Deaf adult learners and their teacher: Knowledge construction and meaning-making through the lens of translanguaging and semiotic repertoires

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article reports on a preliminary investigation into the language practices of three groups of deaf learners of English, all users of British Sign Language (BSL), and myself as their tutor in an adult education setting. These practices were explored through the lens of translanguaging, viewed as both a description of a linguistic process, and a theory of language, to learn more about how we draw on the totality of our resources to communicate and make meaning. The purpose of this investigation was to learn more about how BSL and English are used together in the same context and how that interplay works to our advantage. Additionally, consideration was also given to the contribution manually-coded English systems such as Sign Supported English (SSE) and Signed English (SE) make, together with the other written and sign languages, as well as gesture, enactment, pointing and other semiotic resources. Video recorded interactional data were collected from the classroom and supported by reflective notes and lesson plans. Both the video data, uploaded for analysis to ELAN, a multi-media annotation tool for creating time-aligned transcripts that supports a tier-based data model, and the written data corpus were examined using a thematic analysis. The findings revealed an illuminating picture of the interplay between languages, but also a movement beyond language as part of a broader semiotic repertoire to construct meaning in the classroom.

Keywords

• translanguaging and deaf education
• translanguaging and sign languages
• teaching English to sign language users
• teaching deaf adults