Review of Sign language Assessment Instruments

2005 ◽  
Vol 8 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 61-98 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tobias Haug
Keyword(s):  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Sign Language ◽  
Language Assessment ◽  
Assessment Instrument ◽  
Deaf Children ◽  
Assessment Instruments ◽  
Age Group ◽  
Linguistic Research ◽  
Language Assessments ◽  
Linguistic Content

This article reviews and discusses existing sign language assessment instruments and those that are still under development. There are three groupings of sign language assessments: (1) instruments to assess and monitor the process of sign language acquisition in deaf children, (2) assessments for educational purposes, and (3) instruments for linguistic research. These will be discussed individually with regard to a range of issues, such as target age group, linguistic content of the assessment instrument, background of the instrument and development, usability and availability, and strengths and weaknesses. The article concludes with an evaluation of the reviewed instruments.

Developing Sign Language Measurements for Research With Deaf Populations

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jon Henner ◽  
Robert Hoffmeister ◽  
Jeanne Reis
Keyword(s):  
American Sign Language ◽  
Sign Language ◽  
Hard Of Hearing ◽  
Assessment Instrument ◽  
Deaf Children ◽  
American Sign ◽  
Language Deprivation ◽  
Signed Language ◽  
Language Assessments ◽  
Hearing Children

Limited choices exist for assessing the signed language development of deaf and hard of hearing children. Over the past 30 years, the American Sign Language Assessment Instrument (ASLAI) has been one of the top choices for norm-referenced assessment of deaf and hard of hearing children who use American Sign Language. Signed language assessments can also be used to evaluate the effects of a phenomenon known as language deprivation, which tends to affect deaf children. They can also measure the effects of impoverished and idiosyncratic nonstandard signs and grammar used by educators of the deaf and professionals who serve the Deaf community. This chapter discusses what was learned while developing the ASLAI and provides guidelines for educators and researchers of the deaf who seek to develop their own signed language assessments.

Gesture and sign

1994 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 209-236 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marc Marschark
Keyword(s):  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Sign Language ◽  
Deaf Children ◽  
Signed Languages ◽  
Pragmatic Communication ◽  
Relationship Of ◽  
The Relationship

ABSTRACTThe relationship of gesticulation to speech has received considerable theoretical and empirical attention from investigators interested in the verbal status of gesture, its use in prelinguistic children, and the role of gestures in social and pragmatic communication. The relationship of gesticulation to sign language, in contrast, has received less attention. Although the gestures of deaf children have been investigated in the contexts of language acquisition and linguistic flexibility, the functions of gestures used by deaf versus hearing individuals have not been examined. One difficulty for such a study stems from the fact that gesture and sign language occur in the same modality. Gesture and sign are considered here with an eye toward determining those aspects of manual communication that are specific to users of signed languages and those in common with users of oral languages. This examination reveals that gestures produced by deaf individuals can be distinguished from the sign language in which they are embedded, both in terms of their privilege of occurrence and their semantic and pragmatic functions.

Using the Adapted Flemish Sign Language Visual Communication and Sign Language Checklist

2019 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
pp. 188-198
Author(s):  
Beatrijs Wille ◽  
Thomas Allen ◽  
Kristiane Van Lierde ◽  
Mieke Van Herreweghe
Keyword(s):  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Sign Language ◽  
Visual Communication ◽  
Early Sign ◽  
The Other ◽  
Deaf Children ◽  
Profound Hearing Loss ◽  
Language Support ◽  
Standardization Process ◽  
Detailed Picture

Abstract This study addresses the topic of visual communication and early sign language acquisition in deaf children with a Flemish Sign Language (Vlaamse Gebarentaal or VGT) input. Results are obtained through a checklist focusing on sign-exposed deaf children’s visual communication and early sign language acquisition: the adapted VGT Visual Communication and Sign Language checklist. The purpose is to obtain the first detailed picture of these children’s visual and early VGT acquisition and to determine the optimal support for the checklist’s ongoing standardization process. At the time of testing, all children were 24-months old and had been diagnosed with a severe or profound hearing loss before the age of 6 months. Half of the children were being raised in deaf families with native VGT exposure, while the other half were from hearing families with no prior VGT knowledge. All parents declared VGT accessibility to the child and that they used VGT in the home. Resulting from this study is the identification of five early visual communication items as being potentially good indicators of later (sign) language development. Further, concerns were put forward on the lack of ongoing visual, communication, and language support for deaf children and their parents in Flanders.

scholarly journals The initial stages of first-language acquisition begun in adolescence: when late looks early

2012 ◽  
Vol 40 (2) ◽  
pp. 391-414 ◽  
Author(s):  
NAJA FERJAN RAMÍREZ ◽  
AMY M. LIEBERMAN ◽  
RACHEL I. MAYBERRY
Keyword(s):  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
American Sign Language ◽  
Sign Language ◽  
First Language ◽  
Brain Maturation ◽  
Deaf Children ◽  
First Language Acquisition ◽  
Early Language ◽  
Vocabulary Size

