This paper argues in favor of the deaf or hard of hearing using AmericanSignLanguage or their native language over oralism or other methods of communication.
Abstract This paper explores the tradition of oralism vs. AmericanSignLanguage (ASL) in the West. Specifically the researcher proposes that deaf and hard of hearing students should be afforded opportunities to learn using their native language or AmericanSignLanguage. Forcing students to adopt other methods of learning including oralism or Signing Exact English (SEE) may promote frustration and inhibits learning in the classroom. This paper reviews the potential merits and demerits of each tradition, highlighting the significance of providing students with resources to use ASL in the classroom.
Table of Contents:
Introduction
Personal Philosophy
The Essential Nature of Human Beings
Basic Meaning or Purpose of Life
Determination of Morality
Constancy of Life: Unchanging or Always Changing?
Philosophy of Education
My Perception of an Educational Philosophy
Why do you need a Philosophy?
What has been the Basis or Source of your Educational Philosophy?
How has your Philosophy Changed or Evolved over Time?
My formal Ideological and Philosophical Orientation
The Purpose of Education, Teaching and Schooling
Are Students Intrinsically Motivated to Learn?
Should Schools Address Human Differences such as Multiple Intelligence, Learning Styles etc. ?
Topics
Knowledge and Content
Knowledge with Knowing
My Conceptual Framework for Improving my Practice
Theoretical Framework for Improving Practice
Skills Competencies Necessary
Educational Skills Required
Communication Skills and Content
Nonverbal Communication Skills
Verbal Communication
Influence of Interpersonal Relationships
Importance of Self-Identity
Peer Relations
Influence of Support Networks
Knowledge and Learning
Direct vs. Indirect Learning
Direct vs. Indirect Communication
Conclusion
Reference
From the Paper "Many consider American Sign Language (ASL) the standard language beneficial for hard of hearing and deaf citizens. However, oralism shares a rich history much the same as ASL, and many often argue the potential merits and demerits of using one vs. another in an educational and communicational context. Wilcox & Peyton (1999) recognize that ASL is a fully developed language with unique grammar requirements distinguished from the English language (Coltrane, 2006). Oralism contrarily, involves lip reading to understand speech instead of using ASL to communicate with one another (Coltrane, 2006). This study will help review the merits and demerits of each, questioning whether one vs. the other is more beneficial for promoting communication and sharing among the deaf or hard of hearing community, or whether a combination of both may result in less frustrating choices among the hard of hearing and deaf community. "
Abstract This paper explains that AmericanSignLanguage (ASL) involves home signs that resemble the objects, which they are meant to indicate. The author points out that, like any other language, ASL has its abbreviations, slang and contractions, often used by omitting full signs when fluent persons are conversing, especially in groups of persons known to one another. The paper stresses that ASL is a dynamic, evolving language that responds to cultural and environmental changes. The author underscores that the inventors of the prime ASL symbols and gestures could not imagine the impact of the Internet or various technology-assisted devices now available to persons who cannot hear or speak as others do.
From the Paper "ASL includes symbols and actions that are just as arbitrary as spoken language. When consulting a person fluent in ASL, she noted that with many people having become fluent in the language over time and with the particular ways in which ASL was taught, some 'shortcuts' or abbreviations had become usual, understood by deaf persons with whom she spoke or when observing third persons communicate in ASL who were not deaf. Some symbols refer obviously to the objects or actions they represent but others are just customary, ... "
Abstract This paper argues that AmericanSignLanguage is the ultimate mode of communication for the deaf community. It explains that like any other language, ASL changes and evolves to meet the needs of those who use it. The same as no two hearing people pronounce a word exactly alike, no two deaf people sign exactly alike. It concludes that AmericanSignLanguage is a complete, natural language that is growing everyday.
From the Paper "American Sign Language (ASL) is a visual language used by the deaf people in America and parts of Canada. Deafness, by definition, is the inability to hear spoken language, to discriminate and reproduce speech (Neisser 8). Because they weren?t able to understand sound or speech, ASL was developed by American Deaf people to communicate with each other and exists as long as there are Deaf Americans."
Abstract This paper examines the use of ASL as the main form of communication between the hearing-impaired and discusses reasons for its popularity. Different features and unique methods of ASL are mentioned and explained. The paper discusses how ASL has spread to be recognized as a proper language and how it is being offered as an accredited course in some universities. It also looks at how signlanguage has been adopted by animal trainer and scientists to study communication amongst animals.
