This article reviews the background of the bilingual approach in deaf education, it describes more specifically how it has been implemented in Sweden, and it refers to the incorporation of this approach in deaf education in Chile. Further on, it analyzes the way in which Sign Language can be used to teach written language in bilingual education contexts, using examples from primary education classes for children at a school for the deaf. Finally the article emphasizes the implications of the bilingual model for the process of teaching and learning written language in deaf education, and it discusses some considerations for moving forward in this area in the Chilean education context.
In this article, an overview of the last 35 years of bilingual education forthe deaf in Sweden is presented. A short presentation is given of the terms‘first language/mother tongue’ and ‘second/foreign language’, used in thisspecific context, to debate some of the main assumptions underlying first andsecond language teaching to deaf children. We discuss the main results fromthe bilingual approach, demonstrating the high level of achievements whenconsidered in an international perspective. These results are compared todata from the first period of deaf education in Sweden, after the foundationof the Manilla school in 1809. The common basis for these examples ofsuccessful deaf education can be summarized as a positive attitude to signlanguage and its users. Then, we analyze some differences between naturalsign languages versus simultaneous use of signs and speech, wherein thedeaf addressee usually receives inconsistent linguistic information, thusmaking this practice less appropriate for the language learner. A discussionfollows up language teaching to deaf children, including teaching a thirdlanguage to them, such as English, for example. It is noted that the groupof sign language users is currently undergoing a great change, especiallybecause of the growing number of children with cochlear implants: theirneed for bilingualism, including sign language, is emphasized.