Sign Languages Commons^™

“Everyone Here Spoke Sign Language”, Nora Groce

Society for American Sign Language Journal

No abstract provided.

The Resilience, Adaptation, And Evolution Of American Sign Language, Robert J. Hoffmeister

Society for American Sign Language Journal

No abstract provided.

Martha's Vineyard As An Inspiration, Jody Cripps

Society for American Sign Language Journal

No abstract provided.

Sasl Journal, Volume 4, Number 2 (Full Issue)

Society for American Sign Language Journal

No abstract provided.

Signing To Success: Developing Effective Asl Curricula In Secondary Public Education, Claire Sutterer

Undergraduate Research Symposium

This study aims to investigate the history of American Sign Language (ASL) in public schools, analyze where ASL education is today, and provide potential solutions to improving the quantity and quality of ASL classes within public high schools. A significant body of research focusing on preK-2nd grade students and research with primary concentration on students who are Deaf or hard of hearing has already been developed. However, developing effective methods for teaching ASL to hearing people is a relatively new and under researched area. ASL was not officially recognized as a language until the 1950s. It wasn’t until 2011 that …

Patterns In Eipa Test Scores And Implications For Interpreter Education, Deborah Michele Cates

Journal of Interpretation

The present study addresses existing skill gaps of sign language interpreters by analyzing a database of 1,211 scores from the Educational Interpreter Performance Assessment (EIPA) to answer four primary questions: what patterns are there in EIPA Romans across score levels, what patterns are there in EIPA indices within Romans across score levels, which discreet language and processing skills correlate most strongly with overall EIPA scores, and how does performance on those discreet language and processing skills compare between graduates and non-graduates of interpreter training programs. Characteristics of score patterns and correlations between indices on the test are examined and discussed …

Sasl Journal, Volume 4, Number 1

Society for American Sign Language Journal

No abstract provided.

International Journal Of Interpreter Education, Volume 13, Issue 1

International Journal of Interpreter Education

No abstract provided.

Interprofessional Education For Interpreting And Social Work Students—Design And Evaluation, Jim Hlavac, Bernadette J. Saunders

International Journal of Interpreter Education

Public service interpreters and social workers frequently work with each other. A training approach that seeks to bring learners from two professional areas together is interprofessional education. This paper describes and discusses interprofessional education sessions for interpreting and social work students conducted over 3 years. We report on how these were designed and delivered and on students’ evaluation of learning outcomes. Evaluations from students were elicited via anonymous questionnaires in paper/ electronic form. Responses were gained from 218 of 442 participating students on the following: level of confidence to later work with professionals of the other disciplinary background; level of …

Dissertation Abstracts, Dawn Marie Wessling, Laurie Reinhardt, Folami Ford, Agustina Marianacci, Mónica Del Carmen Santana García

International Journal of Interpreter Education

In this section, we feature abstracts of recently completed doctoral or master’s theses. If you have recently completed a master’s or PhD thesis in the field of interpreter or translator education and would like it to be included, please send an abstract of 200–300 words to [email protected]. We urge all academic supervisors to encourage their students to submit abstracts of their completed dissertations for inclusion in the next issue of the journal to help disseminate new research and to support the next generation of academic researchers.

Maintaining Our Resilience As Interpreters, Ineke Crezee, George Major

International Journal of Interpreter Education

No abstract provided.

Knowledge-Oriented Training Of Trainers: Feedback On A Seminar In Hybrid Mode, Barry S. Olsen, Franz Pöchhacker

International Journal of Interpreter Education

We describe and evaluate a Training of Trainers seminar organized by the International Association of Conference Interpreters (AIIC) in Washington, D.C., that pioneered a hybrid mode of delivery. In one of two back-to-back events, each lasting 1-and-a-half days and including some 10 participants, videocon¬ferencing was used to allow online participation by seven interpreter educators together with a diverse group of on-site participants, including three signed language interpreters. After presenting the background and content of the course, we introduce the physical and technical setup and discuss the various challenges in ensuring communicative interaction among all participants. Drawing on a video recording …

A Survey Of Language Shaming Experiences In Interpreter Education, Dawn M. Wessling, Suzanne Ehrlich

International Journal of Interpreter Education

Problems of practice (Henriksen & Richardson, 2017) are the impetus for change across many disciplines and result in a myriad of solutions toward best practices. Teaching American Sign Language/English interpreting is no different than other genres in higher education in seeking continuous improvement. Signed language interpreters in teaming situations may engage in self- and peer critique in the process of creating an interpretation (Russell, 2011). As a result, interpreters are cognizant of corrections they may receive from their peers, whether new to the field or long-term practitioners. The action of being monitored by peers and the related behavior are not …

Book Review: Flipped Learning: A Guide For Higher Education Faculty, Kimberly Hale, Tara Stevens

International Journal of Interpreter Education

No abstract provided.

