Teacher language awareness in a Swedish bilingual school for the deaf

This case study explores the relationship between teachers' language knowledge and their grammar teaching practices within the context of a bilingual school for the deaf in Sweden, a country that has demonstrated success in educating deaf children bilingually in written Swedish and Sweden's signed language. The study's participants were two Swedish language teachers and their 17 elementary school students; both participants were identified as high quality teachers and models of the school's approach to the bilingual education of deaf children. Teacher Language Awareness was selected as the theoretical construct through which to explore the relationship between teacher knowledge and practice because of its focus on knowledge-in-action, or the sites where knowledge intersects with practice. The study's main data sources were classroom observation and stimulated recall interviews. Data were analyzed sequentially using a start list of codes derived from a review of the relevant literature. Two portraits of the teachers' grammatical Teacher Language Awareness emerged from my analysis of the data. Suggested pedagogical applications for these portraits in teacher education programs are presented.