Applying social critical literacy theory to deaf education.

Applying social critical literacy theory to deaf education. Introduction For more than a decade, language and literacy theorists have beenconcerned with the way meanings constructed in text produce, reproduceand maintain power (see Comber comb��er?n.1. One, such as a machine or a worker, that combs something, such as wool.2. A long wave that has reached its peak or broken into foam; a breaker. & Kamler 1997, Comber 1998a, Gee1990, Gilbert 1993, McConnell 1992). Given that literacy practicescannot be separated from the social and cultural contexts in which theyexist, literacy is inherently political and, therefore, empowering orlimiting (Comber 1994, Freebody & Luke 1990, Gee 1990, Gilbert1993). Current thinking emphasises the fact that no text is neutral: itderives meaning from the social situation in which it is embedded Inserted into. See embedded system. . Literacy education ... is about institutional access and inclusion, and potentially about discrimination and exclusion ... about setting the conditions for students to engage in textual relationships of power. (Luke 2000, p. 449) Critical literacy Critical literacy is an instructional approach that advocates the adoption of critical perspectives toward text. Critical literacy encourages readers to actively analyze texts and it offers strategies for uncovering underlying messages. educators are those with an understanding ofthese power relationships: not with a set of `good literacy practices', but with a theorised analysis of how power works in society and the ways in which textual practices and schooling are implicated in the maintenance of inequalities. (Comber & Nixon 1999, p. 345). Critical literacy theory offers an approach that can lead toengagement with and empowerment over written text. It repositionsstudents as researchers of language, taking a critical perspective onlanguage and literacy, on texts, and on social practices (O'Brien1999). It is about how texts work, how readers are positioned inrelation to power, and how readers are able to position themselves orassert agency. It involves reading for multiple meanings, reading`against the grain' and questioning who produced the text and why.Critical literacy allows readers to explore representations in text,question and challenge the authority of texts, and reproduce text fromthe reader's view. For those who are usually absent, renderedinvisible or marginalised in texts in some way, critical literacy offersa way into texts. Texts that represent them, if only through theirabsence, offer an opportunity to engage in literate practices in ameaningful context. Critical literacy and deaf education Literacy education is a key concern for teachers of the deaf, giventhe poor literacy levels and educational underachievement of most deafschool leavers (see Duffy et al. 1993, Ministry of Education 1990,Walker 1995). On average, deaf readers fall behind their hearing peersat an average rate of half a grade each year (Walker 1995). The ability to critically analyse an��a��lyse?v. Chiefly BritishVariant of analyze.analyseor US -lyzeVerb[-lysing, -lysed] or -lyzing, text is one of four roles of theliteracy user: text decoder A hardware device or software that converts coded data back into its original form. See decode and MPEG decoder. , text user, text participant and textanalyst (Freebody & Luke 1990). However, Luke (2000, p. 454) warnsteachers against viewing these roles as a `developmental hierarchy'or assuming that students move `from coding to the critical; from thebasics to higher order thinking; from initial reading to advancedliterature study'. Teachers who consider text analysis a higherorder comprehension skill may disregard its use with students whostruggle with reading and writing. Without the skill to criticallyanalyse text, however, school leavers may have just enough literacyskills `to be ideologically deceived in a text-based culture and economythat attempts to define and position us at every turn' (Luke 2000,p. 455). There appears to be a general absence of discussion of criticalliteracy in the field of deaf education. Deaf students, however, may bethe very students for whom critical literacy can be liberating lib��er��ate?tr.v. lib��er��at��ed, lib��er��at��ing, lib��er��ates1. To set free, as from oppression, confinement, or foreign control.2. Chemistry To release (a gas, for example) from combination. . Formarginalised groups, such as the Deaf, identity politics is a livedexperience. They bring a lifetime's experience of being marked as`other' and positioned as disadvantaged or deficient de��fi��cientadj.1. Lacking an essential quality or element.2. Inadequate in amount or degree; insufficient.deficienta state of being in deficit. . Therepresentation of deaf people This is an incomplete list of notable deaf people. Important historical figures in deaf history and cultureThe idea that a person who was deaf could achieve a notable or distinguished status was not common until the latter half of the 18th century, when Abb�� Charles-Michel de in texts reflects and constructs the powerrelationship between them and the hearing majority. Language and literacy practices generally maintain and reproducethe power structures in society. Critical literacy offers ways in whichthese