Risk Management In Translation: How Much Does It Really Explain?, Daniel Gile

International Journal of Interpreter Education

While risk has always been part of translation, it was taken up as a distinct topic recently, with some confusion as to what the term actually covers and some problematic claims about its central role as a determinant of translation behavior and the links between risk and translation effort. It is argued that risk is more often a constraint than a driver of decisions, that the correlation between the magnitude of risk-associated loss and the number of problem-solving efforts can be weak, and that achievement-oriented decision making explains translatorial behavior better than risk management and is more compatible with professional …

Global Pride: Diversity, Equity, And Inclusion In Interpreting, Deb Russell, Colin Allen

International Journal of Interpreter Education

This open-forum article highlights an interview conducted with Colin Allen, a Visiting Lecturer from the National Technical Institute for the Deaf at Rochester Institute of Technology and Abigail Gorman, an activist and graduate student at Birkbeck College, University of London, in the UK. In this interview, they highlight their experiences while coordinating International Sign interpreters for Global Pride, a virtual international global event that took place in June 2020. This was the first time that Global Pride has provided communication access to the international deaf LGBTIQA+ Community via sign interpreting services. (For the purposes of this article, LGBTQIA+ refers to …

Book Review: The Role Of Technology In Conference Interpreter Training, Francesca Maria Frittella

International Journal of Interpreter Education

No abstract provided.

Participant Reference In Colombian Sign Language Narrative, Martha Lois Gateley

Theses and Dissertations

Much of the research on discourse in sign languages thus far has been carried out on American Sign Language. With this thesis, I add to the current research by comparing what is known about participant reference in American Sign Language with Colombian Sign Language.

This thesis analyzes six separate stories totaling 72 minutes, signed by 5 different native signers of Colombian Sign Language. ELAN (a computer software for annotation) was used to mark all of the referring terms in the subject position and categorize the terms by type (nominal reference, pronominal reference, zero-anaphor, and classifier) and by function (introduction, reintroduction …

From Interpreting Student To Deaf Interpreter: A Case Study Of Vocational Identity Development, Margie English, Brenda Nicodemus, Danielle I. J. Hunt, Stephan Kennedy, Mckenna Mcgough

Journal of Interpretation

Research indicates that the development of a vocational identity is critical to the process of adult maturation and for creating a sense of purpose in one’s life. Deaf individuals in the United States are increasingly interested in establishing a vocation in signed language interpreting, despite workplace obstacles experienced by other oppressed and marginalized populations. Career identity has been examined in several professions, but little is known about the factors underlying the vocational identity development of Deaf interpreters. To address this gap, the researchers adopted a case study approach to explore the experiences of two Deaf students during their first semester …

Finding Their Fit: An Exploratory Study Of Interpreters’ Perceptions Of Their Membership In The Deaf Community, Cami J. Miner

Journal of Interpretation

In the U.S., Deaf individuals who use a signed language as their preferred and dominant means of communication are considered a distinct linguistic and cultural group known as the Deaf community. Sign language interpreters, particularly non-native signers who are leaning ASL, are frequently encouraged to associate with the Deaf community as part of their language acquisition process. However, interpreters who are not deaf or native signers, especially students, often experience tension as they interact with the Deaf community. The literature is divided on whether hearing interpreters who learn ASL later in life, even those who are arguably bilingual and bicultural, …

Gendered Translations: Working From Asl Into English, Campbell Mcdermid, Brianna Bricker, Andrea Shealy, Abigail Copen

Journal of Interpretation

American Sign Language (ASL) is a visual-spatial language that differs from spoken language, such as English. One way is in the use and characteristics of pronouns (Meier, 1990). Pronouns in ASL, for example, are created by pointing to objects or locations in space (written in English here as POINT), and do not have a gender assigned to them as they do in English (he, she, him, her). So, where it is not specified in ASL, interpreters must decide how to interpret pronouns into English. Limited research has been done on this topic (Quinto-Pozos et al., 2015), and so a study …

Exploring Tactile Art-Making With Deafblind Students And Their Families: An Opportunity For Creative Play, Alice Rodgers

Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses

The impact of a deafblind diagnosis on an individual’s mental health and the well-being of the family involved can be profound. However, current research and available literature for the mental health treatment and therapy practices of deafblind persons and their families is limited (Kyzar et al., 2016; “WFDB Global Report 2018,” n.d.). This thesis used the Leeds Family Psychology and Therapy Service principles (Leeds FPTS) and the Expressive Therapies Continuum with established deafblind teaching strategies to facilitate an original arts-based community project entitled: “Things We Like.” This project provided an opportunity for deafblind students (ages three to 22) and their …

