should teachers learn sign language

The teachers exposed their students to ASL and English print and believed that students would eventually learn to decode words in English. Some deaf children may use spoken language–based PA to develop reading skills, whereas other deaf children could potentially use a sign language–based PA. To date, there has only been limited research conducted on the potential use of American Sign Language PA (ASL PA) in deaf education. Interestingly, they also found that syllable boundaries for fingerspelling production with older deaf children seemed more closely related to phonological patterns of mouthing words in English. Many of the teachers had more students with deaf parents than with hearing parents. Each participant reported that she had between four to seven students with the exception of the ASL specialist, who rotated between all the classes and provided assistance as needed. Conversely, teachers could also point how the F-HS was used in the signs for CURIOUS, EARRING, and CAT, which did not have the letter F in the word in English. (e.g., language, social and cognitive development, increased cultural awareness and parent involvement). He signed COW (the sign was a close approximation of COW with using the 1-HS on the location of cow, instead of the proper Y-HS), and I signed to the student YES. They suggested that children seemed to be able to use their knowledge of handshapes and movement to develop articulation patterns to make a connection between signs and print. This information helped identify what instructional strategies teachers used more with children of certain age levels. This category details the instances in which teachers promoted knowledge of the manual alphabet with their students. Don’t you hurt their English reading! One of the most prominent activities that teachers used to promote handshape knowledge was the “ASL handshape of the week” activity. Native structures of ASL are non-alphabetic, whereas the phonological structure of English is alphabetic. However, the benefits of spoken language PA are not as evident with deaf children because there is significant variability in the level of benefits that they receive from spoken language PA (Mayberry, del Giudice, & Lieberman, 2011). . These included instructional activities that focused on comparative and contrast analysis and instruction that exposed students to phonological patterns of fingerspelled words commonly used in English. Any significant inconsistency was not included in the analysis. Mauk For example, Stacy described a moment when one of her kindergarten students seemed to make the connection between the manual alphabet and print, “He asked me how do you spell ‘bus’ and I told him that he knew. In these sessions, she read books with the students to give them an understanding of the story and then helped them analyze morphosyntacic structures in English and then used fingerspelling as necessary to make a connection to signs in ASL. Supalla, Wix, and McKee (2001) also described an approach at ASL/English bilingual education program where they focused on teaching ASL phonological structures as a means to identify signed structure in signed illustrations and learn an ASL graphemic system as a bridge to help students acquire words in English. Similarly, a study could investigate if the students actually benefitted from teachers exposing them to sign language phonological structure. IT should be compulsory for all teachers to be trained on how to use sign languages in schools so that they can communicate well with students with disability, says a teacher. R. Some researchers have considered non-native forms such as fingerspelling as English and not ASL (Bornstein, 1978; Klima & Bellugi, 1979; Tweney, 1978). In addition, some teachers described language play activities that they used individually or with another teacher. The teachers felt that as students became more familiar with recurring structures they increased their ability to manipulate and form connections with the structures and become more creative with it. J. F Johnson If not, have you developed a guiding framework of some sort? They suggested that fingerspelling patterns seemed to be more reflective of orthographic patterns in written English, and that fingerspelling and print seem to share a functional relationship because “both systems are used to represent the words of English via alphabetic symbols” (p. 202). The teachers reported that students in their classes often struggled to make the distinction. Second, what strategies do teachers use to promote children’s handshape awareness? Meier Oral language skills Students who don’t have the best oral language skills, like many English learners, benefit greatly from the visual aspect of sign language. What is revealing about the instructional strategies is that the teachers used these strategies to help native signers convert their implicit awareness into an explicit awareness. J. L The developing linguistic structure Subcategory described how teachers promoted students’ knowledge of handshapes that were used in the structure of ASL, and these were further divided into two approaches, promote native handshapes awareness and promote manual alphabet awareness. It is noteworthy to mention that many teachers at the school received training from the Center for ASL/English Bilingual Education and Research (CAEBER). With chaining, I think that helps some. if(rcount < 3){ Mapping signs to print may provide only a limited connection initially because there is a non-alphabetic correspondence, whereas mapping fingerspelling to print provides an alphabetic connection