Student Perspectives on Educational Interpreting: Twenty Deaf and Hard of Hearing Students Offer Insights and Suggestions

Kim Brown Kurz and Elizabeth Caldwell Langer

This chapter unveils the viewpoints and suggestions of twenty deaf and hard of hearing students with respect to learning by means of interpretation. First, students and their parents explain why they chose placements in mainstream settings with interpreters rather than in self-contained deaf classrooms or in schools for the deaf. Next, deaf students describe how interpreter skill levels affect them, how they view their interpreters’ roles, and what social and academic challenges arise when learning through interpretation. The chapter also shares what deaf and hard of hearing students would like to say to interpreters, mainstream teachers, hearing peers, and interpreter coordinators to make education in the mainstream more comfortable and accessible for them. Finally, deaf and hard of hearing students and their parents offer helpful hints for effectively using interpreters in academic settings.

The coauthors of this chapter have come to this project from divergent backgrounds, but both have a great interest in, and personal experience with, learning through interpretation. Kim Brown Kurz is program facilitator of the Interpreter Training Program at Johnson County Community College. Brown Kurz received a bachelor’s degree in social work and a master’s degree in career counseling, both from the National Technical Institute for the Deaf at Rochester Institute of Technology. She recently received a doctoral degree from the University of Kansas. Before her current position, Ms. Brown Kurz worked as an educational specialist for the Gallaudet University Regional Center at Johnson County Community College. She has been a consumer of educational interpreting since fifth grade.

Elizabeth Caldwell Langer is a doctoral candidate at the University of Colorado at Boulder. Her areas of research revolve around linguistic input from teachers, parents, and interpreters to deaf and hard of hearing children. As a speech-language pathologist, Caldwell Langer worked with hearing, deaf, and hard of hearing students for eight years before returning to school for her doctoral degree. Although she is hearing, Caldwell Langer used educational interpreters in classes conducted in American Sign Language during her first two years of doctoral study. For more information about the backgrounds of these authors as they relate to educational interpreting, please see Appendices A and B accompanying this chapter.

INTRODUCTION

Legislative acts in the 1970s and 1980s mandated that special education students be educated in the least restrictive environment. Since that time, for many deaf and hard of hearing students, this mandate has led to mainstreaming in regular education classrooms. Many administrators have interpreted the term least restrictive environment to mean that deaf and hard of hearing students need only the addition of an interpreter to achieve equal access to education. As this chapter demonstrates through the words of deaf and hard of hearing students learning through interpreters, the situation is far more complex than that.

In this chapter, deaf and hard of hearing students offer readers a taste of what it is like to access education through an interpreter. They start by explaining why they are in the mainstream setting rather than in a self-contained classroom or in a school for the deaf. They describe the roles their interpreters play and explain why certain learning environments and tools work well for them. They describe their interactions with hearing students and teachers. They evaluate how well they understand their interpreters, and they discuss various ways in which they modify their signing to be sure their interpreters understand them. Their wish lists for teachers, hearing students, interpreters, and interpreter coordinators suggest ways in which the students and professionals around them can help to make education more accessible and pleasant for them. Finally, they offer advice to students and parents who are new to educational interpreting. Of course, these students cannot possibly speak for all deaf and hard of hearing people. What they offer is a springboard for further discussion among interpreters, students, mainstream teachers, interpreter coordinators, parents, and administrative team members.

METHOD

First, this section will introduce the pool of participants who volunteered to be included in this study. Second, it will describe the procedures used to recruit participants and to conduct, translate, and transcribe interviews with the participants.

Participants

Twenty deaf and hard of hearing students and former students were interviewed in the preparation of this chapter. All currently use or have used signing educational interpreters at some point in their educational careers, and all had strong opinions and thoughtful insights about their experiences. Two were in elementary school, five were in middle school, six were in high school, three were in college, two were in graduate school, and two were college graduates now working. Thirteen of the subjects were female; seven were male. They came from a mix of states across the United States.

The group was heterogeneous, as groups of deaf and hard of hearing people tend to be. Twelve participants had hearing parents, seven had deaf parents, and one participant had one hearing parent and one deaf parent. Fourteen identified themselves as Deaf*, three identified themselves as hard of hearing, one said she considers herself to be both Deaf and hard of hearing, another said that identification depends on the social context, and one young student misidentified herself as hearing. Some participants came from families who sign fluently whereas others came from families who did not sign at all. Although most were proficient signers, a couple of the participants were not entirely fluent, requiring repetitions of some of the interview questions for full comprehension. Some of the participants were able to look back over years of interpreted experiences whereas others were currently involved in their very first mainstream classroom.

The participants’ hearing losses ranged from mild to profound. Some are now part of the workforce; some are in graduate school; and some are children with hopes of becoming veterinarians, computer scientists, teachers, coaches, artists, actors, engineers, filmmakers, singers, lawyers, social workers, business people, and politicians. Some hope to go to Gallaudet University, some to the National Technical Institute for the Deaf at Rochester Institute of Technology, and some to nearby public or private universities.

These participants clearly indicated that their current and past educational situations are not, or were not, perfect. As these participants discuss their experiences in interpreted education, it becomes clear that a constellation of factors has to be properly aligned to achieve adequate access to education through an interpreter. Even if that alignment were achieved, these participants are quite aware that they still would not have equal access to education because of inherent alterations associated with the interpretation process. At the same time, for a common set of reasons, most of the participants perceive benefits to spending at least some time in the mainstream with an interpreter.

Procedures

Older participants were recruited by use of online postings and by contacting university interpreter coordinators. Younger participants were recruited by means of notes sent home to children and their parents through teachers at their schools. The authors devised a set of open-ended questions and specific questions that covered demographic information; reasons for placement in the mainstream; and general, social, and academic aspects of the interpreting situation. Similar but simpler sets of questions were created for younger students.

All interviews were conducted by the coauthors of this chapter. One oral student was interviewed by Caldwell Langer in spoken English (see Appendix B pertaining to Caldwell Langer’s background). Otherwise, all interviews were conducted in American Sign Language (ASL) by Brown Kurz, a Deaf person fluent in ASL, who used educational interpreters for most of her educational career (see Appendix A pertaining to Brown Kurz’s background). Interviews ranged from thirty minutes to fifty-five minutes, depending on the age of the subject (older participants tended to give longer answers) and each subject’s tendencies (some tended to be concise whereas others tended to offer more detailed, in-depth responses). All interviews were videotaped.

After all of the interviews were completed, the authors translated and transcribed all subject responses into English for the sake of readability in written form. Brown Kurz, fluent in both ASL and English, translated and transcribed half of the interviews from ASL to English. Caldwell Langer transcribed the remaining half of the interviews with the help of a certified interpreter, also a native user of ASL.

REASONS FOR MAINSTREAM PLACEMENTS WITH INTERPRETERS

All of the subjects who were interviewed agreed that the ideal setting for them would be in a classroom with students and teachers who sign. However, for a variety of reasons, all of these participants were, or had been, in mainstream public education settings and had used educational interpreters at some point in their educational careers. For some, this use of interpreters was for certain years of school; for others, it was for certain parts of the day. Satisfaction with schools for the deaf and mainstream schools varied greatly by school and by individual. A few participants said they were unhappy in the mainstream setting and were there solely because of placement decisions they could not control. The great majority of the subjects in this study, however, indicated that they were now, or had been, in the mainstream or had decided to remain in the mainstream by personal choice. They said they were willing to sacrifice direct communication for a variety of academic and social advantages.

Parents’ Reasons for Initial Placement Decisions

Although a few participants made the decision on their own, the great majority of them were initially placed in mainstream settings by their parents. Some of the parents, hearing and deaf, told their stories about these tough decisions. It is clear from their stories that the decisions were not easy and were generally not made just once; parents often reevaluated their choices as their children progressed from one grade to the next. One deaf mother of a middle school hard of hearing student said that, even though her child is now in middle school, she is still always “experimenting with and testing” her daughter’s placement. She emphasized that, for her, the definition of the “best placement” is constantly in flux as her daughter develops.

Parents, both hearing and deaf, discussed a wide array of reasons for having placed their children in mainstream settings with interpreters. Some parents listed practical reasons. In one case, the school for the deaf did not have a class for the grade a child was entering because of decreased enrollment. In other cases, the parents did not live near the school for the deaf and did not want their children to live away from home. For other parents, the reasons were academic. Some thought the mainstream schools offered more challenging classes, a greater selection of classes, and more extensive feedback on progress.

Other reasons were social. One mother discussed a variety of social reasons for placing her daughter in a mainstream setting:

The positive side of my daughter attending a mainstream school is that she is exposed to many different kinds of kids with different backgrounds. Also, her behavior has improved dramatically. Part of the reason for that is that her class is much bigger. Sure, there are one or two kids with behavior problems. However, with sixteen kids, those behaviors don’t disturb or interrupt the classroom activities. If kids with behavior problems were in a four- to five-student class at a deaf school, the whole class would be thrown off.

According to this mother, however, a negative side is that, now, her daughter is in the older grades of elementary school where “the kids play less and talk more,” so her daughter is beginning to feel left out. Another social reason many parents mentioned for placing their children in the mainstream was the desire to expose their children to the hearing world.

Overall, parents said it took time for their children to learn to use interpreters effectively in the mainstream setting. They explained that their children were often overwhelmed or intimidated at first but, eventually, became more comfortable. In general, parents listed academic and practical reasons for the mainstream placements but wondered what education through interpreting meant for their children’s social lives.

Students’ Views Concerning Educational Placement: Academic Issues

Students provided a variety of reasons for and against placement in self-contained classrooms, schools for the deaf, and mainstream settings with interpreters. Academic reasons for appreciating time in schools for the deaf or self-contained classrooms mainly centered on direct communication, easy participation, and an abundance of visually accessible learning tools. Academic reasons students mentioned for choosing the mainstream setting generally involved an increase in educational opportunities and a more challenging, rigorous learning environment. At mainstream schools, students said they found a litany of options: more elective classes, more internships, Advanced Placement classes, and honors classes. Students also explained that, in mainstream settings, they benefited from a greater number of academic resources, a more rapid academic pace, more feedback about their progress, a greater variety of perspectives from a larger student body, and a perception of higher academic expectations.

Faster Pace

A deaf high school student with deaf parents said that the pace at the school for the deaf was too slow. “When I made the transfer to public school,” he said, “I wasn’t used to their rapid pace. If the school for the deaf could keep up with the mainstream pace, I would definitely stay at the school for the deaf.” A middle school student who compared his self-contained classes with his mainstream classes echoed this view of the slower pace in self-contained classrooms. “I prefer the mainstream classes because the learning pace is often a lot faster than in the self-contained class. Self-contained classes are not challenging enough for me.” One college student said friends at the school for the deaf gave her the impression that she should be thankful for her mainstream education. “I have friends who attend schools for the deaf, and they complain about how behind their education is compared to education at public schools.”

A Greater Variety of Perspectives

A college graduate pointed out that self-contained classes and classes at schools for the deaf are typically smaller and, consequently, students benefit from fewer perspectives. She said that she prefers to gain from the insights of a variety of different students from diverse backgrounds.

