Discussing Bilingualism in Deaf Children: Essays in Honor of Robert Hoffmeister by Charlotte Enns, Jonathan Henner, and Lynn McQuarrie

Abstract

Reviewed by: Discussing Bilingualism in Deaf Children: Essays in Honor of Robert Hoffmeister by Charlotte Enns, Jonathan Henner, and Lynn McQuarrie Ronice Müller de Quadros (bio) Discussing Bilingualism in Deaf Children: Essays in Honor of Robert Hoffmeister, edited by Charlotte Enns, Jonathan Henner, and Lynn McQuarrie (New York: Routledge Taylor & Francis Group, 2021, 250pp. hardbound, $128.00. ISBN: 978-0-367-37376-4; paperback, $39.16, ISBN: 978-0-367-40719-3; ebook, $39.16, ISBN: 978-0-367-80868-6) It is a great pleasure to review the book Discussing Bilingualism in Deaf Children in honor of Robert Hoffmeister. There are several reasons why I delight in doing this analysis. Among them, I highlight two: first, because the area of bilingual deaf education accompanies me throughout my professional life; second, because Robert Hoffmeister contributed directly to my own perception as a Coda, the child of deaf parents, and as a researcher in the field of Deaf studies. Carrying out an analytical reading of this work allowed me to visualize the breadth of Robert Hoffmeister's legacy for deaf education in the United States and worldwide. The editors' decision to organize the volume into three major parts, (I) Seaworthy Construction: Theoretical Underpinnings of Bilingual Deaf Education, (II) Launching the Voyage: Bilingual Teaching Strategies for Deaf Education, and (III) Sailing into the Wind: Challenges of Signed Language Assessment, was a perfect metaphor, especially considering that this volume honors Robert Hoffmeister. This teacher and researcher, the son of deaf parents, who dedicated his life to denouncing the errors and mistakes in how deaf education has been conducted, was able, at the same time, to succeed in managing his own anger by seeking an ecological balance through sailing. The volume and its organization are exquisite in the way they capture the man. The contributions to [End Page 349] this volume were organized to reflect three parts that metaphorically comprise the planning, the launching of the proposals, and, finally, the harvesting of the fruits of all the work previously ruminated. This book was organized by former students of Robert Hoffmeister's to record this moment in his life in which he ended his academic career at Boston University. However, it is noteworthy that he continues to work on his life project, sailing through the ocean. In the first part, the volume provides us with a historical retrospective elaborated by Brian H. Greenwald covering deaf education in the United States from its foundation to the present day. The author presents this historical overview succinctly, but at the same time manages to map the foundations on which the studies launched by Robert Hoffmeister were based: the question of whether ASL should be used in the classroom; the imposition of restrictions on the use of ASL, the resistance of American deaf communities, and the advances despite all these challenges. To the story told by Greenwald, the other authors of this section add important foundational elements: the acquisition of sign language by Jenny L. Singleton and Richard Meier, focusing on its contextualization; Naomi Caselli, Amy Lieberman, and Jennie Pyers bring up possible threats for ASL acquisition due to the lack of recognition of ASL; Frances Colin addresses additional specific issues related to sign language acquisition; Mathew Dye and Brennan Terhune-Cotter discuss the issue of visual attention in deaf children; and Catherine L. Caldwell-Harris ends this section with a discussion of theoretical aspects on the acquisition of English by deaf children based on a study carried out in co-authorship with Robert Hoffmeister. The first part, therefore, lays out the bases of deaf education, which rest on the acquisition of language via a natural sign language, one of the flags raised insistently by Robert Hoffmeister throughout his career. In the second part, the focus of the chapters is on teaching strategies in deaf education, and, therefore, the boat is launched in this process. In this part, discussion of deaf education takes place in the context of different education strategies. Marlon Kuntz and Debbie Gloss share important pedagogical aspects for promoting the literacy of deaf children, including ways to ensure that deaf children recognize their deaf identity through literacy by using books and media [End Page...