structures can be challenged and, in some instances, changed.Critical literacy explores the politics of language practices andinvestigates power relationships as central concerns in literacyeducation. It encourages scrutiny of attitudes, values and assumptionsabout social knowledge, the multiple reading of texts depending on howone is positioned in relation to that text and the privileging ofparticular meanings in text (Gilbert 1993). The construction of deafness as a disability has dominated socialpractices between deaf and hearing people and has, to a large extent,driven language practices in the classroom. A predominantly hearingprofession, teachers of the deaf have traditionally foregrounded hearinglanguage and culture and excluded or marginalised the native language ofthe Deaf (Auslan) and Deaf culture This article describes aspects of Deaf cultures. See also deafness and Models of deafness. For a discussion of the medical condition, see hearing impairment.Deaf community and Deaf culture (Komesaroff 1998). Critical literacyeducators acknowledge that `literacy is not essentially a liberatingforce' (Comber 1998b, p. 11). Social structures and languagepractices in powerful institutions like the school, the law, the familyand the church may maintain inequalities and injustice (Gilbert 1993, p.325). The focus on improving literacy standards among marginalised groupssuch as the Deaf may mask or ignore the structural disadvantage forpeople of difference. Deaf people, for example, have been constructed asdisabled, their difference cast as deficit, their language and cultureall but excluded from education (Lane 1996). Deafness (rather than thesocial construction of deafness) has traditionally been considered abarrier to learning (see Walker & Rickards 1995). It may beessential for these arrangements of power to be taken into accountbefore significant gains in literacy education for the deaf can be made. Classroom literacy can never be politically neutral. Literacy can be taught either as a tool of critical inquiry or of passive transmission. It can be a vehicle for posing and solving important social problems or for accepting official explanations and solutions. The organisation of classroom life, the way learning is assessed, the materials and practices used for instruction may all either reinforce hierarchical systems of authority and power or demonstrate principles of critical democracy and justice. (Altwerger & Saavedra in Edelsky 1999, pp. xi-xii) In a critical literacy classroom, deaf students can explore therepresentations of deaf people in text, question and challenge theauthority of these texts and, ultimately, reproduce texts from a deafperspective. Students can question an author's construction ofdeafness and identify what has been foregrounded and what has beenexcluded. They can question texts that silence or ignore them byidentifying the absences and analysing the ways in which deafness isrendered invisible. Representations of deafness in written text The critical scrutiny of text is an essential step towards agencyand self-representation. Critical text analysis enables readers tolocate the devices used in texts to construct a particular version ofreality and position them within that world. For deaf students, thismeans gaining an understanding of the way deafness (like gender, race,ethnicity and so on) is textually constructed. It requires them toquestion the embedded assumptions in the texts they read, challengethese assumptions, and, ultimately, take social action. Critical text analysis includes an analysis of discourse forconstructions of gender, race, disability and so on. The inclusion oftexts that explicitly position deaf people provides opportunities fordeaf students to draw on world knowledge and may enable them to morereadily engage with the politics of language, the social construction oftext and privileging of particular meanings. Working with texts thatconstruct and represent deafness, however, should be located within awider critical agenda that includes critical reading of any text, notjust those about deaf people. To illustrate the application of critical text analysis to deafeducation, I have selected two articles about cochlear implant cochlear implantn.An electronic device that stimulates auditory nerve fibers in the inner ear in individuals with severe or profound bilateral hearing loss, allowing them to recognize some sounds, especially speech sounds. recipients that appeared in a metropolitan daily newspaper, theHerald-Sun: `Life sounds good for Hannah' (24 August 1994) and`Twins' new ears a world first' (28 June 2000). The contesteddomain of cochlear cochlearpertaining to or emanating from the cochlea.cochlear ductthe coiled portion of the membranous labyrinth located inside the cochlea; contains endolymph.cochlear nervesee Table 14. implantation implantation/im��plan��ta��tion/ (im?plan-ta��shun)1. attachment of the blastocyst to the epithelial lining of the uterus, its penetration through the epithelium, and, in humans, its embedding in the stratum compactum of the provides a rich opportunity for deafstudents to engage in literate practices within a context that haspersonal and cultural meaning. Following an approach used by Kamler (1994) to deconstruct de��con��struct?tr.v. de��con��struct��ed, de��con��struct��ing, de��con��structs1. To