Children typically acquire their native language naturally and spontaneously at a very young age. The emergence of early grammar can be predicted from children's vocabulary size and composition (Bateset al., 1994; Bates, Bretherton & Snyder, 1998; Bates & Goodman, 1997). One central question in language research is understanding what causes the changes in early language acquisition. Some researchers argue that the qualitative and quantitative shifts in word learning simply reflect the changing character of the child's cognitive maturity (for example, Gentner, 1982), while others argue that the trajectory of early language acquisition is driven by the child's growing familiarity with the language (Gillette, Gleitman, Gleitman & Lederer, 1999; Snedeker & Gleitman, 2004). These hypotheses are difficult to adjudicate because language acquisition in virtually all hearing children begins from birth and occurs simultaneously with cognitive development and brain maturation. The acquisition of sign languages, in contrast, is frequently delayed until older ages. In the USA, over 90% of deaf children are born to hearing parents who do not use sign language (Schein, 1989). As a result, deaf children are often exposed to sign language as a first language at a range of ages well beyond infancy (Mayberry, 2007). In rare cases, some deaf individuals are isolated from all linguistic input until adolescence when they start receiving special services and begin to learn sign language through immersion (Morford, 2003). Case studies of language acquisition in such extreme late first-language (L1) learners provide a unique opportunity to investigate first-language learning. The current study investigates three cases of young teens who are in the early stages of acquiring American Sign Language (ASL) as a first language, to determine what first-language acquisition in adolescence looks like.

scholarly journals DESIGNING ICT COMPETENCES-INTEGRATED ASSESSMENT INSTRUMENTS OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE ASSESSMENT AND LANGUAGE ASSESSMENT INSTRUMENT DEVELOPMENT OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDUCATION STUDY PROGRAM

2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 26-35
Author(s):  
Devitri Andini ◽  
Siti Drivoka Sulistyaningrum ◽  
Darmahusni
Keyword(s):  
Instrument Development ◽  
Integrated Assessment ◽  
English Language ◽  
Language Education ◽  
Language Assessment ◽  
Assessment Instrument ◽  
Assessment Instruments ◽  
English Language Education ◽  
Study Program ◽  
Education Study

This study aims at designing ICT competences – integrated assessment instruments of English Language Assessment and Language Assessment Instrument Development courses for English Language Education Study Program by analyzing the existing assessment instruments from five universities in Indonesia. The analysis involved the ICT competences proposed by UNESCO and Digital Media and Assessment Descriptors of English Profiling Grid (EPG). The study applied Design and Development Research (DDR) as the research design and qualitative as the research method. The used stages of DDR in this study are Identify Problem; Describe the Objectives, Design and Develop the Prototypes and Validate the Prototypes. The result of the study found that ICT competences are mostly integrated in the use of word-processing of the existing assessment instruments as a tool which use hardware such as computer, laptop and printer as well as software such as Windows/Mac and Microsoft Word by using features on them such as page layout, margins, table, font type and size, numbering, space and grammar checker. Then the researcher tried to provide the procedure of ICT competences integration and the design of ICT competences integrated – Language Assessment Instrument Development course.

Language Assessment Literacy in Second Signed Language Assessment Contexts

2021 ◽  
pp. 383-393
Author(s):  
Eveline Boers-Visker ◽  
Annemiek Hammer
Keyword(s):  
Sign Language ◽  
Language Proficiency ◽  
First Language ◽  
Language Assessment ◽  
Special Focus ◽  
Language Programs ◽  
Language Tests ◽  
Signed Language ◽  
The Matrix ◽  
Language Assessments

There are growing numbers of students who enroll sign language programs. Most of them are hearing students whose first language is in the aural-oral modality. Learning signed language challenges them to communicate via the visual-manual modality; a process that is known to be demanding (Kemp, 1998). Therefore, in instruction it is essential to monitor this process by means of effective and efficient assessment (Miller et al., 2008). Rather remarkably, there are only a few tests developed to assess students’ proficiency in sign language. This implies that most instructors, who are involved in sign language teaching, have to develop tests and assessments themselves. Complicating factor, however, is that most instructors are not specifically trained on this topic, i.e. their knowledge and skills to evaluate or design language tests is limited. In this chapter, we will bring issues to view that are involved with the design of sign language assessments. Sign language proficiency can be broken down into two components: the visual receptive and manual expressive component. The assessment of these components will be discussed in the context of validity, reliability, authenticity, impact and practicality. We aim to provide a comprehensive matrix of issues in test design, with special focus on the pitfalls one may encounter in using or developing sign language tests for production as well as receptive skills. The matrix is a first attempt to provide a knowledge base on sign language assessment that might be helpful for instructors to become more literate on the subject matter.

Language readiness and learning among deaf children

2017 ◽  
Vol 40 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anne E. Pfister ◽  
Daniel H. Lende
Keyword(s):  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Sign Language ◽  
Deaf Children ◽  
Social Phenomenon ◽  
Language Practices ◽  
Language Research

AbstractWe applaud Goldin-Meadow & Brentari's (G-M&B's) significant efforts to consider the linkages between sign, gesture, and language. Research on deaf children and sign language acquisition can broaden the G-M&B approach by considering how language readiness is also a social phenomenon and that distinctions between imagistic and categorical formats rely on language practices and contexts.

The Token and Reporter's Tests

1985 ◽  
Vol 16 (4) ◽  
pp. 244-255
Author(s):  
Penelope K. Hall ◽  
Linda S. Jordan
Keyword(s):  
Language Development ◽  
Language Disorders ◽  
Language Assessment ◽  
Assessment Instruments ◽  
Token Test ◽  
Normal Language

The performance of 123 language-disordered children on the DeRenzi and Faglioni form of the Token Test and the DeRenzi and Ferrari Reporter's Test were analyzed using two scoring conventions, and then compared with the performances of children with presumed normal language development. Correlations with other commonly used language assessment instruments are cited. Use of the Token and Reporter's Tests with children exhibiting language disorders is suggested.

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