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Volume 1 ~ November 2009

ISSN # 2150-5772 - This article is the intellectual property of the authors and CIT. If you wish to use this article in your teaching or in another format, please credit the authors and the CIT International Journal of Interpreter Education.

The Ontological Beliefs and Curriculum Design of Canadian Interpreter and ASL Educators

Campbell McDermid1
George Brown College, Canada

Abstract

This study involved interviews with Canadian educators in the fields of interpreter training and American Sign Language (ASL), which were conducted within a qualitative framework to explore their ontological beliefs concerning curriculum design. Questions posed included how their curriculum was fashioned and the nature of course delivery. Eisner’s (2002) three curricula (i.e., explicit, implied, and null) were used as a framework to interpret the findings. The educators typically designed their curricula in-house and followed a “Designing a Curriculum” methodology (Mitchell, 1983). Most educators, however, did not mention the inclusion of representatives from the field, a curriculum expert, or a literature review, all of which are recommended by Sinnett (1976). Because some participants described a lack of documentation or the need to redesign resources, there existed an ad hoc quality to curriculum construction that made a scaffolding approach to teaching and learning problematic. The continued existence of disparate teaching resources, subject specialization, and lack of curricular integration could lead to educational silos and having separate language and interpretation programs in one department.

Keywords: education; curriculum; ontology; ASL; sign language; Deaf