to print, which may be limited because readers may have limited access to semantic information of the word. These visually based practices are often subtle, but can impact learning and teaching (Crume & Singleton, 2008; Lederberg & Everhart, 1998; Mather, 1987, 1989). * Correspondence should be sent to Peter K. Crume, Department of Educational Psychology and Special Education, Georgia State University, P.O. K. M. S. K. The connecting to English print Subcategory described how teachers sought to establish a relationship between ASL and English to develop literacy skills, and this Subcategory was divided into two approaches, promote emergent literacy and promote word decoding (see Figure 2). That is, you will not in fact be learning a language. Although the body of research seems to contradict each other, one potential explanation is that deaf children can become successful readers through multiple pathways. Informal conversations are vital to acquiring knowledge about the world as well as gaining implicit knowledge about ASL structure; however, students also benefit from formal ASL instruction. It may be that the teachers at the school changed their approach based on personal observations or because many of the teachers learned through their AEBPD training that a balanced approach was more effective. c. How do you build awareness of ASL phonology? Wix It is not known how the students responded, and a naturalistic study that examines the interaction could provide some answers. It’s the same with spoken English. Mayberry J. F The student then made fingerspelling-like movements while trying to fingerspell the word cow. Learning a sign language has never been so easier with rapid development of the web, quality materials and training is much more convenient and affordable. This approach highlighted the ways that teachers sought to enhance students’ knowledge of how signs incorporated handshapes as a part of the structure of signs. Sign language linguists, researchers, educators, ASL specialists, and policy makers need to meet and devise ways to maximize the potential benefits of sign language PA for deaf children. Chamberlain These strategies have been outlined in detail in the Results section and will be briefly mentioned here. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, Learning to fingerspell twice: Young signing children’s acquisition of fingerspelling, Advances in the sign language development of deaf children, How the alphabet came to be used in a sign language, American Sign Language and reading ability in deaf children, Phonology is necessary, but not sufficient: a rejoinder, Enhancing phonological awareness, print awareness, and oral language skills in preschool children, Young children’s acquisition of the handshape aspect of American Sign Language signs: Parental report findings, Preventing reading difficulties in young children, Speculations on the causes and consequences of individual differences in early reading acquisition, Sign language structure: An outline of the visual communication systems of the American deaf, Department of Anthropology and Linguistics University of Buffalo, Basics of qualitative research: Grounded theory procedures and techniques, Print as a primary source of English for deaf learners, One mind, two languages: Studies in bilingual language processing, The American Sign Language handshape dictionary, Silent reading: Insights from second-generation deaf readers, Sign language and psycholinguistic process: Fact, hypotheses, and implications for interpretation, The nature of phonological processing and its causal role in the acquisition of reading skills, Development of reading-related phonological processing abilities: New evidence of bidirectional causality from a latent variable longitudinal study, The role of phonology and phonologically related skills in reading instruction for students who are deaf or hard of hearing, © The Author 2013. At least 35 states have recognized ASL as a modern language for public schools, and hundreds of colleges and universities in the United States are offering ASL classes. The semistructured format was beneficial because it allowed participants to respond freely to interview questions and explain their perspectives and beliefs. A group of early childhood educators was interviewed to understand how they promoted sign language PA with their students, with a particular focus on how they may have promoted the difference between non-alphabetic and alphabetic handshapes. Although there seems to be resistance to the term chereme among some educators and researchers, the term chereme or some similar term like it would provide deaf educators with a means to show that there is a parallel form of a manual “phonemic” to graphemic connection that exists in ASL. The first level of analysis used action coding, which identified what was happening and what people were doing (e.g., words that end in “-ing,” such as teaching, making) in each line of the transcript. The participants were interviewed individually or with another teacher from their grade level (e.g., first or second year of preschool, prekindergarten, or kindergarten). By comparison, Jennifer felt that the Letter of the week activity forced her students to identify structural features of words of English, a language that many of them had limited experiences with in their daily lives. Lieberman Certainly not if teachers of regular schools learn a little bit of sign language and Braille so that these children can be accommodated in regular classrooms alongside normal kids! The third question this study has sought to answer is how teachers promoted children’s