Robert J. Hoffmeister is Director of the Center for the Study of Communication & Deafness at Boston University

Boston University

Boston University is a private research university located in Boston, Massachusetts. With more than 4,000 faculty members and more than 31,000 students, Boston University is one of the largest private universities in the United States and one of Boston's largest employers...

. He is most well known for his book A Journey into the Deaf World." Furhtermore, he is well know for supporting the American Deaf Community through all types of work and research he has completed.

Biography

Hoffmeister grew up at the residential American School for the Deaf

American School for the Deaf

The American School for the Deaf is the oldest permanent school for the deaf in the United States. It was founded April 15, 1817 in Hartford, Connecticut by Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet and Laurent Clerc and became a state-supported school in 1817.-History:...

 in West Hartford, Connecticut

Connecticut

Connecticut is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, and the state of New York to the west and the south .Connecticut is named for the Connecticut River, the major U.S. river that approximately...

. His parents were both teachers at the school and were also both deaf. Hoffmeiser attended the University of Connecticut

University of Connecticut

The admission rate to the University of Connecticut is about 50% and has been steadily decreasing, with about 28,000 prospective students applying for admission to the freshman class in recent years. Approximately 40,000 prospective students tour the main campus in Storrs annually...

, graduating in 1970 with a Bachelor of Science

Bachelor of Science

A Bachelor of Science is an undergraduate academic degree awarded for completed courses that generally last three to five years .-Australia:In Australia, the BSc is a 3 year degree, offered from 1st year on...

 degree in Psychology and Language. He received his Masters degree in Deaf Education from the University of Arizona

University of Arizona

The University of Arizona is a land-grant and space-grant public institution of higher education and research located in Tucson, Arizona, United States. The University of Arizona was the first university in the state of Arizona, founded in 1885...

 in the following year and his doctorate in Psychology, and Language and the Deaf in 1978 from the University of Minnesota

University of Minnesota

The University of Minnesota, Twin Cities is a public research university located in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota, United States. It is the oldest and largest part of the University of Minnesota system and has the fourth-largest main campus student body in the United States, with 52,557...

.

In 1980 at Boston University

Boston University

Boston University is a private research university located in Boston, Massachusetts. With more than 4,000 faculty members and more than 31,000 students, Boston University is one of the largest private universities in the United States and one of Boston's largest employers...

 he created the first university major and specialization in Deaf Studies. He was a director of Programs in Deaf Studies until 2008. He was also director from 1979-2008 for the Graduate Programs called Education of the Deaf and ASL/ Deaf Studies. He was the director for the undergraduate program in Deaf Studies.

Currently, he is an associate professor and the director of the Center for the Study of Communication and Deafness at Boston University. In addition, he is the director for Boston's Univeristy Literacy, Language, Counseling and Development department and consult/director for the, Center for Research and Training: A Learing Center for Deaf Children, in Framingham, Masachusets. According to Boston University he has done studies in the following areas:"the acquisition of American Sign Language (ASL) by Deaf children; Deaf people as a bilingual/bicultural minority group; problems in the education of the Deaf; the effects of implementing public laws on Deaf children; and the improvement of interactions between Hearing parents and their Deaf children" His most well know written work is the book,"Journey Into the Deaf-World", whom he coauthored with Harlan Lane

Harlan Lane

Harlan Lane is Distinguished University professor of psychology at Northeastern University in Boston, Massachusetts, in the United States, and founder of the Center for Research in Hearing, Speech, and Language. His research is focused on speech, Deaf culture, and sign language. Lane was born in...

 and Ben Bahan.

Books

His most well know book,"A Journey into the Deaf World,"" is written by very knowledgable scholars one whom is deaf, one hearing, and Hoffmeister himself, whom is a CODA. These scholoars offer clear insights of the deaf world, the community that it is made up of, and the language the community uses(American Sign Language

American Sign Language

American Sign Language, or ASL, for a time also called Ameslan, is the dominant sign language of Deaf Americans, including deaf communities in the United States, in the English-speaking parts of Canada, and in some regions of Mexico...

). Within the book they bring the latest social , theories and cultural information in order to show the reader what deaf culture is, as well as, the benefits that hearing people and deaf children get from using sign language. The book also refers to the topics of education of deaf children; how deaf people assimulate into the larger society; the natural development of ASL; the pros and cons of technology for deaf individuals; what can be learned from deaf societies in other countries; and what the deaf world holds in the furture. This book is very popular for those who want to learn about the deaf world.

Citation

Lane, H., Hoffmeister, R. & Bahan, Ben. A Journey into the Deaf World.Dawn Sign Press, San Diego,
CA. (1996)

Hoffmeister, R., Ewolt, C., Israelite, N., and Greenwald, J. A Review of the Literature on the Effective Useof Native Sign Language on the Acquisition of a Majority Language by Hearing Impaired Students.
A Final Report to Minister of Education, Ontario. (October, 1989). (monograph, 1992))

Hoffmeister, R. and Gee, J. (Eds.) Special Edition on American Sign Language Discourse. In
Discourse Processes: A Multidisciplinary Journal 6: 3 (1983).))

Research

He currently has projects in progress. For instance, how deaf children think using ASL. The second project is the study of how hearing people acquire ASL as a second language and the most difficult environments of learning ASL. Thirdly, he is working on the ASL Assessment Instrument(ASLAI), which began in 1988. This is used to measure the different levels of signing skills in children who are deaf. Lastly, how deaf children use ASL to learn English.

Honors

Hoffmeister received an honor from the National Association for the Deaf (NAD), called,"The Frederick C. Schrieber Award." This award was presented in memory of, Frederick C. Schreiber, the first Executive Director of the NAD Recognition Awards." National Association of the Deaf. Web. 14 Nov. 2011. . Hoffmeister got this award because he showed advocacy through his work of the advancement of civil rights, human rights, and linguistic rights of Americans who are deaf and hard of hearing. Additionally, he received: "The Distinguished Service Award" and "The Thomas Hopkins Gallauedt Award", which was MSAD recognizing his commitment to the Deaf community.

External Links

Robert J. Hoffmeister Home page at Boston University