Research at
Gallaudet University
2005 - 2006

Implementing Bilingual Education for the Deaf in Catalonia: Beliefs About Critical Knowledge Needed in Bilingual Classrooms with Deaf Children

Status: Ongoing Begin date: March 1, 2006 End date: No set date

Description

The purpose of this investigation is to study what teachers and support staff believe is the essential knowledge needed for the successful implementation of bilingual education for the deaf in Spain. Their views as practitioners and insiders in bilingual settings for deaf students are invaluable for understanding the crucial elements of bilingual deaf education and improving the support and professional development of current and future teachers of the deaf. In the past 10 years, deaf adults have increasingly been incorporated in these settings as sign languages teachers and as teacher assistants. The lack of secondary and post-secondary educational opportunities for deaf adults in Spain, and the rest of Europe is an obstacle to increasing the number of teachers who are deaf. However, it is critical to explore the roles of deaf adults, and the knowledge they bring to bilingual settings, as well as ideas for increasing the supply of deaf teachers. The University of Barcelona has recently established programs offering a specialization in deaf education and training of sign language teachers (for Deaf adults) and sign language interpreters. This study contributes to comparative educational studies in deaf education by involving American and Spanish co-investigators. This collaboration provides both insider and outsider perspectives. Typically, comparative education studies in deaf education involve either a researcher close to the situation (insider), who knows the context, or a foreigner (outsider) bringing new eyes, but limited contextual knowledge. Two interview protocols were designed: one for individual interviews and one for focus groups. The researchers conducted two focus groups at two schools for the deaf. Additionally, they carried out a number of individual interviews and also distributed the questionnaire used for individual interviews to several schools for written responses.

Investigators