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,…

American Sign Language (ASL) courses in U.S. higher education often inadequately incorporate multicultural content, with many educators lacking knowledge of multiculturalism and relevant cultural resources. The purpose of this study was the exploration of ASL educators' perspectives on the incorporation of multicultural content in ASL classrooms…

Non-Verbal Cues (NVCs) add to communication effectiveness among individuals in both real and virtual world. Thus, NVCs transference between the two receives increased attention from both the industry and research community. Their efforts lead to sophisticated technological solutions which allow high fidelity NVCs to be transferred from real…

Sociolinguistic awareness is crucial for L2 learners because language is not just a set of grammatical rules and vocabulary; it is deeply intertwined with social and cultural context. The linguistic landscape serves as a conduit for discerning facets of language use in a given community. This study focuses on raising sociolinguistic awareness…

Second language (L2) learning has largely occurred in the traditional lecture-based classroom setting. Studies show that the lecture format has an impact on student outcomes and perceptions of classroom learning. Negative impacts include insufficient time for reinforcement activities, reviewing lecture materials, and engaging in conversation…

This article argues in favour of higher education studies in sign language (SL) related disciplines, more specifically, sign language interpreting and translation (SLIT) -- focusing on the Spanish, and Basque, academic situation and societal needs. Firstly, we offer an overview of higher education SL teaching and SLIT training in Europe and Spain.…

We investigated the receptive American Sign Language (ASL) skills of four separate groups using the 42-item ASL-Receptive Skills Test: Deaf high school-aged students who attended a residential school; deaf incoming college students who preferred signed language; deaf incoming college students who preferred spoken language; and typically hearing…

There is now increased awareness of the need to challenge 'common sense' ideologies of language in education, turning language classrooms into spaces of analysis and liberation. Key to achieving this goal is equipping students with the skills needed to navigate diverse, complex discourses about language (critical thinking), as well as fostering an…

Second-language learners of American Sign Language (ASL) often struggle in the acquisition of more complex ASL aspects, such as role shift, constructed action, and eye gaze to represent characters and their actions with narratives. These learners also often overestimate their ASL skill level. This study investigated errors in second modality,…

Given that societies across the globe are increasingly multicultural and multilingual, the notion of communicative competence grounded in constricting definitions of national cultures and languages reflects neither our instructional realities nor the sociolinguistic reality of the languages and cultures we teach. To foster students' development of…

Linguistic landscape (LL) projects, an experiential learning approach, enhance students' intercultural communication (IC) skills by exposing them to linguistic and cultural diversity in their communities (Li et al., 2022. Developing beginning language learners' (meta-) cultural understanding via student-led Linguistic Landscape research.…

Whether to use spoken English for the instruction of American Sign Language (ASL) is a pedagogical debate for those teaching hearing second language learners. Previous investigations have found the use of learners' first language to be beneficial for vocabulary acquisition. Studies on sign languages, however, have found that a class taught…

Artificial intelligence (AI) has seen rapid advancements, establishing itself as a robust tool for fostering accessible teaching and learning environments. Nevertheless, the efficacy of these intelligent learning settings in bolstering the engagement and learning outcomes for students with hearing impairments warrants further investigation. This…

Self-assessment is an emerging topic in ASL/English interpreter education that is being recognized as critical for students completing the degree-to-certification process and needs to be thoroughly explored. Using Scaffolding Theory and self-assessment drawn from Self-Directed Learning Theory, this exploratory, qualitative interview study…

Critical language awareness (CLA) encourages teachers and students to examine language as social practice and reflect on ideologies and power dynamics embedded within language use. In this article, the authors--both instructors in an Asian American Native American Pacific Islander Serving Institution (AANAPISI) federal grant project at a…