ABSTRACT
This chapter examines language in education policy at the Mary Chapman School for the Deaf, exploring teachers’ language attitudes, linguistic practices and pedagogical philosophies. Examining the extent to which Yangon Sign Language (YSL) is used in the classroom, the findings show that although the majority of teachers recognise the benefits of teaching in YSL, they experience a range of obstacles that hinder their ability to use it as the primary medium of instruction. The analysis shows that teachers at the Mary Chapman School adopt a ‘dialogic’ solution to the challenges of teaching in YSL, based on ongoing conversation, negotiation and engagement with students. In this way, the gradual and often fraught process of adopting YSL as the language of instruction appears to have engendered a new cultural politics at the school, disrupting traditional classroom hierarchies and creating an egalitarian learning environment in which students and teachers re-conceptualise their respective identities. The findings contribute to scholarly discussion on mother tongue education, and its capacity to promote equality for linguistic minorities. In particular, they demonstrate how some of the obstacles that frequently hamper MTE programmes can, in fact, present opportunities to create more egalitarian learning environments.
