American Sign Language and English as a Second Language

Closed Caption Videos Used in a Mixed Class for the Deaf and Hearing

I was really happy to hear from Sandie Linn, Associate Professor at the Centre City Continuing Education campus of the San Diego Community College District. She called me out of the blue.

“Because approximately half of my students are Deaf, I only use videos that have closed captions,” she said. ”When I visited the Real English website this summer, I got very excited.”

So I was indeed happy that I had put in the time to create versions of my videos with precise English subtitles.  I hadn’t ever thought about the Deaf.  I was thinking about “ordinary” learners of English as a Second or Foreign Language, who seem to appreciate the English subtitles. The results, so far, are here.Two years ago, several deaf students enrolled in Sandie’s class, which includes Vocational Adult Basic Education instruction and English as a Second Language.

Word soon got out that her class was user-friendly for the Deaf and hard of hearing, and the number of Deaf students increased. Sandie immediately became aware that she was going to have to take some classes for her own development – in American Sign Language – in order to ensure that her classes would be a success. She started taking ASL classes at Mesa College, also in San Diego.”In the classroom, hearing students have been observed making an effort communicating with Deaf students, and vice versa, employing combinations of sign language and written communication.”

Sandie explained a bit about the class dynamics: “The basic question that the students view on each Real English video can be addressed by all students, even those students at the lowest levels.  The complexity of the answers will vary, as the more advanced students will be required to give more complex answers on the Real English supplemental worksheets.”
 
Accompanied by two of her deaf students, ESL Professor Sandie Linn learns ASL with interpreter David Janisch.

I asked her about the fundamentals of her situation, wondering at first IF and HOW the Hearing and Deaf students worked together in the same class. “Yes,” she replied, “I teach Deaf and hearing students in the same class.  The beauty of your videos is that because they are closed captioned, the Deaf students can participate as fully as the hearing students.  The simplicity of the questions allows the hearing students to ask the Deaf students the question in American Sign Language.  While English is the language I use to teach the class, I incorporate ASL into every lesson.”