The idea for this book came out of our long association with the international deaf community as sign language professionals, educators and researchers. We have learned, used and experienced sign languages in different ways and have therefore developed an overview of the range of issues faced by sign language users, learners and teachers internationally. We have both felt the benefit of being bilingual in (at least one) spoken and signed language, enriched and privileged by our participation in the deaf world. We have both been involved in leading the development of research in applied sign linguistics (which we define in Chapter 2) but have noted something of a ‘silo effect’, whereby publications in the related fields of Deaf Studies, sign language linguistics, sign language teaching and sign language interpreting and translation tend to be concentrated in certain vehicles for publication, and researchers tend to cluster in these fields. We feel very strongly that there is a high level of interconnectedness between these areas, but there has been very little discussion of these issues under the broader umbrella of applied linguistics. Thus our goal in writing this book is to draw together these fields and give consideration to the potential ‘strands’ of applied sign linguistics. Our aim is that anyone who may have an interest in languages can pick up this book and get some insight into the research and language practices of one particular minority language community – that is, the (signing) deaf community – and the wide range of people who come into contact with that community in everyday contexts. Although the book is targeted primarily at students of sign languages and sign language interpreting students, teachers of sign languages, researchers, sign language interpreter practitioners and educators, Deaf Studies teachers and students, educators working with deaf children and policymakers, we believe it will also be of interest to other people working with minority language communities and to scholars and practitioners in applied linguistics research more generally. As with Spencer-Oatey and Franklin (2009, p. 2) with their book in this series on Intercultural Interaction, we perceive that ‘this book will provide a very helpful “mapping of the field”, accessible analyses of [applied sign linguistics], and pointers for the journey towards greater intercultural competence [between deaf and non-deaf people]’.

The prevailing convention in the literature with respect to discussions of deaf people and ‘sign languages’ is to refer to non-deaf people as ‘hearing’ people; a convention we also adopt throughout this book. Some readers may also be aware that in Deaf Studies, sign linguistics and interpreting literature there is another established convention to distinguish between deaf people who use a signed language and identify with other sign language users (Deaf) and those who have a hearing loss but do not use a signed language or identify themselves with a community of sign language users (deaf; see e.g. Lane, Hoffmeister & Bahan, 1996; Senghas & Monaghan, 2002; Sutton-Spence & Woll, 1998). However, given the complexities of sign language transmission, the evolving nature of the deaf community due to medical interventions and changes in educational policy, greater numbers of deaf people come to the community as late learners of sign language (which will be discussed later in this chapter and throughout the book). Thus, definitions of deaf community membership are changing. In order to avoid any judgements about the linguistic and cultural identity of deaf people and to put a spotlight on the use of sign languages by both deaf and hearing people, in this book we refrain from using the D/deaf convention. No judgement is made about the hearing and linguistic identity or status of people who use a signed language, and the only time we retain the D/deaf convention is when directly quoting other authors (see Chapter 2, Section 2.2, for more discussion).

Applied linguistics is a field that has significantly affected deaf communities, shaping language policy and practice, influencing the development of sign language curricula and assessment and describing aspects of the sociolinguistic variation that exists in sign language using communities. The applied linguistics field has also influenced studies on sign language acquisition and contributed to the field of interpreting studies. Despite this contribution, there is a significant absence of applied sign linguistics publications framed wholly within an applied sign linguistics framework. Indeed, the first applied sign linguistics conference was held as recently as 2009 at Bristol University in the UK, where the focus was firmly settled on issues of sign language curricula.

Against this backdrop, and in line with ethnographic approaches to research, we feel it necessary to position ourselves vis-à-vis the focus of this book, as neither of us are deaf. So, here we discuss our role as hearing people doing sign language research and our goals in writing this book. First, let us introduce ourselves.