teaching english as a foreign Language to hard of hearing students

anna Podlewska

John Paul ii Catholic university of Lublin

abstract

At John Paul II catholic university of Lublin, many students with hearing impairment have expressed interest in attending English for the deaf and Hard of Hearing classes . Because the curricular objectives for regular foreign language courses put emphasis on perfecting such language skills as speaking (and pronunciation), listening comprehension, reading and writing, most deaf and hard of hearing students have complained of failing to understand the linguistic and topical content of the lessons and of being marginalized in the classroom . Since the main purpose of cued Speech is to facilitate access to the spoken language, it can be used as a tool for developing both receptive and productive language skills . This paper presents an empirically-based approach to foreign language instruction that incorporates cued Speech as one of the modes of communication used in the class-room .

Keywords: hard of hearing, cued Speech, English as a foreign language instruction, lan-guage skills

introduction

Every few years, new foreign language teaching approaches arrive on the scene . There has been a tendency historically to promote them as more effective than those that have preceded them . to give an example, one approach to teaching may empha-size the value of using analytical procedures that focus on the explanation of grammar rules while another stresses the importance of direct and spontaneous communica-tion between learners . teaching English as a foreign language to students who are

hard of hearing presents considerable challenges . The traditional Grammar trans-lation approach¹ can be implemented through extensive use of visual media (realia, wall pictures, flashcards, cuisenaire rods², computer-based presentation technology, etc .) . Fingerspelling³ can be used to convey graphemic information about the English language . Gaps in deaf and hard of hearing students’ conceptual knowledge can be filled through the use of Polish Sign Language . However, the development of conver-sational skills and strategies and the acquisition of phonological information about English present more difficulties . Since cued Speech represents spoken language vis-ually in real time, it can be used as a tool for developing the aforementioned skills . The way to evaluate the extent to which various language teaching approaches can be applied to foreign language instruction for students with hearing impairment is to derive appropriate classroom practices from empirical evidence on the nature of lan-guage acquisition and use and from insights into what brings about positive changes in hard of hearing students’ learning . The empirical database for this paper is derived from observations and transcripts from English for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing classes at John Paul II catholic university of Lublin .

english for the Deaf and hard of hearing Classes at John Paul ii Catholic university of Lublin

English for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing classes have been conducted at John Paul II catholic university of Lublin since 1998 . They were set up on the initiative of Ewadomagała-Zyśk, (cf . domagała-Zyśk 2006, 2009a, 2009b, 2010; Podlewska 2012) . The classes are taught in small groups or on a one-to-one basis by a teacher/

translator whose primary tasks include making the content of each lesson more accessible . Thus various methods of communication are used during classes, from

1 An approach to foreign language teaching which is characterized by the explicit instruction of grammatical rules, followed by the application of this knowledge to the task of translating sentences from the target language (L2) back to the students’ first language (L1) and vice versa . It hence views language learning as consisting mainly of memorizing rules and facts in order to understand and manipulate the morphology and syntax of the foreign language . The goal of foreign language study is to pass an examination rather than to use the language for daily com-municative interaction . consequently, Grammar translation gives little if any consideration to speaking or listening . For a more detailed analysis, see Howatt (1984) and Kelly (1969) .

2 Small blocks of wood originally designed for maths teaching by the Belgian educator caleb Gattegno . cuisenaire rods are useful for demonstrating a whole range of semantic and syntactic areas, particularly with people who respond well to visual and kinaesthetic activities .

3 one of the four options for conveying traditionally-spoken languages to the deaf conversation-ally in face-to-face interactions . American English fingerspelling uses 26 handshapes on a single hand to represent the 26 English graphemes (letters of the alphabet) .

speaking clearly and lipreading, gesticulating wildly and giving students step-by-step instructions in Polish Sign Language, to using cued Speech . The regular feed-back provided by our students towards the end of each semester shows that they find these methods of communication both helpful and satisfactory (cf . Podlewska 2012) .

