Language and the Deaf February 22, 2012, Session 6 Jessica Scott Boston University.

Language and the Deaf

February 22, 2012, Session 6Jessica Scott

Boston University

Food for Thought “Deaf people can do anything except hear.”

I. King Jordan

Agenda Discussion: Colleen

Theories of language development and application to Deaf Education

Thinking about child-centered education

Break

Cochlear Implant Corner

Practice: Applying theories to your pre-pracs or other experiences

Goals for the Session To understand various theories of language

development

To apply these theories of linguistic development to Deaf children

To discuss how child-centered education promotes ASL development in a natural way




Break



Discussion!

Discussion board interlude

The articles impressed me that the bilingualism is important for Deaf children. The article mentioned that there are materials that are published by both Swedish and Swedish Sign Language. Providing both educational resources is equal opportunity to Deaf children to get both language inputs.

In the Sweden/Denmark example, attitudes shifted as Doctors became informed and parents empowered. Where would we begin with a PR campaign in the US? The medical field? Hollywood? Government?

We talked last week about the power of the Cochlear Implant companies, and I have to agree, they are extremely powerful. There's really no way that we can change that, but what if we worked WITH it? I know that this might sound strange, but I'm wondering what would happen if the Deaf Community tried to work with CI companies instead of against them, by showing that CI's are more effective if children have access to ASL from the start?




Break



Language development

There are many theories about how language develops in all children

The readings this week discussed language development, so I thought we could think about these theories in some depth

The activity In pairs, you will consider the strengths and

weaknesses of one theory of language development

Pick a card to find out which theories you will be working with

Read (skim) the handout with your theory of language development

The activity On the appropriate chart paper, identify

The major belief/argument of your theory

The strengths of the theory

The weaknesses of the theory

Behaviorism Based on the work of Skinner

Belief: Language learned through reinforcement Environment is the most important factor

under this theory

Children mimic/imitate the language they hear around them, and adults in the environment reinforce correct forms

Children progressively move toward using adult-like language through feedback

Nativism Based on the work of Chomsky

Belief: Human beings are born with a capacity for language Biology, rather than environment, is the most

important factor under this theory

The Language Acquisition Device (LAD) is a reservoir of language structure knowledge – this theory believes this is how where children learn language

Emphasis on the grammatical structure of language

Pragmatism Based on the work of Chomsky

Belief: Language is functional and used for communication Three elements to every speech act:

Locutionary Act – The words we use

Illocutionary Act – The meaning or purpose behind what we say

Perlocutionary Act – The effect our words have on a listener

Cognitivism Based on the work of Piaget

Belief: Speech and language development is related to cognitive development Do not believe that LANGUAGE is innate, but

that cognitive functions that allow humans to develop language are innate

Believe that language emerges through learning, not because of innate capacity for language

Language and cognitive development are intertwined

Information-Processing

Based on the work of Bates & MacWhinney

Belief: The function of language generates structure, rather than grammar Language acquisition occurs when a child hears

language models and uses their speech acts as “evidence” as they speak

Children are born with a capacity to understand symbols – language is the symbol that is reinforced, and therefore learned

Parallel distributed processing (PDP) – the belief that children process information on many levels simultaneously

Social Interactionist The middle ground between nature (biology)

and nurture (environment)

Belief: Both biology and environment are important in the acquisition of language Language is a product of children’s social

interactions

Importance of motherese – the way that caregivers speak to children

Modeling and expansion of language by adults

Children learn rules through experimenting (goed for went)

Discussing Theories Which theories do you think are most

appropriate for use with signing Deaf children?

Which theories do you think are not appropriate?

Sue Livingston states that she does not believe English grammar should be taught explicitly to Deaf children, but they should be exposed to it and learn it naturally through exposure Which development theory do you think she

supports?

Do you agree?

The opposite of Livingston

Reading Milestones is one of the few reading programs that says it is designed for children with “hearing impairment” They control:

Sentence length (easier books have shorter sentences)

Grammar (certain types of sentences are a focus)

Vocabulary (introduce a limited number of “new” words in each story)

Verb endings (start with simple past and get more complex)

Which theory of language development do you think such a program is based on? What are the problems with it?





Break


Child-centered education

The article emphasizes the importance of child-centered education

In all areas of education, people are starting to reconsider the traditional model and realize that student-centered education may be important

There is still discussion as to how much instruction should be teacher-centered versus student-centered

Comparisons…Teacher Centered

Teacher does most of the talking

Lecture-based

Teacher responsible for imparting knowledge

Evaluate students

Student Centered

Children do most of the talking

Exploration/discovery

Children responsible for their own learning

Self-evaluation

Application to Deaf Ed

One article has discussed such approaches in Deaf education in a classroom that used ASL Found that the instruction was teacher-

centered

Teacher controlled the topic, evaluated student responses

However, students were encouraged to share opinions and the room was arranged in a way that made sense for Deaf children (communication was appropriate and accessible)

Smith and Ramsey, 2004, Classroom discourse practices of a Deaf teacher using American Sign Language

What do you think? Should instruction be

Teacher-centered most of the time?

Student-centered most of the time?

A balance?




Break



Break!




Break



CI Corner Spoken language development in oral

preschool children with permanent childhood deafness. By Julia Sarant, Colleen Holt, Richard Dowell,

Field Rickards and Peter Blamey

57 students at various ages (1-3 or 3-6) Average age of identification: 10 months

Average age of implant: 12 months

Abstract is being passed out

What did they find? Most young children (between 1 and 3)

developed age appropriate language skills

However, 13 of 42 (about 1/3) of students aged 3-6 had delayed vocabulary

19 of 42 (almost half!) 3-6 year olds had delayed receptive language, and 25 of 42 (MORE than half!) had delayed expressive language

Children whose parents were more involved tended to have better spoken language

Any thoughts on this? Why do you think so many of the younger

students seemed alright while the older students had fallen behind?

What do you think of the fact that parental involvement predicted better spoken language? How is this related to ASL use and family

involvement?

How can we encourage families to be more involved, perhaps thinking of the article on Sweden?




Break



Applications I believe that each of you are currently in a

pre-practicum setting

In groups of three, we will spend the final hour of class applying theories and ideas we discussed today to the classrooms in which you are working If you are not in one now, feel free to discuss a

classroom you visited in the past

Protocol We will focus on one classroom at a time

5 minutes: One person describes the classroom he/she is in, including grade level/subject(s), language use, instruction you have observed

5 minutes: Other group members ask questions about the classroom

5 minutes: Lead student identifies something problematic he/she has observed in that classroom (in terms of language)

5 minutes : Whole group brainstorms ways this problem could be solved

Repeat with other group members

Housekeeping Next week, the topic for the second essay will

be posted. It is due March 7th

The topic for next week is L2 (English) acquisition through reading and writing

David will be our discussion leader!

Have an excellent week

Language and the Deaf February 22, 2012, Session 6 Jessica Scott Boston University.

Documents

Transcript of Language and the Deaf February 22, 2012, Session 6 Jessica Scott Boston University.