scholarly journals Sign language learning and assessment in German Switzerland: Exploring the potential of vocabulary size tests for Swiss German Sign Language

2019 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 20-40
Author(s):  
Tobias Haug ◽  
Sarah Ebling ◽  
Penny Boyes Braem ◽  
Katja Tissi ◽  
Sandra Sidler-Miserez
2020 ◽  
Vol 37 (3) ◽  
pp. 412-434
Author(s):  
Tobias Haug ◽  
Aaron Olaf Batty ◽  
Martin Venetz ◽  
Christa Notter ◽  
Simone Girard-Groeber ◽  
...  

In this study we seek evidence of validity according to the socio-cognitive framework (Weir, 2005) for a new sentence repetition test (SRT) for young Deaf L1 Swiss German Sign Language (DSGS) users. SRTs have been developed for various purposes for both spoken and sign languages to assess language development in children. In order to address the need for tests to assess the grammatical development of Deaf L1 DSGS users in a school context, we developed an SRT. The test targets young learners aged 6–17 years, and we administered it to 46 Deaf students aged 6.92–17.33 ( M = 11.17) years. In addition to the young learner data, we collected data from Deaf adults ( N = 14) and from a sub-sample of the children ( n = 19) who also took a test of DSGS narrative comprehension, serving as a criterion measure. We analyzed the data with many-facet Rasch modeling, regression analysis, and analysis of covariance. The results show evidence of scoring, criterion, and context validity, suggesting the suitability of the SRT for the intended purpose, and will inform the revision of the test for future use as an instrument to assess the sign language development of Deaf children.


Author(s):  
Tobias Haug ◽  
Sarah Ebling

This study reports on the use of an open-source software for sign language learning and (self-)assessment. A Yes/No vocabulary size test for Swiss German Sign Language (Deutschschweizerische Gebärdensprache, DSGS) was developed, targeting beginning adult learners. The Web-based test, which can be used for self-assessment or placement purposes, was administered to 20 DSGS adult learners of ages 24 to 55 (M = 39.3). The learners filled out a background questionnaire, took the Yes/No test tests, and filled out a feedback questionnaire. The comments provided by the learners about the suitability of the Web-based DSGS vocabulary self-assessment instrument provided concrete feedback towards improvement of the system.


2001 ◽  
Vol 4 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 133-143 ◽  
Author(s):  
Penny Boyes-Braem

This multimedia database project is the first large-scale collection and description of the signs of Swiss German Sign Language (Deutschschweizerische Gebärdensprache, DSGS). The aim of the database is to gather linguistic information on the DSGS lexicon which can serve as a basis for future dictionaries and teaching materials, as well as function as a tool for linguistic research. For each lexical entry, there is information about all of the sign’s meanings, its morphological and syntactic characteristic, several categories of usage (geographical and generation variation, style, register) as well as example links to videotaped signed sentences. The information about each lexical item is represented in the database in several different forms: Video clips of the base form of the sign and of signed sentences in which it appears, line drawings, information checkboxes, form notation (HamNoSys and SignWriting), as well as German text.


2016 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 116-129 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah Ebling

We present a parallel corpus of German/Swiss German Sign Language train announcements. The corpus is used in a statistical machine translation system that translates from German to Swiss German Sign Language. The output of the translation system is then passed on to an animation system, the result being a sign language avatar representation on a mobile phone. Building the parallel corpus consisted of four steps: translating the written German train announcements into Swiss German Sign Language glosses, signing the announcements in front of a camera on the basis of the gloss transcriptions, notating the signs in the video recordings in a form-based sign language notation system, and adding information about non-manual features. The resulting corpus contains 3,241 sentence pairs, which makes it a large parallel corpus involving sign language.


2001 ◽  
Vol 4 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 133-143 ◽  
Author(s):  
Penny Boyes-Braem

This multimedia database project is the first large-scale collection and description of the signs of Swiss German Sign Language (Deutschschweizerische Gebärdensprache, DSGS). The aim of the database is to gather linguistic information on the DSGS lexicon which can serve as a basis for future dictionaries and teaching materials, as well as function as a tool for linguistic research. For each lexical entry, there is information about all of the sign’s meanings, its morphological and syntactic characteristic, several categories of usage (geographical and generation variation, style, register) as well as example links to videotaped signed sentences. The information about each lexical item is represented in the database in several different forms: Video clips of the base form of the sign and of signed sentences in which it appears, line drawings, information checkboxes, form notation (HamNoSys and SignWriting), as well as German text.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tobias Haug ◽  
Aaron Olaf Batty ◽  
Martin Venetz ◽  
Christa Notter ◽  
Simone Girard-Groeber ◽  
...  

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