The LESCO sign language
that develops soft skills in the inclusive education at Saint Joseph School, Moravia
during the first semester of 2022
|
Elisa Bravo González[1] https://orcid.org/0009-0007-0826-9740 Universidad Hispanoamericana de Costa Rica.
|
María José Herrera Araya https://orcid.org/0009-0009-0323-3284 Universidad Hispanoamericana de Costa Rica.
|
Julio César Castro Miranda
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9091-4620
Universidad Hispanoamericana de Costa Rica.
The purpose and present work analyze is to find strategies that help the students at Saint Joseph School to be more open to learning an inclusive language such as Costa Rican sign language: Lesco. However, this opportunity to allow students to understand, develop and share soft skills towards deaf people played an important role today, but having an inclusive education shows people's concern and consideration towards people with disabilities. The schools Costa Rica since 2020, has tried to implement Lesco in their classes but there still a lot of work to do about it.. Therefore, this work was created to provide teachers with strategies to incorporate sign language into the educational system to help deaf students who may one day enter school. Those strategies will be applied through an introductory Lesco class during break camp in July 2022. The most notable resource was the proposal design based on LESCO design based on the results of this investigation.
Se cuidará especialmente la calidad lingüística del texto.
inclusiva; factores; comportamiento
Keywords: sign language; movement; based learning method; soft skills; inclusive education; factors; behavior
La lengua de señas LESCO que desarrolla habilidades blandas en la educación inclusiva del colegio Saint Joseph, Moravia durante el primer semestre de 2022
RESUMEN
El presente trabajo analiza estrategias que ayuden a los estudiantes del Colegio Saint Joseph a estar más abiertos a aprender una lengua inclusiva como es la lengua de señas de Costa Rica: Lesco. Esta oportunidad brinda a las estudiantes comprendan, desarrollen habilidades blandas tomando en cuenta la comunidad de las personas sordas de la institución. Tener una educación inclusiva en las instituciones educativas demuestra la preocupación y consideración de las personas hacia las personas con discapacidad en Costa Rica. Centros educativos en Costa Rica desde el 2020 usaron el Lesco como una materia más, así como también un idioma para aprender, sin embargo, esta incorporación en las escuelas: públicas o privadas es todavía limitada. La investigación sugiere identificar y determinar estrategias para incorporar el lengua de señas en el sistema educativo para ayudar a los estudiantes sordos sentirse parte de la escuela. Estas estrategias se aplicaron a través de una clase de introducción de Lesco durante el campamento de vacaciones en julio a estudiantes . Las respuestas más notables y destacadas de la investigación fue el resultado del diseño de propuesta para entrenamiento de verano de LESCO.
Palabras Clave: lengua de señas; movimiento/método de aprendizaje basado; soft skills; educación
Artículo recibido 20 junio 2023
Aceptado para publicación: 05 julio 2023
INTRODUCTION
The process of teaching and educating the little ones with values and soft skills sometimes it is difficult because some children happen to be in social risk, and even in their own house do not practice important soft skills at all. Before the pandemic of covid 19 hit all the countries, there were common fights in the school and other dilemmas that teachers had to deal with it, and now after the pandemic its seen that students have become more aggressive and intolerant between them.
People who surround and live with the deaf ones realize that: being deaf is not synonym of being dumb, incapable of learning and developing bonds in a future, on the contrary, the hearing impairment people can learn and study in different ways just like everybody does by learning differently. With small changes, society can change their perspective and the way to see things. Changes can demonstrate positive or negative results, in this case by including Lesco in a school program or giving in the perspective as an introduction, will help the people to be more open minded to improve and help the schools in Costa Rica to start with something new and different in the education process, with this people will learn a lesson of life which includes kindness and love.
So, if it is still not important to value those
aspects and these incredible people who are the teachers, well society indeed
is making a huge mistake. Part of educating children with important
subjects such as math, science, social studies etc., Educating the little ones
with values and soft skills that sometimes in their own house are not practiced
at all. Before the pandemic of covid 19 hit all the countries, there were
common fights in the school and other dilemmas that teachers had to deal with
it, and now after the pandemic its seen that students have become more
aggressive and intolerant between them.
