This case study describes the use of a syntax intervention with two deaf children who did not acquire a complete first language (L1) from birth. It looks specifically at their ability to produce subject-verb-object (SVO) sentence structure in American Sign Language (ASL) after receiving intervention. This was an exploratory case study in which…

The present study used an observational learning framework to investigate changes in non-native signing deaf children's narrative renditions before (Time 1) and after (Time 2) a single viewing of a signing adult's rendition of the same story. The deaf adult model rendered the picture book "Goodnight Gorilla" in American Sign Language…

Recent research has shown that a distinct variety of American Sign Language, known as Black ASL, developed in the segregated schools for deaf African Americans in the US South during the pre-civil rights era. Research has also shown that in some respects Black ASL is closer than most white varieties to the standard taught in ASL classes and found…

Researchers have focused on how deaf signing children acquire and use American Sign Language (ASL). One sub-skill of ASL proficiency is ASL phonology. This includes the ability to isolate and manipulate parameters within signs (i.e., handshape, location, and movement). Expressively, signed language phonological fluency tasks have investigated…

Although American Sign Language (ASL) education for second language (L2) or additional language (Ln) learners in postsecondary education has increased rapidly over the past four decades, not much is understood about the field. The scholarship of ASL education is relatively new, and little is known of the perspectives of ASL professionals in ASL…

Some studies have concluded that sign language hinders spoken language development for deaf and hard-of-hearing (DHH) children even though sign language exposure could protect DHH children from experiencing language deprivation. Furthermore, this research has rarely considered the bilingualism of children learning a signed and a spoken language.…

The purpose of this study is to examine the experience and perspectives of ASL teachers of American Sign Language (ASL) instruction to deaf/hard of hearing high school students. Historically, while ASL is the language of instruction in schools for the deaf, formal ASL has not been taught with the same rigor and attention that has been given to…

In the early decades of the nineteenth century, when Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet was famously advocating for sign language to be the language of instruction for deaf children in the United States, European philosophers were founding modern linguistics. Gallaudet was not able to benefit from their breakthroughs, however, because his upbringing,…

Most deaf children have hearing parents who do not know a sign language at birth and are at risk of limited language input during early childhood. Studying these children as they learn a sign language has revealed that timing of first-language exposure critically shapes language outcomes. But the input deaf children receive in their first language…

The hypothesis that impoverished language experience affects complex sentence structure development around the end of early childhood was tested using a fully randomized, sentence-to-picture matching study in American Sign Language (ASL). The participants were ASL signers who had impoverished or typical access to language in early childhood. Deaf…

Many students in STEM experience decreased performance due to anxiety, namely math and science anxiety. However, spatial skills are correlated with better STEM outcomes. Our research addressed a previous gap in the literature, investigating if STEM anxiety or spatial experiences have a stronger relationship with STEM outcomes. In this online…

The authors examine the effects of American Sign Language (ASL) on English reading achievement and English reading comprehension. A systematic review of relevant primary research and researchintegrated journal articles was conducted. Based on interpretations of a few salient articles and other sources (e.g., books) selected in a professional…

Videos, generally a fun and effective teaching tool, can be a source of stress for students who are deaf or hard of hearing--especially when shown in classrooms in which a handful of deaf or hard of hearing students find themselves surrounded by students who hear. In fact, for deaf and hard of hearing students, video watching may be a source of…

Maritime Sign Language (MSL) is a Canadian, minority sign language that originally stems from British Sign Language (BSL). Currently used by elderly Deaf people in New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, and Newfoundland (and Labrador), it is a moribund language, having undergone language shift to American Sign Language (ASL). MSL is…

The comprehension of signed language requires linguistic and visual-spatial processing, such as perspective-taking for correctly interpreting the layout of a spatial scene. However, little is known about how adult second-language (L2) learners process visual-spatial constructions in a signed language that they are studying, including which angles…