This article discusses a new source about the lives of deaf people in the first century of the Am... more This article discusses a new source about the lives of deaf people in the first century of the American colonies—Increase Mather's An Essay for the Recording of Illustrious Providences (1684). One of the chapters in his Essay describes a signing deaf couple, Sarah and Matthew Pratt. Born in 1628 and 1640, they lived several decades before the first record of a signing deaf person on Martha's Vineyard. This source gives new insights into the use of signed language in colonial New England, and the way laypeople went about educating deaf children before deaf education became the job of "experts". Sarah and Matthew Pratt seem to have had a high level of participation in the Puritan community at Weymouth, Massachusetts, throughout their lives. Mather also discusses a wide range of international sources on deaf people's education, communication and spirituality, giving us a unique picture of what people knew about deafness in the seventeenth century, and showing that even mainstream writers were starting to become interested in deaf people. This is a valuable new source which contributes to the history of deaf education, sign language linguistics, and broader cultural history.
From the evidence Johnston has presented for Australia, it seems clear that the number of childre... more From the evidence Johnston has presented for Australia, it seems clear that the number of children who are born severely or profoundly deaf has declined and that, because of the technological and social factors he outlines, this decrease is likely to continue. In addition, it seems that ...
Australia’s education system has historically been premised on state and territory-based curricul... more Australia’s education system has historically been premised on state and territory-based curricula, until the development of a national curriculum in each learning area, released in stages from 2014. This paper will discuss the curriculum development process for the Auslan curriculum in the Languages learning area, which delivered an endorsed blueprint for the formal teaching and learning of Auslan in Australian schools from 2017. Unique features of the curriculum will be outlined, such as the dual-pathways for first and second language learners of Auslan, and the different sequence entry points, specifically designed to meet the needs of deaf children in both the early primary school years, as well as those who are late learners of a first language, entering secondary school with limited spoken and/or signed language later in childhood. The paper will provide an overview of the structure and content of the curriculum and the nature of the learners, and conclude with some of the opp...
This article discusses a new source about the lives of deaf people in the first century of the Am... more This article discusses a new source about the lives of deaf people in the first century of the American colonies—Increase Mather's An Essay for the Recording of Illustrious Providences (1684). One of the chapters in his Essay describes a signing deaf couple, Sarah and Matthew Pratt. Born in 1628 and 1640, they lived several decades before the first record of a signing deaf person on Martha's Vineyard. This source gives new insights into the use of signed language in colonial New England, and the way laypeople went about educating deaf children before deaf education became the job of "experts". Sarah and Matthew Pratt seem to have had a high level of participation in the Puritan community at Weymouth, Massachusetts, throughout their lives. Mather also discusses a wide range of international sources on deaf people's education, communication and spirituality, giving us a unique picture of what people knew about deafness in the seventeenth century, and showing that even mainstream writers were starting to become interested in deaf people. This is a valuable new source which contributes to the history of deaf education, sign language linguistics, and broader cultural history.
From the evidence Johnston has presented for Australia, it seems clear that the number of childre... more From the evidence Johnston has presented for Australia, it seems clear that the number of children who are born severely or profoundly deaf has declined and that, because of the technological and social factors he outlines, this decrease is likely to continue. In addition, it seems that ...
Australia’s education system has historically been premised on state and territory-based curricul... more Australia’s education system has historically been premised on state and territory-based curricula, until the development of a national curriculum in each learning area, released in stages from 2014. This paper will discuss the curriculum development process for the Auslan curriculum in the Languages learning area, which delivered an endorsed blueprint for the formal teaching and learning of Auslan in Australian schools from 2017. Unique features of the curriculum will be outlined, such as the dual-pathways for first and second language learners of Auslan, and the different sequence entry points, specifically designed to meet the needs of deaf children in both the early primary school years, as well as those who are late learners of a first language, entering secondary school with limited spoken and/or signed language later in childhood. The paper will provide an overview of the structure and content of the curriculum and the nature of the learners, and conclude with some of the opp...
Member of contracted writing team to develop the ACARA national curriculum for the teaching and l... more Member of contracted writing team to develop the ACARA national curriculum for the teaching and learning of Auslan in primary and secondary school settings in Australia from Foundation level to Year 10. The curriculum is freely available online and consists of dual pathways - for L1 and L2 learners of Auslan - and two sequences for entry - at Foundation level or at Year 7. In addition to the core writing team, numerous stakeholders including Deaf community organisations, Auslan teachers, teachers of the deaf, language consultants, curriculum experts, and members of the wider Deaf community were involved in various stages of the curriculum development process. A pdf version of the curriculum is attached here, but refer to the online version to access hyperlinks to signed examples and glossary item descriptions in Auslan.
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