Access to Technical Education Through Sign Language Interpreting

在美国，超过2300万人患有慢性、严重的听力损失。其中超过450万人在18岁之前就患有听力损失。最近的证据表明，与聋哑学生相关的教育挑战主要是由于聋哑学生与其听力正常的父母和教师之间缺乏有效的沟通。以前的研究已经描述了手语翻译在教育环境中的需要和翻译过程的性质，但很少有人知道的因素，实际上影响了聋人和听力困难的学习者解释材料的理解。如果聋人或其他有沟通障碍的人要充分获得现有的教育方案，这种调查是必不可少的。拟议的研究将（1）检查被认为影响教育口译理解的因素，（2）确定学生，教学情况和口译员的特点，可以促进中学后技术教育中材料的理解，（3）通过技术和科学相关的教室中的手语翻译，有助于对教育的非常有限的知识。该项目将利用罗切斯特理工学院下属的国家聋人技术学院的独特环境，该学院专注于科学、数学和技术教育。参与者将从1300多名聋人和听力障碍学生以及120多名手语翻译中挑选。八个实验将检查学习者的语言流利程度和内容知识，口译技能和准备，口译知识的技术内容，口译员-学习者熟悉度，以及视觉呈现格式对学习的影响（例如，远程教育）。特别令人感兴趣的是，在技术教育课堂上，学生和口译员的沟通技能/偏好和背景知识相匹配会产生影响，因为在技术教育课堂上，复杂的材料会对大多数聋哑学生典型的贫困背景阅读和教育水平造成负担。这种环境对手语翻译来说也是一种挑战，因为他们中有科学和技术教育背景的人相对较少。我们会根据上述因素，考虑学生在课堂上的学习量和满意程度。研究结果将直接促进聋人学习者获得教育计划，提高我们对如何有效地将技术材料传达给聋人和听力障碍者的理解，并描述新的视觉技术对有显著听力损失的个人获得教育计划的影响。更广泛地说，这项研究将为优化具有语言或沟通挑战的学生的技术教育提供有价值的新信息，并有助于扩大在科学，技术，工程和数学方面接受培训的人才库。

More than 23 million people in the United States have chronic, significant hearing losses. More than 4.5 million of those individuals acquired their hearing losses prior to 18 years of age. Recent evidence indicates that educational challenges associated with are largely due to the lack of effective communication between deaf students and their hearing parents and teachers. Previous studies have described the need for sign language interpreters in educational settings and the nature of the interpreting process, but little is known about the factors actually influencing the comprehension of interpreted material by deaf and hard-of-hearing learners. Such investigations are essential if deaf individuals, or others with communication challenges, are to have full access to available educational programs. The proposed research will (1) examine factors thought to influence comprehension of educational interpreting, (2) identify characteristics of students, teaching situations, and interpreters that can foster comprehension of material in postsecondary technical education, and (3) contribute to very limited knowledge about the education via sign language interpretation in technology and science-related classrooms. The project will take advantage of the unique setting of the National Technical Institute for the Deaf, a college of Rochester Institute of Technology, which focuses on science, mathematics, and technical education. Participants will be drawn from more than 1300 deaf and hard-of-hearing students and more than 120 sign language interpreters. Eight experiments will examine the impact of learners' language fluencies and content knowledge, interpreter skills and preparation, interpreter knowledge of technical content, interpreter-learner familiarity, and the effects of visual presentation formats on learning (e.g., distance learning). Of particular interest will be the impact of matching communication skills/preferences and background knowledge of students and interpreters in technical education classrooms, where complex material taxes the impoverished background reading and educational levels typical of most deaf students. Such settings also are challenging for sign language interpreters, relatively few of whom have educational backgrounds in science and technology. Both the amount learned and students' satisfaction/comfort with classroom experiences will be considered in terms of the above factors. The findings will directly facilitate the access of deaf learners to educational programs, improve our understanding of ways to effectively communication technical material to deaf and hard-of-hearing individuals, and describe the impact of new visual technologies on access to educational programming by individuals with significant hearing loss. More generally, the research will provide valuable new information for optimizing technical education for students with language or communication challenges and help to expand the pool of individuals with training in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.