Ensino/educação bilíngue de surdos: da legislação à realidade

The bilingual teaching/education for deaf people has advanced rapidly in recent years, taking into consideration the specific needs of the student body. The legislation has become more comprehensive in relation to bilingual teaching/education for the deaf, allowing the deaf community to have access to the same level of education as the hearing community. The practice of bilingual teaching/education for the deaf has evolved along with the legislation, and teachers and educational institutions are becoming more and more aware of the importance of providing bilingual teaching/education for the deaf. However, there are still gaps between what occurs in reality compared to what the legislation prescribes. Thus, the general objective of this study was to discuss the bilingual education expressed in the Brazilian legislation and the challenges faced by deaf students in their educational process, and as specific objectives this study aims: i) to analyze and discuss the matter of the bilingual education present in the Brazilian legislation, ii) to verify how the education of the deaf happens and is developed in practice, based on bibliographical studies and, iii) to present/to discuss suggestions on how to improve the education of the deaf based on the bibliographic survey, the legal provisions and the experiences of the author of this research. As methodological resources, through bibliographical research, this research presents a survey of issues related to the bilingual education for the deaf people present in Brazilian legislation, observing how literature addresses this discussion (in publications of journal articles, book chapters and books), as well as a report on the experiences of the author of this study, based on her educational and professional experiences. The results of the research and discussion show that despite advances in legislation, the struggles and achievements of the deaf community and the attempts to implement the teaching/education system for the deaf do not happen in practice as prescribed in ...