A Grammar of Turkish Sign Language (TİD)

Deaf schools are the main habitats of sign language and Deaf culture, alongside Deaf associations. The majority of Deaf children have non-signer hearing parents, thus Deaf schools accommodate children’s needs for socialization with other Deaf peers. Though bringing together Deaf children spontaneously meets the need of communication, since 1950’s oralism has been the dominant method of education for Deaf children. However, from interviews with elderly signers and teachers we know that there have been sporadic autonomous and pro-sign teachers who learn sign language from the children and use it in instruction, some even at near-native fluency.

Sign language had no place in the curriculum until recent attempts starting around 2005. The Disability Law put pressure on the state to implement new language and education rights. Before the 2000s when scientific TİD research began, signing was regarded by most educationalists and medical professionals to be a primitive and simple means of communication, hardly at the expressive level of spoken languages.

Before being placed at an educational institution, Deaf and hard of hearing children go into an assessment procedure in Counseling and Research Centers (Rehberlik ve Araştırma Merkezi - RAM) and are accordingly placed at a Deaf school or a regular school with mainstreaming methods. In its current problematic implementation of mainstreaming, a few Deaf students study in classes with hearing peers. Besides school education, the students can get financial support from the state for additional language and speech therapy or other individualized education programs (Bireyselleştirilmiş Eğitim Programı – BEP) in private rehabilitation centers. Unfortunately, most private rehabilitation centers prioritize commercial values rather than good quality education. Moreover, the teachers working in rehabilitation centers generally do not have a background in special education specialized for different disability groups. The formal education in its current form does not bring Deaf students even close to their hearing peers in literacy and higher education.

The belated prestige of sign language has had a positive effect on the inclusion of sign language in classes. Although, to our knowledge, there are currently no schools that aim at bilingual (TİD and Turkish) education for children, in 2015 the Ministry of Education published a TİD education program and in 2017, an expanded version for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd grades in Deaf elementary schools, entitled “Türk İşaret Dili Dersi Etkinlik Kitabı (1, 2, 3. Sınıflar)” (Turkish Sign Language Course Activity Book (1st, 2nd, and 3rd Grades)) to be implemented two hours a week in Deaf schools. Although this indicates a respect for language rights to a certain extent, the program advises a method that is reminiscent of ‘total communication’ rather than bilingual education. According to the program’s advice, TİD and spoken Turkish should be used at the same time, yet each language should be produced in its own natural grammar rules, which is an almost impossible cognitive challenge even for experienced interpreters. Thus, the program that is prepared with good intentions is not realistic for implementation considering the lack of TİD education for teachers and interpreters.

According to the reports of the Ministry of Education in 2015, there are 45 Deaf elementary schools (3003 students) and 19 Deaf vocational high schools (2066 students). The participation rate is estimated to be only 10% among Deaf students at schooling age. The reports of the Ministry of Education in 2005-2006 on the distribution of students in Deaf elementary schools and Deaf vocational schools according to cities is presented below:

The numbers of Deaf students in Deaf elementary and vocational schools by city (2005-2006)

(with the courtesy of Deniz İlkbaşaran, 2013: 30)