Deaf students with good English language skills are able to learn European languages the same way they did English – visually, and through reading.
The use of web-based videos in language-learning allows deaf students to simultaneously see + hear new words in the new language being learned.
A good example is SpanishDict.com, the online Spanish dictionary program, which is testing new videos of native Spanish speakers saying the words, in addition to its default word look-up facility in both Spanish and English.
(hearing a word is especially important when lipreading in a new language, as deaf children learning English as a first language, will already know)
Significantly, the creators of the SpanishDict.com videos found everyone benefited from seeing aSpanish word in a video, regardless of their hearing ability. The same way that people often lipread socially, without realising it.
The SpanishDict.com site also provides multimedia flash-cards & interactive video lessons to maximise its users’ language-learning options. Creators of English language-learning and generic teaching software may like to check the website’s resource areas to get new ideas for their own products.
(with thanks to a Twitter contact for this story lead)
Further Reading
- VIDEO: Learning Modern Foreign Languages At School
- Leaving Cert Languages And Deaf Students
- State Exam Accommodations For Deaf Students
