BSL in School: A sign of change or token gesture?
Issue 10: News Section | author: Olivia Cowhig
Olivia Cowhig is a second-year student of BSL (British Sign Language), Deaf Studies and Linguistics at York St. John University. In this article, Olivia discusses the historical, contemporary, and potential near future status of deaf and hard of hearing people and BSL within the education system, with parallels to Welsh in education.
A BSL GCSE is in the works. Spearheaded by signature, a BSL teaching organisation, it is currently in the stage of development where the Department for Education and Ofqual are in the process of designing the curriculum[1]. In addition, the 2022 British Sign Language Act[2] recognised BSL as a national language of Britain as well as create responsibilities for the government to promote and facilitate BSL usage in its final stages of reading and ratification. But a question looms large – is this a sign of change for the Deaf community or simply a token gesture? Will it lead to adequate pedagogical practice in order to provide BSL and serve the linguistic needs of Deaf students?
To discuss this issue properly, we need a brief history of deaf education. In the 18th century, Charles-Michel de l'Épée founded a school for the Deaf in Paris where he used sign language to teach the students and from there the manualist method (teaching deaf children using sign language)[3]. In 1880, the Second International Congress for Education of the Deaf was held in Milan[4]. There, a resolution was passed banning the use of sign language and the manualist method in favour of the declared “superior” oralist method which focused on deaf children’s speech only - despite the reason for manualism being the lack of deaf children’s ability to access speech. Wearable hearing aids developed throughout the 20th century and the modern cochlear implant was developed in the 1990s[5]. These developments made it possible for a majority of deaf people to attend mainstream schools where communication is primarily in English[6,7].
But despite the ‘superior’ method and the introduction of hearing devices, the academic ability and attainment of deaf and hard of hearing (DHH) pupils lag behind that of hearing pupils, especially in secondary school[7, 8]. Not only that, but in interviews with mainstreamed deaf pupils it was found that “their time in a mainstream school setting has led them to construct a marginal or negative social identity”[9] and the experiences of deaf adults raised using spoken language have been found to include social isolation due to “(1) limitations in communication with hearing peers; (2) missing information in social, academic, and work settings; and (3) a sense of being ‘different’ ”[10].
A big concern regarding the implementation of a BSL GCSE is that modern foreign language (MFL) teaching in the UK already produces generally poor outcomes and student engagement. MFL GCSEs produce low language ability: even the highest grade (level 9, formerly A*) corresponding to only the level B1 in the Common European Framework of Reference for language ability (CEFR). The CEFR recognises six ability levels, grouped as “basic”, “independent”, and “proficient”, with B1 being the lower band at the “independent” level[11]. All GCSE grades below 9/A* fall within “basic” in the CEFR scheme[12]. A report comparing the French curriculums in English and German schools found that the French curriculum in England emphasises linguistic accuracy over communicative fluency, complexity, and fluency[13]. It concludes that MFL GCSEs “are likely to fall short of helping young people identify the value and relevance of languages in their education”[13]. This is supported in a comparative survey which found that English students report significantly lower rates of enjoyment and positive opinions about MFL learning compared to German and Dutch pupils[14]. If the BSL GCSE is implemented in a similar way to existing MFL GCSEs, then it is at risk of a similar outcome.
However, Britain has seen an instance where language policy has been successfully used to combat monolingualism: the revitalisation and maintenance of Welsh. Welsh primary and secondary schools are classified by their language use from Predominantly English Schools to fully Welsh-Medium schools with a wide range of bilingual and dual stream schools in between[15]. Wales was the birthplace of the term “translanguaging” (trawsieithu) in the 1980s to describe how English and Welsh were blended in the school setting, and while the term itself has developed since then “translanguaging” is still seen in bilingual schools in the 21st century[16]. One such way this occurs is via information being provided to children in English and schoolwork being done in Welsh, so that both languages are practised; this is done in both primary and secondary school, although in secondary there is a greater degree of language separation[16]. Education is also part of the “Cymraeg 2050” plan[17], the Welsh government’s language revitalisation plan for there to reach one million Welsh speakers by 2050. The “Cymraeg 2050” plan states that “Welsh-medium immersion education is our principal method for ensuring that children can develop their Welsh language skills, and for creating new speakers[17]. The 2021 Annual Population Survey recorded that, over the past decade, the number of Welsh speakers has increased from 25.2% of the population to 29.5%, which equates to 883,300 people, reversing the previous decade’s downward trend[18]. However, when one counts people with passive competence in Welsh, the Survey found that 33.4% (~1,010,300) report that they can understand spoken Welsh[18].