Beside of that, teachers sometimes have extraordinary cases of students who possess a disability, and the challenges that become with that are huge, since the school, classmates, teachers, school staff among others must accommodate to the student necessities to evade the exclusion of them be being “different” to the rest of the students in each level. That can be the case of the students who are deaf, they can suffer exclusion, disapproval and in the worst scenarios being ridiculed for having the disability of not hearing.
With small changes, society can change their perspective and the way to see things. Lastly, demonstrating changes by including Lesco in a school program or giving in the perspective as an introduction, will help the people to be more open minded to improve and help the schools in Costa Rica to start with something new and different in the education process, with this people will learn a lesson of life which includes soft skills.
Introductory
This research is carried out with children from 6 to 10 years of age from preschool and primary school from Saint Joseph School, located in Moravia San José, during the first quarter of 2022. The purpose of this study is to analyze the factors in the Sign of Lesco Language in children from high school to fourth grade, regarding the development of some soft skills in inclusive education in the year 2022.
JUSTIFICATION
According to Córdoba (2008) disability and social exclusion are two closely related categories of analysis in which are immersed. The people with deficiencies have difficulties accessing with normality to those sectors that are part of the society. They cannot meet their basic needs or access to full social citizenship due to the fact, that most cases of disability are physical, mental, or sensory, and because of that there are barriers that society itself imposes, presenting high degrees of social exclusion since they have little access to employment, education, accessibility to public places, among other social disadvantages (p.1) After a long time of analysis on social exclusion to people with disabilities, today in the year 2022, there are still problems with the issue of social exclusion of people with disabilities. Many children in the Costa Rican society see and observe that these people are strange (due to their disability), they also see them as if they were from another world, and they end up rejecting them because they see that they are not "normal".
In another hand according to Quijano (2008) teachers and parents have noticed that some schools don’t have the inclusiveness that they promise. Quijano says that the educational system in the last years has the need to integrate in regular primary classrooms students with educational needs special associated with intellectual disability, which is largely due to globalization processes, which entail to greater openness and consequently to changes in many areas; one of them the special education (p.1).
The investigation has an importance that will affect the school community as long as the students and their families. Prep grade to fourth grade students will have the opportunity to learn the Lesco Sign Language to work out the soft skills in the inclusive education at Saint Joseph School, Moravia during the first semester of 2022. Today’s problem in most of the schools is that more children are not developing strong soft skills, they rather compete each other out of being the best of the group, class, and generation; this desire of being the best ends in another very big worldwide problem: bullying.
It is said that bullying inside the schools has a terrible effect on children, bullying causes psychosocial risks and serious academic adjustment to victims and perpetrators (Solberg et al., 2007). Mental health disorders have been shown to have significant adverse effects on welfare, function, and development in adolescence, and are associated with decreased academic performance, unemployment, poor social functioning, and substance abuse.To help the boys and girls develop soft skills is to show them that helping each other and showing compassion towards each other (specially to the ones that need more help) can solve a lot of problems inside the institution and outside too.
PROBLEM
§ What factors in the Lesco Sign Language develop the soft skills in the inclusive education at Saint Joseph School, Moravia during the first semester of 2022?
General objective
§ Analyze factors in the Lesco Sign Language develop the soft skills in the inclusive education at Saint Joseph School, Moravia during the first semester of 2022.
Specific Objectives
1. To determine the educational purpose of the sign language “Lesco” in the soft skills into the inclusive education.
2. To identify the soft skills through the sign language “Lesco.”
3. To apply the inclusive education through the sign language “Lesco” in the classroom of the summer vacation camp.
Definition of deaf people types
Some people believe that there is just one type of deaf, which is not true, and there are multiple ways in which a person can lost their hearing. Also, they are divided into different categories just like the first called prelingual deafness. This one is categorized as hearing loss, is present before language has developed meaning that the person born with deafness.
