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Research Project Description
A Report To The SignWriting List
by Cecilia Flood
Date: Mon, 15 Feb 1999 17:29:03 -0700
To: SignWriting List <SW-L@ADMIN.HUMBERC.ON.CA>
From: cmf <cmf@GATEWAY.NET>
Subject: Introduction and SW literacy projects
To SignWriting List members,
I have been a member of the SW list since last Spring but have
not formally introduced myself. Since I am just about ready to
begin two sign literacy research projects, DAC's SignWriting Literacy Project and my own Ph.D.
graduate school 'action research' at the University of New Mexico,
I thought that I would briefly clarify each project and explain
the relationship between the two. I know that casual communication
is the usual norm for the list so I apologize in advance for
'too much information'!
First, about the researcher...who am I?
I am a transplant from New York to New Mexico, the Land of Enchantment.
Six year ago, I came to UNM to study linguistics because I knew
I needed to know more about language if I wanted to remain in
a field that educates Deaf and Hard of Hearing children. Bilingual
Bicultural education had begun to take root in the small school
for the Deaf in which I began my professional career. I have
been communicating with children as teacher and counselor for
26 years, 24 of them with children who are Deaf and Hard of Hearing.
In the early Total Communication years, ASL was the name of a
language used by adult Deaf people. The teachers I worked with
had no way of knowing at that time, that there were many ASL
features in the language our students were using everyday.
As time went on, in our small school for the Deaf, ASL moved
out of the shadows and into a bright spotlight. ASL, the language
that I taught to second language learners at a community college
for 13 years, was now perceived as a language of empowerment,
prestige, and distinction by the younger learners I had been
communicating with daily since 1974. Where do you go and whom
do you contact to learn more about linguistic validity, literacy
empowerment, and bilingual education? You call Sherman Wilcox
at the University of New Mexico who tells you about a Ph.D. program
in Educational Linguistics. This program allows graduate level
students to design a program of studies that will address a professional
'burning issue'. Mine is literacy in ASL. UNM has departments
that specialize in linguistic investigation of sign languages
and bilingual education. With my partner in life, we re-nogotiated
life circumstances, had a garage sale, packed up a dog and cat,
and moved to New Mexico.
Second, about the participants in the SignWriting Literacy
Project sponsored by the DAC (Deaf Action Committee for SignWriting)
I presently work with Deaf and Hard of Hearing students in Albuquerque
Public Schools. I am a school counselor and meet with 50 students
from two elementary schools and one middle school. There are
10 district goals for the school year 1998-1999. Literacy is
number two on the list. There are many different cultures in
New Mexico with the highest variability and concentration of
diversity found within the city of Albuquerque. The district
has attended to the linguistic needs of English second language
learners by mandating all teaching and support staff to attend
LEP (Limited English Proficiency) training. There is no formal
acknowledgment within the district that Deaf and Hard of Hearing
students would also benefit from linguistically motivated educational
accommodation. The district program coordinator responsible for
the teaching, sign language interpreting, and audiological services
for Deaf and Hard of Hearing students was very supportive of
my proposed participation in the SignWriting Literacy Project.
While she could not assure researcher nor participants (students,
families, and teaching staff) of any necessary technical equipment,
materials, or monetary support, a letter of commitment to the
project was sent to DAC back in October. There are three groups
of people (stakeholders) involved in the SignWriting Literacy
project, 32 Deaf and Hard of Hearing students ages 5-14, 32 families,
and 6 teachers. As lead instructor of SignWriting, I will attempt
to neutralize power relationships that exist in the everyday
school literacy learning environment and hope to promote shared
power, one that will encourage students and teachers to alternate
between teacher and learner roles.
Third, about the Ph.D. dissertation action research
I am in the final stages of formalizing my research proposal
at the University of New Mexico. The focus of the research is
on understanding a life experience of DHH students, becoming
literate in ASL. The research question is as follows; how do
Deaf and Hard of Hearing students experience learning to write
using SignWriting, a way to read and write signs? A Bilingual
Bicultural education paradigm provides the justification for
using two languages, ASL and English, in programs for DHH students.
