Deaf - Writing II

[Martha Jones]

>Date: Wed, 28 Oct 1998 13:04:10 -0500
>To: Disabled St. Serv. Higher Ed.
>From: Martha Jones <mjo...@bridgew.edu>
>Subject: Deaf - Writing II
>Cc: icra...@bridgew.edu, sci...@bridgew.edu
>
>I am seeking assistance in dealing with the following issue:
>
> An English Dept. faculty member is teaching EN102 - Writing II
(description = Continuing to develop essential skills, the writer learns and
practices various techniques of argumentation. Special attention will be
given to learning basic research skills and to integrating the ideas of
others into one's own text. Emphasis is on longer and more substantive
essays and a research paper. Satisfies the General Education Requirement in
Writing). He has two students who are deaf enrolled in the class. One has
significant residual hearing and produces close to mainstream writing; the
other is congenitally deaf and has not yet produced anything close to
standard American prose.
>
> The student has requested that he/she be permitted to sign the
papers, and through an interpreter, have a tutor write them in standard
English. The instructor's position is that he needs to make certain that
the student understands the course requirements, provide assistance to the
student in the self assessment of personal writing strengths and weaknesses,
and provide instructional opportunities to develop personal competence in
this core area. The instructor is willing to provide the student with time
and tutorial assistance, but feels that the student should be required to
produce actual written language herself.
>
> Where can we go for advice? Are there model programs which we can
learn from?
>Are there articles, monographs or materials which we should review? How
can we support the student, instructor, tutor, and staff at the Writing
Center in an appropriate and effective manner? What are the standards at
your institution? I look forward to your reply.
>
Martha D. Jones
Associate Dean, Student Affairs
Coordinator of International Programs
and Disability Services
Bridgewater State College
Bridgewater, MA 02325
Tel. 508/697-1713 TTY 508/697-1384
FAX 508/279-6107

[Elaine Davis]

Why doesn't the student want to write his own papers? He can use spell
check and grammar check to help him through the technical aspects of
writing. I can understand that he may be afraid of writing, especially if
he uses ASL, but that shouldn't preclude him from doing his own work. A
tutor is a great accommodation, but the tutor should not do the work for
the student. Even a scribe would work as long as the scribe does not edit
the papers. I think some lienancy should be offered but I don't understand
why the student doesn't or can't write the papers personally.

elaine

[Marcia Kolvitz]

Martha,

By having the interpreter voice the student's text and allowing the tutor to
write the paper, I believe that this drastically changes the nature and
intent of the course. It is not appropriate. I am concerned about how the
student got into Writing II if his/her writing skills are that weak.

There are a variety of models and strategies that can be very successful
with students who are deaf and struggling with written English. Many
programs use an ASL/ESL approach that builds on skills in the native
language of ASL. TESOL has a special interest section (TEDS) that addresses
this issue.

I've recently been reading a relatively new book "Rethinking the Education
of Deaf Students" by Sue Livingston. Dr. Livingston teaches at LaGuardia
College and offers some good information.

There is also support available in your area and access to a great amount of
fairly local resources. I strongly encourage you to contact the Northeast
Technical Assistance Center (NETAC) at the National Technical Institute for
the Deaf (NTID) at Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT). NETAC is one of
four federally funded centers providing outreach and technical assistance to
colleges and universities who work with students who are deaf and hard of
hearing. NETAC has a site in Massachusetts that can provide technical
assistance to faculty at your campus.
Contact them via e-mail at <ne...@rit.edu> or check out their web site at
<http://www.rit.edu/~netac>

In addition, the Postsecondary Education Programs Network (PEPNet) maintains
a resource center that can provide information about related publications
and materials that can be of assistance. You can access this through the
PEPNet home page at <http://www.pepnet.org>. NETAC is one of the four
regional centers comprising PEPNet.

Good luck!

Marcia

Marcia Kolvitz, Outreach/Training Coordinator
Postsecondary Education Consortium (PEC)
The University of Tennesse, Knoxville

mkol...@utk.edu

[SIMP...@jccw22.cc.sunyjcc.edu]

From: NAME: Debbie Simpson
FUNC: Junction
TEL: <SIMPSON, DEBBIE AT A1 AT JCCV06>
To: NAME: IN%"DSS...@LISTSERV.ACSU.BUFF
<IN%"DSS...@LISTSERV.ACSU.BUFFALO.EDU"@MRGATE@JCCW22>

A colleague and I went to a wonderful summer institute on teaching composition
to the Deaf. Four regional centers exist that are "dedicated to working with
postsecondary institutions to improve educational access and enhance
postsecondary education opportunities for students who are Deaf or hard of
hearing."

The MA coordinator is Jane Nunes at Northern Essex Community College
NE...@necc.mass.edu

The email for Rochester Institute of Technology National Institute for the Deaf
(sponsor of our conference) is ne...@rit.edu

Deb Simpson
Jamestown Community College
Olean, NY

[Yared, Michael]

Deaf people need and must learn to write no matter what. When I
was at Gallaudet,
every student is expected to know how to write and keep writing. Some of
my
tougher criticisms came from deaf teacher with Ph.D., while some of the
hearing professors were afraid to criticize deaf students' papers for
fear of being label anti-deaf or insulting them. So? If the student
mentioned in the message was at Gallaudet, she/he will be kicked out
of Gallaudet, period. One sad note is that quite a number of deaf
students
won't come to Gallaudet because of their academic weakness or
academic superior, either way.
Instead of having the student signs in ASL for a tutor to
write them in English, the student can write them up and take them to
the writing center on campus. While some deaf higher-ups might disagree
with me, the written language of the deaf is English and not ASL. The
spoken language of the deaf is ASL, say. But a number of deaf people
I know challenged the SAT, LSAT, and Foreign Service exam as being
culturally biased against deaf, the same way member of minorities
groups are doing also.
Everyone, deaf and hearing, will be writing reports, papers,
letters and cards for the rest of their life. In a way, this will
improve their writing. No one like to say it, most most or half
of deaf people do not write well. We will always improvise and
work at it.
Mike Yared