Pedagogical Practices and Social Transformations. Interculturality and Bilingualism in the Deaf Education

Abstract

This study deals with the transformation of pedagogical practices and the generation of educational responses to embrace the cultural and linguistic diversity of deaf people whose first language is the Chilean Sign Language. It is considered that the changes required by the education system occur in the classroom and arise from the reflection of teachers who innovate their practices and generate new strategies of teaching Spanish as a second language for the deaf, from a bilingual intercultural approach. Teaching practices of 17 teachers from different special schools for the deaf in the city of Santiago were observed, based on an observation checklist developed for this purpose. The results show that the teachers use cognitive, metacognitive and visual strategies (indigenous of the deaf). However, there is no systematic development of such practices.