While this bilingual context is expected to be more easily implemented
in schools for the Deaf, two language use in mainstream public
education in which a 'critical mass' of DHH students exits (20
or more), can also be a viable bilingual context for biliteracy
development. The inquiry addresses some problematic assumptions
regarding a specific bilingual theoretical construct, Cummins'
interdependency theory. This theory originally constructed in
linguistic contexts where two languages had spoken and written
representation was borrowed and adopted by proponents of bilingual
education for Deaf students. The two languages used in Deaf bilingual
programs, American Sign Language and English, differ in modality
and written representation. Contrary to the 'common sense' opinion
of the majority of sign language users here in the U.S., there
is a way to read and write sign languages, SignWriting. The final
handshape of the sign for 'common sense' resembles a closed or
clenched fist. Within that metaphorical container there are resources
of this visual-gestural language, ASL, not yet explored. A written
representation for signs, when made accessible, will enhance
DHH students' literacy learning experiences.
Academic literature will be reviewed and revisited in order to
unpack sociocultural bias that supports only monoliteracy development
in the school language, English. Critical literacy theorists
and investigators of the worlds writing systems provide arguments
that support the investigation of a sign literacy. Sociocultural
literacy models emphasize co-constructed literacy events, literacy
practices, and literacy acts where meaning is negotiated between
literacy partners. A complementary framework, biliteracy, which
emphasizes a unified understanding of biliteracy context, development,
and media, invites exploration of the potential written sign
language may provide DHH bilingual students.
This community based action research aims at building a collaboratively
constructed description and interpretation of DHH students' experience
of learning to write using SignWriting. Triangulation, a construct
unique to ethnographic naturalistic inquiry, will be utilized.
Three sources of data, videotaped SignWriting sessions, student,
teacher, and family interviews, researcher observation and reflective
notes will provide verification of inquiry findings. The collection
of data will be divided into two phases. The first phase, lasting
two months, will be used as a pilot to 'test' the climate and
plant inquiry motivation. The second phase, that will last four
months, will reposition and redirect participants and reorganize
the inquiry process so that stakeholders experiences while learning
to use SignWriting will be accurately reflected. Collaboration
and negotiation are key to understanding a new meaningful and
respected literacy for DHH students, a sign literacy.
Footnote:
I would like to express my gratitude to Valerie Sutton for guidance
in establishing contact with the Deaf Action Committee for SignWriting
and the SignWriting Literacy Project. Sponsorship to carry out
the SignWriting Literacy project at Albuquerque Public Schools
for the Spring semester 1999 has been made possible by the San
Diego Foundation Dr. Seuss Fund. I am grateful to Mrs. Audrey
Geisel for providing the monetary support for the SginWriting
materials. Similar to the rhyming verse of the more familiar
Dr. Seuss storybooks, I can envision Deaf and Hard of Hearing
students becoming creators of SignWriting rhyming stories. And
why not?
My previous conversations with Valerie about both sign literacy
projects (DAC and UNM) have been very encouraging. If ever there
was a single person that radiates a 'can do' energy, it is Valerie.
She has been equally generous with her technical assistance especially
related to computer communications. She responded to my request
for 'hands on, face to face, SignWriting instruction offering
three days (Dec 29, 30, and 31) of intense SignWriting immersion
including SignWriting history, deaf perspectives, clarification
of troublesome symbols and an overview of the SignWriter computer
program. Valerie was able to commission Darline Clark Gunsauls, a native ASL signer,
a DAC committee member, and an international instructor of SignWriting
(Nicaragua) to tutor me for one full day. I returned to New Mexico
feeling like, I 'can do' this SignWriting teaching/learning project
with the continued support of DAC and in the company of my friends
here in Albuquerque, the Deaf and Hard of Hearing students, their
families, and our collaborative staff.
Cecilia Flood
Teacher & Counselor
for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing
Albuquerque Public Schools
cmf@gateway.net
Ph.D. Candidate
University of New Mexico
cflood@unm.edu
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