This work aims to analyze the role of Brazilian Sign Language (Libras) in a teacher-researcher's practice of teaching English for the deaf in contexts of specific classrooms for deaf students. This is a case study that seeks to interpret these practices based on the theoretical framework of teaching approaches for deaf students (oralism, total communication, and bilingualism) and foreign language teaching approaches (grammar-translation method, audiolingualism, and communicative language teaching). It could be concluded that Libras played the role of main mediator in the English teaching/learning practices for/by deaf students investigated in this study, as it is Libras that gives real meaning to these practices. This work also defends the link between the bilingual approach in deaf education and CLT for teaching written English to the deaf.
teaching approaches; English teaching practices; deaf students; Libras
