Language and the Deaf February 22, 2012, Session 6 Jessica Scott Boston University.
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Transcript of 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
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
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?
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
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?
Agenda Discussion: Colleen
Theories of language development and application to Deaf Education
Thinking about child-centered education
Cochlear Implant Corner
Break
Practice: Applying theories to your pre-pracs or other experiences
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?
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
Break!
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
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?
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
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