Georgia State University Series:

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Georgia State University Series

• Bilingual/Bicultural Approach
• ASL/English

Part 2, Presentation 4 July 2001
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Bilingual/Bicultural ApproachASL/English

• Dr. Easterbrooks

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What is the Bi/Bi Approach?

• Basic fundamental belief that Deaf and
  hard-of-hearing children can code English in
  their brains IF they first learn to communicate
  in their natural language (ASL) and then in
  English as a second language.

http//webctgsu.edu/wed-ct/coursesrlanguageinstru
ctionalpractices.htm
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Beliefs about Bi/Bi approach

• Bi/Bi is relatively new in the US therefore, no
  studies yet demonstrate that bilingual-bicultural
  approach results in any improvement in English
  language ability.
• Critics believe that exposure to English as a
  second language for just a portion of the day
  will never allow deaf children to be proficient
  in English.

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What Role do Parents play?

• Constant exposure by parents at an early age
• Parents must be fluent ASL users in order to
  effectively expose the child to the bi/bi
  approach
• Create an environment with plenty of
  manipulatives, pictures, words, toys, and signs
• Read to the child regularly so he is exposed to
  the printed word
• Constant new vocabulary

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The importance of Reading
Because the deaf or hard-of-hearing child will be
exposed to English mainly through print, it is
imperative that the parents read, read and read
some more!!!
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Authentic and Meaningful Experiences as a Base
for Language Learning

• Field Trips
• Experiments
• Cooking
• Demonstrations
• Vicarious Experiences
• Toys and Other Manipulables
• Role-Playing
• Storytelling

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The Powerful Tool of Role-playing

• Encourages Conversation
• Can be spontaneous or prepared
• Used for students of all ages
• Helps with Social and Emotional Development

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Storytelling Another Important Tool

• Used by children as a language technique
• ASL storytelling is the mainstay of a preschool
  language program
• Provides a rich opportunity for deaf and h/h
  children to participate in an enjoyable activity
  that fosters language skills
• Provides stepping stone for reading

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Sandwiching
Definition A process of couching a new skill
within an old skill first you present the known,
then the unknown, then the known again.
Examples

• ASLEnglishASL
• EnglishASLEnglish
• ASLFingerspellingASL
• ASLEnglish PrintASL
• GestureASLGesture

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Visual Components

• Objects toys and manipulatives
• Pictures
• Environment exposure to the world around you
• Maps, Diagrams, and other spatial representations

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The levels a child most go through

• Understanding concepts of SAME and DIFFERENT
• Exploring and understanding CATOGORIES and
  SORTING
• Able to make COMPARISIONS OF LANGUAGE

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More ways ASL and English are different.
As the student begins to understand ASL/English
bilingual approach, the teacher shows the student
the mismatches between ASL and English.
Example ASL has classifiers while English must
use labels. English uses passive voice while
ASL must show this by directionality of sign or
word order.
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For Example
To teach the sentence, Have you eaten yet?, the
Teacher would explain how to say it in ASL
Now this is how we sign and write the same
sentence in ENGLISH.
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Example of plurals
ASL To sign the plural meaning of the word cat,
you would repeat the sign several times.
English Add an s to change to plural.
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Some structures that are the same in both ASL and
English

1. Topic Comment
2. Both have singulars and plurals
3. Negation
4. Basic question forms
5. Complex sentences
6. Mutual gaze/ communicative pointing

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When teaching a concept from ASL to English

1. Have the student generate ideas and language
2. Explain it in ASL
3. Translate to ESL-English
4. Explain that it means the same thing but is
   expressed differently

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What Role does the Teacher play?

• Teacher discusses all instructional issues in ASL
• Teacher develops understanding or comprehension
  in ASL as the foundation for comprehension in
  English
• Teacher exposes student to English primarily
  through print
• Teacher directly compares the languages from
  easiest comparisons to hardest.
• Teacher shows forms which dont exist in either
  language e.g. (much dogs)
• Teachers use space to convey grammatical
  structure.

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What Role does the Student play?

• Students take inEnglish primarily through print
• Students express English primarily through print
• Students demonstrate in some way (manipulatives,
  role-playing, pictures, ASL) that they understand
  the meaning of the English printed word before
  coding to print themselves

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Discussion of ASL

• Advantages
• highly accessible
• children tend to do better academically,
  behaviorally and socially
• easier to read than MCEs
• knowledge of ASL makes learning English easier

• Disadvantages
• child misses valuable learning time while parents
  learn to communicate
• English will be a second language rather than a
  first

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Glossary

• ASLAmerican Sign Lauguage the language of Deaf
  peoples in the United States. ASL is a language
  of its own and not a visual code of English.
• Bilingual/Biclultural ApproachThis approach
  encourages the development of context, knowledge,
  and academic skils through ASL.
• CookingAnother meaningful experience (like a
  field trip without actually leaving the school)
  that can teach many concepts such as number,
  sequence, texture, color, and other descriptive
  terminology.
• Demonstrationshow to activities that impart
  new skills to children child manipulated
  activities.

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Glossary (continued)

• ESLEnglish as a second language teaching
  English to those who use another language as
  their primary or first langague.
• Experimentsuseful ways to demonstrate properties
  of the natuaral world to a child.
• Field TripsWays to share information with
  students also provide topics for conversation
  many days after the event.
• ManipulativesMaterials used to represent other
  real-life objects or concepts.

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Glossary (continued)

• Sandwiching- A process of couching a new skill
  within an old skill first you present the known,
  then the unknown, then the known again.
• Singulars/Pluralsone/ more than one
• Vicarious ExperiencesRepresenting real-life
  events through pretend (i.e. going to the
  doctors office, police station, restaurant, post
  office, etc.)
• Visual representationsusing codes or labels,
  symbols, gestures, icons, color codes and signs
  for language categories in order to visual
  organize language .

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Resources
http//clerccenter.gallaudet.edu/infotogo/072.html
http//webct.gsu.edu/web-ct/courses/EXC7360ere ht
tp//www.deaflibrary.org/asl.html http//clerccent
er.gallaudet.edu/infotogo/492/492-8.html