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The Deaf use Sign Language for intellectual development, communication and other language dependent tasks, including the learning of the oral language in which they are immersed. However, Deaf children should no longer be expected to access academic learning using the oral language [1][4][6]. Rather they need to have access to a writing system in/for Sign Language. Writing systems (sequence of characters to represent a language) store and retrieve vital information for literature, science, knowledge creation, information dissemination, communication etc. SignWriting is a writing system deemed adequate to the spatial-visual nature of Sign Languages. However, the existing learning methodologies and computational technologies fail to help the Deaf (they lack usability, and/or are one-toone translation from the oral language etc.). This article proposes a new, more natural approach: that of using screen and stylus, in context. It also presents a framework with which to develop tools for written literacy in Sign Language.

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Sign Languages (SL)

Bilingualism is the philosophy of choice for deaf education and literacy: deaf children should learn Sign Language for intellectual development, and the written form of the oral language. Unfortunately, educators are still influenced by the clinical view of deafness as a deficiency to be removed, and that view influences their pedagogical praxis that lack proper pedagogical tools. Additionally, there has been a political setback: special schools for the deaf in Brazil are being closed. Mainstream schools are not able to cope with the demands and the deaf are thus further marginalized. This research presents a pedagogical framework that educators have used successfully to prepare classroom-teaching materials. The framework was implemented into a system that guides educators in the design of Learning Objects.

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