Language Policy in Deaf Education

What language should educators use when they teach deaf and hard of hearing students? What language should schools use in administration or for communicating with families? Policy makers and their policies significantly impact these issues. The authors briefly summarize the research on language policy in deaf education. They suggest policy questions for educators to consider.

The PDF file is partly accessible for people using screen reading software. Images do not use alternative text to describe them for people who cannot see. The first image on the first page is the globe. The second image, near the end of the article, is a grid for “mapping the the interaction between status and acquisition planning for deaf education.” The grid shows two intersecting lines. One line has arrows pointing up and down, the other line has arrows pointing left and right. At the top of the grid, the label for the up arrow is “special school”. Its opposite arrow at the bottom of the grid has the label “inclusion setting”. The label for the arrow pointing left is “multimodal-multilingual development”. Its opposite arrow pointing right is “monolingual development”.