break down into components; dismantle.2. gender,I use the representation of deafness in these articles to ask sociallycritical questions and locate linguistic devices used by the author toposition the reader on the issue of childhood implantation. In the firstarticle, a large photograph of two-year-old Hannah is captioned: `Windowon world: bionic A machine that is patterned after principles found in humans or nature; for example, robots. It also refers to artificial devices implanted into humans replacing or extending normal human functions. See biomimicry. ear recipient Hannah ..., 2, is proof of the marvels ofmodern medicine'. A small insert shows Hannah a year earlier, headbandaged, after receiving the implant implant/im��plant/ (im-plant��) to insert or to graft (tissue, or inert or radioactive material) into intact tissues or a body cavity. . The second article has aphotograph of identical twins identical twinspl.n.Twins derived from the same fertilized ovum that at an early stage of development becomes separated into independently growing cell aggregations, giving rise to two individuals of the same sex, identical genetic makeup, and running down a path, laughing, and iscaptioned: `Wonderful noise: Brittany and Carly who lived in a silentworld can now hear'. The first step of linguistic analysis is to physically remove thewords from the text, listing all lexical items associated with eachparticipant (Kamler 1994). By doing so, the `patterns of meaning'(Kamler 1994, p. 4) associated with each participant are opened toquestioning and we are able to consider the particular lexical choicesmade by the author where others could have been made. In the first article, I have identified Hannah as the mainparticipant and cochlear implantation as a secondary participant. Bylisting the nouns associated with each participant (see Table 1) apattern of representation becomes visible. The main participant, Hannah,for example, is referred to in ways that foreground foreground - (Unix) On a time-sharing system, a task executing in foreground is one able to accept input from and return output to the user in contrast to one running in the background. her age andinexperience InexperienceSee also Innocence, Naïveté.Bowes, Major Edward(1874–1946) originator and master of ceremonies of the Amateur Hour on radio. [Am. , and medicalise her deafness. There is repeated referenceto her age (`Australia's youngest bionic ear recipient',`Hannah [surname SURNAME. A name which is added to the christian name, and which, in modern times, have become family names. 2. They are called surnames, because originally they were written over the name in judicial writings and contracts. ], 2 [years old]', `cheeky cheek��y?adj. cheek��i��er, cheek��i��estImpertinently bold; impudent and saucy.cheeki��ly adv. 2 1/2 year-old' and`the toddler') and child-like qualities (`Little Hannah['s]big eyes'). The reference to `expert teacher',`specialist' and `therapy sessions' contrast with thisrepresentation of Hannah as young and inexperienced in��ex��pe��ri��ence?n.1. Lack of experience.2. Lack of the knowledge gained from experience.in . The representation of deafness as a medical condition is inscribed in��scribe?tr.v. in��scribed, in��scrib��ing, in��scribes1. a. To write, print, carve, or engrave (words or letters) on or in a surface.b. To mark or engrave (a surface) with words or letters. on Hannah by referring to her as a `bionic ear recipient' and`proof of the marvels of modern medicine'. Using the nominalisedform `recipient' (rather than the verb verb,part of speech typically used to indicate an action. English verbs are inflected for person, number, tense and partially for mood; compound verbs formed with auxiliaries (e.g., be, can, have, do, will) provide a distinction of voice. form `receive') and`proof' (rather than `prove'), the subjects and objects of thesentence are rendered invisible--who received the implant from whom andwho proved its success? Hannah does not have agency over the process; asthe recipient of the device, it has been received from others ratherthan her taking it for herself. The secondary participant, cochlearimplantation, is represented as a medical success by referring to it as`the marvels of medicine', `the marvels of modern medicine'and `a miracle'. By listing the verbs associated with the main participant, therepresentation of Hannah as a hearing/speaking individual andimplantation as successful becomes visible (see Table 2). Furthermore,deafness is all but absent from the text. The only reference to deafnessin the article appears in the following statements: `The three-houroperation ended what might otherwise have been a lifetime ofsilence' and `Doctors once said her only means of communicationwould be sign language' (emphasis added). The second article, `Twins' new ears a world first'(Herald-Sun, 28 June 2000), also represents cochlear implantation assuccessful and a miracle of medicine. Noun noun[Lat.,=name], in English, part of speech of vast semantic range. It can be used to name a person, place, thing, idea, or time. It generally functions as subject, object, or indirect object of the verb in the sentence, and may be distinguished by a number of strings associated with thedevice include: `new ears', `the gift of