Teaching Foreign Languages to the Deaf in Poland
Teaching Foreign Languages to the Deaf in Poland

Summary/Abstract: Inclusive teaching is strongly emphasised nowadays in European regulations and documents. Educa- tors, teachers, scholars and policy makers are struggling to make education accessible to the widest possible group of learners. One of such groups are the d/Deaf – teaching them foreign languages is still an area that has not been fully explored. Although it is undoubtful that the d/Deaf require adjustments in teaching techniques and content, some researchers claim that there is no special method that could be applied to teaching this group of learners. The article presents the characteristics of teaching foreign languages to the d/Deaf. This theory is combined with the results of a study conducted on a group of foreign language teachers (of English and Polish) working with d/Deaf learners, showing how they manage to teach this peculiar group of students. The data gathered in a form of online interviews and reported in the paper shed light on how teachers approach this particular group of FL learners. The article presents conclusions regarding the conditions and formal regulations of the Polish education system. They concern possible changes in the educational programme and the teacher training sys- tem. Additionally, the paper presents a wide range of practical suggestions regarding teaching foreign languages to the d/Deaf.

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