Dtlls_(L119)_-_Teaching_a_Specialist_Subject_-_British_Sign_Language

My subject specialism is British Sign Language (BSL) and D/deaf Awareness. I am currently teaching this as a Level 1 course with a consistent group of Heath and Social care students as enrichment for their course and for next years UCAS applications. In this assignment I will address the key aims and issues in my specialist area of BSL and look particularly at the issue of inclusion in teaching my subject specialism. The formal teaching of British Sign Language is a relatively new phenomenon, as sign language only became an officially recognised language in Great Britain in 2001. Sign language was viewed less as a language and more as a pantomime or system of gesturing believed to be incomparable to a spoken or written language. (Sutton-Spence, Woll, 1998) There have of course been classes of some description as long as there has been a signed language but the formalisation of this has caused a lot of confusion and uncertainty in the subject itself. It seems that every few years the subject is completely overhauled and the entire way it is taught and evaluated reassessed. Because of this, it is an ever-changing and often confusing subject to teach. I am currently teaching Level 1 BSL so this is noticeable to a lesser degree and I am also creating my own course as I am teaching enrichment as part of an health and social course so these changes effect me somewhat less. However, starting from scratch and knowing so many peoples negative experiences of being taught sign language because of its constant up-dating and ever-changing nature means I have very little solid ground on which to form my own course and delivery. This is a major issue for me and for my colleagues also teaching sign language. We all experienced complicated and completely diverse delivery and assessment and so basing our teaching on role models is nearly impossible. We have all spoken to current professionals in our subject areas to get their views but even so, the delivery is so varied that we feel more led by instinct and personal experience than anything else. A very important key issue with the teaching of British Sign Language is that it is rapidly evolving and has a plethora of regional variations for signs. There may be historical variations for a sign1, general regional differences or simply a number of signs for one word. It is important to consider this when teaching as things can often become complicated for students. If a student decides to do some extra work and look things up online, they may find a completely different set of signs to those that that have been taught which can be both confusing and a knock to a students confidence, not to mention them loosing faith in you as a teacher. Of course discussing this in class and encouraging variations will help but it can over complicate what is essentially a basic course. In my current position, I am teaching a basic Level 1 course that is not awarded or verified. ‘Signature’ are the awarding body for BSL in England and though I stick to their general prescribed route through the materials I do not liaise with them directly as I am not one of their registered Tutors. Currently I liaise with ‘Signature’ BSL teachers within Newcastle College, respected BSL Interpreters who have taught and continue to teach the subject up to level 6 elsewhere and a Deaf BSL lecturer. This helps me construct a rounded course suitable for my learners and not too different from the ‘Signature’ courses currently available. I am also currently studying for my Level 6 BSL Language and Level 6 BSL Interpreting qualifications. As I am continuing to learn the subject, this informs my own teaching, as I am kept completely up-to-date with the subject itself and the teaching of it. I continue to work with D/deaf people which is really useful for picking up new signs (particularly for modern inventions such as the iPhone, iPad, Kindle etc.) and for keeping in touch with D/deaf culture; an essential part of learning BSL. As I am only teaching a level 1 course, the students coming to do the course can be very varied in both background and experience but also in reasons for doing the course. Most people do the course as education or professional enrichment and so have a reasonable level of education but this cannot be presumed. It is a level 1 course and so all materials need to be basic and accessible. There are no basic requirements for getting onto a sign language course other then being physically able to make the hand shapes so people may not feel it necessary to disclose any learning difficulties or problems such as dyslexia. Because of this, materials need to be produced with this in mind. I try to keep all my handouts and power points to an absolute minimum of text and any text is in Basic English to suit anyone with barriers to learning or low level literacy. It is not uncommon for deafened people to learn sign language or hard of hearing people to learn sign language pre-emptively and so the course needs to be designed to take into account a student who may have a hearing loss. Though the classroom is normally set up in a horseshoe shape so all students can see me demonstrating the signs clearly (and I can see them repeat them), in other classrooms this isn’t always possible so a D/deaf learner would be encouraged to sit near the front. The DDA Part 4 states that; “ [the DDA requires] responsible bodies to provide certain types of reasonable adjustment to provision where disabled students or other disabled people might otherwise be substantially disadvantaged.” Teaching any signed language has some immediate issues regarding inclusion and reasonable adjustment. British Sign Language is a two-handed language that is very physical and requires quite clear and distinct hand shapes to convey words and meaning. It is also a completely visual language as it is the main form of communication for people who solely rely on visual information. Because of these reasons, it would be near impossible for a blind student to do the course or for someone who is severely physically restricted or disabled as there would be no reasonable adjustment that would make their participation in the course possible. For whatever reason, women rather than men normally study sign language. In any given sign language class, the majority of the class will be female and this becomes more pronounced the higher the level of the course. As a female teacher, I am more likely to direct content towards females and may, without realising, make content more accessible for women rather than men. The group I teach currently is entirely female so this isn’t really an issue currently, but as I start to teach other groups, I will have to be aware of making my teaching materials not gender biased. Though I have already taken certain measures to try and make my materials, delivery and classroom environment as inclusive as possible, keeping the course inclusive for all students will differ with ever cohort as ever group is made up of individuals so no two groups, or how I teach them, will ever be the same. Bibliography Wright, A.M., Sina, A.J., Colquhoun, S., Speare, J. and Partridge, T. 2006, FE Lecturers Guide to Diversity and Inclusion, London: Continuum. SCALES. 2008., Teaching In The Lifelong Learning Sector. [online]. Open University Press. Available from: 19 February 2012 Abilitynet.org.uk (2010) DDA Part 4 Access to Post 16 Education - AbilityNet. [online] Available at: http://www.abilitynet.org.uk/edu_law_he [Accessed: 19 Feb 2012].