sound',`miracle', `special gift' and `opportunity'. An analysisof the verb strings associated with the twins, pre and post-implantation(see Table 3), reveals a representation of implant recipients as hearingand speaking individuals, as in the first article. Reference to sign language (generally considered by the deaf as apositive association with deafness) is made but its value quicklydismissed (`But it was a referral to the Bionic Ear Institute thatturned their world around', emphasis added). In a similar lexicalpattern, the twins' mother is quoted as saying; `They could havegot by without the implant, but we have decided to give them thisopportunity' (emphasis added), and, `I'm not saying there isanything wrong with being deaf, but we have given the girls anopportunity now' (emphasis added). Unlike the first article,deafness is not rendered absent from this text. Instead, it isrepresented as deficient and identified with inability and the lack ofhearing attributes: `did not know' (twice), `could not say',`did not respond' and `[did not] make the noise usually associatedwith youngsters'. Readers of both texts are positioned to support cochlearimplantation. The text appeals to our concern for young children anddesire for them to share our (hearing) cultural values. Deafness iseither absent from the text or constructed as a deficit; that is, beingdeaf is described in terms of lack of hearing traits. There is somemention of sign language, but no reference to other positivecharacteristics of being deaf such as the Deaf community, Deaf culture,Deaf pride, Auslan and bilingualism. Textual analysis enables the readerto identify what has been foregrounded and what has been excluded in thetext. It allows readers to see how deafness has been represented and toask, `How am I positioned in relation to this text?' The most striking feature of both texts is the way in whichchildhood implantation is presented as unproblematic. In fact, cochlearimplantation is a highly contentious issue. However, only one version ofevents--a hearing version of reality--has been foregrounded in thesearticles. An alternative view, such as the one held by Deaf communities,has been excluded. By drawing on multiple texts written from different positions,students can come to understand how literacy exists within a social andcultural context and all texts construct a particular view of the world.An alternative reading of this issue (absent from the texts analysedabove) is found in the written policies endorsed by state, national andinternational organisations representing Deaf people and the views ofprominent researchers in the deafness field. Deaf communities havevoiced strong concerns about cochlear implantation. The AustralianAssociation of the Deaf (1997, p. 23) policy on cochlear implantationstates that parents are usually led to see their deaf children as`pathologically path��o��log��i��cal? also path��o��log��icadj.1. Of or relating to pathology.2. Relating to or caused by disease.3. deficient' and lack information on the history,culture and language of the deaf and implications of deafness. Theassociation has called for a moratorium A suspension of activity or an authorized period of delay or waiting. A moratorium is sometimes agreed upon by the interested parties, or it may be authorized or imposed by operation of law. on cochlear implantation forchildren under eighteen years of age. The World Federation of the Deaf The World Federation of the Deaf (WFD) is an international non-governmental organisation that acts as a peak body for national associations of Deaf people, with a focus on Deaf people who use sign language and their friends and family. (1995, p. 12) has stated `Cochlear Implants Cochlear ImplantsDefinitionA cochlear implant is a surgical treatment for hearing loss that works like an artificial human cochlea in the inner ear, helping to send sound from the ear to the brain. will not help the languageacquisition of a deaf child and can harm the emotional/psychologicalpersonality development and physical development'. Thefederation's 110 member nations passed a resolution opposingchildhood implantation. Deaf people in several countries, including Australia, have stagedprotests against childhood implantation (see Lane et al. 1996). Lane(1996) claimed there had been no single published case of a deaf childacquiring oral language with an implant. Despite opposition to childhoodimplantation, by the year 2000, 14,000 children from more than 50countries had been implanted im��plant?v. im��plant��ed, im��plant��ing, im��plantsv.tr.1. To set in firmly, as into the ground: implant fence posts.2. , the number of implant recipientsincreasing as age at implantation drops (Clarke 2000). The television documentaries Sound and Fury (SBS See Small Business Server. 