What do Teachers of the Deaf need to know about Sign Language Linguistics? An Insider's Perspective

Abstract

Much have been written about Deaf Education and Sign Language, however little is known of the experiences and perceptions of teachers of the Deaf themselves, and the issues they perceive as crucial in Deaf education. This article presents the findings of a qualitative investigation into the perceptions and experiences of Deaf adults and teachers of the Deaf of Deaf education in South Africa. The majority of teachers of the Deaf in South Africa are not trained and even less are skilled users of South African Sign Language. Deaf education appears to be failing Deaf learners as the majority of Deaf learners leave school functionally illiterate. The aim of this study was to rigorously and methodically analyse and describe the emic views of teachers of the Deaf and Deaf adults in South Africa in order to assist in developing a teacher training programme to sufficiently equip teachers of the Deaf in South Africa. This is proposed as the first step in improving the levels of Deaf education in South Africa. The central finding of this investigation was that both teachers of the Deaf and Deaf adults themselves saw Sign Language as the quintessence of Deaf education. Both the practical and theoretical knowledge of SASL was emphasised as well as the impact of language on cultural and identity development. This paper proposes to present the Sign Languages' aspect of the study that emerged from the grassroots practitioners.