Strategies for Italian deaf learners

Transcript

1 Good Afternoon. Thank you for your attention. I m Maria Roccaforte I m a junior researcher at University Sapienza of Rome and I m working together with the VISEL team on the three years long FIRB-VISEL project (Visel stands for Visual E-learning environment). In Visel we are trying to develop an improved e-learning environment for deaf people. We are investigating the possibility to offer deaf adults a selfregulated learning environment, using technology. We aim to increase knowledge of their cognitive, relational and communicative profile taking in consideration their different linguistic and communicative backgrounds. On the other hand, the exploitation of innovative possibilities given by e-learning, has to be addressed to improve deaf people writing and reading. Keywords: deafness, multilingual education, lexical approach, sign language, cultural integration. ICT for Language learning October 2011 CLIL Content and language integrated learning Strategies for Italian deaf learners Maria Roccaforte, Elena Tomasuolo, Maria T. De Monte, Katherine M. Groves and Daniele Capuano FIRB-VISEL PROJECT Vision, Italian written language for deafness and E-learning environment - RBNE074T5L ( ) Introduced by Maria Roccaforte maria.roccaforte@uniroma1.it

2 In particular the target of population we refer to is adult prelingual deaf people: by adult I mean people who attend high school or University or professional or deaf educators, by prelingual I mean deaf people who are born deaf or who are become deaf before the acquisition of speech (20 months old more or less). Our target population Prelingual deaf adults High School and University students Young deaf professionals Sign Language teachers Deaf educators Teachers who work with deaf learners

3 We know linguistic competence is made up of four skills: listening, speech, writing and reading. In deaf people the listening obviously is missing, so the effect of this lack are problems in general in language comprehension and in particular in language production both oral and written language (But in our project we are dealing just with WRITTEN ITALIAN) For the Italian language problems concern lexic, free morphology, clitic pronouns, articles, irregular verbs (just to name a few). The frustration encountered during the life of the learners towards written language learning leads to a difficult approach of the students to the language, and to the subject they are learning about. Linguistic competences in prelingual Deaf people Development of writing abilities synergy among Listening Speech Writing Reading Tipical problems in language production (written) Free morphology Clitic pronouns Prepositions Articles

4 Furthermore in Visel we address at two groups of adult deaf learners: those who prefer to use sign language, in our case LIS- L1- and those who prefer to use spoken language, in our case Italian L1. Problems we aim to address: Two Groups of Deaf Learners Language (DLL) (1) DL who prefer to communicate in the national sign language (SL), in our case: Italian Sign Language (LIS): DLL/LIS-L1 (2) DL who prefer to communicate in the national spoken/written language: DLL/Italian-L1.

5 So what do this two groups have in common? They have in common the vision of the Language. What is there in common between DL/LIS-L1 and DL/italian-L1? Somebody could think the written language is an opportunity, a link between deaf and hearing world: the newspaper, the narrative, the comics, the web but this is no true. The writing is often a limit, something they refuse, something they hate. From this starting point, the DELE structure is composed of a blend of visual aids and instruction on texts taken from original contexts. Using the CLIL expedient. QuickTime e un decompressore sono necessari per visualizzare quest'immagine. NEWSPAPER COMICS WEB SUBTITLES QuickTime e un decompressore sono necessari per visualizzare quest'immagine. QuickTime e un decompressore sono necessari per visualizzare quest'immagine.

6 Our Environment A University campus virtually explorable through an avatar Communicative activities on different types of texts (scientific, newspaper articles, law...) as form of assessment Communicative activities on different types of texts (scientific, newspaper articles, law...) as form of assessment Cooperative learning by means of virtual meetings among avatars Highly iconic interaction Interaction between a learner and a tutor

7 Using visual tool, and embodiment concepts three different levels of CLIL have been depicted in DELE: On campus 1- The metaphors of DELE: DELE is composed of two major metaphors that support navigation within the virtual environment and the natural path by which students move through the learning activities. Learners, represented in the virtual campus by a customized avatar, are able to interact with the virtual campus environment, which in turn provides natural contexts for communication (e.g., forums via a community board and chat rooms in a coffee shop) and learning (e.g., activities within the individual homes and university buildings). In the campus you can teach what you want: art, math history. university home square cafè

8 Into the newspaper Storytelling (McKillop, 2005; McDrury & Alterio, 2002; Bruner, 1991) provides the theoretical basis for guiding learning activities, with different environments within the system combining to build knowledge of a common topic (in this case, Italian literacy). The user s learning path can be seen as a story with a beginning, a development phase, and a conclusion. The more environments a learner experiences, the more complex the stories are. The stories are stored as a learner portfolio within the user s individual home on the platform. At home

9 2- The Bassiano Museum of Writing: Based on existing materials in a museum located in Bassiano, Italy, we are working on the implementation of a sample course in which the user is a virtual visitor of a museum focusing on the history of written language, from its birth to its influence on ways of describing the world and our ability to work with information. The Bassiano museum

