Zanthia Y. Smith

Associate Professor, Program Director for BA-ASL program

Office: Communication Building, Room 107-B
Phone: 409-880-8952
Email: zanthia.smith@lamar.edu

Education

  • Ed.D. in Deaf Studies and Deaf Education, Lamar University, 1999
  • M.S. in Deaf Education, Lamar University, 1985
  • B.S. in Communication Disorders, Lamar University, 1983

Courses Taught

  • ASL I, ASL IV
  • Teaching American Sign Language as second language
  • Interpreting I
  • Interpreting II
  • Interactive Interpreting
  • Directed Studies (undergraduate)
  • ASL Linguistics
  • Doctoral Seminars

Research Interests

  • Reading and African American Deaf children
  • African American parents with Deaf children
  • Diversity in Sign Language Interpretation

Recent Publications

  • Musyoka, M. M., & Smith, Z. Y. (2021). Mainstreamed Deaf/HH Students' Online Learning in K-12: Challenges, Opportunities, and Solutions. In T. Fudge, & S. Ferebee (Ed.), Curriculum Development and Online Instruction for the 21st Century (pp. 69-89). IGI Global. https://doi.org/10.4018/978-1-7998-7653-3.ch005
  • Smith, Z. Y. (2022). African American Parents' Application of Early Literacy Strategies. In M. Musyoka and S. Adeoye (Eds.), Deaf Education and Challenges for Bilingual/Multilingual Students. IGI Global Publishers. https://doi.org/10.4018/978-1-7998-8181-0.ch012
  • Andrews, J. F., Liu, H. T., Liu, C. J., Gentry, M. A., & Smith, Z. (2017). Increasing early reading skills in young signing deaf children using shared book reading: a feasibility study. Early Child Development and Care, (187) 3-4, 583-599. https://doi.org/10.1080/03004430.2016.1210135
  • Andrei, S., Osborne, L. & Smith, Z. (2013). Designing an American Sign Language avatar for learning computer science concepts for deaf or hard-of-hearing students and deaf interpreters. Journal of Educational Multimedia and Hypermedia, 22(3), 229-242.
  • Karlin, A., Andrews, J., Smith, Z., Bumstead, S. & Meidl, T. D. (2013) Picture books with deaf characters. eJournal of Literacy and Social Responsibility, 6(1), 53-66. Retrieved from http://web.csulb.edu/misc/l-sr/ejournal/issues/ejournal_6(1)Fall2013.pdf.

Recent Presentations

  • Smith, Z. (2020, November). Conversations with Students: Social Advocacy and Language Learning. Presented at the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (Conference November 2020, Presented through Webinar).
  • Smith, Z. (2020, October). Social Advocacy and Social Justice: Conversations with Post-Secondary Students. Proposal submitted for presentation at the International Literacy Association Conference in Columbus, OH. (Postponed due to COVID).
  • Musyoka, M. & Smith, Z.Y. (2019). Translanguaging and the writing of ASL/English bilingual students. Submitted proposal to be presented at the International Literacy Association Conference, Columbus, OH. (Cancelled due to COVID). 
  • Smith, Z. & Weldon, K. (2017, February). Role Model Tend Yours? Presented at the Association of College Educators of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, San Antonio, TX.
  • Wolsey, J., Knight, T., Lee, C., Gentry, M., Smith, Z., Musyoka, M., Clark, D., & Andrews, J. (2016, February). A Mixed Method Picture of Early Reading in Singing Deaf Children: Book Reading, Book Retelling, and Drawings. Presented at the Association of College Educators of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing. Kansas City, MO.
  • Smith, Z. (2015, February). Pre-service teacher utilization of foreign language teaching strategies. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Association of College Educators - Deaf and Hard of Hearing (ACE-DHH), St. Louis, MO.
  • Smith, Z. (2015, February). Project TRAIN one year later. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Association of College Educators - Deaf and Hard of Hearing (ACE-DHH), St. Louis, MO.
  • Smith, Z. (2014, October). What's in a name: 'C' a bullyfree world. Paper presented at the Texas Association for the Improvement of Reading, Lamar University, Beaumont, TX.
  • Smith, Z. (2014, February). Teaching ASL as a second language: Learning experience of undergraduate ASL majors. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Association of College Educators - Deaf and Hard of Hearing (ACE-DHH), Washington, DC.
  • Andrews, J. F., Gentry, M. A., Dacres, K., Smith, Z., & Bryne, A. (2013, April). Adapted Little Books for signing deaf children. Paper presented at the annual International Reading Association, San Antonio, TX.
  • Smith, Z. (2013, February). Early literacy intervention for signing deaf children. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Association of College Educators - Deaf and Hard of Hearing (ACE-DHH), Sante Fe, NM.
  • Karlin, A., Smith, Z., Bumstead, S., & Nelson, C. (2012, November). Cinderella's Prince Who? Look at resourceful remales in multicultural folk literature. Paper presented at the National Conference for Teachers of English, Las Vegas, NV.
  • Andrei, S., Smith, Z. & Osborne, L. (2012, March). Implementing an American Sign Language Avatar for enhancing learning of computer science concepts for deaf or hard-of-hearing students and deaf interpreters. Paper presented at the Proceedings of the Society for Information Technology & Teacher Education International Conference (SITE 2012), Austin, TX.
  • Smith, Z. (2012, February). A comparison of free writing of deaf and hearing children. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Association of College Educators - Deaf and Hard of Hearing (ACE-DHH), Jacksonville, FL.

Biography 

I was born and raised in Texas (mostly). Following graduation from Lamar University, I taught in deaf education for 8 years. For the past 29 years, I have been a faculty member at Lamar University, teaching undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral level courses.