THE BENEFICIAL ROLE OF L1 SPOKEN LANGUAGE SKILLS ON INITIAL L2 SIGN LANGUAGE LEARNING

2016 ◽  
Vol 39 (4) ◽  
pp. 833-850 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joshua T. Williams ◽  
Isabelle Darcy ◽  
Sharlene D. Newman
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
American Sign Language ◽  
Sign Language ◽  
Verbal Memory ◽  
Linear Regression Analysis ◽  
Vocabulary Knowledge ◽  
Cognitive Linguistic ◽  
Linguistic Skills ◽  
Phonetic Categorization

Understanding how language modality (i.e., signed vs. spoken) affects second language outcomes in hearing adults is important both theoretically and pedagogically, as it can determine the specificity of second language (L2) theory and inform how best to teach a language that uses a new modality. The present study investigated which cognitive-linguistic skills predict successful L2 sign language acquisition. A group (n = 25) of adult hearing L2 learners of American Sign Language underwent a cognitive-linguistic test battery before and after one semester of sign language instruction. A number of cognitive-linguistic measures of verbal memory, phonetic categorization skills, and vocabulary knowledge were examined to determine whether they predicted proficiency in a multiple linear regression analysis. Results indicated that English vocabulary knowledge and phonetic categorization skills predicted both vocabulary growth and self-rated proficiency at the end of one semester of instruction. Memory skills did not significantly predict either proficiency measures. These results highlight how linguistic skills in the first language (L1) directly predict L2 learning outcomes regardless of differences in L1 and L2 language modalities.

scholarly journals Constructed Action in American Sign Language: A Look at Second Language Learners in a Second Modality

Languages ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
pp. 90
Author(s):  
Kim B. Kurz ◽  
Kellie Mullaney ◽  
Corrine Occhino
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
American Sign Language ◽  
Sign Language ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Second Language Learners ◽  
American Sign ◽  
Psychological States ◽  
Video Clips ◽  
Discourse Coherence ◽  
Signed Language

Constructed action is a cover term used in signed language linguistics to describe multi-functional constructions which encode perspective-taking and viewpoint. Within constructed action, viewpoint constructions serve to create discourse coherence by allowing signers to share perspectives and psychological states. Character, observer, and blended viewpoint constructions have been well documented in signed language literature in Deaf signers. However, little is known about hearing second language learners’ use of constructed action or about the acquisition and use of viewpoint constructions. We investigate the acquisition of viewpoint constructions in 11 college students acquiring American Sign Language (ASL) as a second language in a second modality (M2L2). Participants viewed video clips from the cartoon Canary Row and were asked to “retell the story as if you were telling it to a deaf friend”. We analyzed the signed narratives for time spent in character, observer, and blended viewpoints. Our results show that despite predictions of an overall increase in use of all types of viewpoint constructions, students varied in their time spent in observer and character viewpoints, while blended viewpoint was rarely observed. We frame our preliminary findings within the context of M2L2 learning, briefly discussing how gestural strategies used in multimodal speech-gesture constructions may influence learning trajectories.

LEARNING TO SEE: TEACHING AMERICAN SIGN LANGUAGE AS A SECOND LANGUAGE (2nd ed.).Sherman Wilcox and Phyllis Perrin Wilcox. Washington, DC: Gallaudet University Press, 1997. Pp. x + 145. $19.95 cloth.

1998 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 124-125
Author(s):  
Timothy Reagan
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Foreign Language ◽  
American Sign Language ◽  
Sign Language ◽  
Communicative Competence ◽  
Washington Dc ◽  
American Sign ◽  
Language Structure ◽  
University Level

American Sign Language (ASL), both as the focus of scholarly study and as an increasingly popular foreign-language option for many secondary and university level students, has made remarkable strides during recent years. With respect to the linguistics of ASL, there has been a veritable revolution in our understanding of the nature, structure, and complexity of the language since the publication of William Stokoe's landmark Sign Language Structure in 1960. Works on both theoretical aspects of the linguistics of ASL and on the sociolinguistics of the Deaf community now abound, and the overall quality of such works is impressively high. Also widely available now are textbooks designed to teach ASL as a second language. Such textbooks vary dramatically in quality, ranging from phrasebook and lexical guides to very thorough and up-to-date works focusing on communicative competence in ASL.

scholarly journals Second Language Working Memory Deficits and Plasticity in Hearing Bimodal Learners of Sign Language

2015 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 128-148 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joshua Williams ◽  
Isabelle Darcy ◽  
Sharlene Newman
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Second Language ◽  
American Sign Language ◽  
Sign Language ◽  
First Language ◽  
Memory Deficits ◽  
Spoken Language ◽  
American Sign ◽  
Visuospatial Sketchpad ◽  
Language Modality

AbstractLittle is known about the acquisition of another language modality on second language (L2) working memory (WM) capacity. Differential indexing within the WM system based on language modality may explain differences in performance on WM tasks in sign and spoken language. We investigated the effect of language modality (sign versus spoken) on L2 WM capacity. Results indicated reduced L2 WM span relative to first language span for both L2 learners of Spanish and American Sign Language (ASL). Importantly, ASL learners had lower L2 WM spans than Spanish learners. Additionally, ASL learners increased their L2 WM spans as a function of proficiency, whereas Spanish learners did not. This pattern of results demonstrated that acquiring another language modality disadvantages ASL learners. We posited that this disadvantage arises out of an inability to correctly and efficiently allocate linguistic information to the visuospatial sketchpad due to L1-related indexing bias.

Can experience with co-speech gesture influence the prosody of a sign language? Sign language prosodic cues in bimodal bilinguals

2012 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 402-412 ◽  
Author(s):  
DIANE BRENTARI ◽  
MARIE A. NADOLSKE ◽  
GEORGE WOLFORD
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
American Sign Language ◽  
Sign Language ◽  
Prosodic Structure ◽  
American Sign ◽  
Language Experience ◽  
Prosodic Cues ◽  
Hearing Status ◽  
Native Signers

In this paper the prosodic structure of American Sign Language (ASL) narratives is analyzed in deaf native signers (L1-D), hearing native signers (L1-H), and highly proficient hearing second language signers (L2-H). The results of this study show that the prosodic patterns used by these groups are associated both with their ASL language experience (L1 or L2) and with their hearing status (deaf or hearing), suggesting that experience using co-speech gesture (i.e. gesturing while speaking) may have some effect on the prosodic cues used by hearing signers, similar to the effects of the prosodic structure of an L1 on an L2.

Construal of content

2018 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 27-48
Author(s):  
Christina Healy
Keyword(s):  
American Sign Language ◽  
Sign Language ◽  
Cognitive Model ◽  
Stage Model ◽  
American Sign ◽  
Theoretical Concepts ◽  
Cognitive Linguistic ◽  
Meaning Transfer ◽  
Nuanced Understanding ◽  
Linguistic Approach

Abstract Interpreting requires a nuanced understanding of language, and Wilcox and Shaffer (2005) propose that interpreting is enhanced by adopting a cognitive model of communication rather than the conduit model implicit in many interpreting pedagogy models. The present study used a cognitive linguistic approach to investigate affective constructions in American Sign Language (ASL). Relative cognitive linguistic principles are reviewed in the context of English affective constructions and applied in reporting the ASL findings. Then the article explores how these theoretical concepts can support meaning-transfer work. Specifically, Langacker’s Stage Model (2008) is expanded as a framework for comparing source and target text construals of events and for presenting a message with equivalent impact through different language-specific strategies.

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