A Study On English Education In China’s Deaf School: Construction Of The Teaching System

EFL (English as a foreign language) learners in China include the hearing andthe hearing impaired. The study of English education of the hearing attracts plenty ofresearchers who are devoted and contribute a lot to this field, while the study ofEnglish education of the hearing impaired remains the undeveloped field even today.There is no systematic teaching material, curriculum, teaching approach or testingmethod in China’s deaf school. It is high time to study and construct the system ofEnglish education for the deaf in China.To show the concern about the education for the deaf in china and the equality ofhuman rights, On the basis of the result from a survey on English teaching in China’sdeaf school, the dissertation investigated the development and the characteristics ofEnglish education in china’deaf school. The theoretical foundations are made up ofthree different fields: Education, Psychology and Linguistics. Research methodsinclude review, comparative study, observation, questionnaire, and interview.The dissertation consists of three parts including eight chapters.The first part is chapter two. It is the theoretical foundation of the study,including the related theories, concepts and the background of the study.The second part is chapter three. It is a survey on English education in China’sdeaf school. In the survey, data are collected from a report on three systematicallystructured phases:observation, questionnaire and interview.The observation is doneby the author in the natural English classes of five deaf schools;the questionnaireresponses are supplied by108students from five deaf schools in China; the interviewis about twelve English teachers. The analysis on the results from the survey revealsthat Chinese deaf learn English as a foreign language mainly by means of thevisual-manual channel; written English is the focus of learning and teaching; Chinesedeaf learn English in the trilingual and bicultural environment;two languages-ChineseSign Language and Chinese assist the deaf in learning English;the deaf in China learnEnglish as the third language besides the Chinese Sign language and the Chinese.The third part consists of four chapters (from chapter four to chapter seven). The way to construct the teaching system in China’s deaf school is proposed from fouraspects:curriculum, teaching material, teaching approach and testing.Firstly, The overall objective of the English curriculum in China’s deaf school isto develop the English comprehensive competence,in which Written Englishproficiency is the focus. The construction of English curriculum in deaf school adoptsthe international standard of grading, considering the characteristics of Chinese deaflearning English, referring to the curriculum objective of the hearing school. Englishcurriculum objective can be achieved at junior and the senior middle school for thedeaf from five aspects: integrated language capability, language skill, languagecompetence, emotional factors, learning strategy and cultural awareness. Thecorresponding English curriculum implementation program is recommended fromteaching and curriculum resource.Secondly, it is necessary to edit and publish the English textbook to the deaf inChina, because till now there is no systematic English textbook in China’s deaf school.Based on the result of the study on English education in China’s deaf school,considering the characteristics of Chinese deaf learning English, the principles todevelop the English textbook to the deaf are proposed in this part.The textbook to thedeaf must focus on the characteristics of Chinese deaf learning English and refer to theEnglish textbook both of the deaf school in English-speaking countries and the hearingschool in China. The content of the book must respect the Deaf culture, foreground thevisual input and manual output, take account of the multicultural factors and meet theneeds of Chinese deaf learning English. The matched multimedia courseware must bedeveloped to zoom the visual compensation of the deaf and enhance their understandingand capacity of memorizing English word.Thirdly, There is no systematic English teaching approach in China’s deaf school,though some English teachers in deaf school have began to try various English teachingapproaches for the deaf in China. Based on the characteristics of the deaf in Chinalearning English, the study pointed out that English teaching approach in deaf schoolmust emphasize the written language with the assistance of modern media including themultimedia, the web,the computer,and software. Lastly, English testing for the deaf should take consideration of the currentsituation of English education in China’s deaf school. Compared with the Englishtesting for the hearing, the testing in deaf school should lower the degree of thelanguage skill requirement. The concentration should be on the basic language skillincluding the vocabulary, grammar, reading comprehension, writing and translation noton speaking and listening. Generally speaking, the validity of English competence ofthe deaf can be evaluated only by taking into account of the characteristics of the deaflearning English in china.