Language pluralism in the classroom: Inclusion of Deaf and Hard-of-he...

The current national policy of integration of pupils with special educational needs into regular schools suggests that also deaf and hard-of-hearing children should be educated in mainstream school system. Consequently, the schools are bound to arrange inclusive settings, in which this group of children thrives to evolve their fullest potentials not only in terms of their academic performance, but as importantly in the sense of their social adaptation. The research (2017-2019) carried out at one of the regular secondary schools in Carinthia, Austria deals with social integration of the sign language user(s) in the classroom. Furthermore, it examines the circumstances that can be arranged by teachers and carry a beneficiary value for the integrational process of this minority group. For the research qualitative and quantitative research methods were used; we conducted interviews with teachers, interviews with pupils´ groups and used questionnaires to get information from parents. The presentation offers a short survey of the latest scientifically conducted studies in the field of social integration in class and focuses on the possibilities of participation of deaf and hard-of hearing children in the mainstream education as well as gives insights into the project outcomes. Finally, we provide some general guidelines for teaching strategies regarding the methodology, class intercourses and the measures needed to carry out differentiated instruction when considering deaf and hard-of-hearing pupils.