10 The museum visit consists of four exhibits, each containing videos, animations, games and tutorials; it is accessible by a university building containing the learning units. As can you see in the next slides. We have applied easification activities on the text. Pushing the glassesbutton upon the text many input appears on the texts The Bassiano museum/2

11 Le scritture nel mondo The Text Nel corso della sua lunga storia l uomo ha utilizzato molti sistemi di scrittura alfabeto, ideogrammi, pittogrammi, geroglifici. Le scritture prodotte dai popoli di ogni età e luogo, nel tempo sono cambiate graficamente (dai pittogrammi che rappresentano concretamente l oggetto, alle lettere dell alfabeto che sono astratte). Per scrivere le persone hanno utilizzato i materiali più diversi, hanno scritto in ogni direzione (da sinistra a destra, da destra a sinistra dall alto in basso e bustrofedica, e qualche volta hanno usato strutture grafiche non lineari. Ci sono anche sistemi di scrittura che non sono collegati alle lingue parlate, per esempio i sistemi per trascrivere la musica, le operazioni logico-matematiche, il linguaggio di programmazione del computer Molti studiosi considerano come i più evoluti i sistemi di scrittura che trascrivono le parole, le sillabe e i suoni di una lingua parlata Con questi sistemi di scrittura noi possiamo leggere ad alta voce un testo anche se non conosciamo il significato delle parole e quindi non lo capiamo. Se pensiamo al nostro alfabeto vediamo che è un sistema di scrittura aperto cioè che comprende oltre alle lettere (sigle, emoticons, marchi, logo) e pittogrammi (GLOSSA nella segnaletica).

12 Text easification Le scritture nel mondo Nel corso della sua lunga storia l uomo ha utilizzato molti sistemi di scrittura alfabeto, ideogrammi, pittogrammi, geroglifici. Le scritture prodotte dai popoli di ogni età e luogo, nel tempo sono cambiate graficamente (dai pittogrammi che rappresentano concretamente l oggetto, alle lettere dell alfabeto che sono astratte). Per scrivere le persone hanno utilizzato i materiali più diversi, hanno scritto in ogni direzione (da sinistra a destra, da destra a sinistra dall alto in basso e bustrofedica, e qualche volta hanno usato strutture grafiche non lineari. Ci sono anche sistemi di scrittura che non sono collegati alle lingue parlate, per esempio i sistemi per trascrivere la musica, le operazioni logico-matematiche, il linguaggio di programmazione del computer Molti studiosi considerano come i più evoluti i sistemi di scrittura che trascrivono le parole, le sillabe e i suoni di una lingua parlata Con questi sistemi di scrittura noi possiamo leggere ad alta voce un testo anche se non conosciamo il significato delle parole e quindi non lo capiamo. Se pensiamo al nostro alfabeto vediamo che è un sistema di scrittura aperto cioè che comprende oltre alle lettere (sigle, emoticons, marchi, logo) e pittogrammi.

13 3- Linguistic structures are presented and explained using interactive text easification strategies. Easification devices guide the reader through text, making them more accessible through the use of graphic organizers, images, videos, and comics (Bhatia, 1983). Transmitting language affordances are made easier through the use of metaphors. For example, in the case of connective words such as nonché (as well as) and nonostante (although), we use a bridge metaphor, connecting two separate elements to allow access. Animations (e.g., symbols, arrows, image schemas, and diagrams) explain the correct position of the connective word in the sentence.

14 Metaphors for italian languages affordances I connettivi si trovano tra due parole o due frasi e suggeriscono quale rapporto esiste tra loro Sono riuscita ad arrivare puntuale Sono arrivata puntuale Benché Sebbene Nonostante mi fossi alzata molto tardi Sono arrivata puntuale

15 Deaf signers (LIS-L1 users) have access to Italian Sign Language (LIS) video clips in which the concept is not translated but made explicit through visual expression, gesture, and examples. All these activities will be done in a realistic and dynamic context, aimed at encouraging deaf learners to interact with and manipulate text using a variety of tools. Through this interaction, they not only gain skills that allow them to achieve educational goals, but to successfully navigate daily language situations.

16 The preliminary results of the ongoing VISEL project are: - An approach based on skills and competences in deaf education, and the aim to bring learner competences up to what the European Commission has defined as 'key competences' in lifelong learning' - A new paradigm of e-learning systems for deaf people based on visual systems of navigation and online instruction - A framework for providing innovative techniques based on embodied cognition, used to explain verbal language structures in an accessible way for deaf learners. Based on a survey of research in Italy, these results show a pioneering approach to teaching deaf students. It is our view that tapping into non-verbal understanding of concepts will provide deaf learners with increased access to the meaning of language structures. While this remains an area that needs continued research, we believe these to be good starting points for the improvement of deaf learners literacy skills and, most of all, for their increased integration into the professional and social domains. Preliminary results -Skills and competence in deaf education -A new paradigm of visual e-learning system -Innovative techniques based on embodied cognition

17 Thank you!!!