Bilingual–bicultural education

Bilingual–Bicultural or Bi-Bi deaf education programs use sign language as the native, or first, language of Deaf children. In the United States, for example, Bi-Bi proponents state that American Sign Language (ASL) should be the natural first language for deaf children in the United States, although the majority of deaf and hard of hearing being born to hearing parents. In this same vein, the spoken or written language used by the majority of the population is viewed as a secondary language to be acquired either after or at the same time as the native language.

In Bi-Bi education, a signed language is the primary method of instruction. The bicultural aspect of Bi-Bi education emphasizes Deaf culture and strives to create confidence in deaf students by exposing them to the Deaf community.

Various studies have found a correlation between ASL skill level and English literacy or reading comprehension. The most plausible explanation for this is that ASL skill level predicts English literacy level. Having a basis of American Sign Language can benefit the acquisition of the English language. In fact, bilingual children show more development in cognitive, linguistic, and meta-linguistic processes than their monolingual peers.

36% to 40% of residential and day schools for deaf students in the US report using Bi-Bi education programs.

Sweden and Denmark are two countries known for their bilingual–bicultural education of deaf children. Sweden passed a law in 1981 that mandated bilingualism as a goal of deaf education. Denmark recognized sign language as an equal language and espoused sign language as the primary method of instruction in schools for the deaf in 1991.

Notable examples of schools utilizing the Bi-Bi method in the US include The Learning Center for the Deaf in Massachusetts and the Illinois School for the Deaf, which uses cued speech to maintain a language separation between ASL and English.