Perception of Higher Academic Expectations

Four students interviewed for this study mentioned that they perceived higher levels of academic expectations at mainstream schools than in the schools for the deaf. For one college student, her experience volunteering at a school for the deaf made her happy with her choice to stay in mainstream education. “It seemed they had lower levels of language and lower expectations. So I think public school was better for me.” As one high school student put it, “I didn’t feel challenged at [a school for the deaf]. At public school, they require more pages for research papers, like ten, compared to two at the residential schools.” A middle school student said, “Sometimes I feel like I learn more new things in a mainstream classroom than I would have if I had gone to a school for the deaf.” A deaf high school student who has been in both settings said, “At mainstream schools, they are more strict. When a paper is due Tuesday at the deaf school, they will let you go past the due date, but at other schools, they won’t.”

More Feedback

A high school student who had earlier attended a school for the deaf found that she got more feedback at the mainstream school. “In the English class at the school for the deaf, it was essays and journals. I wasn’t learning anything. In mainstream classes, we do language units where you critique yourself and the teachers critique you. … They sit with you and give you feedback.”

Students’ Views Concerning Educational Placement: Social Issues

From student perspectives, social reasons for preferring self-contained classrooms and schools for the deaf include getting to spend time with deaf friends, benefiting from direct communication with teachers and students, and receiving encouragement from teachers.

Greater Encouragement from Teachers

As one high school student described it, “Residential school teachers are more encouraging. In the mainstream setting, the teachers can’t sign, so there isn’t the same connection.”

Connections with Classmates

A high school student said, “With my deaf classmates, we are able to discuss our ideas freely, and I really enjoy that.” A college graduate remarked, “I can really see emotions through the signing of other deaf students.”

Social reasons for wanting to be in the mainstream included a larger student body from which to choose friends and a perception of higher social expectations. Some students clarified that being the only mainstreamed student is markedly different from being one of a group of mainstreamed deaf and hard of hearing students. A high school student decided to leave the mainstream setting after most of his deaf classmates had left. Socializing with hearing students was generally easier for hard of hearing students than for deaf students. An elementary school student said, “Most of the time, I am comfortable, but sometimes I feel terrified of being the only deaf student there.”

A Wider Pool of Potential Friends

A deaf high school student said, “At the public school, I have more choices; I can be in different social groups. I don’t like to be in just one group. I like to be in different groups.” A hard of hearing middle school student said that she likes a mix of deaf and hearing friends, so a mainstream setting with a self-contained classroom works well for her.

Greater Independence

A deaf high school student who had experience in both settings said she thought the staff members and services at the school for the deaf seemed overly solicitous. As she put it, “Sometimes, I have to say, ‘Wait, I can do this on my own.’ ”

A Social Environment More Conducive to Learning

A high school boy who was in a school for the deaf for the first eight years of his education said that he can pay attention better in a mainstream setting:

When I was in seventh grade attending the school for the deaf, too many other students were fooling around, and they were not serious about learning. I wanted to learn. I felt like I was wasting my valuable time. I felt like the students at the school for the deaf don’t respect their teachers, and I have no patience for that. … There are behavioral problems in the classes, and I want to learn. At the mainstream school, if a student misbehaves, the teacher will immediately send the student to the principal’s office and not allow that student to interfere with the lesson plans at all. I feel teachers in my mainstream school have better control of their students and that the students pay attention more.

A middle school student said, “In the self-contained class, other deaf kids tend to bother me more than hearing kids do in my mainstream classes.” A high school student talked about how being in the mainstream helps him stay disciplined: “In my mainstream classes, I am a serous student. I really have to pay attention. I can’t afford to play around.”

Showing Others That Deaf and Hard of Hearing Students Can Be Successful in the Mainstream Setting

One hard of hearing college graduate who was mainstreamed starting in elementary school, said being in the mainstream partly meant proving to herself and others that she could do it: “It proves that the special education program is not always necessary for someone like me. I got through, and my test scores were very high. I even took some honors classes.”

Clearly, all three placements—mainstream, self-contained classrooms, and schools for the deaf—involve pros and cons for these students, both academically and socially. Students in these settings may benefit from individualized, flexible, fluctuating placements that reflect the heterogeneity of those who are deaf and hard of hearing.

Preparation for the Future

Many students see the mainstream setting as a training ground for learning to “survive” in the hearing world. Some thought this training prepared them for dealing with the majority culture after school years had passed. A college student looking back over her educational career said, “My experience working with interpreters during my kindergarten through high school years prepared me for college. I made the transition to college easily and felt well-prepared.” A high school student talked about his mainstream education preparing him for future use of interpreters in work settings.

In contrast, another high school student in the mainstream on a full-time basis felt less sure that the mainstream had prepared her for her future. “I feel lost many times,” she said. “The information is usually confusing to me. I get frustrated. I don’t feel I can really plan for my future at this point.” One college student who was mainstreamed for her entire education said that her concern is not fitting into the hearing world but being a part of the Deaf world:

With certain people, I do feel a part of the Deaf community, but with the whole group, I am not sure. I don’t know the culture as well. With my small group, yes, [I feel fine], but if I went to Gallaudet, I don’t know how well I would be accepted.

One high school student who attended a school for the deaf for half of his day and a mainstream school for the other half said that this mix prepared him well for his future. “The mainstream school helped prepare me for the real world while the school for the deaf helped me prepare for a teaching job at a school for the deaf.”

The Compromise

In the end, most of the students saw pros and cons in both educational settings. Some try to gain the best of both worlds by first being in schools for the deaf for their early years and then in mainstream settings as they get older and subsequently want to learn more specialized information or broaden their academic horizons. Some try to compromise by spending parts of their day in the mainstream and the other parts in schools for the deaf or self-contained classrooms. Still others have decided to be with deaf friends for extracurricular, after-school activities and socializing but to try to gain what they can academically from the mainstream setting.

One deaf college graduate, looking back at her years in the mainstream setting, felt she had to sacrifice too much. Her above-average academic abilities had necessitated one-on-one instruction at the school for the deaf she attended in elementary school. Because of this situation, she was mainstreamed in middle school and high school. “If I could do it all over again,” she said, “I would have stayed at the school for the deaf and continued with one-on-one instruction.”

For one high school student, part-time in each setting works well: “I find it beneficial to attend both a school for the deaf and a mainstream school with interpreters. I have the best of both worlds.” A college student sees the experience in terms of a cost-benefit analysis: “For many mainstreamed students, social life is a disadvantage,” she said, “while education is a big plus. You have to sacrifice one thing for another.”

A hard of hearing college student with oral skills, who was mainstreamed throughout her educational career, summed up the compromises as follows:

Sometimes I do wish I had gone to a school for the deaf. I wish back then I had had the friendships and exposure I have now. I wish I had had a group I was totally comfortable with and felt like I finally understood everything. Sometimes, I am glad I was in a mainstream setting because there were more opportunities—like being able to speak and survive in the hearing world, being independent and not having to rely on an interpreter, meeting different people, and getting to play sports at the mainstream schools.

STUDENT VIEWS OF ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES OF INTERPRETERS

At first glance, the role of the interpreter might seem as simple as one elementary school student’s definition: “She signs for me.” But, as with so many other areas of educational interpreting, interpreter roles are not clear cut. Many students see a predictable progression in interpreter roles as they advance through the grades. One high school student described his experience:

In elementary school, [interpreters] are tutors and help you a lot. In middle school, they are more interpreters and help you only a little. In high school, they only help you if you really need it. I am now working on asking my teachers more than my interpreters if I have questions. I need to learn to rely on the teachers more in college, so this is good practice for that.

True to this suggested trend, younger students more often saw their interpreters as teaching assistants and tutors whereas older students generally said that they wanted their interpreters to draw the line at interpreting. One elementary school student explained how her interpreter serves as a teaching assistant. “If my teacher is too busy helping other kids,” she said, “my interpreter will go and help hearing students to help out my teacher.” A middle school student sees her interpreters as tutors, but only for English: “They explain what English words and sentences mean.” By high school, many students feel strongly that interpreters should only interpret, not teach. Older students pointed out that interpreters are not trained to teach.

Besides tutors and teaching assistants, interpreters were also described as members of a support team, communication facilitators, and friends. But the issue of interpreter roles is clearly a controversial one. For instance, students disagreed about whether interpreters should befriend students. Some students felt clear boundaries should be drawn. Others felt it would be unnatural not to befriend the people with whom they interact every day. One college student said that she not only becomes friends with her interpreters but also even finds them to be great sources of entertainment during class. “I would have conversations and fun with them when the class was boring,” she said. Other students felt this type of behavior was inappropriate.

LEARNING THROUGH INTERPRETERS: GROUP DISCUSSIONS VERSUS LECTURES

Some of the responses from students about their preferences for lectures or group learning were entirely unrelated to the interpretation situation. For example, some students said that group situations offer them empowerment, hands-on experiences, and a greater variety of viewpoints. Others find lectures preferable because group activities can lead to frustration caused by inefficient use of time, transfer of misinformation, and behavioral issues. One college student saw both styles as beneficial, stating that she prefers group activities but also feels she needs lectures for “groundwork.” A high school student agreed that a mix is helpful. “The teacher really knows things and can explain them well,” she said, “but a group gives you good feedback. Maybe back and forth between the two is best.”

Other responses with respect to preferences for lectures versus group discussions were clearly related to the interpreting situation. Again, student views did not reflect a consensus—some preferring lectures and others preferring group discussions. Of those who prefer lectures, some said that they find group discussions difficult to understand because it is impossible for interpreters to sign for all of the group members, especially as conversational turns overlap. Others prefer lectures because they find them easier to follow. Still others prefer lectures because, in groups, they have difficulty participating. As one graduate student put it, “Sometimes it can be really difficult to get in on the discussions when things are going quickly. It can be really difficult to connect with the group. Sometimes, I’m not even sure who is talking.”

In addition, some students prefer group learning. The students in this subset unanimously prefer group activities because they, and their interpreters, feel more comfortable asking for clarification in a group setting. Students said that they and their interpreters find that interrupting the teacher for clarification is more difficult and embarrassing during lectures.

LEARNING THROUGH INTERPRETERS: CLASS PARTICIPATION

Most students said that they participate less frequently in mainstream classes. The reasons they gave for this behavior were the processing time inherent to interpreting, concerns about clear communication, and self-consciousness. Processing time—the time delay between when something is initially said and when it is expressed by means of the interpreter—seemed to be the most prevalent concern. “Sometimes, when I try to raise my hand, and I want to give an answer,” a middle school student said, “the hearing students beat me to it. It’s hard for an interpreter to keep up so that I can also keep up with the hearing students.” A graduate student said that, as a result of her frustrations with processing time, instead of participating during class, she just tries to talk with her teachers after class.

