The visual-manual modality of sign languages renders them a unique test case for language acquisition and processing theories. In this commentary the authors describe evidence from signed languages, and ask whether it is consistent with Ambridge's proposal. The evidence includes recent research on collocations in American Sign Language that reveal…

The Texas School for the Deaf (TSD) has two missions. One is to provide educational services to deaf and hard of hearing students and their families on the Austin campus--this is the traditional, face-to-face, center-based service model. The other is to serve as a resource center for the state, providing information, referral, programs, and…

Paradigms serve as metaphysical frameworks that guide researchers in the identification and clarification of their beliefs with regard to ethics, reality, knowledge, and methodology. The transformative paradigm is explained and illustrated as a framework for researchers who place a priority on social justice and the furtherance of human rights.…

The ongoing debate on Deaf epistemologies reflects two major paradigms in deaf education: positivism and constructivism. The present article investigates Deaf epistemologies through a metaparadigm, which should blur the boundaries among different paradigms and connect the epistemological inquiry to instructional practice for d/Deaf students. The…

Deaf learners whose first language is American Sign Language face particular challenges and constraints in developing literacy in English as a second language. These constraints are interrogated and discussed in terms of their relationship to issues of language proficiency in both L1 and L2, and to models of second language literacy education.…

Examines the theoretical models and arguments in the debate concerning possible relationships between natural sign language proficiency and English literacy. It presents findings of a study with 155 school-aged deaf children that supported such a connection. (DB)

This article summarizes a paper by Robert E. Johnson et al., "Unlocking the Curriculum: Principles for Achieving Access in Deaf Education." The paper examines the failure of total communication practices to educate deaf children and recommends that deaf children learn American Sign Language first and learn English as a second language. (JDD)

This paper argues that current practices in total communication classrooms have basically assigned the responsibility of communication to hearing-impaired students who must adapt to the variation in communication behaviors displayed by each of their teachers. The paper advocates use of a model communication and language policy designed to…

The Deaf Adult Literacy program was created to meet the educational needs of deaf and hearing-impaired adult learners. The program was structured by an advisory committee of learners and teachers and was based on a model of bilingual education. All instruction was provided in American Sign Language (ASL) by teachers who were themselves deaf-native…

A project was conducted to develop a curriculum for training interpreters to use American Sign Language (ASL) to serve the deaf. The three-phase project involved (1) a task analysis to catalog the skills needed by interpreters and location of existing materials to determine areas where material needed to be developed; (2) development of a model…