Brooke Harding and Dr. Mark W. Tanner, Linguistics

The principle question this research was to address is how instructors for the deaf in Germany are approaching English language and literacy development in deaf students. (The term deaf is used in this paper to denote both deaf and hard-of-hearing individuals). English language instruction is part of the standard curriculum in schools for the deaf in Germany as a prerequisite for students to receive the secondary school certificate of completion (RealschulabschlujB) or to take the college entrance exam (Abitur). However, language learning presents deaf students with significant challenges. Language in its spoken form is virtually inaccessible to the deaf which creates major difficulties in learning comprehension and speech production skills. The development of reading and writing skills is further complicated by meager or incomplete knowledge of oral language and as a result the relationship between spoken words and print is difficult to make. In light of these challenges, my expectations were that teachers of the deaf would modify language instruction for the unique linguistic needs of their students and that the primary focus of such instruction would be literacy.

During a research-study abroad program in Germany, I visited English language classrooms in the Johann Friedrich Jencke School for the Deaf in Dresden and the Frankfurt School for the Hearing Impaired. The objective of this research was to identify the current methods used to teach English to the deaf, the purpose of foreign language programs in deaf education, as well as the students purposes for learning English and their concerns about learning an additional language. Data collection procedures included written observations of English language instruction, personal interviews with teachers, and classroom discussions with students.

The information I gathered in each school varied remarkably. The students in the Dresden school are all profoundly deaf. The language input the students receive in German as well as English is extremely reduced as a result. The use of sign language among the students is predominant although manual communication is generally discouraged by teachers within the classroom. English instruction was first introduced in 1990 as a part of the standard curriculum when major educational reforms took place in the former East Germany following the reunification. The English teachers at the school in Dresden have not been trained in this field and rely on the English they learned as students years ago during communist times. Their English language skills are very limited and provide inadequate models of the language for the students. In addition, instructional materials are scarce and instructors must develop and create their own. Instructors primarily teach from texts used in schools for the hearing although they cover the material more slowly. In some cases, it requires two to three years to cover the material in a single book. The purpose for teaching English at the deaf school is to provide the same curricular subjects that are taught in regular schools and to give students the opportunity to take the secondary school exam which includes a section testing oral proficiency in English. Little emphasis is placed on teaching literacy skills.

In my research at the school in Frankfurt, I dealt with an entirely new set of variables. The students learning English vary in their degree of hearing loss from severely deaf to slightly hearing impaired. The students with the greatest amount of residual hearing naturally receive more linguistic input and generally achieve higher levels of proficiency in German as well as English. Oral communication is common among students with lower degrees of hearing loss even outside of classroom instruction. Sign language is used almost exclusively by students with severe and profound hearing losses. English has long since been a part of the educational curriculum in Frankfurt. The language instructor speaks English fluently and without accent although she has not been trained as an English teacher. She has modified available instructional materials based on a comprehensive knowledge of the English language and an understanding of the educational and linguistic needs of her students.

A common factor, however, which was identified in both educational settings and significantly complicates the practice of foreign language instruction and learning, is the lack of complete mastery of a first language (Ll) by the students. Most began leaming English without having completely acquired a first language, excluding only the students who have deaf parents and acquired sign language as their Ll. The majority of deaf children grow up in hearing families and commonly receive only oral language exposure and training in the formative years. Many of the students I interviewed related how their parents refused to allow them to learn German Sign Language (Deutsche Gebardensprache), believing this form of communication to be inferior, although it is recognized linguistically as a bona fide language system which can be acquired naturally. However, deaf children cannot naturally acquire a spoken language as can a hearing child because of major auditory constraints. Oral language must be artificially learned through intense speech training. As a result, LI acquisition is delayed, incomplete and does not provide the cognitive and linguistic foundation a student needs in order to learn an additional language.

I would propose that exposure to and acquisition of a natural sign language as a child would be the first step towards providing the necessary foundation for the deaf in language leaming and education in general. The experience and interaction I had with the deaf students at both schools showed me the intense need and desire they have to communicate despite the constraints that exist. Images come to my mind of curious students approaching me after class wanting to learn American Sign Language or of a chalkboard conversation I had with students who were eager to use all the English they knew to get to know me and tell about themselves. I remember a boy intently asking the teacher and practicing how to say “Do children play basketball in America?” in English so that he could ask me this question and receive an answer. The face of education continues to change in Germany, although slowly, and hopefully the linguistic needs of the deaf will be more sufficiently met through further educational reform.

References

• Holcomb, T. & Peyton, J.K. (1992). ESL literacy for a linguistic minority: The deaf experience. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service
• No. ED 353 861) 1.
• Swisher, M.V. (I 989). The Language-Learning Situation of Deaf Students. TESOL Quarterly, 23,239.
• Swisher, M.V. (1989) 240.
• Strong, M., Woodward, J. & Burdett, J. (1 987). A bilingual/ESL approach to the education of deaf children. Teaching English to Deaf
• and Second Language Students, 5 (1), I 0.
• Special thanks to colleagues Manna Nelles at the Johann Friedrich Jencke Schule fur Gehorlose in Dresden and Bettina Holl at the Horgeschadigtenschuleam Sommerhofpark in Frankfurt am Main.