This paper presents a critical examination of key concepts in the study of (signed and spoken) language and multimodality. It shows how shifts in conceptual understandings of language use, moving from (individual and societal) bilingualism to multilingualism and (trans)languaging, have resulted in the revitalization of the concept of language repertoires. We discuss key assumptions and analytical developments that have shaped the sociolinguistic study of signed and spoken language multilingualism as separate from different strands of multimodality studies. In most multimodality studies, researchers focus on participants using one named spoken language within broader embodied human action. Thus while attending to multimodal communication, they do not attend to multilingual communication. In translanguaging studies the opposite has happened: scholars have attended to multilingual communication without really paying attention to multimodality and simultaneity, and hierarchies within the simultaneous combination of resources. The (socio)linguistics of sign language has paid attention to multimodality but only very recently have started to focus on multilingual contexts where multiple sign and/or multiple spoken languages are used in overlap with one another. There is currently little transaction between these areas of research. We argue that the lens of semiotic repertoires enables synergies to be identified and provides a holistic focus (addressing ideologies, histories, potentialities, constraints) on action that is both multilingual and multimodal.

Twelve parents of young deaf children were recorded sharing books with their deaf child--six from families using British Sign Language (BSL) and six from families using spoken English. Although all families were engaged in sharing books with their deaf child and concerned to promote literacy development, they approached the task differently and had different expectations in terms of outcome. The sign bilingual families concentrated on using the book to promote BSL development, engaging in discussion around the book but without referring to the text, whereas the spoken language families were focused on features of the text and less inclined to use the book to promote wider knowledge. Implications for early intervention and support are drawn from the data.

This paper provides an overview of the research into deaf children's bilingualism and bilingual education through a synthesis of published studies over the last 15 years. This review brings together the linguistic and pedagogical work on bimodal bilingualism to inform educational practice. The first section of the review provides a synthesis of the research, addressing linguistic, cognitive and social aspects of bimodal bilingualism. This is followed by a focus on bimodal bilingual language experience and use in different learning contexts. These first two sections provide the context for the main focus of the review: education and learning. The third section reports on links made between bimodal bilingualism and learning with regard to deaf children's literacy development. The fourth section examines further research into bimodal bilingual pedagogies. The final section considers the theoretical and practical implications of the field to date in developing a contemporary model of bimodal bilingual education for deaf children. It also charts future research priorities. BiographyDr Swanwick is an Associate Professor in Deaf Education at Leeds University in the School of Education. Her research and publications centre on deafness, language and learning and the development of pedagogies and practitioner understanding. Her funded research includes a 2 collaborative ESRC funded project looking at deaf children's early literacy experiences in the home; a Nuffield funded project on the role of sign language for deaf children with cochlear implants and a British Academy project on approaches to critical thinking and reflective practice across the national training provision for teachers of the deaf. Her current work, funded through a British Academy Mid-Career Fellowship, centres on the development of a model of bimodal bilingualism and learning which situates deafness and language learning within a plural view of language and culture in society. Dr Ruth Swanwick Associate Professor in Deaf EducationThe School of Education, Hillary PlaceThe University of Leeds Leeds, LS18 5LU IntroductionThe practice of educating deaf children bilingually through the use of sign language alongside written and spoken language initially developed during the 1980s in Scandanavia, the USA and the UK. This approach developed as a response to concerns about deaf children's attainments within traditional spoken language approaches (see, for example, Conrad 1979) and research demonstrating sign languages to be naturally evolving rule-governed languages (Stokoe 1960;Klima & Bellugi 1979;Kyle & Woll 1985). As the linguistic study of sign languages burgeoned, the increasing role of sign languages in education fostered the development of new teaching approaches (Mahshie 1995;Knight & Swanwick 2002). The articulation of a socio-cultural understanding of deafness provoked new research into deaf children's language development, culture and identity. Developments in practice and research, and the increasing activity of interest 3 groups in the d...

This paper critiques the role of translanguaging in deaf education by examining how, and under what conditions, translanguaging practices can enhance learning and teaching. The paper explores the premise that translanguaging represents an additive view of bilingualism and multilingualism for deaf learners and offers an innovative departure from, and not a repacking of, traditional teaching methods in deaf education. In this context the additive aspects of translanguaging are conceptualized as ways of seeing and responding to the language resources of deaf learners and ways of teaching that recognise and promote bilingual and multilingual (sign and spoken/written) language skills. The innovative aspects of translanguaging are explained in terms of the focus on language as a social phenomenon, the emphasis on individual repertoires, and attention to the mindful use of languages in the classroom. Examples of learner and teacher translanguaging are given that illustrate what translanguaging offers to deaf education in terms of understanding and supporting the language repertoires of deaf learners and for the development of pedagogy. The paper concludes by suggesting the conditions under which these benefits can be realised.

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