The interpreter's role and deaf students' autonomy in mainstream classrooms.

This article explores the interpreter's role and approaches to working with deaf students as seen from deaf individuals' and interpreters' perspectives. A group of 41 formerly mainstreamed deaf individuals and interpreters offered insights into how the interpreter's role in mainstream classrooms influences deaf student autonomy and participation. This research illustrates the significance of autonomy for mainstreamed deaf students and suggests a correlation between the interpreter's role and deaf students' perceived autonomy in the classroom. In addition, the findings suggest that deaf students do not always know what an interpreter is supposed to do in K-12 classrooms. This study also finds that educational team members do not always explicitly communicate their roles and responsibilities to deaf students, leading to confusion that impacts their autonomy and overall experience. Finally, this research finds that deaf students are not trained with the ability to negotiate and renegotiate the interpreter's role. This article concludes with considerations and recommendations for deaf education and interpreter education communities.

Deaf Student-Interpreter Relationships and Feedback Practices in K-12 Mainstream Deaf Education.

This study explores Deaf individuals' and sign language interpreters' perspectives on what it is like to work together in K-12 education. A group of 41 formerly mainstreamed Deaf individuals and interpreters offers insights into interactional dynamics (e.g., the deaf student-interpreter relationship) that influence interpreters' work, deaf students' participation and learning, and feedback practices. This study illustrates the significance of the deaf student-interpreter relationship and suggests a correlation between this relationship and deaf students' participation and positioning in mainstream classrooms. In addition, the findings suggest a correlation between the deaf student-interpreter relationship and feedback practices in mainstream education. Finally, this study finds that deaf students do not always know that they can engage in feedback conversations with interpreters or know how to engage interpreters to ask for what they need to learn. This article concludes with considerations and recommendations for the deaf education and interpreter education communities.