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DEGREE REGULATIONS & PROGRAMMES OF STUDY 2019/2020

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DRPS : Course Catalogue : Moray House School of Education and Sport : Education

Postgraduate Course: Language and Communication (EDUA11240)

Course Outline
SchoolMoray House School of Education and Sport CollegeCollege of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences
Credit level (Normal year taken)SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) AvailabilityAvailable to all students
SCQF Credits20 ECTS Credits10
SummaryThis course will introduce participants to key issues in relation to language learning and deafness. It should enable participants to take an informed view of what remains a controversial area within deaf education. The course will focus on the deaf individual's linguistic potential and the practical ways of enabling linguistic access. We will examine the nature and acquisition of both signed and spoken language and their use with deaf children and young people.
Course description a. Acquisition of first language(s) in hearing and deaf children
b. Analysing grammatical and semantic development in spoken English
c. British Sign Language in hearing and deaf families: grammatical and semantic analysis
d. Different approaches to language development with deaf children: oral / aural; Total Communication; sign bilingual.
e. Using assessment tools with deaf children, e.g. Monitoring Protocol, STASS, ACE, BSL Receptive skills, BSL vocabulary assessment.
Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
Pre-requisites Co-requisites
Prohibited Combinations Other requirements Undergraduate degree preferably in a social sciences subject.
Additional Costs No
Information for Visiting Students
Pre-requisitesNone
High Demand Course? Yes
Course Delivery Information
Not being delivered
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
  1. Show an awareness of the linguistic potential of deaf pupils and the possible barriers to linguistic access;
  2. Demonstrate an understanding of key differences and similarities between spoken and signed language, and their acquisition;
  3. Develop an informed understanding of the different approaches to language within Deaf Education, including monolingual and bi/multi-lingual approaches;
  4. Demonstrate a critical awareness of different types of linguistic assessment; the ability to interpret the results of such assessments and some ability to carry out some forms of assessment and to make use of linguistic observations;
  5. Develop familiarity with approaches, techniques and resources, including technological resources, which can support the deaf child's language use.
Reading List
Crystal, D. (2003) The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language. Chapter 17. The Sound system. pp. 236 - 255. 3rd edition. London: BCA / CUP.
DfES (2006) Early Support: Monitoring Protocol for Deaf Babies and Children. London: Department for Education and Science
Geers AE, Mitchell CM, Warner-Czyz A, et al. (2017) Early Sign Language Exposure and Cochlear Implantation Benefits. Pediatrics. 140(1):e20163489
McLeod, S. & McCormack, J. (2015) An Introduction to Speech, Language and Literacy. Oxford University Press.
Sutton-Spence, R. & Woll, B. (1999) The Linguistics of British Sign Language. Cambridge: CUP. Chapter 3 Constructing Sign Sentences. pp 41 - 64.
Tomasello, M. (2010) Language Development, In U. Goswami (Ed.) The Wiley-Blackwell Handbook of Childhood Cognitive Development, Second edition. Oxford: Blackwell. Chapter
Additional Information
Graduate Attributes and Skills Be able to communicate using oral and written methods to specialist (e.g., staff, fellow students) and non-specialist audiences (e.g., school staff, parents, research participants).
Be able to effectively work collaboratively with others, recognising the diversity of contributions individuals can make.
Be able to exercise substantial autonomy and initiative in academic activities, including decision making on the basis of independent thought.
Develop professional competencies required by qualified teachers of deaf and visually impaired children.
Special Arrangements Students will receive their own hard copy of the booklet on STASS in advance of the course starting (O'Neill, 2011).
A wide range of language assessment material is available in the Scottish Sensory Centre in Paterson's Land for students to review and borrow.
Additional Class Delivery Information This course runs every two years in semester 2. Block A is 3 days, followed by Block B several weeks later of 2 days. Each day runs 10 am - 4pm. The sessions are a mixture of lectures, seminars and workshops, some student-led. There are 4 invited speakers, e.g. a parent of a deaf child, an auditory verbal therapist, a BSL sign linguist.
Keywordsdeaf,spoken,British Sign Language,acquisition,assessment
Contacts
Course organiser Rachel O'Neill
Tel: (0131 6)51 6429
Email: rachel.oneill@ed.ac.uk
Course secretaryMs Marie Hamilton
Tel: (0131 6)51 6678
Email: marie.hamilton@ed.ac.uk
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