Sign language teaching technological advances and differences in international contexts

Abstract

Purpose

The main objective of this article is to contribute to the field of accessibility in the teaching of sign language in the international panorama, examining its applicability, evaluation methods as well as the assistive technologies used to improve teaching experiences and the creation of new materials, proposing a theoretical framework that relates the teaching of sign language at different academic levels, the training of teachers, as well as parents, and the use of technology to achieve educational inclusion. It follows that the adoption of hybrid technology approaches, following universal design principles, can help to integrate access to education and sign language literacy.

Design/methodology/approach

The working method used to carry out this work consists of a systematic review of the scientific literature. This is a research project based on the recapitulation of information about sign language in the international panorama and the improvements used for its instruction. For this purpose, the well-known PRISMA (Moher et al., 2009) is used to synthesize the search carried out. A systematic review of the articles published in scientific journals about pedagogy in the teaching of sign language in the international field and technological innovation for sign language teaching has been carried out, incorporating different approaches and personal assessments. The first phase of the method consists of identifying and analyzing the articles published in scientific journals on the teaching of sign language on the international scene and the importance of new educational models with the incorporation of various didactic adaptations, evaluating the selected articles over a period of time from 2009 to 2021. Six steps were used in the systematic review study (Figure 1). First, Steps 1–4 were conducted in 2020 and 2021 as part of a doctoral research. A schematic summary of Steps 1–4 is presented below, followed by Steps 5 and 6, added later to the study after completion of Step 4. In the case of the first four steps they were conducted by two researchers: the thesis tutor and the doctoral student, and Steps 5 and 6 were conducted by the Ph.

Findings

To carry out the analysis of the results, the codification of the variables was carried out. The selected studies are characterized by their international context with a final selection of 39 studies have found several variables that affect the relationship between the teaching of sign language in the international arena and the use of technological innovations to adapt their teaching to students (Figure 4). In this section we present the technology grouped variables included in each factor and the possibilities of standardization and applicability of sign language teaching in the international panorama. Within these articles, the importance of defining training programs in sign language for teachers and the need to evaluate teaching programs is identified, with a focus on actions to improve school curricula to achieve linguistic standardization and inclusion in the academic environment, as well as their use at all levels of education. Therefore, professional practices and cooperation between institutions such as: associations of families of deaf students and educational institutions must be improved, making it possible to give a quality education. Within the exclusion criteria, the articles that do not use sign language teaching tools (n = 45) were subsequently discarded, followed by the articles that do not indicate any intervention in students with disabilities (n = 48), concluding with the articles that nonsign language disability education (n = 44). Subsequently, among those selected, the technology articles that do not speak about sign language were discarded (n = 32), as well as the studies that protect indigenous language but not sign language (n = 33) and, to conclude, the linguistic normalization articles but do not cite sign language (n = 37).

Originality/value

Communication is the element by which the authors can understand each other with the rest of the people around us, in the diversity of language, within non-verbal language, the authors find sign language, the language of deaf and mute people, of families, as a professional employee and nowadays, learned by many non-deaf and mute people to achieve a more inclusive and integrated society with all people. Every country has the right to have its own sign language, especially one that claims its culture and customs, through non-verbal communication with which to express multiple meanings, emotions and intentions. It is essential to know and apply the technological advances that are being developed, promoting the right to autonomy and the defense of the indigenous language as a cultural element of the intangible heritage of each country. The use of technology allows the democratization of culture and access to information regardless of where one lives in the world, in an increasingly globalized society in which communication plays a fundamental role. In the case of the global pandemic, it has forced us to the advancement of home education and the use of efficient digital tools to achieve it such as videoconferencing, in the field of disability there are still many limitations on this use by the various companies that develop them. Within the inclusive educational research the authors must emphasize the need for equality of tools and content for all types of students, especially in sign language. Large digital gaps have been generated in families with and without resources at international level, which also have a member with a disability, this is pointed out in the research mentioning the current situation of the American continent, as well as the search for improvement of the tools and platforms in which they are developed.

Citation

Llamazares de Prado, J.E. (2021), "Sign language teaching technological advances and differences in international contexts", International Journal of Information and Learning Technology, Vol. 38 No. 5, pp. 433-453. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJILT-11-2020-0206