Educação bilíngue de surdos: a influência do Instrutor Surdo na aquisição de linguagem de estudantes surdos

Abstract

The presence of the Deaf Instructor in school contexts is a recent development when compared to the entire history of deaf education in Brazil. This professional, who is part of the proposal for bilingual education, has as his main function to provide the reaffirmation of the identity of deaf students, their specificities, and the valorization of their language and culture. This motivated the research regarding the performance of this professional, since the work of the Deaf Instructor is still little explored in the field of education. The aim of this research was to investigate how the Deaf Instructor's work is carried out, seeking to understand how this work is done and what strategies are used in their workshop to promote the learning of deaf children, considering in this learning the construction of the deaf child's identity and also the valorization of their language and culture. Data collection was carried out through observation of their work in the classroom with deaf children in early childhood education, with records in a field diary, in order to report the practices developed by this professional. It was possible to identify the importance of play in the relationship between the Instructor and the student, based on Vygotsky's studies on language development, mediated by a more experienced adult and the role of play in this acquisition process. The data presented are excerpts from these reports, analyzed in light of studies on language development and deaf identity. The results indicate that the work of the Deaf Instructor is fundamental in the development of the child, focusing not only on teaching (Brazilian Sign Language) Libras, but also on play, relationships, and giving meaning to the elements present in communication, enabling them to acquire knowledge of the world.