ARTICLES

Supplementing an Educational Video Series with Video-Related Classroom Activities and Materials

Debbie B. Golos and Annie M. Moses

Abstract

The Sign Language Situation in Mali

Victoria Nyst

Abstract

Sociolinguistic Variation and Change in British Sign Language Number Signs: Evidence of Leveling?

Rose Stamp, Adam Schembri, Jordan Fenlon, and Ramas Rentelis

Abstract

Lexical Properties of Slovene Sign Language: A Corpus-Based Study

Špela Vintar

Abstract

A Preliminary Study on Interpreting for Emergent Signers

Caitlin Smith and Danica Dicus

Abstract

Supplementing an Educational Video Series with Video-Related Classroom Activities and Materials

Teachers of deaf children express concern over a lack of curricular materials appropriate for and beneficial to the deaf population, particularly for language and literacy development and in early childhood classrooms. In addition, more and more deaf children are attending classrooms in which their teachers may not be fluent in ASL. This, too, indicates a need for curricular resources that support and extend language and literacy instruction for deaf children. The current study examines the potential of classroom activities designed to supplement an educational video series in ASL. The participants included one teacher, six deaf children, and one child of a Deaf adult (Coda) in an early childhood classroom. Over the course of two weeks, the teacher showed the participants an educational video and implemented five supplemental activities, all of which were designed to promote a set of early literacy skills (e.g., vocabulary, knowledge of story elements, sequencing ability). Each activity was video-recorded and transcribed for children’s displays of literacy-related behaviors. The teacher also filled out a survey in order to provide feedback on the usability and effectiveness of the activities. The findings suggest that the children displayed many of the targeted skills during the classroom activities, and the descriptive statistics show higher mean scores in targeted skills following the classroom activities. Although they are exploratory, these findings suggest the potential benefit of incorporating such activities into early childhood classrooms.

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The Sign Language Situation in Mali

This article gives a first overview of the sign language situation in Mali and its capital, Bamako, located in the West African Sahel. Mali is a highly multilingual country with a significant incidence of deafness, for which meningitis appears to be the main cause, coupled with limited access to adequate health care. In comparison to neighboring countries, the first school for deaf children was established relatively late—in 1995. Various sign languages have been used in Malian deaf education, but, following the regional trend, the schools for deaf children eventually settled for a variety of ASL adapted to French. The vast majority of Malian signers have not received formal education, however, and have no or only limited command of ASL. They use various forms of the local sign language, Malian Sign Language (LSM). The best-documented variety of LSM is the one used in Bamako, for which a dictionary and an annotated corpus exist. Another annotated corpus has been compiled for several varieties found in the Dogon area. Ambivalent attitudes are found in the deaf community with regard to the value and linguistic status of LSM and ASL, which pose a threat to the continued use of LSM, and deaf Malians are found to switch to ASL in areas in contact with deaf education or with formally educated signers.

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Sociolinguistic Variation and Change in British Sign Language Number Signs: Evidence of Leveling?

This article presents findings from the first major study to investigate lexical variation and change in British Sign Language (BSL) number signs. As part of the BSL Corpus Project, number sign variants were elicited from 249 deaf signers from eight sites throughout the UK. Age, school location, and language background were found to be significant predictors for the use of regional number sign variants. The results suggest that leveling may be taking place in BSL number signs inasmuch as younger signers are using a decreasing variety of regionally distinct number sign variants. These results need to be understood in light of the sociolinguistic characteristics of the British deaf community, which differ from those of spoken language communities, with which linguists are more familiar.

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Lexical Properties of Slovene Sign Language: A Corpus-Based Study

Slovene Sign Language (SZJ) has as yet received little attention from linguists. This article presents some basic facts about SZJ, its history, current status, and a description of the Slovene Sign Language Corpus and Pilot Grammar (SIGNOR) project, which compiled and annotated a representative corpus of SZJ. Finally, selected quantitative data extracted from the corpus are presented. The article discusses certain lexical and semantic properties of SZJ, for example, the role of fillers and gestures. Figures are compared to related works, particularly corpus-based studies of British Sign Language (BSL) and Auslan. The article concludes by outlining plans for future research and ways in which the present corpus could improve basic reference works for SZJ and serve as a basis for new technologies.

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A Preliminary Study on Interpreting for Emergent Signers

Signed language interpreters work with a variety of consumer populations throughout their careers. One such population, referred to as emergent signers, consists of consumers who are in the process of learning American Sign Language, and who rely on interpreters during their language acquisition period. A gap in the research is revealed when considering the interaction between this growing population and the interpreting field. The present study thus attempts to provide a preliminary examination of the topic by reporting on the findings of a survey conducted with interpreters affiliated with Gallaudet Interpreting Service at Gallaudet University. Results show that interpreters are working on a regular basis with this population that the work is different from traditional interpreting work with fluent signers, and that interpreters have differing opinions on how the work should be approached. Implications for future areas of study and the overwhelming need for research on this subject are also discussed.

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