Lesco in Costa Rica
Based upon the Costa Rica University (2016) the history of the sign language in Costa Rica is not very known to the sight of the people because it isn’t very used and it doesn’t have a lot of importance also, but it states that it has been born from a combination of autochthonous signs with signs from the Spanish sign language (paragraph #2). People already see and know that Lesco comes from the Spanish language however, the own segues mean: Costa Rican sign language, and being a "Spanish" language will vary with the language or sign representation of other countries. If a person it’s going to teach Lesco, he or she must be careful and demonstrate that there is a difference between the different sign language of each country around the world. Teaching sing language is a grateful way to teach students soft skill to develop skills for life. In another hand Lesco has educational purpose of in the soft skills into the inclusive education according to the results of this investigation.
Definition of soft skills
Kaplan (2022) states that soft skills are non-technical skills that describe how people work and interact with others (paragraph #1). The soft skills in the workplace allow organizations to use their technical skills and knowledge effectively and efficiently without being hampered by interpersonal issues. During Lesco classes, outside and inside the school, students must use different soft skills to progress and above all learn in class. There are indeed a lot of important soft skills who people use many times during the day, but people choose to have some of those skills during their daily day to be able to communicate and form bonds with people.
Definition of the principal use of the soft skills: respect, tolerance, and emotional intelligence inside the school in the Lesco Sign Language.
The Dictionary of Cambridge (n.d) tells that the term respect is a noun in which the admiration is felt or shown for someone or something that you believe has good ideas or qualities (paragraph #1). An example that many people use is respect. Schools in general see the values that they believe are most necessary and important to accompany the development process of each student; respect has been a fundamental part inside and outside the classroom since children are encouraged to relate with their classmates and form friendship bonds.
In the other hand, another soft skill that is important to measure inside the school and in Lesco is the tolerance. Since people who are deaf learn differently than the others, they also have different points of view in terms of the cognitive part. It is important that during the school years, specially from preschool, students learn how to develop and manage the skill in situations of learning and during situations of bonding with their classmates and teachers also and nonetheless with the school staff.
Finally, the soft skill of emotional intelligence will have a great purpose also during the Lesco classes; just like the other two soft skills mention before. The emotional intelligence is not a common skill that people are used to hear since they do not fully understand the use of the soft skill and the importance of it during normal routines and the situations that are complicated.
METHODOLOGIC FRAMEWORK
The Purpose of investigation according to Barrantes. (2002) "applied research” has the purpose of solve practical problems, to transform the conditions of a fact that worries...” (p, 64). In other words, based on the information collected, the research applied poses and elaborates recommendations, plans, guidelines, manuals, among others, to solve specific problems that occur in a certain place. For quite some time, society has been criticized for the lack of inclusion for the people with disabilities. This is a problem that occurs in many businesses that are at the service of society, as well as in other places such as recently: in schools, whether private or public.
The research approach was participatory action research based on Selener (1997) The participatory action research (PAR) has been conceptualized as “a process by which members oppressed group or community collect and analyze information, and act on their problems to find political and social transformations (p.17). If we analyze the situation in which the non-hearing people are right now and were a couple years ago; they find themselves on a position over time where they have been excluded by the society towards them: deaf people whether they are children, adults, or older people.
The character of the investigation according to Ramos (2020) in the exploratory scope, the research is applied to phenomena that are not have been previously investigated and it is of interest to examine their characteristics (p.2). Sign language as such is beginning to reverberate in the ears of Costa Ricans however, very little is known about the subject of using the Costa Rican Sign Language (Lesco) to develop soft skills and to help the inclusion on the classroom. The research desires to provide a bigger impact in the private and public institutions in Costa Rica and more importantly in the society.
RESULTS
As a positive result for these whole thesis, it was determined that the sign language indeed develop soft skills in the inclusive education since after applying the first diagnostic interview to the participant students it was observed that most of them have some knowledge about the Lesco sign language and they also have known a little of the deaf society also, considering that there are people who are different but also need comprehension and compassion of the rest of the people.
