Return-Path: <nifl-ld@literacy.nifl.gov> Received: from literacy (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by literacy.nifl.gov (8.10.2/8.10.2) with SMTP id fAJFiF000409; Mon, 19 Nov 2001 10:44:15 -0500 (EST) Date: Mon, 19 Nov 2001 10:44:15 -0500 (EST) Message-Id: <99351@tommy.demon.co.uk> Errors-To: listowner@literacy.nifl.gov Reply-To: nifl-ld@literacy.nifl.gov Originator: nifl-ld@literacy.nifl.gov Sender: nifl-ld@literacy.nifl.gov Precedence: bulk From: jn@tommy.demon.co.uk (John Nissen) To: Multiple recipients of list <nifl-ld@literacy.nifl.gov> Subject: [NIFL-LD:3784] Re: Deaf, communication issues X-Listprocessor-Version: 6.0c -- ListProcessor by Anastasios Kotsikonas X-Mailer: PCElm 1.11 Status: O Content-Length: 4133 Lines: 81 Hi Kathleen, Language imperialism? Surely not. You are treating deaf people as if they were a different race! If deaf people want to participate in the oral world, SEE is a boon. It's much easier than lip reading. And it can be a major step towards learning the written language, which is an encoding of the phonemes signed in SEE. BTW, we are planning to add signs to WordAloud - both BSL (the British version of sign language) and signed speech are relevant. Even without these, WordAloud is a useful aid for reading and learning to read, whatever the nature of the reading difficulty. See www.wordaloud.co.uk for a free evaluation copy. Regards, John -- In message <2d.144639b1.292978b0@aol.com> nifl-ld@nifl.gov writes: >Steve: >I found some information on teaching reading and writing to the deaf as a >second language, which I think is a shorthand way of describing what happens >when deaf ways of cognition and language use are understood and worked with >rather than against in curriculum and instruction, at various deaf websites I >found by using a search engine. I looked at the websites that deaf >themselves had created, including those of their associations and groups. > >Deaf are the only people who are not allowed to develop their own languages >spontaneously and historically. But of course, deaf do so anyway. Who are >we to tell them what language they must speak? Most deaf do want to know how >to communicate and function in the hearing world, hence the notion of >learning to read and write in English. > >But why teach Signed Exact English, an artificial language created by hearing >people, to deaf to communicate with other deaf people? Is this not the most >egregious example of language imperialism possible? To teach a sign language >that does not mirror deaf cognition, but instead mirrors that of hearing >people? > >It reminds me of the Indian boarding schools, where children were removed >from their own cultures to not just learn the white man's language and body >of 'knowledge' but to actually eradicate non-white ways of thinking. > >Kathleen Bombach > >--part1_2d.144639b1.292978b0_boundary >Content-Type: text/html; charset="US-ASCII" >Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit > ><HTML><FONT FACE=arial,helvetica><FONT SIZE=2 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" FACE="Arial" LANG="0">Steve:<BR> >I found some information on teaching reading and writing to the deaf as a second language, which I think is a shorthand way of describing what happens when deaf ways of cognition and language use are understood and worked with rather than against in cur r i >culum and instruction, at various deaf websites I found by using a search engine. I looked at the websites that deaf themselves had created, including those of their associations and groups.<BR> ><BR> >Deaf are the only people who are not allowed to develop their own languages spontaneously and historically. But of course, deaf do so anyway. Who are we to tell them what language they must speak? Most deaf do want to know how to commu n i >cate and function in the hearing world, hence the notion of learning to read and write in English. <BR> ><BR> >But why teach Signed Exact English, an artificial language created by hearing people, to deaf to communicate with other deaf people? Is this not the most egregious example of language imperialism possible? To teach a sign language that does n o >t mirror deaf cognition, but instead mirrors that of hearing people?<BR> ><BR> >It reminds me of the Indian boarding schools, where children were removed from their own cultures to not just learn the white man's language and body of 'knowledge' but to actually eradicate non-white ways of thinking.<BR> ><BR> >Kathleen Bombach</FONT></HTML> > >--part1_2d.144639b1.292978b0_boundary-- > -- Access the word, access the world! -- Try our WordAloud software!! John Nissen, Cloudworld Ltd., Chiswick, London, UK Tel: +44 (0) 845 458 3944 (local rate in the UK) Fax: +44 (0) 20 8742 8715 Email: jn@cloudworld.co.uk Web: http://www.cloudworld.co.uk and http://www.wordaloud.co.uk
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