Social Construction of American Sign Language--English Interpreters

Abstract

Instructors in 5 American Sign Language--English Interpreter Programs and 4 Deaf Studies Programs in Canada were interviewed and asked to discuss their experiences as educators. Within a qualitative research paradigm, their comments were grouped into a number of categories tied to the social construction of American Sign Language--English interpreters, such as learners' age and education and the characteristics of good citizens within the Deaf community. According to the participants, younger students were adept at language acquisition, whereas older learners more readily understood the purpose of lessons. Children of deaf adults were seen as more culturally aware. The participants' beliefs echoed the theories of P. Freire (1970/1970) that educators consider the reality of each student and their praxis and were responsible for facilitating student self-awareness. Important characteristics in the social construction of students included independence, an appropriate attitude, an understanding of Deaf culture, ethical behavior, community involvement, and a willingness to pursue lifelong learning.

Two cultures, one programme: Deaf Professors as subaltern?

“…Administrators did not acknowledge the unique positionality of these programmes (Cooper, 1998;Pfeiffer, 2004). Further Deaf instructors had reportedly faced audism in ASL classes (McDermid, 2009;Schornstein, 2005) and yet failed to take action, perhaps having succumbed to the 'Worlding' process (Spivak, 1985) or belief in Massifi cation (Freire, 1974).…”

Deaf migration through an intersectionality lens

“…Crucially here, is her experience as a woman. Although the interpreting profession in the UK is overwhelmingly female (McDermid 2009), the Home Office demonstrated not only a lack of understanding of gender but also language and power. We do not know the interpreter's ethnicity but he clearly could not communicate with Hawa and failed to use his power to show solidarity by, for example, stressing that she requires a specialist interpreter who she can understand.…”

Translanguaging and the No Voice Policy in L2 Sign Language Contexts

“…Thus, ASL L2 teachers may see themselves as responsible for exposing hearing learners to the history and culture of the deaf community and creating "good citizens within the deaf community" (McDermid, 2009, p. 108). These goals are manifested in different approaches to teaching that, as a whole, take on many of the aspects that are important to deaf culture and socialization such as reciprocity, collectivism, and enculturation into deaf communication norms (McDermid, 2009). These approaches aim to "engender an appreciation of deaf culture and respect for ASL and the Deaf" in their students (Calton, 2013) in the hope that their students "adopt a socio-cultural model of Deafness" (p. 93) over the course of the class.…”