Visual Access in Interpreter-Mediated Learning Situations for Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing High School Students Where an...

This article highlights interpreter-mediated learning situations for deaf high school students where such mediated artifacts as technical machines, models, and computer graphics are used by the teacher to illustrate his or her teaching. In these situations, the teacher's situated gestures and utterances, and the artifacts will contribute independent pieces of information. However, the deaf student can only have his or her visual attention focused on one source at a time. The problem to be addressed is how the interpreter coordinates the mediation when it comes to deaf students' visual orientation. The presented discourse analysis is based on authentic video recordings from inclusive learning situations in Norway. The theoretical framework consists of concepts of role, footing, and face-work (Goffman, E. (1959). The presentation of self in everyday life. London, UK: Penguin Books). The findings point out dialogical impediments to visual access in interpreter-mediated learning situations, and the article discusses the roles and responsibilities of teachers and educational interpreters.