There is an increasing interest in learning foreign languages as a way to communicate with different people around the world. Consequently, the amount of bilingual people has been increasing. The UNESCO (2005) estimates that approximately half of the world population is bilingual and fairly does not exist any country in which the bilingualism is not evidenced. On the other hand, people who are bilingual possess higher malleability and flexibility than the monolingual people (UNESCO, 2005).
Macnamara (1967) states that any person who possesses minimal competences in one or more languages, such as (listening, speaking, reading and writing) different to his/her mother tongue is defined as a bilingual person; therefore, bilingualism is the domain …show more content…
On the other hand, people need to consider that deaf people acquire Spanish to communicate with the hearing community; however, in many cases, hearing people are not able to communicate with the deaf population as they do not know the sign language. Consequently, a study conducted by Mehrabian (1972) suggests that some hearing people consider important the learning of sign language inasmuch as they wish to be involved in the deaf culture and because it allows a better communication, as well as general learning experience.
At the Local State University of Pereira (Colombia), where this study is being conducted, there is a sign language program which integrates deaf people in a hearing community. This program helps administrative staff, professors, and students to be involved in sign language contexts; in this way, they will be able to communicate and transfer knowledge to the deaf population belonging to the university. The sign language program aim is to achieve in hearing students a good communicative competence in sign language, for that reason some members of the hearing community attend the sign language …show more content…
In view of the high drop-out rate, the present study intends to describe the state of the art of the SLG teaching at the Local State University of Pereira. In that sense, the current study will provide an analysis that will help to distinguish the different situations that occur in the SLG courses, and this study will serve as a baseline and diagnostic study for future proposals in the field of sign language teaching. The researcher will immerse in the SLG lessons, with the purpose of identifying the kind of techniques the teacher uses. In that order of ideas, the researcher will try to find if the underlying reasons as to why people drop-out might be due to the unawareness of motivating techniques used in the
Macnamara (1967) states that any person who possesses minimal competences in one or more languages, such as (listening, speaking, reading and writing) different to his/her mother tongue is defined as a bilingual person; therefore, bilingualism is the domain …show more content…
On the other hand, people need to consider that deaf people acquire Spanish to communicate with the hearing community; however, in many cases, hearing people are not able to communicate with the deaf population as they do not know the sign language. Consequently, a study conducted by Mehrabian (1972) suggests that some hearing people consider important the learning of sign language inasmuch as they wish to be involved in the deaf culture and because it allows a better communication, as well as general learning experience.
At the Local State University of Pereira (Colombia), where this study is being conducted, there is a sign language program which integrates deaf people in a hearing community. This program helps administrative staff, professors, and students to be involved in sign language contexts; in this way, they will be able to communicate and transfer knowledge to the deaf population belonging to the university. The sign language program aim is to achieve in hearing students a good communicative competence in sign language, for that reason some members of the hearing community attend the sign language …show more content…
In view of the high drop-out rate, the present study intends to describe the state of the art of the SLG teaching at the Local State University of Pereira. In that sense, the current study will provide an analysis that will help to distinguish the different situations that occur in the SLG courses, and this study will serve as a baseline and diagnostic study for future proposals in the field of sign language teaching. The researcher will immerse in the SLG lessons, with the purpose of identifying the kind of techniques the teacher uses. In that order of ideas, the researcher will try to find if the underlying reasons as to why people drop-out might be due to the unawareness of motivating techniques used in the