LINGUISTICS FOR DEAFNESS AND LANGUAGE AND LEARNING IMPAIRMENTS MOD.1

The course is included among the main learning activities of the Bachelor's degree in Languages, Civilisation and Science of Language and has the aim to provide students with some methodological tools useful for the linguistic analysis of data obtained from populations of individuals with hearing loss.
The main objective is to develop the ability to analyse some clinical and linguistic variables aspects that characterize hearing impairment . Moreover, it has the aim to develop the skills necessary to analyse the linguistic data collected from people with hearing loss and people with linguistic deficits, through the use of tools provided by theoretical linguistics.

1. Knowledge and understanding
The student knows how the oral language is acquired by hearing impaired individuals and the linguistic difficulties they have in the use of the complex syntactic structures of their language.
The student knows processes and the stages of language acquisition in hearing and hearing impaired children.
The student knows the clinical and personal variables that may influence oral language acquisition in hearing impaired individuals.
The student knows and understands the linguistic theories that account for some linguistic phenomena observed in comprehension and production by hearing and hearing impaired individuals.
The student is introduced to some standardized and non-standardized linguistic tools used for assessing the linguistic competence in typical and atypical language acquisition (deafness).

2. Applying knowledge and understanding
The student knows how to use the linguistic terminology and the tools of analysis of formal linguistics to describe the language difficulties of hearing impaired individuals.
The student is able to carry out a simple linguistic analysis of data obtained from hearing impaired individuals.
The student is able to apply the acquired knowledge during the course to collect and analyse new linguistic data.

3. Making judgements
The student is able to formulate and argue hypotheses on the basis of the knowledge acquired during the course.
The student is able to critically analyze new data on production and comprehension collected from hearing impaired individuals.

4. Communication:
The student is able to present the hypotheses and the linguistic phenomena discussed during the course using the correct linguistic terminology.
The student is able to interact with the peers and the professor in a critical and respectful way.

5. Learning skills
The student is able to develop critical thinking.
The student is able to look for and read both the references mentioned in the course program and new references necessary to study some phenomena concerning the linguistic competence of hearing impaired individuals.

Knowledge of general linguistics and the theory of syntax.

The linguistic difficulties that hearing impaired people and people with linguistic deficits encounter and the error they make during first language acquisition will be analysed through the tools provided by linguistic theory. The clinical and personal variables that may influence language acquisition in hearing impaired individuals will be presented and discussed during the course (degree of hearing loss, type of device used, age of hearing loss detection, age of diagnosis, age of hearing aid/cochlear implant fitting, family and linguistic background, knowledge of a sign language).

Bertone, C., Cardinaletti, A., Grosselle, S., Volpato, F. (2011). Le abilità di comprensione dell'italiano in sei adolescenti sordi segnanti LIS. In E. Franchi e D. Musola (a cura di), Acquisizione dell'italiano e sordità, , Venezia, Libreria Editrice Cafoscarina, 87-105.

Caselli, M. C., Maragna, S, Pagliari Rampelli, L, Volterra, V. (2006). Linguaggio e Sordità. Firenze: La Nuova Italia (capp. 1-3-4).

Chesi, C. (2006). Il linguaggio verbale non standard dei bambini sordi. Roma EUR. (Part 1 & 2)

Franceschini, Michela; Volpato, Francesca Comprensione e produzione di frasi relative e frasi passive: il caso di due bambini gemelli sordi italiani , GRAMMATICA APPLICATA: APPRENDIMENTO, PATOLOGIE, INSEGNAMENTO, Milano, Studi AItLA2, pp. 75-90

Guasti, M.T., Language Acquisition, MIT Press, Cambridge, Mass., 2002 (Cap 1)

Szterman, R., Friedmann N. (2015). Insights into the syntactic deficit of children with hearing impairment from a sentence repetition task. In Language Acquisition and Development: Generative Approaches to Language Acquisition 2013, eds Hamann C., Ruigendijk E., editors. (Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars Publishing; )

Volpato, F. (2008). Clitic pronouns and past participle agreement in Italian in three hearing-impaired bilinguals Italian/LIS. Rivista di Linguistica, 20(2). 308-345.

Volpato, F. (2011). Valutazione delle abilità linguistiche dei bambini con impianto cocleare: uno strumento per indagare la produzione delle frasi relative. In E. Franchi e D. Musola (a cura di), Acquisizione dell'italiano e sordità, Venezia, Libreria Editrice Cafoscarina, 71-85.

Volpato, F. (2018). La prova di grammatica. In A. Cardinaletti (a cura di), Test linguistici accessibili per studenti sordi e con DSA. Pari opportunità per l'accesso all'università, FrancoAngeli, pp. 180-205

Other materials may be suggested during the course.

Final written exam consists of 10 open questions/execises and lasts 2 hours and 30 minutes aimed at verifying the student's skill in the description of the personal and clinical variables that influence the deaf individuals' linguistic competence and the analysis skills of linguistic data obtained from populations of hearing impaired individuals.

Face-to-face lessons and materials available in the Moodle platform.

Italian

written

This subject deals with topics related to the macro-area "Human capital, health, education" and contributes to the achievement of one or more goals of U. N. Agenda for Sustainable Development