One hard of hearing college student said participation was difficult for her because she did not feel she could communicate clearly with her peers. “With interpreters [voicing for me], I didn’t feel confident about their [vocabulary choices],” she said, “and with my voice, I had concerns about whether or not [the hearing students] could understand me.” A high school student found herself feeling self-conscious using an atypical mode of communication during discussions. “Sometimes I feel embarrassed about making comments in my classes and having all of the hearing students’ eyes on me,” she said. A graduate student suggested that the blank looks on hearing students’ faces might come from the fact that they are new to the interpreting process. “I think hearing students don’t respond to my comments because they don’t want to deal with the issue of going through a third party,” she said. “It affects the group dynamics. So they back off.”

INTERPRETERS VERSUS NOTE-TAKERS

Most students reported benefiting greatly from both interpreters and note-takers. As one college student said, “The interpreter is important in class, and the notes are important later for review.” One graduate student said he is in a position where he has to choose between the two. “My college refuses to provide more than one service for my doctoral classes,” he said. “For example, I requested realtime captioning and interpreting. They told me I could only have one because of their budgetary restrictions. That needs to be changed.”

Some students said they understand interpreters better than notes. One middle school student said, “Reading notes is more work for me. Sometimes terms that I am not familiar with appear on my notes while the interpreters can clarify and explain new terms right there on the spot.” Other students, especially those who are hard of hearing and who reported working with unskilled interpreters, found notes to be more trustworthy and clear. A high school boy who communicates with both sign and voice said that, if he had to choose between the two, he would take the note-taker, saying, “I would pick the note-taker because I’m usually forgetful. Notes can help me later if I forget.”

INTERACTIONS WITH HEARING PEERS IN MAINSTREAM SETTINGS

Although a few students talked of having hearing friends at school, for most of the students, interactions with hearing students were limited. Deaf and hard of hearing students admitted that efforts were lacking on both sides. Younger, hard of hearing students seemed to have more interactions with hearing peers than older, deaf students. In early elementary school, where physical play dominates free time, deaf and hard of hearing students reported more interactions with hearing peers. But even at this early age, some degree of social isolation was evident. An elementary student said that her attempts to interact with hearing students are sometimes disappointing: “Most of the time, I do interact with hearing students. But sometimes, I feel left out.”

In middle school and high school, where talk is more prevalent than physical play, deaf and hard of hearing students talked about social isolation. They reported going directly to class and leaving directly after class without making much effort to interact with hearing students. The types of conversations hearing peers started with deaf and hard of hearing students tended to involve their asking the same simple, predictable questions about signing or deafness. One middle school student noted that, even when he was with the hearing students at lunch, “we really didn’t talk anyway.” A college graduate looking back at her years in the mainstream said that she remembers talking with the interpreters rather than with the hearing students.

Deaf students reported sometimes wanting to interact with hearing students, but their interpreters were not there when needed for social situations. Students reported that interpreters tend to come in for, and interpret for, only official classroom business. Students were unclear about whether this tendency occurred because of school policy or because of teacher or interpreter choice.

ROLE MODELS IN MAINSTREAM SETTINGS

Most mainstreamed deaf and hard of hearing students could easily name hearing teachers they see as role models. Indirect communication did not seem to be a barrier to student-teacher admiration. Their role models were picked for a wide range of reasons, including sharing a common heritage, showing an interest in deafness, learning to sign, motivating students, encouraging students to work hard, helping students with family issues, being “nice,” having high expectations, challenging students, and showing that they care about their students. Students especially appreciated teachers who were interested in them because they were good students, not just because they were deaf.

Some participants also named their interpreters as role models. They were admired for their skills, demonstrations of respect for students, empathy, assistance on homework, and instruction about student responsibilities.

Students who spent parts of their days in settings where they had access to deaf adults also named copious deaf role models. Those who had never had access to deaf adults often expressed a desire to meet deaf role models. One college student explained that, although she has hearing role models, she imagines she would also greatly benefit from deaf ones:

I think hearing teachers can be role models for me because that is what I grew up with. But I would also like to have Deaf role models just to show that they have survived the obstacles that we have to go through in the hearing world. If they can do it, I can do it. I have always wanted that growing up. I wish I had an older sister or brother saying, “Keep going, keep fighting.”

COMPREHENSION OF INTERPRETERS

Participants were asked to answer the question, Thinking back across all interpreters and all interpreted classes, what percentage of the time do you believe you completely understand your interpreters? Elementary students were not asked this question because of their limited understanding of percentages. Table 1 shows the average percentages and ranges of percentages named by the students at each educational level.

Although the small number of subjects sampled does not allow for tests of statistical significance, an interesting trend did appear, which warrants further study. Namely, on average, older participants tended to feel they understood their interpreters less well or less often than did younger participants. The ranges of percentages named by the participants also suggest a trend toward greater variability in responses at high school and above. In middle school, the students all believe that they understood their interpreters at least 90 percent of the time. In high school and above, ranges started at 50 percent and spread up to 97.5 percent. Possible explanations include the following: that interpreters working with younger students are more highly skilled; that students become more discriminating about the interpreting process as they age; that interpretations suffer as academic content becomes more complex and specialized; or that students become more proficient language users as they age and, thus, take more serious note of miscommunications. Given that most participants in college, or with past college experience, talked about their college interpreters being more highly skilled than the interpreters they had worked with in earlier years, interpreter skill seems like the least likely explanation. More research is clearly needed to move beyond the realm of speculation on this topic.

Students also explained that the percentages they would pick would depend on a variety of factors. These included whether they based their answers on lectures or group situations, whether they counted times when their attention faded, whether they thought about substitute interpreters, and how much weight they put on times when they had lived in rural areas where skilled interpreters were hard to find. More specifically, a college student said that, although she understands the interpretation 90 percent of the time during lectures, in group situations, she estimated that she is confused or lost 50 percent of the time. A high school boy admitted that his attention plays a large part in this equation. If he is paying attention to the interpreter, his comprehension is about 99 percent, but when he is not, he believes his comprehension approximates 80 percent. (This student was not included in the above averages because the authors did not want to venture a guess at how often he was attending.) A high school student who had reported that she understands interpretations approximately 50 percent of the time said that this level of comprehension was because of unskilled substitute interpreters. One college student wanted to rate best and worst interpreters rather than give an average. She said that she could understand the best interpreter she has worked with approximately 95 percent of the time, and the worst interpreter, approximately 20 percent of the time.

TABLE 1  Percentage of the Time That Students Judge They Understand Their Interpreters

If the interpreting situation was grim enough, students turned to writing, reading, and attempts at speechreading. For example, a high school student said that, sometimes, he writes his questions on a piece of paper and has the interpreter read it to the class. One graduate student went so far as to say, “It scares me sometimes that the interpreters will make me fail my classes and pull me down in my educational process.”

SIMPLIFICATION OR ALTERATION OF SIGNS FOR INTERPRETERS

The majority of the students said that, at various times, they needed to simplify, repeat, or alter their signs to make sure their interpreters understood them. Interpreters’ difficulty reading fingerspelling was typically mentioned as an obstacle. Even a second grade student demonstrated awareness of the need to monitor the interpreter’s sign comprehension abilities, saying, “Sometimes I repeat myself to make sure she understands me.” A high school student talked about the ways in which he alters his signing: “I slow down my signing until the interpreter catches what I am trying to say.” He continued, “Many times I have to sign more English-like in order for them to be able to understand my signs.” Another high school student made this insightful, sad comment:

Many times, I have to repeat what I am trying to say. Sometimes, the interpreter tries to guess what I am saying. I know this when the teacher’s comment is irrelevant or doesn’t make sense based on my comment. Often, I just give up and feel bad about it.

A college student discussed her frustrations about the same problem. “The biggest challenge is their signing skills. I have to simplify my signs for them to match their signing skill level.” A middle school student agreed: “Sometimes, if the interpreter doesn’t understand my signs, I have to fingerspell the words until they understand what I am trying to tell them.”

One graduate student sees the process of matching her signing to the interpreter’s receptive skill levels as an ongoing, dynamic process, saying, “If I’m talking with an interpreter and she seems to be having difficulty understanding me, I change the way I sign. Once the interpreter is comfortable, I will sign more naturally again.” This approach sounds reasonable, but for some, making this kind of adjustment can be distracting and can add too much to the cognitive load. One high school student explained:

Sometimes, I find that, if I have to sign slower for the interpreter, I make more signing errors. If I sign at my own pace, I find myself feeling a lot more natural.

Some participants feel that, when the interpreter makes mistakes in voicing for them, the results reflect poorly on them. As one college graduate put it, “I hate it when I say something and students think it is me that said something wrong while it is really the interpreter’s error.” Another college student finds this situation so frustrating that she avoids the interpreters and reduces class participation: “If interpreters don’t have good skills, I tend to avoid them. I also tend to be more passive in that circumstance because I know they won’t represent me well.” A high school student expressed similar concerns:

I find it annoying when the interpreter doesn’t voice my messages correctly. Sometimes I wait to make comments until I know I’ve thought of something the interpreter can voice correctly.

Another high school student remembers a time when interpreter skills negatively affected a presentation she gave to her class:

I had to present a paper on an artist. But the interpreter kept slowing me down as I was doing the presentation, and the kids were staring at me. I had to sign really slowly for the interpreter, and I would be done signing and the interpreter was still talking for a long time. I was embarrassed and frustrated.

A solution mentioned by many participants, which works when a student knows in advance that he or she will be presenting, is to practice with the interpreter before the presentation. Students reported that this technique seemed to help interpreters get used to their signs and styles. One graduate student said that she gives the interpreter her presentation notes beforehand so the interpreter can have a sense of what will be covered.

WISH LIST FOR INTERPRETERS

What do you wish you could tell interpreters? This question elicited an intriguing array of responses. The following is a summary of what the participants said. Note that those interviewed generally had positive feelings toward their interpreters. At the same time, they had clearly done some serious thinking about the pros and cons of the interpreting situation. More important, they put serious thought into what they would say to interpreters if they were ever asked for suggestions about how to improve the interpreting situation. Because each situation and each participant is so unique, this list should not be seen as representative of what all students want in all situations, and it should not be seen as a criticism of interpreters. In some cases, it reflects an ideal that may not be attainable for various reasons. In some cases, student desires should be met by means of Individualized Education Plans. In other cases, what students want may seem contradictory, which is because this heterogeneous group did not unanimously agree on all the suggestions made. Most important, the list offers readers a chance to see the interpretation process through the eyes of deaf and hard of hearing students, and at the same time, it provides a springboard for conversations between interpreters and students.

Interpret everything. Students across all age levels wanted their interpreters to interpret everything said from the moment they walked in the classroom door. Some interpreters apparently believe their job begins when the teacher starts to lecture. In contrast, students expressed their desires to know what the hearing students and teacher are talking about informally before and after class. “Their main responsibility,” said a college student, “is to let me know all the information said in class. Whether it is important or not, if somebody says something, I want that.” A graduate student said, “I want the gossip and the opportunity to network. If I don’t get that, I feel left out.”

