Contenu du sommaire : La langue des signes. Statuts linguistiques et institutionnels, sous la direction de Christian Cuxac

Languages and language: a critical contribution of French Sign Language to enlighten human language faculty After been neglected by general linguistics for a long period, sign languages and particularly French Sign Language (FSL) are today considered as genuine languages among others. Beginning with a description of the functional and structural organisation of FSL, this article shows that due to their fourth dimensional structures, the use of either discrete or non discrete, iconic or non iconic units, sign languages are in fact unmarked languages compared to vocal languages. This high degree of genericity would make sign languages typological interesting linguistic objects and ideal starting points to debate about the relations between language faculty and cognition.

The role of sign language in the education institutions: stakes, hurdles and evolution Sign language status in the institutional environment of deaf education is changing, but its real role in the schooling system is still very limited. However what is at stake is nothing less than the success of deaf children at school and their access the citizenship as adults. In this article, first of all, we present the most important official texts published in the last twenty years, as well as the different viewpoints of the people in charge of education. In a second part, we try to analyse the hurdles that sign language usage still faces in the schooling system. If the teaching of sign language is now accepted, information about the status and the linguistic mechanisms of sign language still meets strong oppositions. One of them has to do with the capacity of this language (for which a written form has still to be created) to transmit knowledge. Another one focuses on the real ability of deaf people to become proper teachers in any subject. At present, these topics are still widely debated, in spite of the success of a very small number of schooling units that have offered a sign language teaching program over the last twenty years.

Teaching LSF in a bilingual structure in secondary schools In bilingual education, French Sign Language (FSL) is not only used for the communication in class, but it is also a subject matter taught. Consequently, it is necessary to define a program (objectives, contents, progression) and a teaching pedagogy of this language. By taking the example of the secondary school, we show how this program is built. We detail the diverse topics employed, the objectives as well as the teaching methodology. We show the central place of FSL compared to the other matters. In conclusion we underline the importance of this pedagogy coherence during all the school year and the necessity to upgrade educational and linguistic researches to go over the experimental stage.

Presentation of an educational experiment of teaching French in a bilingual approach in a secondary school This article proposes to give an account of a six-year French teaching experience, between 1995 and 2001 in classes of deaf signing pupils in a secondary school in Toulouse. Firstly, one of the purpose of this article is to show practically, through the presentation of a teaching sequence, how a French lesson takes place in a bilingual environment, then it looks at the problems that teachers face in their daily work. Finally, the article emphasises the richness of this educational option which promotes the image and the learning of French language for deaf pupils by considering the Sign Language (FSL) as a proper language.

Academic learning of a third language by young deaf students. Discussion around a bilingual approach in teaching oral languages to deaf people In this article, we support the idea that the teaching of oral and written languages to young deaf students affected by profound hearing loss should be inspired by educational strategies and by methodological techniques akin to the pedagogy of second language teaching. Sign languages are deaf people's natural way of communicating; consequently we presume that the more sign languages are mastered, the more teaching of written modality of oral languages is successful. Our assumption is founded on the fact that a third written language (in this particular case: English) taught to young deaf students as a foreign language is assimilated more easily than a second language (French) taught as if it was a mother language. We remind, nevertheless, that this hypothesis is best applied to children who have reached the stage of the abstract reasoning.

Sign Language interpretation, is it a militant act? Following the example from interpreters-translators of all languages, interpreters in sign language, the language of the deaf people, conceive their profession and carry on their activity with an explicit aim to establish a communicational bridge between two people, or two groups of people, not speaking the same language, that means, between deaf and hearing people. By doing this, in a social, cultural and political context in which sign language is not completely recognized by authorities, for whom the deafness is above all a health affair, the following question is often raised: doesn't this situation give an evidence of militancy for interpreters members of the French Association of the interpreters in Sign Languages (AFILS)?

French/FSL interpretation at university This article begins with a description of the cognitive mechanism of interpretation in Sign Language by drawing a parallel with the interpretation of vocal languages. The article goes on to describe the two problems faced by the interpreters: preparation courses and lexical creation when interpreting lectures at university. In conclusion, after a few examples of the situation of interpretation in Parisian universities, it raises the issue of the considerable delay of deaf people integration in France, compared to other European countries.