Signs of understanding and turns-as-actions: a multimodal analysis of deaf-hearing interaction

This article examines the interaction between deaf and hearing interlocutors in order to demonstrate how understanding (and misunderstanding) can be expressed and inspected through the situated use of multimodal resources. In this communicative situation, participants have asymmetrical experiences of being deaf and being hearing, and ‘codified’ (either speech or sign-language) resources are little shared among participants. The multimodal analysis of an interactional sequence between a young deaf child, her deaf friend and her hearing mother demonstrates ways in which participants use semiotic resources to take, execute and give turns in the presence of sensory asymmetries. The organization of turn taking in this sequence provides insights into the ways in which understanding (or lack of it) can be demonstrated, monitored and co-constructed by participants throughout the interaction. The findings demonstrate that turns offer a useful point of analysis for the recognition and inspection of signs of understanding in the context of sensory asymmetries but there needs to be a qualitative orientation to assessing this. This contribution to the research on situated multimodal sign-making underlines the need for the development of multimodal frameworks that can account for, and effectively document, situated meaning-making beyond ‘codified/linguistic’ resources

Opening Up the Academy: The Case of the Early Education for Young Deaf Children and Their Caregivers in Ghana project

From May 2022 - July 2023, funded by Research England, post graduate researchers Christopher Cox and Dorka Tamás conducted interviews with colleagues from different faculties, schools and services across the University of Leeds to raise awareness of open practice across disciplines and career stages. This is a case study, Ruth and Daniel talked about their interest in looking at the nexus between education and health, and providing that kind of infrastructure support for the language and communication of deaf people in early years. The project aimed to open up and broaden knowledge production and sharing in relation to the early support of deaf children by giving greater voice to practitioners and researchers in the global south. For more open research case studies from the Faculty of Social Sciences see the link below (Related URLs

Translanguaging as a Tool for Decolonizing Interactions in a Space for Confronting Inequalities

Taking into account the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, from the UN, this article addresses the construction of artistic contexts where students, teachers, principals, coordinators, sign language interpreters, artists, and researchers work together with the Sustainable Development Goal 10 - Reduce inequality within and among countries, in a Project entitled Digitmed Program. This project gathers deaf and hearing, migrants and Brazilian participants from very poor and wealthy communities in discussions about the development of interdisciplinary curriculums, which aim at de-encapsulation of ideas, contents, roles, perspectives, grades, languages spoken, economic background, among others. In this article, the involvement of deaf and hearing participants in the interdisciplinary work with poems as a form of art for resistance will be described. The potential of translanguaging is analysed as a revolutionary possibility for tackling inequality and marginalisation

A design-based approach for research into deaf children’s reading comprehension

Design-based methodologies provide a paradigm for educational research which enables us to see beyond what is or is not working, to develop practices and interventions that ‘work better’ (Kelly et al., 2008, p3). This paper explains the design-based methodology and explores the use of this approach to research deaf children’s reading comprehension in order to make a significant contribution to theory and impact on practice. The research context is presented and current paradigms are reviewed. The issues of researching deafness and reading in a way which takes into account the resources of the individuals and the potential of the context are illustrated and a rationale for using a design-based model is presented. The paper examines and reflects on the use of this methodology for investigating deafness and reading comprehension drawing on a current work in progress into Deafness and Reading for Meaning (DreaM) at the University of Leeds

The multilingual context of the early care and support of deaf children in Ghana

Understanding the multilingual language context of deaf children’s lives provides an essential knowledge base from which to develop the early support of children and families. Current models of early support tend to draw on Euro-Western understandings of the multilingual lives of families of deaf children and assume an established infrastructure around language and communication intervention. This paper examines the multilingual contexts of deaf children in Ghana; a low-resourced country in sub-Saharan Africa where the use of multiple local languages is a part of the eco-cultural context for early development, but where the early support of deaf children is under-resourced, and there is limited understanding of childhood deafness and the potential of sign language communication. Through interviews with caregivers of deaf children and the documentation of language biographies, we examine the proximal and distal influences on multilingual languaging and communication choices. We draw on Bourdieusian social theory to identify ways in which power and agency dynamically shape multilingual communication possibilities for deaf children and their caregivers, specifically in relation to the legitimised use of sign language among other local languaging practices. Implications for the development of context-sensitive models of early support for multilingual deaf children and their families are discussed

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on deaf adults, children and their families in Ghana

This paper investigates the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on deaf adults, children, and their families in Ghana, focusing on issues of inclusion. We ask what it takes to ‘make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable’ (United Nations Strategic Development Goal 11) for deaf people in the context of the global pandemic in a low-resource context. The exceptional challenge to inclusion posed by COVID-19 is examined in terms of issues for deaf children and their families, and from the point of view of deaf adults in advocacy and support organisations. The pivotal language and communication issues are shown through a bioecological analysis that illuminates the interdependent dynamics of development and context, and their influence on access to, and understanding of, crucial information. It is argued that the global crisis of COVID-19 exposes and deepens issues of societal exclusion for deaf adults, children, and their families, and provokes wider questions about what inclusion means, and how it can be realised, in different cultural contexts

Essential prescribing tips for GP Associates-in-Training

Prescribing is an essential role in general practice but it is also, at times, a high risk activity. GP Associates-in-Training (GP AiTs) have been highlighted as needing further support to reduce the risk of prescribing errors. This article highlights some common prescribing errors to help GP AiTs to review their prescribing and develop prescribing habits to avoid errors. The general practice workforce is changing and there are more pharmacists working in general practice. This article describes the role of clinical pharmacists in prescribing safety and in supporting GP AiTs