Keynote Speakers
Professor Li Wei
University College London
Director and Dean of the UCL Institute of Education, University College London, where he also holds a Chair in Applied Linguistics. He is a Fellow of the British Academy, Academia Europaea, Academy of Social Sciences (UK), and the Royal Society of Arts (UK). He is Editor of International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, and Applied Linguistics Review.
Professor Lorraine Leeson
Trinity College Dublin
Professor Leeson is Professor in Deaf Studies at the Centre for Deaf Studies, and Associate Vice Provost for Equality, Diversity and Inclusion
Transpositioning in Learning
Li Wei
UCL Institute of Education
In Liquid Modernity, ‘change is the only permanence, and uncertainty the only certainty’ (Bauman, 2000). Individuals are compelled to spontaneously and simultaneously engage in multiplex virtual networks that support everyday life, requiring continuous expansions of our communicative repertoire. One has to adapt to new and different ways of being and interacting with others; in other words, one has to develop a capacity for Transpositioning. Transpositioning foregrounds a susceptibility to constant change, with a view to transcending any given position. It refers to a processual and iterative shifting of the identity position of an actor-in-communication; i.e., the process in which individuals allow their stance with regard to any given proposition to be in flow-and-flux as they interact with others. To be in flow-and-flux means to release oneself (one’s self) from given frameworks and habitual patterns of thought, generating possibility spaces in which one develops new routes (cf. roots) of thinking in conjunction with other participants and cultivates an affect of empathy for others.
This talk focuses on the concept of Transpositioning in learning, with examples of classroom interaction and learning with GenAI, exploring spatial as well as relational transpositioning (Hawkins, 2021) to showcase transpositioning through translanguagng, transmodalities and co-learning in action. It invites the participants to think how institutional systems and practices such as education should adapt to ever-changing demands of life in liquid modernity and how they can enhance Transpositioning capacities needed for the 21st century.
Language(s) and the (re) creation of identities in signing communities: examples from Ireland
Lorraine Leeson
Trinity College Dublin
Language plays a central role in the formation and negotiation of identity and belonging on both an individual and a societal basis. In signing communities, the use of a sign language is a crucial medium for self-expression and community cohesion, and long identified as one of the signifiers for recognition as a member of a Deaf community (e.g. Conama, 2022; Ladd, 2003; Lane, Hoffmeister, & Bahan, 1996; Matthews, 1996). The societal drive for recognition of sign languages has been a key impetus for European deaf-led NGOs, with all of the European Union’s Sign Languages now recognised (Leeson & van den Bogaerde, 2020), including Irish Sign Language (Government of Ireland, 2017). These recognitions have resulted in Deaf communities across Europe anecdotally reporting on their increased sense of pride in their languages, and of increased public awareness of Deaf communities and their cultural identity (identities) as signing people – heightened across the Covid-19 pandemic (Mathews, Cadwell, O’Boyle, & Dunne, 2022; Sinclair, Byrne, & Le Maire, 2021)
At the same time, language deprivation is experienced by many deaf children and is a major ethical concern (Humphries et al., 2012), with significant practical barriers to ensuring access to a sign language for deaf children and their families. Where the family is a migrant family, the risk to maintenance of a heritage sign language may increase, if they have had access to a signed language at all (Duggan, 2024 and see European Centre for Modern Languages’ DeafSign project 2024-7).
In Ireland, deeply embedded structural asymmetries remain which impact on deaf signers and their families. These require significant effort to challenge with the burden carried primarily by deaf people, their families, organisations of deaf people, and allies. At the same time, there is significant work ongoing that contributes to (re) imagining and iteratively (re) creating Deaf communities. One linguistic window on this is work to build glossaries of terms in ISL in a range of domains. Here, I consider how signing communities make choices when intentionally co-constructing new vocabulary that supports conceptualisations of Deaf communities as ‘people of the eye’, where cultural specificity leads to the profiling of iconic, depicting elements (Brennan, 1990; Liddell, 2003) – demonstrating intentional moves away from English language influences which were more prevalent in past language planning processes (e.g. National Association for the Deaf, 1979). I suggest that increased confidence stemming from legal recognition of Irish Sign Language plays a role in shaping contemporary ideologies around the future ‘shape’ of ISL, and with that, the communities who use ISL in an increasing range of domains.
References
Brennan, Mary. (1990). Word Formation in British Sign Language. Stockholm: University of Stockholm.
Conama, J.B. (2022). How to sign on and stay there: Snapshot of the feeling of belonging within the Irish Deaf Community. Irish Journal of Sociology, 30(3).
Duggan, Nora. (2024). Deaf migrants in Swedish adult education Language ideologies, repertoires, and translingual practices. (PhD), Stockholm University, Stockhom.
Irish Sign Language Act, (2017). Government of Ireland.
Humphries, Tom, Kushalnagar, Poorna, Mathur, Gaurav, Napoli, Donna Jo, Padden, Carol A., Rathmann, Christian, & Smith, Scott R. (2012). Language acquisition for deaf children: Reducing the harms of zero tolerance to the use of alternative approaches. Harm Reduction Journal, 9(16).
Ladd, Paddy. (2003). Understanding deaf culture : in search of deafhood. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.
Lane, Harlan, Hoffmeister, R., & Bahan, Ben. (1996). A Journey into the Deaf-World. San Diego, CA: Dawn Sign Press.
Leeson, Lorraine, & van den Bogaerde, Beppie (Eds.). (2020). Sign languages in higher education in Europe Berlin: De Gruyter.
Liddell, Scott K. (2003). Grammar, gesture, and meaning in American sign language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Mathews, Elizabeth, Cadwell, Patrick, O’Boyle, Shaun, & Dunne, Senan. (2022). Crisis Interpreting and Deaf Community Access in the COVID-19 Pandemic. Perspectives: Studies in Translation Theory and Practice.
Matthews, Patrick A. (1996). The Irish deaf community. Baile Átha Cliath: Institiúid Teangeolaíochta Éireann.
National Association for the Deaf. (Ed.) (1979). Dictionary of the Irish Sign Language. Dublin: National Association for the Deaf.
Sinclair, Kristina, Byrne, Bronagh, & Le Maire, Amandine. (2021). Deaf people's experiences of accessing COVID-19 briefings and services: an evaluation report for Department of Communities. Belfast: Department of Communities.