Manualism and oralism
Encyclopedia
Education of the deaf consists of two main approaches: manualism
and oralism
. Manualism is the education of deaf students using sign language
and oralism is the education of deaf students using spoken language
. Since the beginning of the 18th century, these two philosophies have been on opposing sides of a heated debate that continues to this day, although many modern deaf educational facilities attempt to integrate both approaches.
Oralists claim that manualists neglect the residual hearing in deaf children and that their emphasis on sign language isolates them from wider culture and hearing family members, thus serving to restrict them to a limited subculture that leaves them unable to succeed in the general population. They would also point to higher levels of educational success and assimilation into hearing society for deaf individuals. Manualists would reply that while the concerns of isolation used to be true, the general change in attitude toward those who are deaf and hard of hearing
, the advent of various alternative communication devices, and federal and state laws protecting their rights have given rise to greater accessibility and inclusion in many areas of life.
Oralists also point out that only a tiny percentage of the general population can use sign language: for example, the most recent estimates place the number of ASL users in the United States at roughly between 100,000 and 500,000, or between 0.03% and 0.15% of the population, and BSL users in the UK are estimated at 145,000, or about 0.2% of the population.
Another manualist concern is that many deaf children may not accomplish proficiency in lip-reading and other oralist techniques due to the great degree of time and effort involved. This may change with the use of new computer speech instruction methods with visual feedback capabilities that can assist the deaf speaker's articulations and improve their sound production with much less time and effort involved. Similarly, speech reading (also known as lip reading) can also be done with computer program
s at greater efficiency.
Schools for the deaf in the United States
Manualism
Manualism is a method of education of deaf students using sign language within the classroom.-History:While working at Gallaudet University in the 1970s, William Stokoe felt that American Sign Language was a language in its own right; with its own independent syntax and grammar...
and oralism
Oralism
Oralism is the education of deaf students through spoken language by using lip reading, speech, and mimicking the mouth shapes and breathing patterns of speech instead of using sign language within the classroom...
. Manualism is the education of deaf students using sign language
Sign language
A sign language is a language which, instead of acoustically conveyed sound patterns, uses visually transmitted sign patterns to convey meaning—simultaneously combining hand shapes, orientation and movement of the hands, arms or body, and facial expressions to fluidly express a speaker's...
and oralism is the education of deaf students using spoken language
Spoken language
Spoken language is a form of human communication in which words derived from a large vocabulary together with a diverse variety of names are uttered through or with the mouth. All words are made up from a limited set of vowels and consonants. The spoken words they make are stringed into...
. Since the beginning of the 18th century, these two philosophies have been on opposing sides of a heated debate that continues to this day, although many modern deaf educational facilities attempt to integrate both approaches.
The learning process debate
Manualists claim that oralists neglect the psychosocial development of deaf children, and that the extensive practice required leaves students with less time and energy to advance academically and socially. Manualists believe oralist teaching methods result in inadequate skills and often poor speaking ability despite the great effort invested. They also feel that what is most important is giving deaf children a visual-motor language they can truly master, so as to enable their intellect to develop normally.Oralists claim that manualists neglect the residual hearing in deaf children and that their emphasis on sign language isolates them from wider culture and hearing family members, thus serving to restrict them to a limited subculture that leaves them unable to succeed in the general population. They would also point to higher levels of educational success and assimilation into hearing society for deaf individuals. Manualists would reply that while the concerns of isolation used to be true, the general change in attitude toward those who are deaf and hard of hearing
Hearing impairment
-Definition:Deafness is the inability for the ear to interpret certain or all frequencies of sound.-Environmental Situations:Deafness can be caused by environmental situations such as noise, trauma, or other ear defections...
, the advent of various alternative communication devices, and federal and state laws protecting their rights have given rise to greater accessibility and inclusion in many areas of life.
Oralists also point out that only a tiny percentage of the general population can use sign language: for example, the most recent estimates place the number of ASL users in the United States at roughly between 100,000 and 500,000, or between 0.03% and 0.15% of the population, and BSL users in the UK are estimated at 145,000, or about 0.2% of the population.
Another manualist concern is that many deaf children may not accomplish proficiency in lip-reading and other oralist techniques due to the great degree of time and effort involved. This may change with the use of new computer speech instruction methods with visual feedback capabilities that can assist the deaf speaker's articulations and improve their sound production with much less time and effort involved. Similarly, speech reading (also known as lip reading) can also be done with computer program
Computer program
A computer program is a sequence of instructions written to perform a specified task with a computer. A computer requires programs to function, typically executing the program's instructions in a central processor. The program has an executable form that the computer can use directly to execute...
s at greater efficiency.
History of deaf education in the United States
See also
- Deaf cultureDeaf cultureDeaf culture describes the social beliefs, behaviors, art, literary traditions, history, values and shared institutions of communities that are affected by deafness and which use sign languages as the main means of communication. When used as a cultural label, the word deaf is often written with a...
- Deaf educationDeaf educationDeaf education is the academic discipline concerned the education of students with various hearing capabilities in a way that addresses the students' individual differences and needs.Deaf education also includes the study of:* Special education...
- History of sign languageHistory of sign languageThe recorded history of sign language in Western societies extends from the 16th century, as a visual language or method of communication. Sign language is composed of a system of conventional gestures, mimic, hand signs and finger spelling, plus the use of hand positions to represent the letters...
Schools for the deaf in the United States
- Second International Congress on Education of the Deaf