2.4.1. Educational approaches: from oralism to bilingualism

Historically, sign languages have received unequal treatment in education, both in Spain and elsewhere. Over time, approaches have ranged from complete exclusion to bilingual and bicultural models that balance signed and oral languages.

Oralist and monolingual models prioritized oral language through techniques like lip-reading and, later, auditory technologies, relegating or suppressing sign language. Subsequently, intermediate approaches emerged, such as total communication or bimodal systems, which incorporated gestural resources to facilitate access to oral language. However, these proposals treated sign languages as instrumental supports rather than recognizing them as natural languages.

Meanwhile, the dichotomy between special and mainstream education has shaped deaf education. For decades, deaf students were schooled primarily in special education centers, many residential. Although sign language use was officially prohibited and punished in these spaces, daily interaction facilitated the horizontal transmission of sign language and deaf culture. Over time, signed languages began gaining presence in classrooms, initially informally.

The General Education Act of 1970 and the Organic Law on the General Organisation of the Educational System (LOGSE) of 1990 marked a turning point by promoting mainstream schooling for students with special educational needs. This shift reflected an integrative vision of education but dispersed deaf students into predominantly hearing environments, reducing natural contexts for linguistic socialization in sign language. In the 1990s, sign language began to be recognized in Spain as a language enabling access to the educational curriculum (Alcina Madueño, 2021a, 2021b).

This educational shift moved deaf students from key contexts for horizontal transmission and development of deaf language and culture into environments where they are frequently isolated among hearing peers, a phenomenon explained by monolingual positions and medical and genetic discourses (De Meulder et al., 2019).

Aroca-Fernández, E. (2025). Socio-historical background: Sign language community: Deaf education: Educational approaches: from oralism to bilingualism. In S. Villameriel García (Ed.), Gramática de la Lengua de Signos Española (GramLSE) / Grammar of Spanish Sign Language (GramLSE). Real Patronato sobre Discapacidad-Centro de Normalización Lingüística de la Lengua de Signos Española. Retrieved Month DD, YYYY, from https://cnlse.es/es/recursos/gramlse/ingles/index/socio-historical-background/sign-language-community/2-4-deaf-education/2-4-1-educational-approaches-from-oralism-to-bilingualism