THE PURPOSE OF DEAF EDUCATION

The purpose of deaf education

The Purpose Of Deaf Education

Thesis statement

The purpose of deaf education is to develop ?responsible citizen and language is key to developing this citizen.

Introduction

For most of its history? deaf education's dominant goal has been teaching deaf children to process spoken and written language accurately so they can interact successfully with the world around them (Scouten? 1984). While this time-honored? but elusive? goal remains the raison d'être of our profession? we are beginning to realize that such ? narrow scope is insufficient for the broader purpose of preparing deaf men and women for participation in the global economy of the 21st century.

The past 40 years have seen dramatic change and progress resulting in the empowerment of many deaf persons and improvement in the quality of their lives. These gains are linked to expanded educational opportunities resulting in access to new employment fields and increased awareness and acceptance of deaf and hard of hearing persons within the larger community.

The communication policy in the lower elementary grades was strictly oral. Only when children entered the middle grades? at about age 12? were the restrictions eased? although many classes remained oral because the teachers could not or would not learn sign language. This is not to suggest that the children did not sign. They did? even when signing was discouraged.

While an exclusively oral approach benefited some students? for the majority of deaf children? emphasis on ? spoken language resulted in limited access to language and? subsequently? to world knowledge. Deaf children experienced major barriers to information and participation during their education? and as ? result? educators have started to change their positions about the importance of sign language in teaching and learning. Educators are finally adopting the perspective that deaf people (people whose native language is the sign language of their country) are actually “? cultural and language minority group” (Parasnis? 1997? p. 72).

There has also been ? growing appreciation of the role of the critical period in language learning (Krashen? 1973) and for the plasticity of the nervous system during early development. Studies have shown that the human brain can develop knowledge of one or more languages and that being bilingual or multilingual is not necessarily ? detriment (Hakuta? 1986; Grosjean? 1982). The research of scholars like Schlesinger and Meadow (1972) convinced many early childhood educators that effective communication between deaf infants and their mothers was essential and was possible using sign language.

The work of Stokoe and his colleagues and other researchers (Stokoe? Casterline? & Croneberg? 1965; Klima & Bellugi? 1979; Padden & Humphries? 1988; Fischer? 1998; Parasnis? 1996? 1997) has documented the authenticity of American Sign Language (and other deaf communities' native sign languages) and fostered the development of pedagogical strategies to teach spoken and written language to deaf children as ? second language (Johnston? Liddell? & Erting? 1989). Some American schools are now engaged in bicultural/bilingual programming? although the debate on its effectiveness continues (Strong? 1995).

The media are also giving visibility to ...