Why Not Sign? Classrooms as Sites of d/Deaf and Multilingual Literacy Development

Authors

Dawnavyn James, University at BuffaloFollow
Brianne R. Pitts, Western Michigan UniversityFollow

Abstract

While often, “bilingual” literacy instruction has overlooked the potential of incorporating ASL in classrooms (U.S.DPE, 2021), this article engages discussions of practice from a Missouri Kindergarten classroom to argue that teachers can improve student literacy outcomes by leveraging d/Deaf and hard of hearing multilingual learning (DML) strategies as a way of (re)imagining students’ multimodal literacy development. By engaging with a variety of strategies learned from DML students, readers may conceptualize DML inclusive classroom practices. Following a review of the literature and discussion, games, instructional strategies, and text recommendations for educators seeking DML inclusive literacy environments are provided.

Author Bio

Ms. Dawnavyn M. James is at the University at Buffalo. She is interested in early childhood and elementary Black history education, curriculum development, and instruction.

Dr. Brianne R. Pitts is an assistant professor of Elementary Education at Western Michigan University. She researches and teaches about Black history, social studies, and critical-multicultural literacy development in K-5 settings.

Recommended Citation

James, Dawnavyn and Pitts, Brianne R. (2023) "Why Not Sign? Classrooms as Sites of d/Deaf and Multilingual Literacy Development," Michigan Reading Journal: Vol. 55: Iss. 2, Article 6.
Available at: https://scholarworks.gvsu.edu/mrj/vol55/iss2/6