Some interpreters waited for students to request access to discussions that occurred before the class officially began. A high school student said, “I wish the interpreter would always interpret side conversations instead of me asking her to interpret them for me. I want to know what the hearing students are saying.” One high school student said that his interpreters watch for his “curious, what’s-going-on-face” and then they interpret for him. One middle school student clarified that sometimes he just wants to be more aware of his surroundings: “Sometimes, I don’t know when other students are talking, and I wish my interpreters would let me know.” Some students felt inhibited about saying these things directly to their interpreters. A college student said, “Sometimes I would feel it just wasn’t that important. It depended. Sometimes it wasn’t worth it. I’d just let it go.”

A college graduate noticed that the interpreters would often have side conversations with one another or with the students when they should have been interpreting. “That was distracting,” she said, “and then later I would have to explain to them what was going on.” A high school student found that interpreters were sometimes stubborn about their decisions about when to interpret:

My work was done, and the students in the mainstream class were chatting and the interpreter just sat there—so I missed the side conversations. I wanted to know what the students were talking about, but the interpreter wouldn’t interpret it.

Then the student thought a minute and added, “Sometimes the interpreters interpret my side conversations, and I don’t like it. But I guess that is fair.”

Do not let your personal style interfere with my education. At times, students found that interpreters’ style or dress interfered with their learning. What interpreters wear becomes the background for students watching them all day long. One college student remembered interpreters wearing bright, neon colors and polka dots. It was very difficult for her to read the signing all day against such busy backgrounds. Many students suggested attire contrastive to the background, although too stark a contrast had a numbing effect on one college student. “I hate it when the interpreters wear black clothes and sit in front of a white wall,” she said. “There is too much contrast in color and it makes me feel sleepy.” Another student remembered a time when an interpreter’s eccentric appearance was distracting for both hearing and deaf students:

I find it annoying when the interpreter dresses inappropriately for my classes. For example, I had a male interpreter who wore an earring on his nose and in his tongue, a see-through shirt, and dyed his hair silver. He was attracting attention from other students, and yet at the same time, his appearance was really disturbing to me and other deaf students.

Distracting appearances were also a problem for a graduate student. “One interpreter was a hippie—which is fine with me,” he said, “but he should have put a band around his hair to make a ponytail or something so that his hair didn’t get in the way of his interpreting.”

One college student who depends on both mouthing and signs to understand her interpreters found that lax attitudes led to less accurate interpretations. “Their styles can [create a barrier],” she said. “Like, some are sloppy with their signs and/or speech. Sometimes they would forget to sign something they mouthed or vice versa. Maybe because I usually understand so well, they slack off.” One graduate student remembered a time when the interpreter’s signing style did not match the educational setting:

One [interpreter] I had signed in a sing-song way—sort of like singing. That was her style, but it was like she was talking to a child the way she used that sing-song style. She said she grew up with deaf kids and that was where it came from. I said that it wasn’t appropriate for graduate level classes.

Let me make my own decisions; do not make choices for me, coddle me, or discipline me. A high school student discussed feeling frustrated that the interpreter would interrupt the teacher during lectures to obtain additional information: “I never ask my interpreters to do that for me.” A college student said something similar: “It bothers me when the interpreter repeatedly asks the teacher to clarify or repeat, even if I do not ask for clarification.”

A college student remembered her frustration with interpreters in high school acting as disciplinarians. “Interpreters in my high school got mad at me if I wasn’t paying attention to them,” she said. “I feel like it isn’t their right to tell me what to do.” A middle school student echoed her comment:

I don’t like it when the interpreters tap on my desk and tell me to pay attention to them. I feel like that is my choice, not the interpreter’s. I don’t like it when they tell me what to do.

Other students voiced views about wanting equality with the hearing students; they get to attend when they want to, so the deaf students should have the same choice.

One high school student clearly stated his views about interpreters helping him beyond the call of duty. “Sometimes I feel like I am cheating in my classes. The interpreters … help me beyond their roles. The hearing kids don’t get that type of extra help.”

Please do not rely on us for information, sign instruction, reassurance, or fun. One college graduate said that she read her texts before class because she knew the interpreters would get lost and rely on her for clarification. Another college graduate expressed her impatience with interpreters who asked her to teach them signs. “I get bored when interpreters ask me for signs for the words they fingerspell,” she said. “It can be a tiring experience.”

A high school student talked of feeling like she needed to reassure her interpreters:

Sometimes the interpreters seem to be under a lot of stress. They will ask again and again if they are clear and I will reinforce them, letting them know they are doing fine. I’ll say, “If you aren’t clear, I’ll let you know and ask you for clarification.” It has to do with self-confidence—the interpreter’s self-confidence in their skills.

A college student responded similarly: “A pet peeve for me is when the interpreters lack confidence. I end up having to reassure them that they are doing a fine job and telling them to relax and take it easy.” Another college student felt one interpreter depended on the students for social interactions: “When I was sitting with my friends, she would get involved. She seemed to be relying on me … to have fun.”

Please match your voicing to my style. Students asked that interpreters try to match each student’s individual style when voicing for them. A college student said that the interpreters’ word choices sometimes frustrated her. For instance, when she signs “assimilate,” the interpreters voice “come together,” making her sound less articulate. “I want them to use the words that make me sound more like an educated person,” she said. A graduate student discussed problems that occurred when the interpreters voiced for her, but she was not sure what the specific problem was in each instance:

Sometimes I am signing and the interpreter talks and then everyone is quiet. It seems like they don’t know how to respond to my comment. They are looking at me like they aren’t sure that I could have said something like that.

A high school student talked about her love for making jokes and her inability to make them work through interpreters:

I love to tell jokes and tease other people. My biggest challenge is when I try to tell a joke though an interpreter and the other students aren’t laughing. I know the interpreter didn’t do it right. They may be speaking too slowly.

Match your signing to the teacher’s style. A hard of hearing student talked of the mismatches she noticed in teacher and interpreter styles: “Many times, I can hear the teachers’ voices, and sometimes, the interpreters’ styles don’t match the teachers’ tone.” One college student talked about how much she likes the interpreters to match the personalities of her teachers—unless the teacher’s style is monotonous. “If the teacher is funny, they should show that. I would encourage them to do more of that, and I reinforce them when they do it. If the teacher is monotone, I ask the interpreter if the teacher is flat, and if they say ‘yes,’ then I ask for more [facial expression].”

Know your limits, admit to your mistakes, and be open to my suggestions. One graduate student shared a positive ending to a frustrating experience with an unskilled interpreter: “Luckily, that interpreter said she had to step out of that role and that was good because she knew her limits.” A high school student said that she really appreciates it when the interpreters admit to their mistakes so the errors do not reflect poorly on her: “When the interpreter says ‘Interpreter error,’ I am relieved.” One college graduate clearly stated this stressor: “I hate it when I say something, and students think it is me that said something wrong while it is really an interpreter error.”

A graduate student talked about the confusion that can result when either the teacher or the interpreter makes an error, and the interpreter does not indicate who made it:

If something confusing or erroneous is said, I always get confused as to whether it was an interpreter error or the teacher making the mistake. I’ll ask which it was. If it was an interpreter error, as long as the interpreter apologizes, it’s OK with me, but how often does that happen? If the interpreter has a personality that can accept criticism, then it works better. I don’t mean to say it is all the interpreter’s responsibility. Sometimes the teacher is not clear. If the interpreter says that the teacher is just not clear, then I will check in with hearing students to see if they feel the same way. If the teacher was clear according to the interpreter and other students, then the problem is clearly between the interpreter and me.

Students also stressed how much they appreciate it when their interpreters take constructive criticism well. “Sometimes I wish I could tell my interpreters that the signs they make are not correct,” said one middle school student. “Sometimes I will tell them, and they take it well. Other times, they tell me not to tell them how to sign and that they will sign the way they do most of the time.”

We know you are human beings and not machines, but please set some boundaries. Some students wanted to have friendly relationships with the interpreters whereas others wanted more professional ones. Either way, they all seemed to agree that the interpreter should not try to step into the role of teacher. As one high school student strongly stated, “I have always felt that, if the interpreters want to become teachers, they need to go back to school and work on getting their teacher’s certificates.”

Others talked about their frustrations with interpreters acting as disciplinarians—of them and of their classmates. One middle school student remembered a time when her interpreter’s disciplinary actions embarrassed her. “Sometimes the interpreter yells at my classmates,” she said. “I feel embarrassed, and I don’t want them to think it has something to do with me.”

A graduate student talked about inappropriate interpreter discussions: “At the college level, sometimes interpreters are skilled, but not professional. Some will tell me things, and I have to say, ‘That’s not my business.’ ”

Prepare for class. Students in middle school, high school, college, and graduate school raised concerns about their interpreters not being prepared to interpret for classes. To interpret well, most students felt interpreters should have read the readings assigned to the students, skimmed them for new vocabulary and concepts, or talked with the teacher about them. One graduate student clarified: “Having knowledge prior to interpreting is a big help.” He noted that, at his level, many terms are used that may be new to the interpreter. “I don’t want my interpreters to struggle during the class. I would rather they resolve issues prior to the class.”

One middle school student pointed out that preparation might really help interpreters’ receptive skills during class. If the interpreters had read the text before class, then when needing to fingerspell, they would be familiar with the subject’s specific vocabulary and, thus, would do a better job of fingerspelling accurately. Participants agreed that interpreters should request class texts and all handouts. A college graduate talked about frustrations with this issue: “My interpreters almost never took the time to prepare for my classes, like reading the teachers’ notes prior to interpreting.” One college student said that even the interpreters who started out committed to preparing for her classes were not able to sustain that commitment. “At first, the interpreters were excited and motivated about the reading,” she said. “And then, eventually, they backed off on that and didn’t do much.”

Ask me to repeat if I am not clear. One high school student expressed this issue well: “Sometimes the interpreter tries to guess what I am saying. I know this when the teacher’s comment is irrelevant or doesn’t make sense based on my comment. I know I did not ask that question and that the interpreter made a mistake. Often I just give up and feel bad about it.”

Advocate for me when I cannot advocate for myself. Although participants generally wanted to be left to make their own decisions, a graduate student described one type of situation when he would like the interpreter to advocate for him: “I wish interpreters would let the professors know if they are speaking too fast since I can’t hear the professor’s voice.”

Stand so I can easily see you and the teacher. One frustration for participants was when the interpreters stood too far from the teacher or too far from the student. One student had a particularly difficult situation in a gym class: “I was taking a weight-lifting class and I wanted the interpreter to stand close to where I was so I knew what the teacher wanted us to do. The interpreter was standing far from me, and when I asked her to move closer, she told me she didn’t want to move closer to me because I was sweating and smelled bad. I didn’t think that was right.”

Try to give me some space. Although students want interpreters by their sides in the classrooms, outside the classes, most said they prefer a little time on their own. One elementary student said that she does not want interpreters with her at lunch and recess: “I’d rather be with my friends and not have the interpreters be in the way.” A high school student discussed his relief at not having an interpreter with him in the halls. “If they were with me in the halls, that would be uncomfortable—like your Mom sent someone to watch over you and make sure you don’t do anything wrong.”

