Writing often begins during the early years of childhood. Teachers' beliefs about early writing development can influence children's process in learning to write. The purpose of this exploratory study was to examine deaf education teachers' beliefs and practices regarding the process of development of Deaf children's emergent writing. An online…

For generations, classroom English teachers have exploited knowledge of English phonemes to teach hearing children. In this article, the author explains how to exploit the strategy of using American Sign Language (ASL) graphemes to teach deaf and hard of hearing children. The goal is a fully evolved bilingual environment in which the children…

In this conceptual article, the authors introduce the Translanguaging Framework for Deaf Education (TFDE), drawing upon two perspectives on language and learning: crip linguistics and critical translanguaging space. The TFDE is a retheorization of the Language Zone, a pedagogical framework for supporting language learning in deaf education, and is…

This paper discusses the role of mediation as it arose in developing and teaching two online American Sign Language (ASL) courses for parents of deaf children during the COVID-19 pandemic. Deaf children and their families who are still acquiring ASL have ongoing learning needs that are most often not met in mainstream educational systems, and…

Arts-based data from a theatre play, "Apple Time," are explored in order to disrupt binarized diversity discourses dominating deaf education in a diasporic community located in a small city in Saskatchewan. Deaf education is demarcated by two camps of professionals: those who promote the development of spoken English through the use of…

Design features of American Sign Language (ASL)-English bilingual storybook apps on the tablet computers, based on learning research, are intended to facilitate independent and interactive learning of English print literacy and of ASL skill among young learners. In 2013, the Science of Learning Center on Visual Language and Visual Learning…

Teaching a second language to students who are Deaf and hard-of-hearing is unique because language learning techniques often disrupt spoken/phonocentric models of bilingual language learning that require speech before learning to read and write. Balanced bilingual educational strategies in education of Deaf and hard-of-hearing students include…

The nature of this research study examines the relationship between text-talking and writing skills used by American Sign Language (ASL) and English speakers. When given ample opportunity to text-talk in academic settings, it is likely that students will improve their expressive communication and writing skills. The main research question asks:…

The view of sign languages as bounded systems is often important for deaf community empowerment and for pedagogical practice in terms of supporting deaf children's language acquisition and second language learners' communicative competence. Conversely, the notion of translanguaging in the American Sign Language (ASL) community highlights a number…

Brain imaging studies suggest that children can simultaneously develop, learn, and use two languages. A visual language, such as American Sign Language (ASL), facilitates development at the earliest possible moments in a child's life. Spoken language development can be delayed due to diagnostic evaluations, device fittings, and auditory skill…

Deaf students are visual learners, and technology should be part of every bilingual classroom. However, deaf students need to learn to manipulate the hardware and software that allows them to express themselves and to advance their knowledge. Students need to understand what is meant when they are referred to "ASL text" or…

Signed languages continue to be a key element of deaf education programs that incorporate a bilingual approach to teaching and learning. In order to monitor the success of bilingual deaf education programs, and in particular to monitor the progress of children acquiring signed language, it is essential to develop an assessment tool of signed…

The effectiveness of using American Sign Language (ASL) handshape stories to teach word recognition in whole stories using a descriptive case study approach was explored. Four profoundly deaf children ages 7 to 8, enrolled in a self-contained deaf education classroom in a public school in the south participated in the story time five-week…

This article describes the implementation of one element of an adapted language arts curriculum for Deaf students in a bilingual (American Sign Language and English) educational setting. It examines the implementation of writing workshops in three elementary classrooms in a school for Deaf students. The typical steps of preparing/planning,…

Provides a bilingual perspective about literacy development in deaf students and uses the bilingual perspective to recommend effective teaching strategies for this group of students with special needs. (Author/VWL)