The 2014 Symposium on Sign Bilingualism and Deaf Education

Date:	19 - 21 Jun 2014
Venue:	The Chinese University of Hong Kong

The emergence of sign linguistics as a sub-discipline of linguistic research in the 1960s has triggered a growing interest in examining the role of natural sign language in bringing up or educating deaf students in a sign bilingual model. Since then, sign bilingualism has been practiced in some deaf school settings. In recent years, however, it has gradually been introduced in regular school settings through the concept of co-enrollment. Therefore, sign bilingualism has acquired a new interpretation, which is to promote sign language as well as the written and oral mode of spoken language development of deaf children. Within this context of mainstream education, advancements in hearing technology as well as speech and language therapy have also made parents and educators for the deaf question whether or not acquiring a sign language impedes deaf children's spoken language development. The symposium is meant to address these issues, in response to the call for an evidence-based approach towards bilingualism and bilingual programming in deaf education research. In this symposium, special focus will be on examining the ingredients for implementing sign bilingualism in deaf education in both the deaf school and regular school context, and hopefully to chart directions for future research in deaf education.

We are honoured to have the following scholars and experts as our keynote speakers and invited speakers in the symposium:

Keynote speakers (in chronological order):

• Bencie Woll (University College London)
  
• Rachel I. Mayberry (University of California San Diego)
  
• Anne E. Baker (University of Amsterdam)
  
• Shirin D. Antia (The University of Arizona)
  
• Carl J. Kirchner (National University - San Diego)
  

Invited speakers (in chronological order):

• Kathy Yuet Sheung Lee (The Chinese University of Hong Kong)
  
• Takashi Torigoe (Hyogo University of Teacher Education)
  
• Min-Hua Hsing (National University of Tainan) 
  

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International Conference on Sign Linguistics and Deaf Education in Asia 2013

Date:	30 Jan - 2 Feb 2014
Venue:	The Chinese University of Hong Kong

We are pleased to announce that the 3rd International Conference on Sign Linguistics and Deaf Education in Asia will be hosted by the Centre for Sign Linguistics and Deaf Studies at The Chinese University of Hong Kong from 30 Jan to 2 Feb 2013. Same as the preceding conferences, the 2013 conference aims at promoting research and sharing of empirical findings related to Sign Linguistics and Deaf Education in Asia. This year we are honored to have 

Keynote speakers (in chronological order):

• Christian Rathmann (University of Hamburg, Germany)
• Gaurav Mathur (Gallaudet University, US)
• Harry Knoors (Royal Dutch Kentalis/Radboud University Nijmegen, Holland)

Invited speakers (in chronological order):

• Onno Crasborn (Radboud University Nijmegen, Holland)
• David McKee (Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand)
• Adam Schembri (La Trobe University, Australia)
• Diane Brentari (University of Chicago, US)
• Chang Jung-Hsing (National Chung Cheng University, Taiwan)
• Marc Marschark (Centre for Education Research Partnerships, Rochester Institute of Technology | National Technical Institute for the Deaf, US)
• Gary Morgan (City University London, UK)
• Ronice Muller de Quadros (Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Brazil)
• James Woodward (The Chinese University of Hong Kong, China)
• Hoa Thi Nguyen (Dong Nai University, Viet Nam)

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