understanding of the representation system of handshapes. T Analysis was conducted using a grounded theory–based approach (Glauser & Strauss, 1967), which is an approach that aims to explain social and psychosocial processes (Charmaz, 2001). Students did seem to make the connection eventually. Hanson ASL is a language of visual gestural modality and it has a grammar and phonological structure that is distinct from spoken English. C. M. It’s important to realize that American Sign Language (ASL) is much more than a means to address the communication challenges of deafness. R. Experts say that teaching children this age the signs for words and the alphabet can help with letter recognition and build their vocabulary. The last two approaches—promote emergent literacy and promote word decoding—represent the teachers’ efforts to make a connection between ASL and written English. Everhart A follow-up response form was also used (see  Appendix B). This is especially true of the deaf students of hearing parents. At one point during the interview, she stated that there was “1,000 different ways to promote sign language phonological awareness.” Thus, it seems that ASL PA is used in deaf education to some degree, but its use has been underutilized in deaf education. Morford The prekindergarten and kindergarten teachers reported using a formally published ASL/English dictionary (i.e., Tennant & Brown, 1998), and the ASL specialist used an ASL/English dictionary computer program. Another underlying belief that served as a basis for the teachers’ instruction was a focus on the progressive development of their students’ knowledge of sign language structure. The ASL specialist reported she regularly used collaborative guided reading with some students. . To become proficient in fingerspelling requires many hours of training and experience. The teachers believed that ASL served as the native and primary language for students and provided students with a foundation that promoted their social, emotional, and language development. However, there are a high number of non-native signs that are commonly used as a part of the lexicon, such as widely accepted initialized signs (e.g., FAMILY, CLUB, DEPARTMENT), sign–fingerspelling compounds (e.g., WATER F-A-L-L), abbreviations (e.g., APT), and fingerspelling forms such as regular or “neutral” fingerspelling (Haptonstall-Nykaza & Schick, 2007) and lexicalized fingerspelling (Battison, 1978). However, fingerspelling provides a manually based alphabetic correspondence to graphemes in written English. Deaf and hearing teachers can work together to discuss these subtle differences and use current practices and beliefs to develop a comparable approach that can be tailored to fit deaf children’s need to process information visually, such as how teachers in this study used a sign language–based approach to promote PA with their students. To learn basic sign language, I use Sign Language 101, and I study one lesson per week, which is provided on video by Dr Byron Bridges, at no cost. The teachers felt that developing awareness of language structure helped highlight consistencies in sign language that made language learning more concrete. She said an interpreter from the Cheshire Home would be with them during the four days of examinations. For the students with delayed language, the teachers’ strategies were geared toward providing them with basic handshapes awareness to build their sign language PA in order to help them acquire and learn new vocabulary. They argued that a lexicalized fingerspelled form, in particular, may be more effective because its form is more sign-like and may include additional semantic and/or syntactic information that is not available only on the regular or “neutral” fingerspelled form. The teachers wanted to create a positive writing experience for their students. One potential argument against categorizing the manual alphabet within the phonological structure of ASL relates to how it fits within the rules that govern the formation of the ASL phonological form. B. Mirus .

function shs_animate_next(){ D The aim of the study was to develop a theoretical framework of ASL PA that could be tested in subsequent studies. (e.g., play, snacks/meals, center time, art), What materials do you put up in the classroom, and do you use them with a specific purpose in mind? Lastly, Carol’s comments indicated that she believed that there was a relationship between early exposure to fingerspelling and reading proficiency. There is no real reason to not learn Sign Language. Many deaf children seem to become successful readers without spoken language PA, potentially suggesting that they could have benefitted from sign language PA. This study used a qualitative approach to examine teacher beliefs and practices of ASL PA in deaf education from teacher self-reports. This should enhance their fingerspelling proficiency and provide students with potential literacy benefits that seem to occur with children that have higher levels of fingerspelling proficiency (Hile, 2009; Hirsh-Pasek, 1987; Padden & Ramsey, 1998, 2000). If they don’t have that, then it’s perhaps in the first grade when they respond. I would like to acknowledge the support and assistance of Jenny Singleton and Amy Lederberg with their support and feedback they provided for the development of the manuscript. The prekindergarten and kindergarten teachers reported that their students made greater use of lexicalized fingerspelling and produced forms with more letters, such as B-E-A-C-H, which seemed to reflect on their increasing level of physical dexterity and experiences with ASL. With this