This article follows the often difficult educational path of deaf children in Tanzania, from homes with very little communication to cherished times at deaf (units of) primary schools, through secondary school, which had to be "endured" only, up to work life. It describes challenges and coping strategies, many of which are connected to…

Members of the Deaf New American community reported they arrived in the United States with no formal education, unable to read or write in their native language, and had zero fluency in English. Efforts to educate them have floundered, and the study aims to find out why and how to fix the problem. Interviews of eight Deaf New Americans yielded…

It is common practice for K-12 schools to assess multilingual students' language proficiency to determine language support program placement. Because such programs can provide essential scaffolding, the policies guiding these assessments merit careful consideration. It is well accepted that quality assessments must be valid (representative of the…

For the forty-third time, the Association for Educational Communications and Technology (AECT) is sponsoring the publication of these Proceedings. Papers published in this volume were presented online during the annual AECT Convention. Volume 1 contains 37 papers dealing primarily with research and development topics. Papers dealing with the…

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)

An outsider to the field of deaf education questions the seeming ambiguousness in terminology, lack of scientific research, continuing controversies, and lack of definitive answers. Questions concern such issues as the difference between "Deaf" and "deaf" and the feasibility of the American Sign Language/English-as-a-Second-Language proposal.…

This commentary reviews the articles in this theme issue and analyzes American Sign Language (ASL) bilingual approaches to supporting children with deafness in acquiring English text skills. Also discussed are theoretical explanations for how bilingual contexts may contribute to progress in English literacy and spoken English. Issues for the…

A literature-based rationale for teaching American Sign Language (ASL) as the primary language system for deaf children elaborates on the following points: Sign languages are visual-manual; spoken languages are oral-aural. Competency in a first language tremendously increases a person's ability to learn a second language. Deaf children have not…

This article presents a critical evaluation of the use of Pidgin Signed English (PSE) and three manually coded English (MCE) systems, signed English, Seeing Essential English, and Signing Exact English with deaf students. It concludes that the use of MCE systems is unlikely to result in English proficiency for many students with severe to profound…

This paper responds to "Jamaican Deaf Children Interacting with Written Language: Support for Bilingual Instruction?" (Winnifred Hall), that stressed the importance of cultural factors in the education of students with deafness. Difficulties in implementing bilingual programs, alternative bilingual/bicultural models, and the need for…

The author of "Jamaican Deaf Children Interacting with Written Language: Support for Bilingual Instruction?," responds to criticism that the difficulties of implementing a bilingual program were underestimated and the relevance of early intervention in learning English was not sufficiently recognized. Support for early intervention is…

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 raises concerns about current trends toward increasing bilingual, bicultural education for deaf children. It notes that such programs often discourage the use of voice and spoken language by the deaf child and those in his environment, delay the child's introduction to English, and unreasonably expect hearing persons to use American…

Reviews claims proposing that knowledge of American Sign Language (ASL) facilitates reading development in deaf children. It offers support for one such claim although it argues that the relationship does not develop naturally but must be cultivated through experiences that serve to direct attention to correspondences between different language…

This article focuses on the complex dynamics and the practical demands of teaching English to deaf children for whom British Sign Language (BSL) is a preferred/dominant language. A model focusing on the relationship between English and BSL is presented, and implications for curriculum and teaching methods are drawn. (DB)