Removing Barriers to Engagement and Learning for Deaf Students: Multimodal Teaching Strategies

Context and Purpose:  Deafness, Communities, and Cultures

Deaf learners face unique accessibility and engagement barriers in the classroom. As with many students who have experiences of disability, neurodivergence, and diverse life experiences, these barriers are related to systemic structures in higher education. For deaf learners, these barriers primarily emerge from a lack of understanding regarding ocularcentrism—the emic primacy of the eye in deaf experience. Attending to these barriers requires action regarding the technical accessibility of learning materials and lecture content and meaningful social and cultural inclusion in the classroom community.

While frameworks like Universal Design for Learning (UDL) rightly encourage educators to proactively design and teach to all students based on disability and a diversity of lived experiences, we must remain attuned to the unique experiences, cultures, and communities of deaf students in the classroom. Ultimately, “Including multiple modes is not enough; there must be a purposeful alignment and interaction of modes for deaf and deafblind people, including signed and tactile languages (e.g., American Sign Language, ProTactile, etc.)” (Weber, Hayward, Skyer, & Snively, 2024, p. 5).

This resource aligns its language with Kusters & Friedner (2015), deaf academics and editors of , who write in their preface:

 

"We write deaf with a lowercase 'd' because we see deaf as more encompassing, less politicized and less context-dependent than Deaf." In other words, the lowercase 'd' encompasses deaf people inside and outside established Deaf communities, broadening its scope.”

We would like to extend our deep gratitude for the collaboration and labour of Dr. Joanne Weber, Pam Brenneis, Tracy Hetman, and Ginette Chalifoux in the development of this resource. This tip sheet would not have been possible without their generous support, care, and feedback throughout this process.

海角社区 Spotlight: Dr. Joanne Weber, Canada Research Chair in Deaf Aesthetics

image of Dr. Joanne Weber

Photo credit: Laura Sou

Dr. Joanne Weber is the first Canada Research Chair in Deaf Education (2021), to provide a blueprint for deaf education. Her works showcase Deaf Aesthetics, a data-grounded theoretical framework designed to address the challenges associated with incompatible curricula in deaf education. Her study operationalizes Deaf Aesthetics to empirically document the impacts of curriculum design on teaching and learning within a specific deaf higher education context. 

This framework comprises a flexible suite of design principles to enhance educational processes in environments where deaf students and faculty interact. Unlike Universal Design for Learning (UDL), which often falls short for deaf learners, Deaf Aesthetics explicitly addresses its insufficiencies. As a pragmatic approach to constructing deaf education curricula, Deaf Aesthetics places a strong emphasis on multimodality and ocularcentricity, recognizing the diverse ways in which communication and understanding can be fostered in the Deaf community. 

Ocularcentricity represents the primacy of visual perception in deaf epistemology.

“Deaf epistemologies, as they relate to education and instruction, typically contain certain beliefs including but not limited to the idea that deaf education has been controlled by hearing educators who harbor a deficit or deficiency model of deafness … theories of instruction and research do not apply to the education of d/Deaf students. In addition, deaf epistemologies posit that there is no specific psychology of deafness, but there are differences in the ways that d/Deaf and hearing individuals learn; d/Deaf learners are visual learners.”

Moores, D. F. (2012). . Gallaudet University Press, pp. 108.

Feature: Joanne’s talk on (podcast)

To learn more about Dr. Weber’s work, please explore some of her recent publications:

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Teaching Deaf Students: Strategies and examples

The strategies outlined in this resource offer foundational teaching practices to support deaf students in educational environments. While these practices encourage intentional course design, it is crucial to consider individual students' unique circumstances and contexts. Conducting formative assessments of accessibility can help identify and address specific needs, and gradually adapting practices based on individual student accommodation requests can enhance accessibility, recognizing that singular accommodations can be scaled by the instructor more broadly to serve as a proactive approach. This requires that instructors engage in critical self-reflection, evaluating their ability to integrate accessibility thoughtfully into digital and in-person learning environments. 

