Peer to Peer Deaf Multiliteracies: experiential pedagogy, agency and inclusion in working with young adults in India

Abstract

In many countries across the world education for deaf people is limited and sign languages are undervalued. In this paper we discuss insights from an initiative to support deaf education for young adults in India, Ghana, and Uganda. Reporting here on the work in India, our project used a bilingual approach, with Indian Sign Language as the main means of communication while developing students’ English literacy through a multiliteracies pedagogy (Cope, Bill, and Mary Kalantzis, eds. 2000. Multiliteracies: Literacy Learning and the Design of Social Futures. London: Routledge) and the use of authentic texts in lessons. Our approach was designed to invite learners' agency and input. Responding to students’ engagement with the approach, we encountered their demand for formal grammar teaching and we offer an example of how one of the tutors engaged with this. Illustrated with visual data from the lessons, we discuss two insights from the project: the importance of the students’ ‘semiotic repertoire’ (Kusters, Annelies, Massimiliano Spotti, Ruth Swanwick, and Elina Tapio. 2017. “Beyond Languages, Beyond Modalities: Transforming the Study of Semiotic Repertoires.” International Journal of Multilingualism 14 (3): 219–232.) ; and the centrality of an inclusive educational approach that is supportive of students’ agency and aspirations for learning.