From the Paper "Sign language is a language of gestures and hand symbols used to communicate due to a number of reasons including, language barriers, ritual, or disabilities, such as speech impairment and/or deafness. Sign languages, like oral languages, "are acquired spontaneously and have highly intricate, rule-governed signs grammar and phonology" (Sign pg). Hand configuration, movement, and body position are the three classes of features that make up individual signs (Sign pg). There are numerous sign languages, including ?those of Trappist monks, who have a rule of silence, and Plains Indians, where speakers of mutually unintelligible language communicated freely,? moreover, "Australian aborigines and people of Sudan and the Sahara also have a complete sign language" (Sign pg). Many languages have incorporated body gestures to elaborate, accompany or supplement speech. The language of sign for the deaf was first systematized by Charles Michel de l?Epee during the Eighteen century introduced in the United States by T.H. Gallaudet (Sign pg). "As with any sign language, only a small percentage of signs suggest the form of thought they represent" (Sign pg). There are many dictionaries of sign available, including the American Sign Language, ASL, the most popular used for the hearing impaired."
Abstract This paper presents a detailed examination of the role of AmericanSignLanguage Interpreters. The writer provides the basics of what the job entails and how it is done. In addition the writer describes recent conflicts about the use of signlanguage as opposed to other means of communication and how that affects the careers of ASL interpreters.
From the Paper "Each year, children are born without the ability to hear. Many more lose the ability due to disorder, disease or accidents. We do not appreciate the ability to hear until we meet someone who cannot do so. The ability to hear affects almost every aspect of life, especially when one is young and trying to learn to read or do other academic tasks. The job of an American Sign Language interpreter, in regards to children and students is to assist in the learning process as well as the child's need and ability to communicate with the hearing world. They not only tell the world what the deaf are trying to say, but they also report to the deaf what the hearing world is telling them. In recent years there has been controversial debate as to the need for ASL and interpreters. A grassroots movement has begun to encourage other means of communication. The world of the deaf is currently divided into separate camps; those who consider themselves purists and want to continue with ASL and those who want it abolished because it sends a signal to the world that they are different. While the battle wages the ASL interpreters are caught in the crossfire, and children who are deaf wait to see what they will be taught."
Tags: deaf, hearing, signal, translate, school, languages, education, class, communication
Abstract Presents conflicting approaches to education of deaf children or children with vocal language impairments. Discusses educational philosophy and AmericanSignLanguage (ASL).
From the Paper "While sign languages are generally regarded as languages that are most useful for individuals with hearing or verbal communication impairments, research suggests that such languages are also useful in other contexts ..."
Abstract This paper discusses the hypothesis that learning and using signlanguage is relatively easy to do because there are so many books and web sites available that teaches it to anyone who wants to learn. The paper presents a personal account of an encounter with a deaf person and the writer's exposure to signlanguage. The writer's ultimate realization of what it means to be deaf is described.
From the Paper "American Sign Language is well represented on the internet and in libraries. You can take classes in schools like community colleges or special schools for the deaf and in some cases through community services or the local Recreation Council. Like the English language, the American Sign Language base is in constant flux. Just like the English language, they had to add terms for the internet and web sites and any new thing or technology. "New word definitions are being added, and this will soon bring the total number of American Sign Language terms to more than 1270! Also included is the basic alphabet and numbers 1-10." (American Sign Language)"
Abstract This paper takes a look at the negative consequences to Americans and American society suffered as a result of minimal foreign language skills. The paper compares the minimal emphasis that the American educational system places on learning a foreign language to the much stronger emphasis placed on learning a foreign language in virtually all other countries and then explains why the American educational system would be wise to implement better foreign language programs and promote the acquisition of a foreign language.
From the Paper "The world has about 6,000 different languages, give or take a few. Linguists predict that at least half of those may have disappeared by the year 2050, which means languages are becoming extinct at twice the rate of endangered animals and four times the rate of endangered birds. Predictions are that a dozen languages may dominate the world of the future at best. (Ostler, 2002) For Americans, that's probably a good thing, since we are seemingly genetically engineered to maintain an appalling ignorance of other languages, and have narrowed down the choices we offer our young people to approximately one, Spanish, viewed by many to be the easiest foreign language to learn. It has been described in various places as having an ?impoverished vocabulary,? which means less work for Dick and Jane. The American education system so far is doing nothing to reverse the endangered languages trend, and much to promote it. In fact, there has been a criminal drop-off in foreign language study in American high schools."
Abstract This paper explains that ASL interpreters in classrooms are important for the deaf student if they are to experience a normal and successful education in the classroom setting. The writer shows that the student who is deaf and suffers speech impairments or impediments and also is not receiving special educational assistance, will be the student that is sure to get left behind in educational pursuits. It concludes that the post-secondary classrooms must take the initiative in preparing students for the world after the education has been achieved.
From the Paper "Issues in relation to access and success in an integrated academic setting are discussed relating to student characteristics, interpreter characteristics, and educational settings. According to Marschark, et al. (2005) despite the accorded importance of sign language interpreting for many deaf students there is surprisingly little research concerning the outcomes in terms of effectiveness in the classroom. This work reviews 23 interpreters, 105 deaf students, and 22 hearing students. The study was focused on the student's gains from two university-level lectures. Finding in the study were that hearing impaired students gained less from the lectures than did the hearing students."