The classroom was adapted to hard of hearing students’ needs . Since the mi-crophones in hearing aids and cochlear implants pick up and amplify all sounds and not just the speaker’s voice, day to day management of the listening environ-ment is of primary importance . In an effort to make sure that the acoustics of the room are acoustics as good as possible background noise levels⁴ and reverberation time⁵ were reduced to a minimum . The hard surfaces in the room were softened with carpets, soft wall coverings and blinds . The students are encouraged to devel-op values that ensure noise is kept low . Moreover, they are always positioned near the speaker .

during the 2011-2012academic year a total of eleven hard of hearing students were enrolled in the class for a variety of reasons: to pass examinations and get the necessary credits, to travel in anglophone countries, to be able to actively par-ticipate in international conferences and workshops, to learn a new language and culture . Throughout the university the students have varying degrees of language ability in English and of hearing loss: between 70 and 100 dB in both ears . to assess students’ foreign language backgrounds, a Beginning English Inventory (see Ap-pendix A) was developed . respondents were asked to address detailed questions or to tick their response from the following options: very well, well, average, a little, not at all . The directions for completing the items were given in Polish . Participants were allowed approximately 10 seconds to write or tick their response on the form provided . of the ten students who completed the form, six rated their ability to read, write or speak English as either “average” (2 students) or “a little” (4 students) . All students rated their ability to read, write, or speak Polish as “very well” or “well” . Eight of these students indicated an ability to read, write, or speak one or more of the following languages: Polish Sign Language (3), German (4), Latin (1), Italian (1) . two students indicated that they did not know any other foreign languages . none of the students enrolled in English for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing class had prior exposure to British cued Speech . two students indicated some exposure to the Polish adaptation of cued Speech, Fonogesty, but were not proficient users of the system .

4 Background noise – the amount of noise going on in a room before the conversation or listening takes place . The most common sources of classroom background noise include: air conditioning systems, lights, computers, projectors, traffic and people .

5 reverberation – the length of time it takes for a sound to die away . Short reverberation times can make a voice easier to hear .

Background to the general use of Cued speech

cued Speech is a visual communication system which employs eight handshapes and four hand locations to supplement the visual manifestation of normal speech making spoken language visually clear on the levels of phonemes – the smallest meaningful units in the sound system of a language, morphemes – the combination of phonemes into meaningful elements, syntax – the arrangement of words in sen-tences, semantics – conveying the relationships between linguistic forms and mean-ing, duration, stress and, if needed, intonation (see Figure 1) . The system can also help to facilitate the development of the pragmatic uses of language as well as the use of different registers for a variety of communicative circumstances and interlocutors .

The use of Cued speech at John Paul ii Catholic university of Lublin

Although cued Speech was originally devised to give the deaf and hard of hear-ing access to spoken language by conveyhear-ing all the necessary buildhear-ing blocks, the system has also proved to be a useful tool for focusing on developing specific lan-guage skills such as speech production, extensive and intensive listening and literacy . At John Paul II catholic university of Lublin cueing is used with deaf and hard of hearing adult students, who have not received cued Speech before, to speed up com-munication in their instruction, to help them to clarify their articulation, to mini-mize the frequency of phonetic errors occurrence and to ease the strain of lipreading . It was necessary therefore to create a new approach to accessing English with cued English⁶ to match the needs of the students at the university .

introducing Cued speech to students

The idea of facilitating the process of learning English as a foreign language through cueing is gradually introduced to the first year students during a workshop aimed at explaining the fundamental principles of the system, its advantages and

6 cued English – the term referring to cued Speech used with the English language (just as cued Polish means cued Speech used with the Polish language) . Even though a cued language and a traditionally spoken language can co-occur, neither hearing nor speech is necessary for the reception or expression of cued language .

history. The introductory workshop always provokes an open discussion of the issues involved in foreign language learning and hearing impairment. A lot of hard of hear-ing students complain of havhear-ing very limited access to natural setthear-ings for language learning such as exposure to the language outside the classroom. The same students admit that they are frustrated with their mainstream school English teachers who frequently modify the way they speak when addressing the hard of hearing learners.

