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Perception of the School Experiences of Five Generations of Deaf Students Georgia Southern University Digital Commons@Georgia Southern Electronic Theses and Dissertations Graduate Studies, Jack N. Averitt College of Spring 2015 Perception of the School Experiences of Five Generations of Deaf Students Charles DePew Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/etd Part of the Educational Methods Commons Recommended Citation DePew, Charles, "Perception of the School Experiences of Five Generations of Deaf Students" (2015). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 1292. https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/etd/1292 This dissertation (open access) is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate Studies, Jack N. Averitt College of at Digital Commons@Georgia Southern. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons@Georgia Southern. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Running head: PERCEPTION OF THE SCHOOL EXPERIENCES PERCEPTION OF THE SCHOOL EXPERIENCES OF FIVE GENERATIONS OF DEAF STUDENTS by CHARLES DEPEW (Under the Direction of Delores Liston) ABSTRACT The purpose of this study was to investigate deaf participants’ perspectives of their educational experiences within the last 50 years. The study was comprised of five deaf participants educated in the public school setting, and four deaf participants educated in the residential setting. The qualitative study utilized three in-depth interviews, a survey, and the researcher’s reflections/notes. The findings suggest deaf students’ educational experiences are impacted by low academic expectations. Sign language can be a powerful learning tool or a barrier for deaf students as deaf students depend on sign language and visuals to support their learning. Both spoken and written English are likely to be a struggle for deaf students. Emotional difficulties were associated with public and residential settings for the participants. Personal motivations, family members, and the type of setting had powerful influences on the participants. Freire’s (1993) theoretical framework of liberation was utilized in this study to engage participants in dialogue about the perceptions of their educational experiences. INDEX WORDS: Audism, Certified Interpreter, Professional Interpreter, Coda, Deaf, Little “d” and Big “D”, Inclusion, Mainstream, Phonocentrism, Public, Residential PERCEPTION OF THE SCHOOL EXPERIENCES ii PERCEPTION OF THE SCHOOL EXPERIENCES OF FIVE GENERATIONS OF DEAF STUDENTS by CHARLES DEPEW B.S., Physical Education, State University of New York at Brockport, 1993 M.S., Health Education, State University of New York at Cortland, 1999 A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of Georgia Southern University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree DOCTOR OF CURRICULUM STUDIES STATESBORO, GEORGIA 2015 PERCEPTION OF THE SCHOOL EXPERIENCES iii © 2015 CHARLES DEPEW All Rights Reserved PERCEPTION OF THE SCHOOL EXPERIENCES iv PERCEPTION OF THE SCHOOL EXPERIENCES OF FIVE GENERATIONS OF DEAF STUDENTS by CHARLES DEPEW Major Professor: Delores Liston Committee: Kymberly Drawdy Grigory Dmitriyev Dana Sparkman Electronic Version Approved: Spring 2015, May 2015 PERCEPTION OF THE SCHOOL EXPERIENCES v DEDICATION This dissertation is dedicated to my deaf grandmother and deaf relatives who were the inspiration for this study. It is also dedicated to my family and friends who have had to hear about my struggle with my study almost every day for the last seven years of my doctoral program. Also, to my dog, Betty, who has pushed her ball in my face many times wanting me to play with her while I was working on my dissertation. PERCEPTION OF THE SCHOOL EXPERIENCES vi ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I wish to acknowledge my prior chairperson, Dr. Lorraine Gilpin, for not giving up on me and nudging me to keep on trying to finish this dissertation. Her patience and always staying positive when I got down on myself about this dissertation, and always providing constructive feedback in a caring way, meant the world to me. I will miss the person who has been my “rock” during this long process. I would also like to thank my chairperson, Dr. Delores Liston, for stepping in and taking over as my chair under such tough circumstances without even being asked to take on such a tough job. I really appreciated her help and guidance as a student in several of her courses prior to this study, as well as her patience and constructive feedback as my chairperson. I would also like to thank Dr. Kymberly Drawdy, Dr. Dana Sparkman, and Dr. Grigory Dmitriyev for their time, interest, assistance, and guidance in this dissertation. I have been blessed to work with such an intelligent and caring committee. I could not have done it without them. I also want to thank my deaf relatives for volunteering to be involved in this study and for their great assistance in helping me recruit participants. I also want to thank those other participants in the study for giving their time and sharing their stories. In addition, I want to thank the interpreters that were flexible with times for interviews and their commitment to help me finish all the interviews for my research in a small time frame. Last of all, I want to thank God for carrying me through this process. PERCEPTION OF THE SCHOOL EXPERIENCES vii TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ........................................................................................................................... vi CHAPTER 1: THE ABSENCE OF DIALOUGE WITH DEAF STUDENTS ................................................................ 1 Background of an Ongoing Problem ......................................................................................................... 1 Statement of the Problem ........................................................................................................................ 3 Purpose of the Study ................................................................................................................................. 4 Theoretical Framework of Liberation ....................................................................................................... 6 Liberating Settings .................................................................................................................................. 11 Research Questions ................................................................................................................................ 13 Significance of the Study ......................................................................................................................... 14 CHAPTER II: THE DEAF EXPERIENCE RETOLD ............................................................................................ 18 Literature’s Relevance to the Deaf Study ............................................................................................... 18 Historical Preface .................................................................................................................................... 18 Deaf Culture ............................................................................................................................................ 30 The Continued Debate of Academic Setting ........................................................................................... 32 The Launch of a Least Restrictive Environment ...................................................................................... 35 Present-Day Mainstreamed Education/Least Restrictive Environment ................................................. 39 Deaf Students’ Views of Mainstream Classrooms .................................................................................. 42 Inclusion .................................................................................................................................................. 46 Residential Option .................................................................................................................................. 51 Deaf Students’ Views of Residential Setting ........................................................................................... 53 Federal Legislation and Deaf Education .................................................................................................. 57 Language Barrier ..................................................................................................................................... 68 PERCEPTION OF THE SCHOOL EXPERIENCES viii Ableism ................................................................................................................................................... 71 Audism and Phonocentrism .................................................................................................................... 73 Making Sense of the Literature ............................................................................................................... 75 CHAPTER III: PERSONAL DISCUSSIONS ABOUT EDUCATION ...................................................................... 78 The Power of Conversation ..................................................................................................................... 78 Methodological Overview ....................................................................................................................... 78 In-Depth Interviews ...............................................................................................................................
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