Linguistic inclusion of the deaf and social networking: building knowledge on the web

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Ivano Spano
Giuseppe Nuccetelli
Maria Tagarelli De Monte

Abstract

People with pre-lingual deafness show significant literacy problems. The use of technology in education has proved to be very useful for the advancement of deaf people’s linguistic-communicative competences, for example through the development of dedicated e-learning services. However, it still seems unrealistic to talk about overcoming barriers to deaf people’s actual linguistic inclusion. New possibilities are now emerging from the wide-scale participation of the deaf in popular social networks for communication and daily interaction activities. In social networks, the deaf are completely immersed in the national written language and write in authentic communication contexts, with an enhanced possibility to exercise and develop their linguistic competences. This paper reports research activities carried out within the FIRB-VISEL and DEAL-TOI projects. It offers some points for reflection and traces a possible path for further development.

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