One high school student said she had experienced difficulty getting enough space from her interpreters. “Like in ceramics class,” she said. “The interpreter would hover and ask if I needed help, but I just wanted to interact naturally with the hearing students. I could do it with natural gestures.” Another student seemed to feel the same way: “Many times I feel like being alone, and I don’t want the interpreter to be there. I want to feel like I am a regular student there, just like any other hearing students at the mainstream schools or deaf students at the schools for the deaf.”

Give me eye contact. “If they don’t give me eye contact,” a high school student said, “I get lost.”

Do not become lax with your fingerspelling. As one high school student put it, “Fingerspelling is so important. Some will just gloss over the fingerspelling and mouth [the words], but I don’t know what they are saying. Some will invent signs to avoid fingerspelling.”

Make use of facial expressions. Many participants stated that time spent in the Deaf community seemed to correlate with use of appropriate facial expressions, which helped them both comprehend the information and maintain interest. A college graduate stated, “Most interpreters whose skills are really advanced tend to be those interpreters who hang around deaf people and really immerse themselves in American Sign Language and Deaf culture.” Another college student explained:

If interpreters practice sign in Deaf culture, they will have good facial expressions. If they have only practiced with other hearing people, they will not. If they use facial expression, I can see sarcasm and other humor. If they are expressive, it is wonderful. It is more enjoyable and easier to understand. It helps a lot.

One graduate student said, “It is important for interpreters to have good facial expressions. If an interpreter shows no facial expression, I will become bored!” A college student said, “If someone has a rigid, stiff way of interpreting—like a robot with no facial expression—that can be distracting, and I can miss information.”

WISH LIST FOR MAINSTREAM TEACHERS

As with the wish list for interpreters, some items on this list may seem unrealistic to mainstream teachers. Other items should be mandated on Individualized Education Plans (IEPs). Nonetheless, the list offers a look at mainstreaming through the eyes of deaf and hard of hearing students, and can be a springboard for discussions among students, parents, and professionals serving these students in a team effort to make mainstream education as accessible and comfortable as possible.

Please introduce the interpreter, and when you do, make sure the class knows the interpreter is for everyone, not just me. Many students mentioned liking it when the interpreter is introduced to the class. One college student pointed out that, if an introduction is not made, then sometimes students get distracted, wondering why this other adult is in the room. One graduate student stated even more strongly that the interpreter not only should be introduced but also should be presented as being there to facilitate communication for everyone in the classroom:

I try to emphasize that the interpreter is not just for me, it’s for everyone’s benefit. They shouldn’t call her my interpreter, since the interpreter is really for all of us. In one class, when I explained [that], … the hearing students felt more free to use the interpreters to talk to me. So I got the ball rolling. I didn’t want to be holding the ball all by myself.

Do not speak too rapidly or too quietly. Many students talked about frustrations either at their having to remind teachers to slow down their speech countless times or at the interpreters having to do so. If teachers talk too quickly, interpreters have difficulty processing the incoming information and relaying it into sign language in a coherent form. Along a similar vein, some students also talked about their interpreters having to interrupt class to ask the teachers to speak more loudly.

Remember, if I say something that sounds odd, it could be an interpreter error. Some students felt that teachers imagined the interpreters to be infallible, imagining all errors to be student errors.

Think about where you are standing. Students mentioned that, when a teacher moves around a lot, it is difficult for them to glance back and forth from the interpreter to the teacher. Other students mentioned problems with teachers walking in front of the interpreters, thus obstructing their view of the incoming messages.

Remember that I am learning through my eyes, not my ears. Because of this reliance on the visual mode, students wanted to emphasize the importance of a note-taker. Students talked about how difficult it is to look back and forth from their notes to the interpreter. Their notes end up being incomplete and confusing, and they cannot fully attend to the interpreter. One high school student said that, for her, the task is especially difficult if she has to take notes with a videotape; her gaze has to be split three ways as she looks at the notes, the interpreter, and the videotape. A middle school student responded similarly: “The most frustrating … is when I have to watch a videotape and write down the answers on a worksheet. Even when the videotape is captioned, I miss a lot of information because I have to write down the answers. I wish my teachers would be aware of how difficult this task is for me.” Many students mentioned frustrations with teachers not finding videotapes with captioning.

Students also requested that teachers consider writing major points and new words on the blackboard or an overhead projector. They emphasized how helpful visual aids are for them. A graduate student underscored the benefits of charts, graphs, outlines, and diagrams by saying, “If the teacher uses a visual aid, then I can follow. Without it, I would be lost.”

Do not force me to speak. Acollege graduate related a negative experience she had when forced to use her voice in class:

One day in middle school, my literature teacher told me I had to read aloud. I had no problem with that, thinking the interpreter would voice what I signed. The teacher said, “No, I mean you have to read out loud with your own voice.” I started to cry. That was a dramatic and hurtful experience for me. No teacher should ever require their deaf students to use their voices if they do not want to.

Let the person in charge of scheduling interpreters know if you are going to break your classes up into groups. In this case, extra interpreters may be needed. One high school student told of a frustrating experience in an American government class:

We had to get into groups of Democrats and Republicans. The other deaf girl in the class was a Republican and I was a Democrat. The other student had to move to the Democrat group because there was only one interpreter. She didn’t get her choice.

Remember that English is less accessible for me. One high school student expressed her wish that teachers would acknowledge that English is a second language for her and, therefore, see that she needs more assistance than hearing students.

Be patient with the interpreting process. As one high school student put it, “Having an interpreter as a third party can be confusing!” Learning through an interpreter was labeled a “struggle” by almost all of the participants.

Rephrase my comments. Many students aired frustrations about the interpreter voicing incorrectly for them. One high school student talked about his positive experience with teachers rephrasing what the interpreter voiced so he could verify or clarify the information before the teacher answered the question or before the class went on.

Please pause a little between asking a question and calling on students to answer it. Many students mentioned frustrations brought on by the fact that interpreting inherently involves processing time. One high school student summed up this issue well: “By the time the interpreter is done interpreting, I raise my hand, but another hearing student has already beat me to it, and the teacher gives them feedback. That can be a frustrating experience.”

Make sure to request an interpreter for conferences. Some students need an interpreter for their parents; others, for themselves. One high school student remembered a parent-teacher conference without an interpreter: “I had to write back and forth because there was no interpreter there. It was really hard.”

As often as possible, please treat me like your other students. “The teachers all felt sorry for me because I was deaf,” said one college student. She continued,

So I was trying to show that I could do everything, that I could follow everything that was going on. I tried to show them that everything was fine. Sometimes they were overly solicitous because I was deaf. They didn’t joke with me like they did with the other students. They just checked to see if I was OK and encouraged me.

Communicate with me, not my interpreter. A college undergraduate quickly jumped at the chance to add this item to the wish list. “I wish my teachers would know not to use the ‘Tell her …’ phrases,” she said, “and to speak to me directly.” A college student made mention of her frustrations with teachers not maintaining eye contact with her when she said something: “I never worry about what teachers think about me,” she said, “because I think they have a hard time seeing me as a student because of the interpreter. They always watched the interpreter.”

Moderate group discussions. Almost all the older students discussed the tribulations of group discussions. When conversational turns overlap too much and when more than one person is talking at a time, the interpreter cannot possibly keep up or interpret everything said. Graduate students said they explain this issue to their professors, and they understand it, but then they forget to moderate during group discussions. A graduate student talked about how awkward the process is to go through an interpreter, especially for some hearing students who are new to the process, and she emphasized her wish that teachers would facilitate discussions between deaf and hearing students rather than leave the deaf students’ comments without encouraging responses.

At least in high school, know that interpreters are just interpreters; you still need to teach me. This comment was often made by the older participants. Some teachers thought the interpreters were tutors. One college graduate said, “Unfortunately, most of my teachers saw interpreters as responsible for the deaf students.”

Try to connect with me. Amix of positive and negative experiences all culminated into the creation of this wish. On a positive note, an elementary school student said she likes the way one teacher treats her as an expert. “My teacher asks me how to sign,” she said. “One time she asked me how to sign stop it, and I showed it to her. She used it with the hearing students.” Some students from middle school through college mentioned appreciating support and interest that came from their involvement in sports, as exemplified by the comments of this college student: “Some [teachers] know I’m on a deaf soccer team and ask me about when the next tournament is,” she said. “Or they tell me to keep them posted. They show interest and excitement.” Some middle school students greatly appreciated the encouragement they got from their teachers. For example, one middle school student said, “The teachers encouraged me to think positively, especially while I was struggling with English.”

When this type of connecting does not happen, then participants reported feeling disappointed and sometimes discouraged. One high school student said, “I wish my teachers would encourage me more to do my best. I don’t feel like I am getting enough support from my teachers and interpreters.” A college graduate suggested a possible reason for “hands off” kinds of treatment. “Some teachers feel intimidated to approach me,” she said.

Try to establish a solid working relationship with the interpreter. One college student remembered when a teacher asked, “Did Mary get that? It is really important.” The student remembered feeling great about that, but seeing it as rare:

I thought “WOW! She really cares!” But most of the time, [teachers] just establish a pattern at the beginning and then follow that. Then, there would be no further interactions between them unless there were problems or if the interpreter had to tell the teacher to slow down or repeat something. Usually their interactions are limited.

WISH LIST FOR HEARING PEERS

When asked what they would like to tell hearing peers, deaf and hard of hearing students responded with the following wish list.

If you try to communicate with us, most of us will appreciate it. Some participants talked about hearing students who would write back and forth with them, some discussed students learning a little sign to converse with them. Either way, it was generally appreciated.

It is fine if you want to ask us questions, and some of us are happy to teach you, but please treat us as individuals, not just as representatives of deafness. One high school student voiced an opinion stated by many other students: “I feel like I get a lot of attention from hearing students just because they are curious about my deafness and not my merits.” At the same time, one college student said, “I feel impressed whenever the hearing students tell my teacher that they learned something new from me.” A graduate student vented her frustrations with being asked questions about deafness that a fifth grader could answer. A college graduate remembered that “very few [hearing students] made the extra effort to get to know [me] as a person.” At the same time, she admitted that she should have made more efforts to get to know her hearing peers.

Do not decide for me what is important to me. While signing, writing, or speaking with deaf students, hearing students were quoted as sometimes saying, “Don’t worry, it’s not important.” Participants generally reported responding to them that it was important to be kept abreast of what transpired, no matter how trivial it might seem to another person.

Do not stand or sit in my sight line. Some students discussed frustrations with hearing students when they walked, stood, or sat between the deaf students and their interpreters.

Are you uncomfortable with talking to me through my interpreter? One college student said that she did not have an item for the wish list, but just had a question for hearing peers. “Many times hearing students communicate with me without the interpreter being there. It makes me wonder if they are more comfortable not having the interpreter there.”

WISH LIST FOR INTERPRETER COORDINATORS

When asked what they would like to suggest to interpreter coordinators, participants came up with wishes that make up the following list. As with some of the other lists, some items may seem idealistic and unrealistic. Still, they offer something toward which to strive. Other comments that participants make in this section may surprise parents and professionals, making them question things they thought were given.

Try to keep the interpreters consistent. One middle school student said that he finds it really hard to follow when interpreters change. “It takes me a while to get used to a new interpreter,” he said.

