Sign Language Acquisition and Use by Single-Generation Deaf Adults in Australia Who Attended Specific Educational Settings for Deaf and Hard of Hearing Children

2007 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 59-71 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen Lamar Winn
Author(s):  
Χρήστος Γεωργοκωστόπουλος ◽  
Μαρία Τζουριάδου

In this study, we investigated the perceptual function of deaf/hard of hearing children. The sample of the study consisted of 58 pupils aged 8-13 years old (3rd-6th graders) with severe (60-90 db) or profound (90 db and above) neurosensory hearing loss – pre-lingual with or without cochlear implants. Children with co-morbidity (intellectual disabilities, syndromes, autism, motor disorders, etc.) and children with post-lingual deafness/hearing impairment were excluded. In order to investigate their perceptual function, the Perceptual Functionality Criterion was used. The results of the study show that deaf/hard of hearing participants exhibit a “sporadic” profile regarding the general perceptual functionality. In particular, the participants were found to perform similarly in terms of visual-perceptive skills, while there was one exception, i.e. their visual-motor skills were worse. Higher scores have been shown in the domain of kinesthetic and tactile perception and lower ones regarding vestigial perception, especially in terms of the sense of balance. In addition, the perceptual function was investigated among the cochlear implant participants and those with conventional hearing aids. The results showed no significant differences between the two groups regarding the perceptual function, although the visual perception was found to be significantly better among the users of conventional hearing aids relative to cochlear implant users. Finally, the perceptual function was investigated in terms of the main method of language/communication used. The data indicated that participants, regardless of whether they use sign language, total/bilingual or oral communication, performed roughly similarly on the test variables. Among the different types of main method of language/communication, statistically significant differences were absent, though regarding the visual and kinesthetic perception sign language users outperformed the users of oral communication.


Author(s):  
Johannes Hennies ◽  
Kristin Hennies

In 2016, the first German bimodal bilingual co-enrollment program for deaf and hard-of-hearing (DHH) students, CODAs, and other hearing children was established in Erfurt, Thuringia. There is a tradition of different models of co-enrollment for DHH children in a spoken language setting in Germany, but there has been no permanent program for co-enrollment of DHH children who use sign language so far. This program draws from the experience of an existing model in Austria to enroll a group of DHH children using sign language in a regular school and from two well-documented bimodal bilingual programs in German schools for the deaf. The chapter describes the preconditions for the project, the political circumstances of the establishment of bimodal bilingual co-enrollment, and the factors that seem crucial for successful realization.


2009 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 113-160 ◽  
Author(s):  
Claudia Becker

Hearing children acquire discourse competences like storytelling through everyday interaction and are systematically supported in this process by adults. In contrast, deaf children in Germany often lack appropriate interlocutors with German Sign Language proficiency in family or school. The focus of our research is on narrative competences in deaf children and on the consequences of the lack of interlocutors on the acquisition of these competences. We carried out three studies to examine narrative skills of deaf children aged 8 to 17. We collected data from dyadic conversations with deaf adults and analyzed this data against the background of a cognitive approach to language acquisition and of conversation analysis. From a developmental perspective, our results indicate that the narrative competences of most of the tested non-native signing children have not developed as would be appropriate for their age. From an interactive perspective, deaf adults cooperate with the children in telling their stories by using different strategies.


Bastina ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 513-535
Author(s):  
Tamara Kovačević ◽  
Ljubica Isaković

This study analyses the process of adopting of the sign language with deaf and hard of hearing preschool children in the context of the result of linguistic and psycholinguistic research. The importance of the sign language is emphasized and its historical development is analyzed. It is pointed to the significance of the critical period for the adoption and the learning of the sign and spoken language with deaf and hard of hearing preschool children. The sign language is natural and primary linguistic expression of deaf children. Deaf and hard of hearing children are exposed to the sign and spoken language, they have better understanding and linguistic production than the children who are only exposed to the spoken language. Bilingualism involves the knowledge and the regular use of the sign language, which is used by the deaf community, and of the spoken language, which is used by the hearing majority. Children at the preschool age should be enabled to continue to adopt the language they started to adopt within the family (the sign language or the spoken language). Children will adopt the best both linguistic modalities through the interaction with other fluent speakers (the adults and children).


Author(s):  
Jon Henner ◽  
Robert Hoffmeister ◽  
Jeanne Reis

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.


Author(s):  
Takashi Torigoe

This chapter describes a project to introduce co-enrollment practices for deaf and hard-of-hearing (DHH) pupils in a Japanese regular primary school. This project consisted of three parts: (1) instruction of sign language to the DHH pupils, (2) instruction of sign language to the teachers and hearing pupils, and (3) sign language interpretation in regular classrooms. The focus was on the challenges of sign language interpretation. The results showed that the multiple flows of information and overhearing others’ speech in the classrooms provided challenging conditions for sign language interpretation. New ways of communication and interaction (actually introducing a new culture) and the presence of deaf adults were needed to establish full participation by DHH pupils in the co-enrollment classrooms. The possible future of practices concerning the inclusion of DHH children is discussed.


Languages ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 85
Author(s):  
Moa Gärdenfors

How does bimodal bilingualism—a signed and a spoken language—influence the writing process or the written product? The writing outcomes of twenty deaf and hard of hearing (DHH) children and hearing children of deaf adults (CODA) (mean 11.6 years) with similar bimodal bilingual backgrounds were analyzed. During the writing of a narrative text, a keylogging tool was used that generated detailed information about the participants’ writing process and written product. Unlike earlier studies that have repeatedly shown that monolingual hearing children outperform their DHH peers in writing, there were few differences between the groups that likely were caused by their various hearing backgrounds, such as in their lexical density. Signing knowledge was negatively correlated with writing flow and pauses before words, and positively correlated with deleted characters, but these did not affect the written product negatively. Instead, they used different processes to reach similar texts. This study emphasizes the importance of including and comparing participants with similar language experience backgrounds. It may be deceptive to compare bilingual DHH children with hearing children with other language backgrounds, risking showing language differences. This should always be controlled for through including true control groups with similar language experience as the examined groups.


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