Hard of hearing-directed speech involves a much slower rate of delivery, shouting, shorter, simpler sentence patterns, repetition, and paraphrase and is counterproduc-tive, as it uses unnatural lipshapes and grammar structures. The students often ex-press the need to master the sounds and pronunciation of the target language. One of their most important learning goals is to develop communicative effectiveness and intelligibility. The workshop participants quickly realize that Cued Speech can cater for all the aforementioned needs and are usually willing to try this new approach to foreign language learning.

Learning to cue

Materials and lessons are planned to gradually introduce students to the eight handshapes and four placements employed by the system in order from the most commonly used phonemes to the least commonly used ones:

- Handshape 5: /t, m, f/ and mouth placement:

- Handshape 3: /h, s, r/ and chin placement:

Right from the start the class teacher adds some cued words to the vocabulary used every day such as: ‘hello’, ‘goodbye’, students’ names, simple instructions and incorporates some of the topic vocabulary where possible. As students become more confident with the Cued Speech system, they are asked to tackle simple and complex phoneme-specific tasks.

6 Learning to cue

- Handshape 5: /t, m, f/ and mouth placement: /i , , / simple instructions and incorporates some of the topic vocabulary where possible. As students become more confident with the Cued Speech system, they are asked to tackle simple and complex phoneme-specific tasks.

English for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing classroom in action Ashas already been stated, in order to place English for the hard of hearing methodology on an empirical footing, one has to observe, document, and analyse what goes on in their classroom and other classrooms catering for the needs of students with hearing impairment. The author of this paper has attempted to go some way towards grounding her methodological practices in the day-to-day reality of her classroom by collecting real classroom data. from the most commonly used phonemes to the least commonly used ones:

The following transcript has been taken from a lesson with four pre-intermediate hard of hearing students. The extract is based on a

English for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing classroom in action

As has already been stated, in order to place English for the hard of hearing methodology on an empirical footing, one has to observe, document, and analyse what goes on in their classroom and other classrooms catering for the needs of stu-dents with hearing impairment. The author of this paper has attempted to go some way towards grounding her methodological practices in the day-to-day reality of her classroom by collecting real classroom data. The following transcript has been taken from a lesson with four pre-intermediate hard of hearing students. The extract is based on a pronunciation practice task. In the previous lesson the students were introduced to vocabulary related to the body. In the present lesson the pronunciation focus provides the context for revising all recently encountered lexical items. The students’ task is to match words with single vowel sounds to their phonetic symbol using dominoes. They have been divided into two groups of two students (S1 + S2 and S3 + S4). Each group has been given the following set of dominoes⁷:

7 Adapted from Inside Out upper intermediate Resource Pack.

pronunciation practice task. In the previous lesson the students were introduced to vocabulary related to the body. In the present lesson the pronunciation focus provides the context for revising all recently encountered lexical items. The students’ task is to match words with single vowel sounds to their phonetic symbol using dominoes. They have been divided into two groups of two students (S1 + S2 and S3 + S4). Each group has been given the following set of dominoes⁷:

/i /

The students have been told to play a game of dominoes where single vowel phonetic symbols are connected to words which contain that single vowel sound. Each student in the group has the same number of dominoes. The one who has the domino with ‘body’ is to start the game by placing this domino on the table. The students take turns to try to dispose of their dominoes. Before placing their domino on the table, the member of the

7 Adapted from Inside Out upper intermediate Resource Pack.

The students have been told to play a game of dominoes where single vowel pho-netic symbols are connected to words which contain that single vowel sound . Each student in the group has the same number of dominoes . The one who has the

W dokumencie English as a foreign language (Stron 181-197)