Teaching English to Deaf Students: A1 Sample Curriculum

Güçlütürk Y.

The 5th International English for Specific Purposes Conference (METU-ESPC), Ankara, Türkiye, 1 - 02 Temmuz 2022

  • Yayın Türü: Bildiri / Yayınlanmadı
  • Basıldığı Şehir: Ankara
  • Basıldığı Ülke: Türkiye
  • Ankara Üniversitesi Adresli: Evet

Özet

English teaching methods and materials for second language (L2) teaching is also adopted for teaching English to deaf students (Goldberg & Bordman 1974). Though, fundamentally relying on compensatory visual input without access to the sounds of spoken language causes complexities in (L2) acquisition of English for the Deaf (Quigley & King, 1980; Berent & Clymer, 2007). In terms of whether to teach grammar implicitly or explicitly, studies have put across that the hypothesis that language can be learned with little consciousness is theoretically problematic (e.g., Schmidt, 1993, 1995; Smith, 1993). There is also extensive factual evidence that teaching approaches that focus mainly on meaning without focusing on grammar are inadequate (Harley & Swain, 1984; Lapkin, Hart, & Swain, 1991; among others). Likewise, recent research carried out on second language acquisition has determined that instructed language learning has major effects level and rate of L2 acquisition. In particular, research has shown that form-focused instruction is especially effective when it is incorporated into a meaningful communicative context (Nassaji & Fotos, 2011)

The modality differences in both languages results in different grammatical structures, thus making it difficult for the Deaf to learn the structures of spoken languages. Thus, the grammatical rules should be explicitly taught to the students. It is for this reason that the present study focuses on presenting an example curriculum design for teaching English as a second language to Deaf students based on form focused instruction of grammatical information. The afore mentioned curriculum follows the Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR) for English beginners (the study will only outline the curriculum for A1 level). It is hoped that the curriculum presented will help promote Deaf students’ literacy and linguistic skills of English.

 

Keyword: CEFR, English teaching to Deaf Students, Form focused teaching, teaching English as a Second Language