Interpreter-mediated Interactions: Parent Participation in Individualized Education Plan Meetings for Deaf Students from Multilingual Homes

Abstract

ABSTRACT This paper examines the ways in which parents of multilingual deaf children (are able to) participate in annual individualized education plan (IEP) meetings mediated by both signed and spoken language interpreters. Data are drawn from an ethnographic, discourse-analytic study conducted in a U.S. school district and informed by the ethnography of language policy and nexus analysis. The importance of parent participation in IEP meetings and the role of interpreters as mediators of parent-educator interactions are discussed. Next, three key incidents from one video-recorded IEP meeting are analyzed to see how parent-educator interactions are mediated by the interpreters. Particular attention is paid to the language modalities of the speakers and the use of gaze and body positioning in regulating the rhythm of the interaction. To conclude, the conditions and consequences of parent participation in interpreter-mediated IEP meetings are presented and discussed.