Bilingual Language Stimulation Strategies: Recasting And Expansion: A Creative Research Based Product, Merri Lindsey

Undergraduate University Honors Capstones

The purpose of this research-based creative product was to provide a workshop to parents of toddlers providing information on preventative language stimulation strategies, specifically recasting and expansion. The original proposed study intended to analyze outcomes based on a pretest/posttest design, but due to recruitment challenges, it changed. Four remote synchronous workshops were planned: one for hearing parents of children acquiring ASL, one for hearing parents of children acquiring spoken English, one for deaf parents of children acquiring spoken English and ASL, and one for deaf parents of children acquiring ASL. Due to struggles with participant recruitment, I instead developed a …

Untold Stories Of Asl Deprivation: A Collection Of Experiences, Lydia Kopp

Undergraduate University Honors Capstones

Language deprivation is a serious issue in deaf education and in the deaf community. Language deprivation occurs when the child is not exposed to an accessible language within their formative years, which is from birth to five years old. In this Capstone project, real-life experiences of language deprivation specifically on the lack of access to ASL were explored by collected interviews from four adults that were converted into creative nonfiction stories in a biographical style. This project focuses on the effects of ASL deprivation, as opposed to English and any other language. The stories portrayed how different the participants’ experiences …

Captions For Covid? Hearing Accessibility In Virtual "Zoom" Theatre, Gianna Schuetz

Honors Theses

The COVID-19 pandemic shut the doors of theatres across the United States and the rest of the world. Live theatre came to a sudden halt as gatherings of people served as significant health risks. As live theatre performances became nearly obsolete, many theatre organizations were forced to creatively adapt to move their programming to a virtual format. Presenting theatre in a virtual format brings many challenges; however, it also brings opportunities for increased accessibility and access, particularly for individuals who are hard of hearing.

The following thesis explores hearing accessibility measures taken by theatre companies as they ventured into virtual …

Timing Comparisons Across American Sign Language And English, Jillian Bartlett

Thinking Matters Symposium

American Sign Language (ASL) and spoken English differ in modalities, but prosody can be found in both. Previous studies show that the Closure Positive Shift (CPS) (an established component of an Event-Related Potential [ERP]) occurs in response to acoustic stimuli indicative of prosodic phrasing (Pannekamp et al., 2005; Steinhauer et al., 1999). Prosodic processing in relation to these two modalities was studied using EEG. Sixteen Deaf ASL speakers and 34 hearing English speakers participated in the study by watching video or listening to audio recordings of stimuli while a portable electroencephalogram, or EEG (a device that detects abnormalities in brain …

An Interactive Visual Database For American Sign Language Reveals How Signs Are Organized In The Mind, Zed Sevcikova Sehyr, Ariel Goldberg, Karen Emmory, Naomi Caselli

Communication Sciences and Disorders Faculty Articles and Research

"We are four researchers who study psycholinguistics, linguistics, neuroscience and deaf education. Our team of deaf and hearing scientists worked with a group of software engineers to create the ASL-LEX database that anyone can use for free. We cataloged information on nearly 3,000 signs and built a visual, searchable and interactive database that allows scientists and linguists to work with ASL in entirely new ways."

The Asl-Lex 2.0 Project: A Database Of Lexical And Phonological Properties For 2,723 Signs In American Sign Language, Zed Sevcikova Sehyr, Naomi Caselli, Ariel M. Cohen-Goldberg, Karen Emmory

Communication Sciences and Disorders Faculty Articles and Research

ASL-LEX is a publicly available, large-scale lexical database for American Sign Language (ASL). We report on the expanded database (ASL-LEX 2.0) that contains 2,723 ASL signs. For each sign, ASL-LEX now includes a more detailed phonological description, phonological density and complexity measures, frequency ratings (from deaf signers), iconicity ratings (from hearing non-signers and deaf signers), transparency (“guessability”) ratings (from non-signers), sign and videoclip durations, lexical class, and more. We document the steps used to create ASL-LEX 2.0 and describe the distributional characteristics for sign properties across the lexicon and examine the relationships among lexical and phonological properties of signs. Correlation …

Coda, John C. Lyden

Journal of Religion & Film

This is a film review of CODA (2021), directed by Siân Heder.

Sign Language And Language Development: A Meta-Analysis, Yasmin Sanchez

Honors Undergraduate Theses

This study takes a look at baby signing and its effect on caregiver responsiveness, considering how vital caregiver responsiveness is when it comes to language development. A meta-analytic review that quantitatively combines data was conducted to estimate the effect size between baby signs and caregiver responsiveness. There were no restrictions on geography or culture in which studies were conducted. However, the time period of publication was limited from 2009 to 2020 in an attempt to examine the most recent research possible. The following search terms were used: baby signing, gestures, caregiver responsiveness, caregiver interactions, and caregiver. For a study to …