Educate teachers about using an interpreter. Students said it was helpful when workshops were conducted to train teachers on how to use interpreters.

Educate hearing students about ASL, interpreters, and Deaf culture. One college graduate who said she was angry about her isolation in the mainstream offered this suggestion: “It would be nice if there were a workshop on ASL and Deaf culture for hearing students. No one explained to hearing students why I was [in the mainstream classes] or how to [talk through] an interpreter. They acted as if I were a student who did not exist.”

Educate deaf students about using interpreters. Many students commented that it took them years to become truly adept at using interpreters. One college student shared a positive experience: “My school had a training [program] for deaf students on how to work with their interpreters. That helped me a lot and prepared me well to work with my interpreters. I learned it is important to show respect for our interpreters in order to have a good working relationship.” A college graduate said, “I had to learn how to work with an interpreter on my own. No one explained it to me. I hope that is different today.”

The deaf college graduate mentioned earlier, who was forced by her teacher to use her voice in class, wished she had known then what she knows now about the interpreter’s code of ethics. “I started to cry, thinking, ‘why doesn’t the interpreter speak up for me?’ She was only doing her job by following the code of ethics. I had no idea of her role as an interpreter. Now looking back, I can understand her role better.”

When hiring, be sure to check interpreters’ receptive skills. Many students pointed out that even interpreters with fine expressive skills do not always have adequate receptive skills. One high school student from a deaf family said that she has noticed that the interpreters understand the deaf students from hearing families better than they understand her:

So I have to repeat myself again and again and I really hate that. … When I fingerspell, I often have to repeat myself very slowly and I have felt people thought I wasn’t really smart and then I would speechread the interpreter and realize that wasn’t what I said. So I would have to write out my comment and give it directly to the teacher.

When possible, try to assign interpreters to positions for which they have appropriate background. One graduate student said, “Most of my interpreters only have community college level education. In that case, how can they interpret effectively for my graduate level education?” One high school student said that she feels that knowledge of the subject is a more important interpreter quality than signing skills or personality. Many students said that the most important quality in an interpreter is an understanding of the subject matter. One high school student had a positive experience because his interpreter knew the subject matter well: “When I tried out for golf, the interpreter … happened to know all the golf vocabulary. That helped a great deal.” A graduate student felt very strongly about this issue:

Especially in graduate school, the interpreter needs to understand the basics of research design. If we could have one interpreter with us throughout our program, that could be great. When a new one comes in, I feel a disconnect, and I really have to work harder explaining everything. In higher-level classes, if interpreters don’t understand what the teachers are saying, it is difficult for them to convey the information to the students.

Students from middle school up through graduate school discussed their dreams of having interpreters who had some background knowledge about what they were studying. One hard of hearing college graduate explained the problem:

Many times, my interpreters would get lost whenever they interpreted for my physics and calculus classes. I always read my textbooks prior to class because I knew the interpreters would get lost. My professor would spend about thirty minutes discussing a physics theory, and my interpreters would get lost during the lecture.

This participant said there is a great need for interpreters who are familiar with engineering, science, and math. Most interpreters she had worked with had educational backgrounds in liberal arts or social work, and “they weren’t a good match for my major.”

When possible, try to match the personality of the student with the personality of the interpreter. Many students discussed the importance of this match. Some liked interpreters to be more professional; others felt more comfortable if the interpreters were not overly professional. Many talked about wanting the interpreter to represent them accurately and felt interpreters could do the best job of that if their personalities were well-matched to the deaf or hard of hearing person.

At times, you may need to schedule more than one interpreter. Students talked about times when their classes broke up into groups and the interpreters could not be in all the groups at once. One high school student told a story about a time when she was in a psychology class that was to break up into groups by self-defined personality type. She and the other deaf students were all in different groups. “The interpreter had to go around to each of us. I said, ‘I’ll just take care of it and write.’ But why not more interpreters? I can write, but I am not getting all the information from the other students.”

Students also stressed the importance of having two interpreters if a class is long (more than an hour, as found in college-level courses). A graduate student clarified one important reason for this need: processing. “The interpreters take everything in and then give us all they can, but I think it is all a problem with processing—trying to get that information receptively from the teacher and then expressing it to the student.”

One student stressed the importance of using two interpreters if two deaf students in the same class have really different skills levels. One student discussed the frustrations of having three deaf students in a mainstream class with one interpreter who could not possibly sign at the right level for each of them at the same time. Finally, if group interactions are common in a class, students suggested that two interpreters might be able to do a better job of catching overlapping conversations than one interpreter could do.

Let us help in the screening process when hiring new interpreters. Many participants discussed this wish as a dream. For some, it has been a greatly appreciated reality. Those who had the opportunity to choose said they were always happier with the interpreters that way. For one college student, being involved in interviewing interpreters made all the difference. “College is great,” she said, “because I can choose my own interpreters. High school was a bad experience for me because I couldn’t pick out the interpreters I was more comfortable working with.”

Listen to our needs. A graduate student talked about a negative experience in a high school English class:

The interpreter was not certified and … she really couldn’t interpret. I said I needed a different interpreter and they said they couldn’t do anything about it. I felt like I wasn’t part of the class.

A college student said persistence paid off for her: “Once, the interpreter didn’t have the skills,” she said, “and so I had to ask them to find someone who could do it. It took about two months to convince the school that that person wasn’t adequate for me.”

I need a fluent interpreter, especially for my content courses. Many students named art and gym classes as places where they could survive with a mediocre interpreter. For content courses, however, they emphasized the need for fluent interpreters.

ADVICE TO STUDENTS LEARNING TO USE AN INTERPRETER

As has hopefully become clear, using an interpreter effectively involves much more than just sitting in front of one. As one graduate student said, “As a fluent second-language user [fluent in English and ASL], using an interpreter is easier [for me] than it is for a child still developing ASL and English and still learning how to use an interpreter. How much [the kids] get is in question.” She talks about what the student needs to bring to the situation.

In my MA program, I was serious about my work, but I was also learning about life, so I was busy with that. In my PhD program, I am more focused on my studies, so I work harder to use my interpreters well. I am more careful to make sure I have access to all the information in class. Experience and maturity have made a big difference.

Interview participants shared their insights about using interpreters effectively. What follows is a list of their hints for students new to the interpreting situation.

Advocate for yourself. One college student stated this suggestion well: “Usually, the teachers take the first step of saying, ‘I am here if you need help,’ but [you] need to take the next step of saying, ‘Hey, I do need help now and in this way.’ ” A college student talked about the self-advocacy she had to master to obtain a clear message:

If something wasn’t clear, if the interpreter repeated again and it still wasn’t clear, I would ask the teacher to say it again. I didn’t want to cause too much stopping in class. So if the interpreter could remember it, I would ask them to sign it again. But if they couldn’t remember, I would ask them to ask the teachers.

Establish a good working relationship with your interpreter. Many students highlighted the importance of working together as a team. A graduate student explained how she teams with the interpreter when preparing for a presentation: “I try to work with the interpreter beforehand and give them any notes I have. [During the presentation,] I will make sure I pause. I want the interpreter to feel comfortable in voicing for me. I want it to be a win-win situation.” A high school student offered the following advice:

Try to set up a good relationship with the interpreter. [You] can tell the interpreter to do a few things to accommodate [you]. If you are not controlling, usually the interpreter will agree. Like, tell them to teach the teacher and class why you need an interpreter—not to pamper you, but just to communicate.

Find interpreters who work well with you. A college graduate made the following suggestion: “Try to meet as many interpreters as you can. Find out who you feel most comfortable with and who would represent you well.”

Complete assigned readings before class. Overwhelmingly, participants suggested that deaf children read the materials for their classes before class to be able to follow the interpreter.

Know that it will not always feel awkward. A college student who used interpreters for the first time in college said, “At first, it was awkward for me. … I had to get used to having someone there focused on me.”

Learn to divide your focus. A college student said she found it difficult to make her mind act as a split screen. “[At first], I was not sure who to focus on—the interpreter or the teacher.”

Know that it is OK to use interpreting services. Some hard of hearing students talked about trying to get by without an interpreter because they did not want to stand out or admit to having the need for interpreting. One college student explained, “I thought, ‘I can do it without an interpreter,’ ” she said. “I would be so tired I couldn’t pay attention well enough. Then I realized I needed the support from the interpreters.”

It is hard at first, but it does get better. A middle school student offered this advice: “It is challenging … to constantly watch an interpreter sign all day long. It is hard on my eyes and it makes me sleepy. It took me a while to get used to watching an interpreter all day long.” One high school student who attends both a mainstream school and a deaf school had some helpful advice:

I would tell other students that it is very hard being in a mainstreamed classroom with an interpreter. If that student feels he or she has the knowledge and ability to go into a mainstreamed school, I would encourage him [or her]. However, if he [or she] doesn’t feel he [or she] is prepared for it, then I wouldn’t recommend it. It was very frustrating for me at first when I attended the mainstreamed school. I eventually got used to it.

If you can, work with the interpreters beforehand. Amiddle school student reported, “Sometimes I work with the interpreters ahead of time so they can practice, get used to my style, and be prepared to interpret for me in the future.”

Set up meetings with your teachers outside of class. A graduate student talked about a positive experience she had with a teacher, after she got a chance to get to know her a little:

Some teachers are awkward with the interpreting situation. But in one case, I went in with an interpreter outside of class and [the teacher] was telling funny stories and I realized for the first time that she was really a funny person. And I was able to share some of my own personality with the teacher.

Know that people have more patience than you may think. One high school student said, “If I don’t understand, I will be assertive and ask my interpreter to voice my questions for me with teachers or other students. People have a lot more patience than what I thought.”

Consider the best time to start using interpreting services to access education. Students disagreed about when it is best to start using an interpreter. One college student said that she was glad she did not use an interpreter before college:

It would have made me stand out. I might have been made fun of. In college, that’s not a problem. By now, kids are more open and accept things easier. In high school, everyone has to be the same, so that is difficult.

A middle school student said he was glad he started using an interpreter before college. “I feel that my experiences in using interpreters now will help me prepare for using interpreters in the future,” he said. “It is best that I learn now instead of learning it later on in my life.” A high school student explained why that might be: “If you are older when you start using an interpreter, it can be uncomfortable. If you have an interpreter from when you were really young, you don’t really worry about it. You are used to it.”

ADVICE TO PARENTS OF DEAF AND HARD OF HEARING CHILDREN

This project’s student participants and their parents provided advice to parents of deaf and hard of hearing students new to mainstreaming and the interpretation process.

Be sure your children get some exposure to deafness. From a college student who had a progressive loss but who had not used an interpreter until college: “I would say try mainstreaming, but still be sure to incorporate Deaf culture in their lives, make sure they have a group of deaf friends. So, that way, they have peers more like them—with hearing aids and signing.”

When they are older, let your children be involved in placement decisions. Many students underscored the importance of letting them in on these important decisions. When older students were not included, they reported resentment. A parent also agreed that it is best if the child is involved in planning his or her education.