Could a similar methodology be implemented with BSL? The Sign in Education programme[19] was a trial project where a Deaf teacher and Deaf students from a Deaf school were brought to a year-one class at a hearing school, where the Deaf teacher taught BSL and used BSL to teach. The report that followed it concluded that “[t]he hearing students’ BSL developed through general exposure [...] during the day”, that “they actively sought to make friends with the Deaf students”, and that “they had clearly acquired the wherewithal to communicate with Deaf children in their native BSL”[19]. Regarding the benefits to DHH students, those transitioning from a mainstream setting to a signing setting show improvement in both self-image and academic results: “according to students, this is due to feelings of belonging as equal members of the social group where they are given the opportunity [...] to communicate without restrictions”[9]. While this largely pertains to Deaf students moving to Deaf schools, similar ease of communication could potentially be achieved if hearing pupils signed. History also shows us historical examples of mixed hearing-deaf signing societies such as Martha’s Vineyard; where isolation caused a higher-than-average number of deaf people and the proliferation of Martha’s Vineyard Sign Language throughout the whole community and harmonious deaf-hearing interactions and complete deaf accessibility[3, 20]
Whether or not the BSL GCSE and BSL Act are actioned effectively will heavily depend on the implementation of them by the UK government and British school system. Deaf pupils are currently at high risk of isolation and poor grades due to the mainstream schools’ sole use of spoken language and the implementation of a sole subject may not be enough to change that trend in light of the poor quality of MFL teaching in the UK. Britain has the opportunity to implement a thorough BSL teaching policy along lines laid out by an existing nation within Britain that would benefit both hearing and deaf students. The question remains – will they take it?
References:
Foster, L. (2019). “Lindsay Foster: GCSE Update”. https://www.signature.org.uk/lindsay-foster-gcse-update-2/. Accessed: 17/1/2022.
UK Parliament. (2022). British Sign Language Act 2022. https://bills.parliament.uk/bills/2915.Accessed: 19/09/2022.
Deafhistory.eu. (2020). 1712 - 1789: Abbé Charles Michel de l'Epée (FR). https://deafhistory.eu/index.php/component/zoo/item/abbe-charles-michel-de-l-epee. Accessed: 24/09/2022.
Deafhistory.eu. (2020). 1880: The Milan Conference Accessible at: https://deafhistory.eu/index.php/component/zoo/item/1880 Accessed: 21/09/2022.
Henkel, G. (2013). “History Of the Cochlear Implant”. ENTtoday. https://www.enttoday.org/article/history-of-the-cochlear-implant/?singlepage=1. Accessed: 20/09/2022.
Hendar, O. & O’Neill, R. (2016). “Monitoring the Achievement of Deaf Pupils in Sweden and Scotland: Approaches and Outcomes”. Deafness & Education International, 18(1) pp. 47-56.
Young, A. et al., (2014). “Further Education as a Post-Secondary Destination for Deaf and Hard of Hearing Young People: A Review of the Literature and Analysis of Official Statistics in England.” Deafness & Education International, 17(1) pp. 49-59.
Powers, S., Gregory, S. & Thoutenhoofd, E. D. (1999). “The educational achievements of deaf children: a literature review executive summary”. Deafness & Education International, 1(1) pp. 1-9.
Andersson, S. & Lyngbäck, L. A. (2022). “ ‘But I feel more at home in the Deaf world even if I can talk’: D/deaf adolescents’ experiences of transitioning from a mainstream school to a Deaf school in Sweden”. Deafness & Education International, 24(3) pp. 249-266.
Bain, L. Scott, S. and Steinberg, A. G. (2004). “Socialization Experiences and Coping Strategies of Adults Raised Using Spoken Language’. The Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education, 9 (1) pp. 120–128.
Council of Europe (n.d).Global scale - Table 1 (CEFR 3.3): Common Reference levels, Accessible from: https://www.coe.int/en/web/common-european-framework-reference-languages/table-1-cefr-3.3-common-reference-levels-global-scale. Accessed: 24/09/2022.
Curcin, M. and Black, B. (2019). “Investigating standards in GCSE French, German and Spanish through the lens of the CEFR”. Ofqual. https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/844034/Investigating_standards_in_GCSE_French__German_and_Spanish_through_the_lens_of_the_CEFR.pdf. Accessed: 3/10/22.
Gruber, A. & Hopwood, O. (2022). “Foreign language education policies at secondary school level in England and Germany: an international comparison”. The Language Learning Journal, 50(2), pp. 249-261.
Bartram, B. (2006). “Attitudes to language learning: A comparative study of peer group influences”. The Language Learning Journal, 33(1), pp. 47-52.
Llywodraeth Cynulliad Cymru / Welsh Assembly Government. (Now Senedd Cymru / Welsh Parliament). (2007). “Defining schools according to Welsh medium provision”. https://dera.ioe.ac.uk/7302/2/defining-schools-welsh-medi2_Redacted.pdf. Accessed: 3/10/22.
Jones, B (2017).“Translanguaging in Bilingual Schools in Wales”. Journal of Language, Identity & Education, 16(4), pp. 199-215
Llywodraeth Cymru / Welsh Government (2017). Cymraeg 2050: A million Welsh speakers. Accessible from: https://gov.wales/sites/default/files/publications/2018-12/cymraeg-2050-welsh-language-strategy.pdf (Accessed at: 14/09/2022
Llywodraeth Cymru / Welsh Government (2021). Welsh language data from the Annual Population Survey: 2021. https://gov.wales/welsh-language-data-annual-population-survey-2021. Accessed: 14/09/2022.
Daniels, M. (2001). “Sign Language Advantage”. Sign Language Studies, 2(1) pp. 5-19.
Cameron, W. (2005). “Deaf History: Martha's Vineyard”. Lifeprint. http://www.lifeprint.com/asl101/pages-layout/marthasvineyard.htm. Accessed: 20/09/2022.
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