For the identification of the soft skills through the sign language, it was seen when the elven participants make the intention to connect with a deaf person, the situation is beautiful because it is extremely important that students see that being inclusive would drastically change the perspective of each person inside the school, home, community, and later society. It is worrisome that a part of the country is having troubles making conscience of the situation that involves Costa Rica; there’s a huge population of deaf people in Costa Rica, and that population of course have. It is time to have a more inclusive education; Saint Joseph School already start using Lesco as part of their presentations in the assemblies, singing the national anthem every morning and, lastly in the assemblies as well.
Finally, it is important that private and public schools should copy the same actions to continue promoting the inclusive education in Costa Rica towards the deaf ones and other people who possess disabilities too, that way people can stop the exclusiveness finally.
DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION
It was determined that sign language does develop soft skills in inclusive education since after applying the first diagnostic interview to the participating students it was observed that the majority have some knowledge about sign language: "Lesco" and they have also known a little of it. The deaf society too, considering that there are different but also need understanding and compassion from other people.
The students showed curiosity towards the teacher's presentation of Lesco, telling the teacher that they know some words because they have previously learned to sing the Costa Rican national anthem in sign language from Lesco. During the two weeks of the camp, the subjects who were the youngest have difficulties staying focused in class because they find it difficult to make signs that were difficult for them to do, due to their little fingers. It must be said that the situation occurs only at certain times; and the use of the game-based method helps students to focus more during the introductory Lesco class.
The research lends itself so that in the future theses can be developed related to the subject of inclusive education and about Costa Rican sign language, which end up uniting both as one and of which both together are important to improve the way of thinking and acting in society.
REFERENCIAS BIBLIOGRAFICAS
Barrantes, R. (2002). INVESTIGACIÓN Un camino al conocimiento . San José, Costa Rica: Universidad Estatal a Distancia .
Calvo, C. (13 de marzo de 2020). IRV. Obtenido de https://www.ongirv.com/post/derribando-estereotipos-10-mitos-acerca-de-las-personas-sordas
Cartin, M. (6 de octubre de 2016). Mi Costa Rica de Antaño. Obtenido de https://micostaricadeantano.com/2016/10/06/escuela-centeno-guell/
Castro, R. (19 de noviembre de 2020). dpersonas. Obtenido de https://dpersonas.com/2020/01/31/habilidades-blandas-que-son-y-por-que-son-importantes/
Chacón, Q. (2008). La inclusión: un reto para el sistema educativo costarricense. Obtenido de https://doi.org/10.15517/revedu.v32i1.528
Chinchilla, A. P. (4 de September de 2018). aDiarioCR.com. Obtenido de https://adiariocr.com/educacion/el-lesco-es-una-herramienta-de-inclusion/
Deaf, N. A. (2022). Obtenido de https://www.nad.org/resources/american-sign-language/
LEAD. (s.f.). Lead With American Sign Language. Obtenido de https://www.leadwithlanguages.org/lwl-language/american-sign-language/
LESCO. (2016). Obtenido de https://inil.ucr.ac.cr/linguistica/lesco/
López, M. (11 de abril de 2022). LAREPUBLICA.NET. Obtenido de https://www.larepublica.net/noticia/donde-aprender-lesco-aqui-le-contamos
Mélendez, E. (1 de mayo de 2018). Educación inclusiva y discapacidad en Costa Rica: una perspectiva. Obtenido de http: //revista.innie.ucr.ac.cr
Roppolo, M. (9 de May de 2022). CBS NEWS. Obtenido de https://www.cbsnews.com/news/troy-kotsur-daniel-durant-coda-movie/
Sampieri, R. H. (2014). METODOLOGÍA DE LA INVESTIGACIÓN. Mexico: Mexicana.
Selener, D. (1999). PARTICIPATORY ACTION RESEARCH AND SOCIAL CHANGE. New York.
(2012). Obtenido de THEFREEDICTIONARY: https://medical-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/postlingual+deafness