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Bilingual Deaf Education: The Impact of Teachers’ Beliefs on Professional Development and Classroom Practices

Bilingual Deaf Education: The Impact of Teachers’ Beliefs on Professional Development and Classroom Practices. Maribel G árate, Ph.D. CASA Conference April 2008. Who is here?. Parents Teachers PIP/ECE Elementary Middle School and High school Specialists and Support staff

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Bilingual Deaf Education: The Impact of Teachers’ Beliefs on Professional Development and Classroom Practices

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  1. Bilingual Deaf Education: The Impact of Teachers’ Beliefs on Professional Development and Classroom Practices Maribel Gárate, Ph.D. CASA Conference April 2008

  2. Who is here? • Parents • Teachers • PIP/ECE • Elementary • Middle School and High school • Specialists and Support staff • ASL / Bilingual Specialists • Speech and language professionals • Reading/literacy specialists • Administrators • Anyone else I forgot

  3. Lead mentor and trainer for the ASL/English Bilingual Professional Development model. Gallaudet University Department of Education Assistant Professor UG & MA English as a Second Language teacher at Kendall Demonstration Elementary School. Itinerant teacher of deaf and hard of hearing Mainstreamed students with the Arlington Public School system.

  4. Overview • Background • What we know • The study • What I wanted to know • The Process: methodology • Who, Where, & How, • The Findings • Beliefs and Classroom practice • Implications: • So what?

  5. Background • Growing support for a bilingual approach to educating Deaf children first proposed in the 1970’s, • On-going criticism about inconsistent implementation among programs self-identified as bilingual, • Creation of a professional development model in Deaf education promoting changes within the teaching profession by educating teachers about theories in general bilingual education: American Sign Language (ASL)/English Bilingual Professional Development (AEBPD) (1997), • Currently, little documentation about AEBPD’s impact on teachers’ application of bilingual practices.

  6. Personal experience Schooling experience Formal knowledge Teachers’ Beliefs Teaching Learners & learning Subjectmatter Teachingrole Instruction We know that …

  7. Bilingual Education: • Bilingual teachers believe in the role of the students’ first language and culture and the need for language role models. Their beliefs are influenced by their own status as bilinguals and their professional training. Second Language Teaching • Teachers’ beliefs about language teaching are influenced by their training, and both formal and informal experiences as language learners. (Martinez, 2000; Gonzales, 2000; Flores, 2001) (Johnson, 1992, 1994; Eisentein-Ebsworth & Schweers, 1997; Maum, 2003)

  8. Deaf Education: • Deaf education teachers hold beliefs about their students and their role in promoting literacy development. • Deaf bilingual education teachers hold beliefs about the role of American Sign Language, English, and Deaf culture in bilingual classrooms for Deaf students. (Erting, 1985; Reed, 2003) (Bailes, 1999; Gallimore, 2000)

  9. Let us test these ideas Take the survey Turn to someone near you and compare your answers If your answers differ for any one question, explain your reasons for answering the way you did

  10. Professional Development We also know … Address beliefs Make beliefs explicit Sustained Ongoing Intensive Collaboration Inquiry Reflection Action research Modeling Mentoring

  11. Professional Development • Professional development efforts must address teachers’ beliefs in order to affect change in their teaching practices. • Teachers must be presented with alternative practice models and demonstrations. (Guskey, 1986; Freeman, 1991,Richardson, 1994; Brody, 1998)

  12. The Study • To document and describe the implementation of the ASL/English Bilingual Professional Development Model in one school, • To investigate the changes in stated beliefs and instructional practices of three teachers who participated in the training, and • To explore the relationship between their beliefs and practice.

  13. Research Questions 1. How was the model implemented at this school during the two-year period? 2. What changes, if any, occurred in the participants’ stated beliefs about: • language learning, • language teaching, and • language acquisition? 3. What changes, if any, occurred in the participants’ instructional practices? 4. What connection, if any, exists between the participants’ stated beliefs and their instructional practices?

  14. Case study design: fit to study what teachers say, intend, and do 3 Deaf female teachers

  15. Data sources: • Interviews, guided reflections, classroom observations, mentor meetings, selected seminar, seminar summaries • Constant Comparative Method : ATLASti • Triangulation: cross referencing, peer debriefer, members’ check

  16. Findings Questions 2 and 3

  17. Question 2: What changes, if any, occurred in the participants’ stated beliefs about language learning, teaching, and acquisition? • Participants experienced affirmation of, as well as changes to, their beliefs about language teaching, learning, and acquisition. • Changes to their beliefs and patterns of practice were influenced by the areas in which they held more significant beliefs.

  18. Bafa Training Becoming a reflective teacher Patterns of Practice Parent Involvement Role as a teacher of young students Student Characteristics

  19. Stacey Training Role of Teacher of Special Needs Students Patterns of Practice Professional Training Student Characteristics

  20. Florencia Training Role as Teacher of Bilingual Students Patterns of Practice Personal Experience Student Characteristics

  21. their definition of bilingualism their understanding of language separation, the need for balanced use of two languages in the classroom, the need to explicitly bridge the transfer of knowledge and skills between the two languages, student characteristics; their role as teachers of diverse Deaf learners; personal experiences as bilingual individuals; professional training; parent involvement; the role of reflection in implementing a bilingual approach Changes Influences

  22. Question 3: What changes, if any, occurred in the participants’ instructional practices? Participants: • demonstrated their growing understanding of bilingual methodology and instructional strategies. • became more purposeful in their inclusion of ASL and English at the level most beneficial for their students. • applied bilingual methodologies to separate the two languages in their classroom.

  23. Observed Bilingual Practices • Language separation • English-only zone • Translation • Free • Literal • Fingerspelling • Sandwiching • Chaining • ASL interpretation strategies

  24. Implications Teachers • willingness to examine their beliefs and experiment with new practices • value ASL and English as the languages of bilingual Deaf children • Recognize their critical roles in a bilingual Deaf classroom. • Active participants in the process of change

  25. Implications Staff Developers • design of professional development programs • voluntary participation Administrators • Examination of own beliefs about and understanding of bilingual education • systematic training leading to school change • recognition of school culture • commitment to and support for training

  26. Questions • Thank you for your attention • Maribel.Garate@Gallaudet.edu

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