Bimodal multilingual education: recognizing the linguistic resources of a diverse deaf world

ABSTRACT

Although research of bilingualism in a single aural–oral linguistic mode is common, this has yet to be extended to visual–gestural modes of language use. This is a significant research gap, as deaf people and signed languages are agentic forces that contribute to a diverse global linguistic and sociocultural landscape. In this article, we present a current deaf bilingualism case study in Uruguay to explore ways that education may move beyond a focus on bimodal bilingualism to acquisition of multiple signed languages alongside a spoken one: bimodal multilingualism. We contextualize the Uruguayan case within a broader history of bilingual education and introduce the possibility of an educational initiative in which bimodal multilingual educational opportunities are available through Uruguayan Sign Language (LSU), Spanish, and American Sign Language (ASL). We suggest five areas to attune to as bimodal multilingual educational initiatives are pursued, attending to language vitality and viability related to a number of speakers, intergenerational language transmission, attitudes toward languages, domains of language use, availability of quality language materials, and responses to media use. Finally, we conclude with a call to bilingual education scholars to include an emergent horizon of bimodal multilingual education marked by acquisition of multiple signed languages.

KEYWORDS:

• Bimodal multilingualism
• deaf education
• sign language
• Uruguay
• language acquisition
• technology

Acknowledgements

We are grateful to our partners in Uruguay, Plan Ceibal, for their project invitation and collaboration.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Elizabeth S. Parks

Elizabeth S. Parks (PhD, University of Washington) is an assistant professor of Communication Studies at Colorado State University. Her scholarship blends social scientific and humanistic methods to better understand how we can improve listening and dialogue across difference in ways that contribute to individual and community well-being.

Jesús Calderón

Jesús Calderón (BA, Colorado State University) is a graduate student in the Department of Communication Studies at Colorado State University. He is interested in Latin American representation and identity composition in North American multimedia and focuses his scholarship on meaning-making processes in media surrounding social issues.