14 March 2000) andSound Decisions (SBS 31 August 2000) exposed the complexity of the issueand acknowledged the positions taken by both deaf and hearingpeople--without privileging one over the other. After reading multipletexts such as these, students are in a position to ask further criticalquestions about the articles analysed in this paper: * Why were the views of Deaf people and others opposed to childhoodimplantation excluded in the articles published in the press? * Whose interests are being served by this representation? * How could cochlear implantation have been representeddifferently? * Why are some articles, and not others, published? * Why isn't there more interest in deaf adults who havesucceeded without speech or hearing rather than the focus on the abilityto perceive sound? Critical questions such as these encourage students to identifyways in which texts have social capital and degrees of inclusivity andexclusivity, explicitly positioning readers as insiders or outsiders. Entering the political arena and taking social action Critical literacy offers a way into hearing-dominated text for deafstudents. It is through the critical reading of multiple texts that deafstudents can identify representations of deafness and gain greaterunderstanding of the ways in which deafness is socially constructed andtexts reflect and construct power relationships. Doing so allows them toexamine the power relationships that exist in society. They may then bein a better position to reject the identity inscribed on them by adominant hearing majority and, ultimately, change their position insociety. Critical literacy, then, involves more than text analysis. It alsoinvolves using literate skills to take social action. Engaging withissues such as cochlear implantation requires teachers to enter`terrains of political action' (Bhabha cited in Olson & Worsham1998, p. 372). In doing so, some caution needs to be expressed. Thediscussion and analysis of textual representation of this issue needs tobe handled with care and teachers need to consider the suitability ofengaging with this issue with their students and the appropriate age atwhich to do so. Deaf students with cochlear implants are educated in avariety of settings, including mainstream schools; therefore bothregular and specialist teachers encounter these students. In alllikelihood, however, the decision to be implanted was not made by thechild. Deaf students with implants may not be in a position to changetheir situation and may feel powerless to do so. Given the intention of critical literacy activity to lead ontotaking social action, the benefits or possible outcomes of engaging incritical text analysis about a contested issue such as cochlearimplantation need to be considered. Critical literacy is about taking acritical position towards literacy rather than specifying particularactivities (O'Brien 2001) and should be part of literacy educationfrom an early age. The discussion of cochlear implantation and textualanalysis undertaken in this paper is more appropriate for olderstudents, those in secondary or adult education rather than primaryschool. At this level, teachers can engage students in discussion oftheir response to articles about deaf people, the ethical and personaldilemmas for hearing parents of deaf children, the situation of deafpeople implanted at a young age with their parents' consent, andthe response of the deaf and hearing communities to deaf adults who havebeen implanted. The objectives in doing so would be for students tounderstand how texts work, how they are positioned in relation to powerand how they are able to position themselves and assert agency. Anoutcome of this critical work may be to take social action about aparticular issue, to work towards a political goal, to bring aboutchange in the representation of deaf people and their deafness.Table 1: Nouns associated with participants in Article 1Main participant: Secondary participant:Hannah cochlear implantationBionic ear recipient bionic earHannah [surname], 2 marvels of modern medicineProof of the marvels of modern medicine miracleHannah bionic earLittle Hannah['s] big eyes marvels of medicineCheeky 2 1/2 year-old implantthe toddler the earHannahSheAustralia's youngest bionic earRecipientshe'ssheHannahHannah'sSheHannah'sSheTable 2: Verbs associated with main participantBefore implantation After implantationwas born almost totally deaf is proof of the marvels of modern medicine big eyes light up in wonder she hears music prefers listening to became Australia's youngest ... been a lot happier hears music starts dancing is attending occasional childcare has twice-weekly therapy visits her specialist plays with sister takes the ear off shuts her eyesTable 3: Verbs associated with main participants in Article 2Before implantation After implantationLived in a silent world can now heardid not know their own names have received the gift of sounddid not know the simple pleasures were given cochlear implantscould not say have come ahead in leaps and boundshad passed their ... hearing tests is already sayingdid not respond were suitable for cochlear implants[did not] make the noise usually had her device fitted associated with youngsters having the operationwere able to tell us [through sign were turning around [when called]language] turn to their nameslearnt ... to say `I love you' were making much more noise [through sign language] tried out new words listened intently could have got by without the implant References Australian Association of the Deaf 1997, `Australian Association ofthe Deaf: Policy on Cochlear Implants', AAD Outlook, Winter, pp.21-24. Clark, G. 2000, Sounds from Silence, Allen & Unwin, StLeonards, NSW NSWNew South WalesNoun 1. NSW - the agency that provides units to conduct unconventional and counter-guerilla warfareNaval Special Warfare . Comber, B. 1994, `Critical literacy: an introduction to Australiandebates and perspectives', Journal of Curriculum Studies, vol. 26,no. 6, pp. 655-668. Comber, B. 1998a, `Critical literacy: what's it allabout?' Learning Matters, Melbourne Catholic Education Office, vol.3, pp. 1-10. Comber, B. 1998b, Making the time and space for critical literacy:why bother?', in D. Bradshaw (ed.) Knowledge of Texts: Theory andPractice in Critical Literacy, Language Australia, Melbourne. Comber, B., & Kamler, B. 1997, `Critical literacies:politicising the language classroom', Interpretations, vol. 30, no.1, pp. 30-53. Comber, B. & Nixon, H. 1999, `Literacy education as a site forsocial justice: What do our practices do?', in C. Edelsky (ed.)Making Justice Our Project: Teachers Working Toward Critical WholeLanguage Practice, National Council of Teachers of English, USA. Department of Employment, Education and Training 1991,Australia's Language: The Australian Language and Literacy Policy,Australian Government Publishing Service, Canberra. Duffy, A., Warby, L. & Phillips, A. 1993, Nothing for My Mind... Key Issues in Literacy and Numeracy numeracyMathematical literacy Neurology The ability to understand mathematical concepts, perform calculations and interpret and use statistical information. Cf Acalculia. for Adults Who are Deaf orHearing Impaired, Adult Education Centre, Sydney. Freebody, P., & Luke, A. 1990, `Literacies programs: debatesand demands in cultural context', Prospect: Australian Journal ofTESOL TESOLabbr.1. Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages2. teaching English to speakers of other languages , vol. 5, no. 7, pp. 7-16. Gee, J. 1990, Social Linguistics linguistics,scientific study of language, covering the structure (morphology and syntax; see grammar), sounds (phonology), and meaning (semantics), as well as the history of the relations of languages to each other and the cultural place of language in human and Literacies: Ideology inDiscourses, Falmer Press, London. Gilbert, P. 1993, `(Sub)versions: using sexist sex��ism?n.1. Discrimination based on gender, especially discrimination against women.2. Attitudes, conditions, or behaviors that promote stereotyping of social roles based on gender. language practicesto explore critical literacy', Australian Journal of Language andLiteracy, vol. 16, no. 4, pp. 323-331. Kamler, B. 1994, `Lessons about language and gender',Australian Journal of Language and Literacy, vol. 17, no. 2, pp.129-138. Komesaroff, L.R. 1998, The Politics of Language Practices in DeafEducation, PhD thesis, Deakin University .*R1 refers to Academics' rankings in tables 3.1 - 3.7 in the report. R2 refers to Articles and Research rankings in tables 5.1 - 5.7. No. refers to the number of institutions compared with Deakin.. . Lane, H. 1996, The controversy over childhood cochlear implants.Paper presented to the National Deafness Conference, Hobart, 22-26 May. Lane, H., Hoffmeister, R. & Bahan, B. 1996, A Journey into theDEAF-WORLD, Dawn Sign Press, San Diego San Diego(săn dēā`gō), city (1990 pop. 1,110,549), seat of San Diego co., S Calif., on San Diego Bay; inc. 1850. San Diego includes the unincorporated communities of La Jolla and Spring Valley. Coronado is across the bay. . Luke, A. 2000, `Critical literacy in Australia: A matter of contextand standpoint', Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, vol.43, no. 5, pp. 448-461. McConnell, S. 1992, `Literacy and empowerment', AustralianJournal of Language and Literacy, vol. 15, no. 2, pp. 123-138. Ministry of Education 1990, Directions for the Future Education forStudents Who are Deaf in Victorian Government Schools: Report to theMinister for Education, Ministry of Education, Melbourne O'Brien, J. 2001 `Children reading critically: a localhistory', in B. Comber & A. Simpson (eds) Negotiating CriticalLiteracies in Classrooms, Falmer Press, London. Olson, G. A. & Worsham, L. 1998, `Staging the politics ofdifference: Homi Bhabha's critical literacy', Journal ofComposition Theory, vol. 18, no. 3, pp. 361-391. Walker, L. 1995, An evaluation of the reading comprehension ofstudents in Victoria who are profoundly, prelingually deaf and of anintervention programme to improve their inferential in��fer��en��tial?adj.1. Of, relating to, or involving inference.2. Derived or capable of being derived by inference.in readingcomprehension skills, PhD thesis, University of Melbourne AsiaWeek is now discontinued. Comments:In 2006, Times Higher Education Supplement ranked the University of Melbourne 22nd in the world. Because of the drop in ranking, University of Melbourne is currently behind four Asian universities - Beijing University, . Walker, L. & Rickards, F.W. 1992, `Reading comprehension levelsof profoundly, prelingually deaf students in Victoria', AustralianTeacher of the Deaf, vol. 32, pp. 32-47. World Federation of the Deaf 1995, `Resolutions of the XII WorldCongress of the World Federation of the Deaf', Magazine of theWorld Federation of the Deaf, vol. 2, p. 12. Linda Komesaroff lectures in the School of Social and CulturalStudies in Education in the Faculty of Education at Deakin University.Her research interests include language policy and practices in deafeducation. Address: Faculty of Education, Deakin University, Burwood, Vic.3125 Email: Lrk@deakin.edu.au