher showed me the post of sign we are friend. etc then last bottom sign.. She thought i understand that part sign.. I said what is that look like sign open M on side, U..then word of we are friends. I cant understand that sign what is that mean??? guess what SHe said Cued.. she was shocked that I cant understand Cued, I signed with my vocal.. she said you are very good speaking and sign asl.. It looks like she always thought sign ASL cant talk well! She thought Cued always speak well than ASL. I told her not true. Important is reading the book everyday, if desire speech thepary, something like that. why not asl-english in every elementary to university? how about that idea?
ASL-English bilingualism is NOT working at all. It just doesn't work that way in education (K-12) system.
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