Sign language ideologies in deaf education in Trinidad and Tobago.
Ian Dhanoolal, Kristin Snoddon
PMID 42113476WHAT IT FOUND
Deaf students often arrived at school without formal sign language.
Interpreters sometimes taught sign instead of interpreting. Deaf adults linked their school struggles to interpreter skill, teacher roles, and lack of early sign language access.
Key findings
01Deaf children often reached school with little or no formal sign language, relying on gesture or home sign.
02In mainstream schools, interpreters were described as teaching sign language and filling curricular gaps, not only interpreting.
03Deaf participants described incomplete education and school failure as linked to interpreters’ lack of signing skill and professional conduct.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
The sample was small and purposive, so it cannot be generalized. Participants were adults recalling school experiences, not children or families currently receiving services. Most deaf participants had attended mainstream schools, so deaf school experiences may be underrepresented. Some interpreter participants had deaf family members, so their school performance may not represent all interpreters. Findings were translated from sign language interviews into English, which may lose nuance. The paper reports experiences and themes, not measured educational outcomes or intervention effects.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read this as proof that interpreter training will fix deaf students’ school struggles. The paper reports experiences and themes from a small qualitative sample, not a measured effect of any intervention.