Faculty of Education - Theses

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Author: Fram, Marie Therese × End date: 1995 × Start date: 1990 × Type: Masters Coursework thesis × Subject: English language ×

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    Spoken, signed and written language of three deaf children engaged in a signed English program
    Fram, Marie Therese ( 1992)
    Against a background which proposes significant change in the education of deaf students, it is significant that the Australasian Signed English system has had little investigation, either in terms of teacher accuracy in using Signed English, or in studies to examine the development of English competency among the students engaged in such programs. This study has sought to investigate the development of English structures in a group of children whose education is taking place through the medium of Signed English combined with speech and audition. Language samples were collected as a matter of routine during the course of a school year from three children who commenced the year aged 6.7, 6.8 and 6.9 years. Activities which typically occur in classrooms over the course of a year were used rather than contexts which are not authentic and are unrelated to the normal communicative environment of the classroom. Three codes of English have been examined: spoken English, signed English and written English, and eleven aspects of English grammatical structure: negation, copula, possessives, plurals, pronouns, relativisation, conjunctions, third person singular, question forms, past tense and auxiliaries. The data from the three children indicate the presence of developing English structures. These may occur in the mature form, in a non-mature form, or as yet unmarked or marked inconsistently. There is also evidence of approximations which mirror the overgeneralisations to be found in young hearing learners of English. The data reveal differences between the three children and differences between the three modes, as well as the degree to which the children accurately use the three forms of English. The results of this study present a possible interpretation as to the English development which is occurring in many children engaged in Signed English programs. Further examination, particularly on a longitudinal basis, is recommended.