For a comprehensive overview of the inclusion of deaf students in higher education, please visit Joanne Weber’s article on in transformative education.

Strategies

The following strategies for multimodal and inclusionary teaching are drawn from Dr. Joanne Weber’s work on Deaf education and Deaf Aesthetics:

Language Accessibility: Provide communication in students’ primary language which may be a signed language or a spoken language. This is a fundamental human right and is essential for equitable teaching and learning. 

Strategies:

  • Use the local sign language (e.g., American Sign Language (ASL) in Canada or Langue des signes québécoise (LSQ)) as needed. 
  • Provide captioning for online courses or materials where sign language interpretation is not available. E.g. offer accurate captions for recorded sessions. 
  • Ensure text-based resources are readily available to supplement verbal instructions.

2. Multimodal Teaching Approaches: Incorporate visual, text-based, and interactive formats to support diverse learning needs and comprehension. Multimodality reinforces ocularcentricity in its promotion of visual (ocular) modalities. 

Strategies:

  • Use images, diagrams, and written text to illustrate concepts. 
  • Strive toward including bilingual-bimodal formats. Bilingual-bimodal “includes establishment of language foundations and access to learning through two modalities, e.g., auditory and visual, and two languages, e.g., ASL and English.” (Nassbaum et al. (2012). . Gallaudet University.)
  • Integrate flexible options for class participation. E.g, screen-share the online discussion forum during an in-person class discussion so that students have two options to contribute (oral and written). 

3. Accessible Video Materials: Promote access to video content and reduce attentional fatigue.

Strategies:

  • Provide accurately captioned videos for all instructional needs. 
  • Include time-stamped questions or prompts in video lectures to foster interaction.
    E.g. time-stamps can be provided in a ‘table of contents’ format in the written description for videos, structuring them into smaller, digestible segments. 

4. Multimodal Expression for Students: Support students in demonstrating their learning in ways that meet their access needs.

Strategies:

  • Allow assignments and participation in multiple formats: written, signed, video, or multimedia. 
  • Design activities that encourage physical and visual engagement (e.g., hands-on projects, visual storytelling).
    E.g. permit students to submit projects as written papers, recorded, signed presentations, or multimedia submissions. 
5. Student-Centered Strategies: Centering students’ lived experiences fosters engagement, self-determination, and sustained learning persistence. 

Strategies:

  • Apply culturally relevant pedagogy to maintain interest and connection.
  • Optimize autonomy by allowing students to select topics, tools, or formats for assignments.
    E.g. offer options for students to analyze culturally significant Deaf community texts or multimedia content relevant to their experiences.

Reflective Prompts 

  1. Have I considered how my teaching materials and methods might unintentionally create barriers for deaf learners?
  2. Am I aware of how environmental factors, like lighting, noise and sightlines, might affect students’ ability to access information?
  3. Am I creating an environment where deaf learners are respected and included as active participants in the class?
  4. How do I evaluate whether my accommodations genuinely enhance the student’s learning experience?

Learn more: Additional resources

Internal resources

If you have questions or concerns about supporting deaf learners, you can reach out to the following units for consultation and support, depending on your specific needs:

  1. Centre for Teaching and Learning – Incorporating multimodality into your classroom and learning materials; considering strategies for relationship and community building in the classroom
  2. Information Services and Technology – Identifying and incorporating accessibility features into Canvas (e.g., Immersive Reader, alternative text)
  3. Academic Success Centre (ASC) Sign Language Interpretation and Real-Time Captioning (CART) Services – Coordinating interpretation and transcription services on campus for students, staff, and events
  4. ASC Accessibility & Accommodations Services – Understanding the duty to accommodate at the 海角社区; identifying how different adaptive technologies function

Additional resources

Bauman, D. (2015). . [YouTube]. TEDx Gallaudet.  

Enns, C. (2016).  . [YouTube]. TEDxUManitoba. 

Gallaudet University VL2. (2014). Research Brief 3: . [YouTube]. Written by Elizabeth Hirshorn, signed by Geo Kartheiser. 

National Deaf Center on Postsecondary Outcomes. .