Get involved. The hearing mother of a deaf elementary school student offered the following advice: “Meet with your school principal prior to the first IEP meeting. Meet with the teachers and try to develop a solid working relationship with them. Get involved with family activities at the school. Become aware of how the school functions. Don’t be afraid to ask if you have any questions. It is important that you have the answers you want.”

Advocate for your child. One mother pointed out the importance of this recommendation with an example: “I feel that the teachers at the mainstream school aren’t using resources for my daughter like they should. For example, they should make sure that all videotapes are captioned. There are a lot of things they are not aware of, and I have to educate and help them.”

See if you can secure a helpful resource teacher for your child. One mother found that the resource teacher did an excellent job of appropriately helping her child.

Keep “experimenting and testing.” One mother used a watch-and-see approach to her daughter’s placement. She sent her daughter to various programs, but each time, she carefully watched to see how well the placement worked. If it did not work, she would look into other options.

Do not accept low expectations for your child. One parent of a middle school student said, “I will admit sometimes there is this attitude in the mainstream school, like, ‘Oh, she’s deaf.’ I will not accept that kind of attitude.”

CONCLUSION

The deaf and hard of hearing participants who were interviewed for this chapter, along with their parents, presented a variety of reasons for choosing to spend some of their educational careers in mainstream settings with interpreters. Many have found creative ways to reap the benefits of both worlds by spending specific years or specific parts of the day in different placements. According to the students and alumni who were interviewed, academic benefits in the mainstream include a faster pace, a greater variety of perspectives, higher academic expectations, more feedback, and a wider array of educational opportunities. Academic positives in self-contained classrooms and in schools for the deaf include direct communication, easy participation, and more consistent visual access to learning. Students suggested that social benefits to the mainstream setting include a wider pool of potential friends and social groups, greater independence, and a social environment that some found was more conducive to learning. One student said it was important to show that deaf and hard of hearing students can make it in the mainstream. Social reasons for preferring self-contained classes and schools for the deaf included the opportunity to interact with deaf and hard of hearing friends, direct communication with teachers and peers, and stronger connections with teachers.

Responses concerning students’ perceptions of interpreter roles uncovered great controversy. Many younger students tended to want their interpreters to tutor them, though not to discipline them. Some even saw their interpreters as role models. Older students tended to want their interpreters to serve only as interpreters. Regardless of age, some preferred interpreters to act more as friends, which is not surprising, given that the interpreters are sometimes the only people in the students’ environments with whom they can fluently communicate. Others, however, want their interpreters to act as professionals in business transactions.

Whatever the definition of an interpreter’s role, all students agreed that it takes a while to become used to learning through interpretation. In elementary school, the students often do not have the self-advocacy or language skills needed to use an interpreter effectively. As students proceed through the grades, interpreters often do not have the background knowledge needed to generate conceptually accurate interpretations.

Social and academic issues related to attending to and participating in lectures and group discussions arise when a student enters mainstream settings with an interpreter. Interactions with hearing teachers and peers present a host of new social challenges. The expressive and receptive signing skills of the interpreters add another ingredient to the mix. If they are stellar, students are generally highly appreciative. If they are not, students find themselves modifying their own signs to help facilitate communication.

The deaf and hard of hearing students interviewed for this chapter offered their suggestions—their wish lists—for what interpreters, mainstream teachers, hearing peers, and interpreter coordinators could do to make the mainstream setting more comfortable and accessible for them. They, and their parents, also outlined some important advice for other deaf and hard of hearing students and their parents about how to initially navigate the interpreting experience. Each educational interpreting situation is as unique as each deaf and hard of hearing student, each interpreter, and each teacher. Given that fact, this chapter cannot offer information that is well suited for every situation. What it offers instead is information to use as a springboard for important discussions among students, parents, interpreters, administrators, and mainstream teachers. These discussions and ongoing monitoring of the situation are necessary for making mainstream education as accessible as possible for deaf and hard of hearing students.

The field of educational interpreting would find great use in triangulating this issue, that is, in seeing what this experience is like from the standpoints of educational interpreters, mainstream teachers, and a greater number of deaf and hard of hearing students. This chapter makes a few small steps toward that process.

APPENDIX A

My Personal Experiences Learning Through Interpretation, by Kim Brown Kurz

Like many other deaf and hard of hearing students who received their education in an interpreted educational setting, educational interpreters played a vital role in my life. I also appreciate the risks special education administrators took when investing in our education, although I truly realized this appreciation only after I became an adult. When I interviewed other deaf and hard of hearing students to get their perspectives of educational interpreters for this chapter, I discovered many similarities when comparing their experiences and my own. In many ways, I was not surprised that, when these students heard about this interview, many of them enthusiastically told me their stories. Most of these students were never given the opportunity to voice their perspectives, opinions, and feelings about their interpreted educational experience. For some students, this interview was an opportunity for them to provide positive and constructive feedback about how to improve educational interpreting in the future, and for other students, it was a chance to vent about unpleasant experiences. After I conducted these interviews, I marveled at how these students had developed a variety of strategies in working with their educational interpreters, whether the interpreters were well qualified or not qualified enough to interpret.

The interviews brought back many memories of the additional work I had to do to receive an appropriate education. Some students call the additional work a “burden,” and school administrators and parents may overlook the amount of additional work the student, interpreter, and teacher must engage in to ensure the best learning environment possible. My story about educational interpreters echoed many of those deaf and hard of hearing students’ interpreted educational experiences. Of course, students’ experiences in some areas were not similar.

I was in a self-contained classroom with approximately twenty deaf children from kindergarten to fourth grade. Total Communication was the communication method we used in our self-contained classrooms during the 1970s. After taking summer courses at Gallaudet University, a liberal arts university for deaf and hard of hearing students, my mother decided that we would use sign language at home so I could access language visually.

My mother often came to my school to observe my self-contained classroom. One day, when she was visiting, my teacher asked a variety of questions. The teacher looked around, pointed at me, and asked me a question in sign language. I answered her question and the teacher said I was wrong. My mother was furious. I had answered correctly, but the teacher did not understand sign language well enough to see that I was correct. The more she observed, the more my mother found that the teachers’ signing skills were deficient. Eventually, she approached my teachers about their signing skills. The teachers dismissed my mother’s claims and told her that she was expecting too much from me. They discussed research showing that the average deaf child does not read beyond a fifth grade level. As determined as ever, my mother decided she would not buy that. She told my teachers that I could do better than that. My mother wanted to place me in a mainstream classroom with an interpreter who had better sign language skills, but my teachers argued that it would be a mistake. Someone from the U.S. Department of Education agreed to do an assessment of my situation and fully agreed with my mother that I should be entitled to a sign language interpreter. After several years and many battles, one day when I was in the fourth grade, the teachers finally told my mother that I was ready to be placed in a mainstream classroom with a sign language interpreter.

So at the beginning of my fifth grade year, I was placed in a mainstreamed classroom for the very first time. One other deaf student was placed in my class with me. It was the first time I had ever used an interpreter. Like many other students, it was not easy at first. I eventually became best friends with a couple of hearing girls. They learned sign language quickly. The fact that these girls knew sign language so well gave me access to social life with other hearing children. We had sleepovers, parties, and get-together events outside of school just like hearing children. I never really felt like I was out of place.

Like many other students, I do remember wishing I could communicate freely with my teachers, who did not know any sign language. Whenever I would attempt to talk with my general education teacher through a sign language interpreter, the conversation would often be shorter than I had hoped it would be. I did not get the attention I would have liked. I started to miss the direct communication I had enjoyed in my self-contained classroom.

Because of the indirect communication I had with my teachers, academics were challenging. I knew I was missing some important information, even with the sign language interpreters there. Looking back, I can remember the many times I had to “internally interpret” the messages received by fitting together what I had read, or what I already knew, with the partial or inaccurate information I received. For example, when the interpreter signed a word incorrectly, most of the time I was able insert the correct word, given the context of the sentence and overall topic. Talking to other deaf and hard of hearing students, I have found that this kind of repair work is common. It makes me wonder about all the additional repair work a deaf child in the mainstream setting has to do to receive information from his or her teacher through a sign language intepreter.

Although I was frustrated with some parts of the academic situation, other parts were positive. Like some of the students I interviewed, I felt like I was getting a lot more new information each year in my mainstream classrooms as compared with my former self-contained classroom. In fourth grade, I became impatient with the slow pace in my self-contained classes. In fifth grade, however, things seemed to be passing by too quickly. I felt I would have benefited most from a pace somewhere between the two. But I was determined I could meet the mainstream pace if I could just get used to working with an interpreter.

At one point, my teachers told my mother that they had decided that I did not need an interpreter during recess or physical education class. My mother firmly disagreed, telling them it was necessary for an interpreter to be there so I could learn the rules of games and interact with hearing peers. I agree that I was able to learn the rules of games better, but at the same time, I honestly do not think the interpreters were able to help me bond with hearing students naturally.

My middle school experiences opened my eyes to the world in many ways. I loved middle school and the academic side of school. The interpreters were excellent, and many of them were children of deaf adults (CODAs), so their first language was American Sign Language. These interpreters were also with me in my resource class and would often tutor me. I felt like I had better control of my environment and was getting used to the rapid pace and to working with the interpreters. The interpreters and I would agree that, if I did not understand and if the interpreter had time, he or she would explain what was going on in class or would tutor me right there on the spot.

To give an example, I remember in eighth grade, we were reading Homer’s Odyssey. Greek mythology was one of the most difficult aspects of my English class. Both in and out of class, my interpreter, who was familiar with Greek mythology, took the time to explain the stories and their meanings. The teacher did not mind. Many faculty of interpreter training programs teach their interpreter students not to discuss homework assignments outside of their interpreting roles because this practice would violate their code of ethics for interpreting. Debate has been ongoing about this sticky role. I have always felt that educational interpreters are an exception; unlike other interpreters in other situations, educational interpreters many times serve as an assistant, tutor, and language model for the student (though not necessarily the best language model).

High school was not what I expected. It was bigger and harder in many ways. The friends I had from middle school started to branch out on their own, and new cliques formed. Students were beginning to date and work at side jobs. Like many of the other students with whom I talked in the interviews, I found that socializing with hearing kids got harder as I became older. As what those interviewees and I wanted to communicate became more complex, we found it limiting and frustrating to interact with hearing peers. This situation created conflicting feelings for me and for many other deaf students. We were hungry for communication with other hearing students, and yet at the same time, we were not comfortable having the interpreters following us outside of class (e.g., to our lockers, hallway, cafeteria, etc.). It was considered uncool.

Unlike my elementary and middle school years when I could communicate through paper and pen or even manual fingerspelling, having a conversation with my peers now through pen and paper became frustrating. I was able to carry on much more rich conversations with the limited number of deaf students and the interpreters at my high school. What I realized is that even the best interpreters could not meet my social needs. There was no way I was going to bring an interpreter with me to a school dance and risk utter embarrassment.

