Type of Project: Funded project Model project
Literacy acquisition of deaf people to promote inclusive participation in the labor market

In Germany, there are at least 19,000 deaf people between the ages of 20 and 65 who do not have written language skills that can be used in a job. This has significant adverse effects on the chances of participation in working life. This lack of skills is becoming an increasingly serious deficit as new media become more important. Job communication is increasingly based on media and techniques that require written language competence. The project develops and tests a new method of teaching written language to deaf people based on contrastive teaching and the use of a special sign script. The teaching method is comprehensively supported with computer modules and teaching materials specially developed by the project. The lessons of deaf trainers are offered at the model locations Kiel, Dortmund, Cottbus and Chemnitz as well as in Hamburg. The lasting success of the project is ensured over: - Continued operation of the project site https://www.delegs.de/ by Workplace Solutions WPS GmbH - Integration of written language instruction into the regular offerings of the Fortbildungsakademie der Wirtschaft (FAW) for deaf people, in particular also for unemployed deaf people ( https://www.faw.de/ ) - A regional project "Strengthening reading and writing - Improving job opportunities - Acquiring written language - A project for deaf people in the state of Brandenburg" from 1.10.2017 to 30.9.2019 (Fortbildungsakademie der Wirtschaft (FAW) gemeinnützige Gesellschaft mbH, Akademie Cottbus, funded by Integrationsamt Cottbus) - Efforts are currently being made to initiate some more regional projects and a project "Gamification and Open Source for Deaf Workers - Low-threshold Software Support for Modern Written Language Learning" starting in 2018. - The project results are also regularly included in the employer consultation of the BMAS project "Unternehmensnetzwerk Inklusion" ( https://www.unternehmens-netzwerk-inklusion.de/ ). Important results of the project's development work are made available on the homepage https://delegs.de/: more than 400 teaching and learning materials, the editor delegs for EVD support of signwriting application and a powerful transcribed vocabulary of general and subject-related DGS signs. The project has meanwhile proven the effectiveness of the method in the model trainings with its self-developed teaching materials (for comprehensive information on products and project structure see http://www.delegs.de ). In January 2016, the first results were presented at a symposium. In summary, it can be stated that the tasks set in the project application could all be fulfilled. In the course of the project, it became apparent that the deaf participants were motivated to a high degree to participate in DGS German courses repeatedly. This is a confirmation that the offered German courses actually meet the learning needs of the deaf participants. For the future this participant behavior supports the plan to offer such German courses permanently or at least regularly over a period of several years. Language courses that build on each other in terms of content should be offered in such a way that they can be taken up regularly by the participants. The evaluation results show demonstrable effects: The learning successes with regard to the use of articles and verb marking prove already after only one week (40 units) that the contrastive course concept of the project effectively supports the acquisition of German in the sense of an adult second language acquisition. Also the sign writing can be read expectedly already after one week of instruction in such a way that it can be made usable for the educational context. Initial contact fears with the participants opposite a new writing system could be reduced regularly. Particularly deaf educators see here a new increase in value for the language work with their deaf course participants, which represents a pleasing result in the sense of the lastingness. Questionings of the operational participant surrounding field prove besides that also in the operational practice of the deaf humans a noticeable improvement of the kommunikativen situation develops. With participation in at least two or more courses such practice effects are reported with well 80% of the deaf participants. This positive effect can be still clearly strengthened by accompanying assistance - "job coaching" and/or other auxiliary measures. Particularly to emphasize is here a purposeful application training within the range E-Mail use.