The future is in their hands:developing hearing children’s potential through sign language

• Main Author: Monney, M. (Mariette)
• Format: Others
• Language: English
• Published: University of Oulu 2016
• Subjects: Education
• Online Access: http://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:oulu-201604151496; http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:fi:oulu-201604151496

The main aspect of this research will focus on finding new methods to achieve the goals of the Education For All. Being able to fulfill every learner’s social, academic and physical needs is a common concern for teachers who are determined to offer the best of the education for a growing diversity of learners. Professional teachers are perpetually in quest of new methods to reach a wider scope of learners. As multisensory methods have been proved to be efficient in the past decades, the result of this research will analyze the use of sign language as an educational tool. In this thesis I will find out In this research how does Sign Language exposure in inclusive classroom affect hearing children. This thesis is a comprehensive literature review which will be part of a larger work later when empirical data will be collected with the aim of completing a Master Thesis. The literature review is composed of well-known educational theories such as The theory of Multiple Intelligence by Howard Gardner and the theory of multisensory learning by Neil Fleming. The rest of the literature review focuses on major researches related to the research question while identifying how existing literature is lacking in terms of studies made on hearing students exposed by Sign Language in inclusive setting. The different results obtained in this bachelor thesis confirm that Sign Language in many ways improves the learning experience of hearing people by supporting language development, enhancing memory and vocabulary acquisition, developing both sides of the brain, stimulating several learning styles, fostering intercultural awareness, improving classroom atmosphere and developing emotional intelligence. Despite the fact that none of these studies were done in an inclusive setting but rather within hearing communities, we can expect the same kind of benefits emerging from an inclusive classroom where Sign Language would be displayed in a regular basis. Nevertheless the conclusion of this study gives a good starting point for teachers who would like to diverse their teaching style.