FROM SIGN TO WORD - CONSIDERING MODALITY CONSTRAINTS IN ASL ENGLISH BILINGUAL EDUCATION/

As the bilingual education movement receives greater attention within deaf education settings, a theoretical framework for organizing and im plementing the American Sign Language (ASL) and English learning exper iences among deaf students has not been Fully articulated in the liter ature to date. In this article, the traditional notion of ASL/English bilingualism is critically examined. This model is then contrasted wit h the ''ASL/English as a spoken language'' bilingual model in which th e modality constraints facing the deaf child are presented as the fund amental issue for ASL/English bilingualism. Empirical and applied rese arch supporting this modality-constrained bilingual model is also disc ussed.