Deaf Teachers’ Beliefs About Bilingual Deaf Education

A qualitative case study examining the changes in beliefs about language learning, teaching, and acquisition experienced by three deaf teachers who participated in an ASL/English Bilingual Professional Development training over two years. The study documented changes in the participants’ stated beliefs and analyzed classroom observations to establish the relationship between beliefs and classroom practice. Data collection took place at one school for the deaf engaged in Bilingual Professional Development training. Three deaf teachers were selected from a pool of seven participants. Data included semi-structured interviews, participant observations, guided reflections, and document reviews. Data were organized, coded, and analyzed using atlas.ti. Individual case studies were written following the triangulation of recurring themes across all data sources. Findings indicated that each participant became aware of their beliefs about language teaching, learning, and acquisition. Each experienced affirmation of and changes in their beliefs closely tied to the areas in which they held more significant beliefs. The across-case analysis yielded a set of common beliefs that participants shared due to the training. These included: a) ASL is the foundation; b) languages must be separated; c) balanced use of language must be planned; d) social and academic language functions must be developed in both languages; e) ASL and English should be linked through bilingual strategies; and f) teachers have critical roles in a bilingual Deaf classroom. All participants made changes to their practice, which were closely aligned with their stated beliefs resulting from the training.