Literacy development with deaf communities using sign language, peer tuition, and learner-generated online content: sustainable educational innovation

The project aims to discover and explore new ways of teaching English to members of deaf communities in India, Ghana and Uganda. The project takes a learner-driven and ethnographic approach, focussing on how learners use English already and what it is they need and want to learn to make it possible for them to engage more fully and more meaningfully in any English literacy practices that are useful or interesting to them. The project will support deaf peer tutors and learners to develop their own materials and learning activities, including teaching through sign language. To make this possible tutors and learners will be trained in using ethnographic methods to research their own uses of English and how to develop learning and teaching activities around these. A key part of the approach will be a virtual/mobile learning platform. Led by deaf research assistants the main activity will be located in India, where the approach will be tried out with 5 groups of students. Pilot work will also be done in Uganda and Ghana.The project, will reveal new practices (of teaching English to sign language users) that policy makers can use to improve education, literacy and empowerment in deaf communities.