Abstract This paper is composed of annotated bibliographies and a literature review of ten different research articles dealing with the acquisition of nonverbal, gestural, or signlanguages. It addresses non-verbal language as a first language and a second language, as well as non-verbal language and symbolic communication systems in non-human primates and prehuman ancestors.
From the Paper "Sharon Begley's main point in this article is that "the human brain is wired for gestural communication" just as it is for spoken language, from a nativist perspective. She draws on examples from apes who have learned signed languages, deaf-mute children who have invented their own languages in the absence of an established sign language, and the fact that blind people gesture at the same rate as sighted people. She cites studies of wild bonobos who use symbolic gesture to communicate with each other, and deaf children who created a signed language with more complex grammatical structures than the spoken language in their environment."
A discussion of the sign and symbol-based language experiments conducted with great apes over the last forty years, including criticisms, findings, and implications. Addresses projects with gorillas, chimpanzees, orangutans, and bonobos.
6,395 words (approx. 25.6 pages), 15 sources, 2002, $ 148.95
Abstract This paper addresses a number of different language experiments that have been performed with all four species of great apes - gorillas, chimpanzees, orangutans, and bonobos, and the advantages, disadvantages, and relative success of each, including conducted experiments. The author discusses the physical limitations of the apes, the advantages of using signlanguage as opposed to keyboard and symbol-based language, and criticisms brought up by various skeptics. The paper also mentions other types of cognitive activities in which the apes have participated, including painting and learning a system of economic exchange.
From the paper:
"The Koko Project is currently the longest running and most successful of all the ape language projects. Patterson's goal was for Koko [the gorilla] to learn 200 signs ? she now knows over a thousand, and understands at least 2,000 words of spoken English. She asks questions, she lies, she tells stories, she uses the negative, she uses and understands abstract words like love, hate, and death, and she even tells jokes. One of the most famous incidents involves a conversation between Koko and one of her teachers regarding the color of her blanket. As she was getting ready to go to bed, the teacher asked Koko what color the blanket was. Koko responded "red," even though the blanket was white. The teacher admonished her and asked her again, refusing to believe that Koko would make such a simple mistake. Still, Koko responded "red," and repeated it several times. The teacher was perplexed. Then Koko pulled a tiny piece of red lint off the blanket, pointed to it, and signed "red," and started laughing her deep, breathy, gorilla laugh. Humor, then, is another quality we humans can no longer claim for ourselves alone."
Abstract This paper discusses how there can be little question that effective communication is vital to teaching in any classroom. With this in mind, the following paper explores how signing actually facilitates language development and why it essential to any progressive educational program or institution. In the process of so doing, one of the most important revelations of all is that language acquisition is not automatically achieved most efficaciously through auditory-cognitive means but that it is just as effectively acquired through visual-cognitive means. That being noted, the paper then discusses signing and language acquisition.
Abstract This ten-page post-graduate paper compares and contrasts signlanguage and oral language. The author examines various aspects of the two types of language, offers specific examples of differences and similarities, and analyzes the respective effectiveness and structure of both types.
Abstract The paper examines the book "A Journey into the Deaf-World" by Harlan Lane, Robert Hoffmeister and Ben Bahan. It discusses how the book covers many technical issues in detail, but the underpinning for all of it is that the Deaf-World is its own unique culture with its own unique language and is every bit as much of a subculture as it is to be African-American or some branch of Hispanic. It looks at how the beliefs of people in the Deaf-World about their culture and language are challenged by people charged with helping them: educators, psychologists, audiologists, social workers and others all tend to think of hearing loss as a disability. It provides a detailed history of signlanguage and the use of ASL (AmericanSignLanguage).
From the Paper "Many people in the Deaf-World object to this view. They know the richness of their language and understand its cultural significance, which the authors broke out into several sections. They note that ASL is a symbol of identity for people in the Deaf-World. In addition, it is the only language they can use to communicate with each other. It binds them together. One fear the Deaf-World has is that forced oral communication will undermine their culture, because it will force deaf people with no sign language skills to talk only with non-deaf people."
From the Paper "American Sign Language verses Signed English
American Sign Language began being used in the early 1800s (Bochner & Albertini 14). It is now recognised as a separate language apart from English. The linguistical constraints of ASL are different from those of spoken or signed English. In the 1960s, several groups of professionals were concerned about the academic levels, especially reading levels, of hearing impaired students. In reaction to these low scores, methods of encoding English into sign were begun. ASL, signed English, and spoken English are valid forms of communication. The big question is: Should deaf or hearing impaired children be taught in English or in another language? In the United States children are taught to read and write in English. Deaf children who are primarily ASL.."