goal in mind, this research study sought to answer the following research questions: (1) How do teachers conceptualize the role of developing children’s knowledge of the structure of ASL? jQuery('#shs_slider_ul:not(:animated)').animate({'left' : left_indent},1000, It was too abstract for them. How do you feel ASL phonology contributes to written English? doi:10.1093/oxfordjournals.deafed.a014290, Nonmanual behaviors in L1 & L2 of American Sign Language, The relationship between sign language phonological knowledge and word recognition skills in bilingual deaf children, 2nd International Conference on Special Education, Phonological representations in deaf children: Rethinking the “functional equivalence” hypothesis, Motoric constraints on early sign acquisition, Proceedings of the Child Language Research Forum, The effect of communication mode on the development of phonemic awareness in prelingually deaf students, Journal of Speech and Language Hearing Research, What the processing of real words and pseudohomophones can tell us about the development of orthographic knowledge in prelingually deafened individuals, Phonological awareness is not necessary to become a skilled deaf reader, Journal of Development and Physical Disabilities, Proximalization of sign movement by second language learners, Signed languages: Discoveries from international research. Thus, by becoming more student-centered in her practice, her students became more efficient and effective in their learning and seemed to improve in their ability to acquire new sign vocabulary. As you see it, what is the current philosophy of the ASL/English bilingual approach at the school? T. E. I expect that you are the expert. J. P. BSL is a complete language with a unique vocabulary, construction and grammar. The findings of this study reveal that teachers did promote sign language PA with students, but there is still much more that needs to be done. The teachers sought to develop both aspects simultaneously to help students understand how the manual alphabet was used in ASL. Conlin The National Reading Panel emphasizes that spoken language phonological awareness (PA) developed at home and school can lead to improvements in reading performance in young children. What does all of this mean for teachers who work in deaf education and promote early literacy and language development? That kind of thing is student based and student centered. Teachers are a potential source to uncover ASL PA in schools because they have to develop their students’ ASL and English skills. }); Second, Carol’s comments also conveyed a belief among the teachers that it was important to be consistent in the use of fingerspelling because its development was an ongoing and emergent process. Meier With others on the educational team, pick one sign to begin teaching your child. One of the greatest developments in ASL learning has been the ability for teachers, students, and friends to connect via webcam. Deaf children should not be in … }else{ del Giudice They looked at me embarrassed. Here are five reasons why you should learn British Sign Language. The goal of this study was to answer four questions. In order to ensure validity and reliability of the findings, the data were triangulated from multiple sources of information, an approach common in qualitative research (Greene, 2007). Carol, the ASL specialist, felt strongly about exposing students to fingerspelling and believed that it was vital to students’ language and literacy development. The researcher, a hearing native signer fluent in ASL (with RID CI/CT certification), conducted the interviews and then transcribed the interviews from oral English or ASL into printed English transcript. function(){ C. What makes the manual alphabet a challenge to characterize is that it is a true hybrid of a signed language and an alphabetic writing system. Thus, what might be beneficial is a term that can describe an alphabetic handshape as a basic sign language structure and signify the alphabetic connection that exists between handshapes and graphemes. Syllabic organization and deafness: Orthographic structure or letter frequency in reading? Once a strong foundation of basic handshape awareness was in place, the teachers focused on how handshapes had different functions in ASL. One of the easiest ways to learn sign language is through YouTube tutorials. Perhaps, I’ll do the sign for CARS CRASH so the students can see how the S-HS is used in the sign. The teachers had students trace and cut out an outline of their hand in the form of a handshape and then encouraged students to use the handshape to form signs based on objects in the room. . The first reason is because of the challenge of modality, the second reason is because of the challenge of handshape representation in sign forms, and the third challenge is because of terminology. The teaching beliefs theme detailed the teachers’ perspectives about teaching and learning. You are THE language role model for these children. Jennifer: I feel that [the ASL handshape of the week activity] helps [students] develop a fuller understanding and it helps them develop sign language. A. C. The other down side, is that a prerequisite to learning sign language is having the fine motor skills necessary to … Interestingly, cross-linguistic activation studies have found evidence that there is some level of ASL-based phonological processing in reading (Morford, Wilkinson, Villwock, Piñar, & Kroll, 2011; Treiman & Hirsh-Pasek, 1983). Siedlecki For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com, Theory of Mind (ToM) Development in Thai Deaf Children, Factors Associated