This paper provides an overview of the research into deaf children's bilingualism and bilingual education through a synthesis of published studies over the last 15 years. This review brings together the linguistic and pedagogical work on bimodal bilingualism to inform educational practice. The first section of the review provides a synthesis of the research, addressing linguistic, cognitive and social aspects of bimodal bilingualism. This is followed by a focus on bimodal bilingual language experience and use in different learning contexts. These first two sections provide the context for the main focus of the review: education and learning. The third section reports on links made between bimodal bilingualism and learning with regard to deaf children's literacy development. The fourth section examines further research into bimodal bilingual pedagogies. The final section considers the theoretical and practical implications of the field to date in developing a contemporary model of bimodal bilingual education for deaf children. It also charts future research priorities.
BiographyDr Swanwick is an Associate Professor in Deaf Education at Leeds University in the School of Education. Her research and publications centre on deafness, language and learning and the development of pedagogies and practitioner understanding. Her funded research includes a 2 collaborative ESRC funded project looking at deaf children's early literacy experiences in the home; a Nuffield funded project on the role of sign language for deaf children with cochlear implants and a British Academy project on approaches to critical thinking and reflective practice across the national training provision for teachers of the deaf. Her current work, funded through a British Academy Mid-Career Fellowship, centres on the development of a model of bimodal bilingualism and learning which situates deafness and language learning within a plural view of language and culture in society.
Dr Ruth Swanwick Associate Professor in Deaf EducationThe School of Education, Hillary PlaceThe University of Leeds Leeds, LS18 5LU
IntroductionThe practice of educating deaf children bilingually through the use of sign language alongside written and spoken language initially developed during the 1980s in Scandanavia, the USA and the UK. This approach developed as a response to concerns about deaf children's attainments within traditional spoken language approaches (see, for example, Conrad 1979) and research demonstrating sign languages to be naturally evolving rule-governed languages (Stokoe 1960;Klima & Bellugi 1979;Kyle & Woll 1985). As the linguistic study of sign languages burgeoned, the increasing role of sign languages in education fostered the development of new teaching approaches (Mahshie 1995;Knight & Swanwick 2002). The articulation of a socio-cultural understanding of deafness provoked new research into deaf children's language development, culture and identity. Developments in practice and research, and the increasing activity of interest 3 groups in the d...