After high school, I attended the National Technical Institute for the Deaf at Rochester Institute of Technology (NTID/RIT). I found their mainstream classes surprisingly easy to access. I was very fortunate in terms of interpreting services; some of the nation’s top interpreters were there. Many of the college students and graduates I interviewed expressed their gratefulness for having had the exposure to educational interpreters before their college years. Recently, I received my doctoral degree from the University of Kansas (KU). At KU, whenever I requested an interpreter and an additional accommodation such as real-time captioning for the most difficult classes such as statistics, the university would debate whether or not that request was overaccommodating. That process became a new challenge for me to prove why I did not think it was an overaccommodating request. Having to fight for the accommodations was something most of the college students discussed with me during their interviews. Sometimes, like many other students, I have to wonder exactly what my role is at the college level. No formal training is provided for deaf students and their interpreters at any levels (neither K–12 nor college). Most students expressed the importance of meeting with the coordinator of the student access center to clarify what is expected of the student, interpreter, and teacher before the class. I agree with these students that this meeting is an important stepping stone when working with an educational interpreter.

Being confident to say whatever I wanted through an interpreter in my hearing classes was always a concern for me. Like many other deaf students, I modified my signs or I chose the signs I knew the interpreters would understand. My strategy depended on the quality of interpreters’ receptive skills. Like many other students do for themselves, I often rely on the hearing students’ and teachers’ reactions to my comments or questions. When the hearing students or teachers stare at me or provide comments that are irrelevant to what I have just expressed, then I know the interpreter made an error. Most deaf students are capable of knowing whether their interpreter has interpreted the information correctly or incorrectly. I have always preferred teachers’ lectures over group discussions because, for me, fully participating in group discussions is almost impossible. I agreed with most of the students about the importance of educational interpreters being prepared before class. I noticed a huge difference in the quality of their interpreting when they became familiar with the subjects.

After interviewing twenty different deaf and hard of hearing students for this chapter, I found that I could relate to most of what they said about their successful and frustrating experiences with interpreters. Mainstreamed deaf and hard of hearing students seemed most frustrated with the social aspects of life in the mainstream. Often, the social interactions are missing from their lives, unless they are fortunate enough to live close to a large Deaf community or to be placed in mainstream schools that have a large number of deaf and hard of hearing students. Many of us feel that having a less fulfilling social life was a sacrifice we made to earn an education equivalent to the kind hearing students receive. Many of us and our parents, both hearing and deaf, agree that we could not afford to lose that kind of educational opportunity.

In my opinion, each deaf child should be entitled to a top-notch interpreter with excellent skills when direct communication is not an option. For example, data using the Educational Interpreter Performance Assessment (EIPA) indicate that a level-4 interpreter (based on a scale of five levels, with level 5 at the highest skill level) is able to interpret only 80 percent of the information accurately. This finding means that the deaf child gets less accurate information compared with what he or she would get with an interpreter functioning on one skill level higher. Even the best interpreter is not able to provide 100 percent of the information accurately. As a professional, I see that, a lot of times, schools just want to fill the positions regardless of the interpreters’ skills. Some of the interpreters may have gotten their training through church or an eight-week American Sign Language class. This kind of training is not acceptable. Hiring top-notch interpreters usually involves more expense for the schools, and school administrators are constantly seeking ways to save money; therefore, our deaf and hard of hearing students end up suffering. That is one of the reasons why many of our best interpreters are not in the educational system. But we need to hire them there. With unskilled interpreters, deaf children may be deprived of a rich language and a full education. I feel strongly that each one of us is entitled to fully accessible information rather than what is considered to be a reasonable accommodation.

Each child is unique and has his or her own needs. What works best for one deaf or hard of hearing child may not be true for another deaf or hard of hearing child. It is imperative that we look at each deaf or hard of hearing child individually and see what works best for him or her.

In my opinion, although many special education program administrators may think that providing an interpreter is the solution, I do not agree that the educational interpreter is the final or permanent solution to the problem in deaf education programs in our mainstreamed schools. I would recommend further studies to understand what is really happening in interpreted educational settings. Are deaf and hard of hearing students truly benefiting from this type of educational approach? How do deaf and hard of hearing students process their thoughts in an interpreted educational setting? What are special education directors, teachers, and parents doing to fulfill the social needs for the majority of deaf and hard of hearing students? These are some factors we need to consider, and I hope we will begin to discover the answers to these questions in the near future.

APPENDIX B

Reverse Mainstreamed: A Taste of Educational Interpreting in Graduate School, by Elizabeth Caldwell Langer

Although I am a hearing student, my experiences using interpreters for some of my graduate school courses were surprisingly similar to those of the hard of hearing students interviewed for this chapter. Of course, there are important differences. For example, as an infant, I had full access to fluent language models. My use of educational interpreters was limited to specific classes during two years of a doctoral program. I was working at a sophisticated level with decades of direct education behind me. Most of my interpreters were certified and highly skilled. I had the support of deaf and hearing classmates and professors, who knew about learning through interpreters. At the end of the day, I could relax with easy communication in the hearing world. Yet, even with all of those advantages, I still found learning through interpreted lectures and discussions to be a serious challenge.

In some of my classes, the professor and the other students communicated in ASL. I am an intermediate signer whose initial exposure to signing was Signed English. In a social situation, one on one, I can understand my professor and most of the other students most of the time. Their use of codeswitching, the simpler conversational topics, and my ability to control at least part of the discussion all probably facilitate communication in that kind of setting. Like many hard of hearing students, if the stars are all aligned—if no one turns away from me, if no one is backlit, if everyone keeps a steady pace, if my sightline is not obstructed, if no one has an unfamiliar accent or dialect, and if conversational turns do not overlap—then I can understand the majority of what transpires. But in the classes conducted entirely in ASL, when discussions became most interesting, I became hopelessly lost. My head could barely turn fast enough to follow the sea of hands before me.

The first tough step was to admit that I needed an interpreter. Like so many hard of hearing students we talked to, I was reluctant to use an interpreter, wishing I could make it on my own, not wanting to bring attention to my deficient skills. I did not want to be singled out as needing special help. But I found that I had to make a choice: Either I was going to appear to fit in or I was going to get the vital information I needed from my classes. Even after realizing what I needed to do, I still did not always do it. At times, I said I did not need an interpreter when really I did. When you can get along fine most of the time, it takes a leap of maturity to admit that, in this case, you just cannot do it. For me, the springboard for that admission finally came from the fact that some academic situations were just too exhausting without an interpreter. Trying to follow the class without an interpreter meant that I had to allocate cognitive resources not only to understanding the material covered in the class but also to participating in the communicative process. It was absolutely draining.

An educational interpreter seemed to be the obvious solution to the problem. However, just like most of the hard of hearing students we spoke with, I quickly found that an interpreter still left me without full access. Unlike some children in the schools, I was lucky enough, for the most part, to have highly skilled interpreters. Nevertheless, because of processing time, linguistic differences, and human limitations, interpreting is far from perfect, even with the best of interpreters.

I quickly realized the crucial role that self-advocacy plays in learning effectively through an interpreter. As so many of the students we interviewed said, succeeding with interpreting means learning to advocate for yourself. Even with all of my background and support, I often failed at that. I understood the importance of self-advocacy in theory, but putting it into practice with an interpreter was another story. Sometimes, the interpreters had trouble keeping up with the pace of discussions, and they did not always ask people to slow down or repeat. I knew I should remind people to slow down or pause between turns in group discussions. But I did not always do it. I feared that enforcing a deliberately slow tempo and vigilant pauses between comments would alter or destroy the dynamics of the conversation. I also did not always ask for a repetition or clarification when I needed one. Not wanting to interrupt the flow of a conversation or lecture and, again, not wanting to bring attention to my deficit, I hoped I would figure out what I missed by piecing together what I eventually got. That kind of recursive linguistic work drained my cognitive and attentional resources, often leaving me, yet again, confused and exhausted. As an adult, I was embarrassed to have to ask for the help I needed. I applaud the students in our study who talked about feats of self-advocacy. I also understand completely those students who talked about an inability—or even, at points, a resigned sense of apathy—in this regard.

To feel more connected to the other students in my classes, I often signed for myself. In some ways, that approach seemed to help me feel less isolated. But as many hard of hearing students found when speaking for themselves, haunting questions arose each time I signed. Were students listening to what I had to say, or were they distracted by how I said it? Did I come off as I intended? I wondered how I appeared to them but also felt some resignation about it, knowing I could never really know.

This resignation also arose because many aspects of the interpreting situation could not really be controlled—things that are just inherent to this process. First, even if people were reminded countless times to slow down and pause between conversational turns, they quickly forgot to do so because that behavior is just unnatural. Second, although in situations allowing for direct communication I was often an active participant, with an interpreter, by the time I got the interpreted message and picked up my hands to respond, I realized the conversation had turned in a new direction. Finally, use of an interpreter resulted in limited eye contact with professors and other students. This limitation magnified the feeling of being a detached observer rather than a full participant in the class.

Another inevitable problem that typically arises for students with some residual hearing, and that also arose for me, is the challenge of dual input. In my case, when watching signers and listening to interpreters, I had two modes and versions of input. They were similar, but the interpreted message necessarily came seconds after the original one. For those using residual hearing and watching a signing interpreter, the same thing happens. Two versions of the message are almost simultaneously presented, but with the lag of processing time between them. It leads to an echo effect. That describes the best-case scenario—when the messages from both sources match in content. When the two messages differ (if the interpretation does not quite match the message), the result can be confusing and can lead to focus on the linguistic mismatch rather than the content of the discussion at hand.

Even with all of the advantages I had walking in, I was often overwhelmed by the interpreting process. I can only imagine the academic and social challenges that mainstreamed deaf and hard of hearing children learning through educational interpreters must face. Far from pitying these children, however, I found their resilience and insightful comments inspirational and helpful. I could definitely have benefited from much of their advice and knowledge as I tried to learn through an interpreter. In this chapter, the reader will get a rare glimpse at the advice, wishes, frustrations, and successes of deaf and hard of hearing students who are learning through interpreters.

I conclude this essay with a wish list of my own. I hope that we can all learn from those who have been on the receiving end of this process and that what we learn will influence our efforts to make those situations that necessitate interpretation as accessible as possible. I hope that those involved in placing children in educational settings consider what these students say about what it takes to effectively learn from an interpreter (please see the students’ wish lists in the body of this chapter). I hope that deaf and hard of hearing students who are new to the interpreting situation find the words of these savvy students helpful. And I hope that those who interact with deaf and hard of hearing students in the mainstream—their teachers, interpreters, peers, parents, and interpreter coordinators—listen to all that these students and their own students have to say and do all they can to offer them the academic and social access they deserve.

REFERENCE

Woodward, J. 1972. Implications for sociolinguistic research among the deaf. Sign Language Studies 1:1–17.

The authors would like to thank Brenda Schick, Sally Roberts, Betsy Winston, and Allison Sedey for their guidance and feedback on this chapter and for their ongoing support.

*Following the convention proposed by Woodward (1972), in this chapter, deaf refers to the audiological condition of demonstrating a hearing loss and Deaf refers to identification with Deaf culture. When both deaf and Deaf people are included in a statement, for ease of readability, we have used the form deaf.