Abstract

Problem: The proposed project addresses a critical problem facing most schools serving Deaf students in grades Kindergarten through college- insufficient clarity of sign communication by teachers due to wide variation in sign abilities. Today a very small number of teachers of the Deaf use American Sign Language in the classroom. Most teachers use other variations of sign language such as (1) Pidgin Signed English, (2) Signed English, (3) Simultaneous Communication, (4) Total Communication. Clear and effective communication is critically important to both students' learning in school and their success in future careers. Proposed Project Activities: This project will develop and implement a lesson plan for instruction of three different mathematical concepts. Three teachers who are each proficient in using one of three different varieties of sign language (native ASL, nonnative ASL, and Signed English) will be selected to teach the same math lesson to selected students. Sample problems will be selected that could vary conceptually in the instructional presentation due to different sign language methods. This project will examine these research issues using first-year deaf students on the Gallaudet and NTID college campuses. Intended Outcomes: The target outcome is to indicate which mode of sign language is the most instructionally clear and effective for use in the mathematics classroom. From this information, instructional implications and recommendations will be developed to educate current teachers of the Deaf and teacher preparation programs for educating the Deaf throughout the country about the most clear and effective mode of sign language that can be used in the mathematics classroom.

Publication Date

9-15-2005

Document Type

Master's Project

Student Type

Graduate

Department, Program, or Center

Master of Science of Secondary Education of Students Who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing (NTID)

Advisor

Kelly, Ronald - Chair

Advisor/Committee Member

Mousley, Keith

Advisor/Committee Member

Bateman, Gerald

Comments

Note: imported from RIT’s Digital Media Library running on DSpace to RIT Scholar Works in December 2013.

Campus

RIT – Main Campus

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