To be Deaf and practice (interactively and at a distance) foreign languages in a (m)OOC: first report about the E-SCALE project

Résumé En

The E-SCALE project (deaf E-space for Signed Collaboration Abroad on Language E-learning) proposes an online learning environment aimed at Deaf learners who wish to improve their written English and ASL (American Sign Language) or their written French and LSF (French Sign Language). The objective of the project is to encourage intercultural communication and foreign language practice by means of collaborative exchange and learning together with Deaf peers from mainly France and the US (especially from Gallaudet, as the unique " Deaf university "). Through webcam and keyboard the learners express themselves in the four working languages of the platform, either synchronously (during the Adobe Connect webcam meet-ups) or asynchronously (in Moodle forums, collaborative Prezis, Memrise lessons, etc.). The (m)OOC is scheduled over 2 x 4 weeks, preceded by 4 weeks of training for the tutors, between February and June. Several activities and language games have to be competed at each level, and about once a week an optional synchronous session is scheduled where the learners can meet in a virtual video + text-chat room. E-SCALE is testing innovative learning forms and tools with visual languages and on a public of visual thinkers. The researchers investigate which strategies are pursued by these learners, which modalities are favored and most effective, and if the introduction of an additional foreign sign language makes the overall learning and communication process easier or more complicated. The video examples can be accessed at: https://archive.org/details/esc-14-videoexamples_overview_2_eng