CUHK
News Centre

A 3-day conference entitled ‘Conference on Sign Linguistics and Deaf Education in Asia’ will be held at The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) from tomorrow (28 January) to 30 January at the Teaching Complex at Western Campus, CUHK. Organised by The Centre for Sign Linguistics and Deaf Studies of CUHK, the conference aims to bring sign linguistics and deaf education researchers from different regions of Asia to Hong Kong to share their research experience and findings.

Three internationally renowned scholars, Prof. Karen Emmorey, Prof. Marc Marschark and Prof. James Woodward, will attend the conference as keynote speakers. They are experts in different areas of deaf related research, whose work has cast a significant impact on the development of sign language research and deaf education worldwide. Prof. Karen Emmorey is a well-established sign linguist focusing on sign language and cognition of deaf people; Prof. Marc Marschark is renowned for his insight in deaf education research; while Prof. James Woodward has been devoting his effort to building university education for deaf people in Asia.

A public session ‘Seminar and Panel Discussion on Deaf Education in Asia’ will take place this Saturday (30 January) from 12:30pm to 6pm at the same venue, where Prof. Marc Marschark and Prof. James Woodward will make their speeches. Participants from all over the world are also given the opportunity to confer on the latest developments of deaf education in their respective countries/regions. All parents and teachers of the deaf/hard-of-hearing children are welcome to join the event to learn about the latest developments of deaf education in Asia and Hong Kong. Free admission. For registration and details, please visit the website: http://csldea.no-ip.info/, or contact The Centre for Sign Linguistics and Deaf Studies at 2696 1135/ 3163 4177.

Thanks to the generous donation of The Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust, The Centre for Sign Linguistics and Deaf Studies has been conducting a 7-year experimental ‘Jockey Club Sign Bilingualism and Co-enrolment in Deaf Education (JC-SLCO) Programme’. Since 2006, an experimental sign bilingual programme has been set up at a regular kindergarten and a primary school. The programme aims to develop an alternative mode of deaf education in Hong Kong that benefits both the deaf and hearing students. It also promotes research in deaf education, literacy, Hong Kong Sign Language and oral language development of deaf and hard-of-hearing children. During the 3-day conference, the Centre will present some preliminary findings based on the first 3 years of development, while an introduction of the JC-SLCO Programme will take place during the panel discussion on Saturday’s public seminar.