Valdosta State University’s Dr. Jennifer Beal recently earned a Fulbright Specialist Award that allowed her to exchange knowledge, establish partnerships, and have a positive impact on the lives of individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing around the world.

Beal, a tenured professor of deaf education, spent one week at the University of Cologne in Cologne, Germany, and two weeks at University College London in London, England, where she presented on VSU’s deaf education program and the content of VSU’s teacher preparation courses.

“This information exchange was vital, as University College London presently lacks a program to prepare teachers of the deaf,” she said.

Beal also discussed her life-changing research on evidence-based instructional strategies for deaf and hard of hearing students across elementary, middle, and high school grade levels, including their acquisition and use of American Sign Language.

“This work is important as it impacts teachers of the deaf and their students across countries and educational settings,” she added. “While there is no universal signed language, natural signed languages across the globe share many components as visual languages. This shared knowledge can lead to more effective and efficient instruction and learning for deaf and hard of hearing students internationally.”

Beal’s Fulbright experience included tours of the Johann Joseph Gronewald School in Cologne and the Frank Barnes School for Deaf Children in London. She was able to witness firsthand “how their deaf students participate in small group instruction with their deaf and hard of hearing peers and within the general education setting with their hearing peers. This model provides support for similar models within the United States.”

The Fulbright Specialist Program, which is part of the larger Fulbright Program, was established in 2001 by the United States Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. The program pairs highly qualified U.S. academics and professionals with host institutions abroad to share their expertise, strengthen institutional linkages, hone their skills, gain international experience, and learn about other cultures while building capacity at their overseas host institutions.

Specialists are competitively selected to join the Fulbright Specialist Program roster based on their knowledge, skill sets, and ability to make a significant contribution to projects overseas. Those individuals that have been approved to join the roster are then eligible to be matched with approved projects designed by foreign host institutions from more than 150 countries and other areas. Once abroad, specialists partner with their host institution to conduct project activities in support of the host institution’s priorities and goals.  

The Fulbright Specialist Program aims to provide a short-term, on-demand resource to international host institutions, giving them greater flexibility in how they participate with Fulbright. Specialists are strongly encouraged to continue to work with host institutions in the years following their initial exchange, creating opportunities for ongoing cooperation and consultancies.

“The Fulbright experience allowed me to meet many of my heroes in the field of deaf education in both Germany and London,” Beal shared. “For example, in Germany I met with Dr. Nicole Marxx, director of the international Immigrant Deaf and Hard of Hearing Students as Additional Language Learners project, and Dr. Wolfgang Mann, who developed several sign language assessments. In London I met with Dr. Chlöe Marshall and Dr. Rosalind Herman, two researchers who developed sign language assessments I use within my research.

“I chatted with many researchers, including the former and present directors of the Deafness, Cognition, and Language Research Center, and representatives of the Institute of Education at University College London. Several of these researchers influenced my previous research, and during our meetings we exchanged ideas that address future research, such as assessments for deaf learners and second language learners of signed languages. This exchange of ideas is embedded in the course content I teach at VSU, including graduate courses that teach teachers of the deaf how to effectively instruct deaf and hard of hearing learners.”

A Blazer Nation alumna, Beal joined the VSU faculty full time in Fall 2013. She currently teaches undergraduate and graduate students, both face to face and online, in the James L. and Dorothy H. Dewar College of Education and Human Services.

“Teaching present and future educators how to instruct deaf and hard of hearing learners is my passion,” she said.

Beal also enjoys teaching American Sign Language classes at VSU.

“In addition to evidence-based instructional strategies for deaf and hard of hearing learners, my research includes how university ASL learners acquire and use ASL,” she said. “This fall I am expanding my research on second language learners’ acquisition of ASL through a longitudinal study by data collection and analyses after their completion of each VSU ASL course. These data will document which ASL components second language learners acquire across time and when they achieve these components during their language learning. These findings have implications for ASL instruction at VSU and across other universities and other signed languages.”