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Ponte Academic Journal
Aug 2019, Volume 75, Issue 8

SUBDUING HEGEMONY OF LITERACY INADEQUACY BY (RE) EMBRACING MULTILINGUALISM IN A DEAF SCIENCE CLASSROOM

Author(s): Erasmos Charamba ,Zano Kufakunesu, Jisa Walter, Matariro Mariyeni

J. Ponte - Aug 2019 - Volume 75 - Issue 8
doi: 10.21506/j.ponte.2019.8.5



Abstract:
Worldwide, education for the deaf is punctuated with communication philosophy controversies. Whereas the monolingual- biased oral philosophy has dominated the education of the deaf in Zimbabwe for decades, debate on use of alternative pedagogies of communication opened up recently. This article provides an overview of the research into deaf learners’ bilingual education in a science class. The researchers employed a critical disabilities study approach within the qualitative paradigm to collect focus group interview data from the teachers at a primary school in Zimbabwe and analyzed the data using theme identification methods. The results show the positive effect of deaf bilingual education. This pedagogical approach gives the deaf learner the opportunity to learn and use sign language together with another language in the science classroom. According to the present study, a bilingual approach grants the deaf learner access to the curriculum in whichever language is most accessible to them in an environment that values deafness, sign language and deaf culture
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