With Anxiety Symptoms in Australian Deaf or Hard of Hearing Children, Social Capital, Loneliness, and Peer Relationships of Adolescents who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing, The Impact of Aging on Spatial Abilities in Deaf Users of a Sign Language, Language and Reading Comprehension Abilities of Elementary School-Aged Deaf Children, About The Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education, Challenges of Promoting Sign Language PA in Deaf Education, National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, 2000, Morford, Wilkinson, Villwock, Piñar, & Kroll, 2011, Receive exclusive offers and updates from Oxford Academic, Signing with students to get them to express ideas and expand their language, Have students bring in objects or pictures that begin with the handshape in ASL (e.g., A-HS for BRUSH), Teach signs and emphasize how it is formed, Stories with signs that incorporate one handshape or a set of handshapes, ASL stories incorporating signs with repetitive movements, Students view themselves on video and analyze what they sign, Students trace their handshape on the paper and use the drawings for activities, such as labeling objects, Poster in the classroom that highlights the different handshapes used in ASL signs, ASL dictionary with signs organized by handshape and made in the classroom, Formal published ASL dictionary with signs organized by handshape, Computer program, with signs grouped by how they are formed (e.g., location, handshape), Direct instruction of the manual alphabet, Teaching students manual alphabet from A-to-Z, Poster display of the manual alphabet in the classroom, Use of fingerspelling within your ASL use, Use of fingerspelling that has become sign-like (e.g., B-U-S, B-E-A-C-H, J-O-B), Charts that compare signs that use overlapping handshapes used in ASL signs with the manual alphabet used in initialized signs (e.g., A-HS in BRUSH, compared to the A-HS in AUNT), Discuss handshape used in widely accepted initialized signs in ASL (e.g., BLUE, GREEN, KING, FAMILY) and its connection to English, Signing storybooks to your class or combined class, while pointing to words in English, Signing storybooks to one or two students, while pointing to words in English, Students trace over letters or practice writing letters, Focus on words & ASL equivalent signs that use a specific letter of the week (e.g., cat, cake, couch), Writing down the student’s stories in ASL, Students sign stories and then you write them down for the student, Students write letters or words in their own journal (in addition to pictures), Using easy reader books with highly repetitive phrases and structures (e.g., the boy is walking, the boy is running), Review the common words in English that may not be used in ASL, such as articles and prepositions in English (e.g., the, a, an, this), Reading books with students to give them understanding of the story and then go through the book to point out specific structures in English (e.g., “is” needs to connect with “-ing”), Connecting signs and pictures with English print through fingerspelling. Each participant was assigned a pseudonym to protect her identity (see Table 1). The fourth question this study has sought to address is how teachers promoted a connection between ASL and English. . Villwock The teachers used high-frequency word lists in English and chose words that they felt their students did not know in order to boost their familiarity with the words. Paul Similar studies have been done with hearing children and show that early levels of PA in spoken language are beneficial for future success. The teachers felt that promoting knowledge of sign language structure helped students build a stronger understanding of their native language. Therefore, it is vital for teachers (and sign language interpreters) working with deaf children to make a conscious effort to fingerspell and chain early and often, even if it is difficult. Diane E. This personal interaction seemed to provide students with the ability to conduct a deeper level of word analysis of structure beyond just a semantic connection. When deaf signers read English: Do written words activate their sign translations?

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Part of this practice reflected the project approach used in the school, where the teachers followed the students’ lead and developed lesson plans that focused on a theme for a short period of time (Edwards, Gandini, & Forman, 1998; Katz & Chard, 2000). Or at least be there as a learning option. Bonvillian Nickerson Lederberg Little is known about how teachers might promote ASL PA in deaf education or how its use may parallel and contrast with PA used with hearing children. There is a strong belief among educators, researchers, and policy makers that spoken language PA is necessary for children to become successful at reading. This gave students a means to understand different ways that signs could express ideas and increase their knowledge of sign structures in ASL. Parents who had difficulty in school may be worried about not being able to learn ASL. What is the range of linguistic and academic abilities of your students with deaf parents and with hearing parents? McKee The key is to make the connection.”, The teachers wanted to make written English accessible to their students and develop their appreciation for it. This meant that Deaf children did not see anybody use Sign Language until they went to school, if at all. The students get excited, and it builds their self-esteem. It didn’t really make a connection. How do you promote literacy building through peer interaction?