Peer-to-peer Deaf Multiliteracies, 2017-2020

This project on multiliteracies involved groups of deaf learners in India, Uganda, and Ghana, both in primary schools and with young adult learners. The Peer-to-Peer Deaf Multiliteracies project examined how some of the dynamics that contribute to learners’ marginalisation can be changed by involving deaf individuals in the design of new teaching approaches, and by using children and young people's lived experiences and existing multilingual-multimodal skills as the starting point for theme-based learning. The aim was for participants to develop not only English literacy, but "multiliteracies", i.e. skills in sign languages, ICT, written English, creative expression through drawing and acting, and other forms of multimodal communication. The data collection includes reports from classroom settings compiled by tutors and by research assistants, pre-and post-tests on language and literacy abilities with learners, samples from an online learning platform, and multimedia portfolios collected from learners. A total of 124 young deaf adults and 79 deaf primary school children took part in the research