This article describes the impetus and rationale for the development of the Sign Language Skills Classroom Observation (SLSCO) assessment. The procedure for developing the SLSCO is discussed and the results of use of the SLSCO with National Technical Institute for the Deaf faculty (n=14) during a trial year are summarized. (Contains references.)…

Describes a new approach to teaching English-as-a-Second-Language to New Mexico elementary school students who have hearing impairments and whose dominant language is American Sign Language (ASL). These students must first acquire ASL as a bridge to learning English. Then, using the bilingual approach, they are able to focus on English literacy.…

This article describes the adaptation of the Test Battery for American Sign Language Morphology and Syntax for Australian Sign Language. Data collected from a group of native signers who were deaf (n=25) demonstrate the range of variability in key grammatical features of Australian Sign Language and raise methodological issues. (Contains…

First-, fourth-, and ninth-grade hearing students (n=30) were administered Carolina Picture Vocabulary Test items to determine if signs used in the test are iconic and can convey meaning at the moment of testing. The signs were sufficiently iconic to enable students unfamiliar with signs to identify a test picture. (Author/CR)

A study documented the literacy development of a preschool child with deafness. Findings indicated he went through several levels as he learned to read: focusing on pictures in books, reading familiar words in context, focusing on sign print, relating sign print to written English, and reading written English independently. (Contains references.)…

Oralism, which teaches lip reading and speech instead of American Sign Language (ASL), was hostile to deaf culture in the early 1900s. Deaf resistance to oralism solidified the deaf community through support of deaf teachers; establishment of deaf newspapers, clubs, and churches; and production of sign-language films and dictionaries. (Contains 60…

Presents a unit on clay that is centered around sign language in which students explore the slab method of working with clay. States that each student picks a letter of the sign language alphabet and fashions a clay hand to depict the letter. (CMK)

This study describes changes at an Australian school for the deaf toward a language policy favoring the increased use of Australian Sign Language and bilingual pedagogy. Teachers' dissatisfaction with educational outcomes and current practices propelled these changes. Beliefs about language policy and practices are explored, as are the…

Deaf People, especially those who are not well educated, are at risk for serious injustices when they enter the criminal justice system. The present study describes these risks at all stages of the legal process, including arrest, trial, probation, prison, and parole. These dangers are greatest for those who are poorly educated, read at a…

This article is based on field research that we conducted in a north Bali school (SLB Bagian B) for deaf students. The study involves documentation of the linguistic environments within which deaf people operate, focusing on the use of sign languages by deaf and hearing people. The following material on policies and practices oriented toward the…

This paper examines the use of the Disability Discrimination Act (Commonwealth of Australia, 1992) by parents seeking access for their deaf children to native sign language in the classroom. It reviews a number of cases in which Australian parents have claimed indirect discrimination by educational authorities over their children's lack of access…

Sign language in the Arab World has been recently recognized and documented. Many efforts have been made to establish the sign language used in individual countries, including Jordan, Egypt, Libya, and the Gulf States, by trying to standardize the language and spread it among members of the Deaf community and those concerned. Such efforts produced…

The Deaf Initiative in Information Technology (DIIT) was developed at the National Technical Institute for the Deaf (NTID) at the Rochester Institute of Technology through a National Science Foundation (NSF) grant with goals including the provision of continuing education for deaf and hard-of-hearing professionals. Instructors skilled in sign…

The assessment of sign language proficiency is essential for evaluating the outcomes of sign bilingual education. This paper reports an attempt to assess the sign language proficiency of children in a self-described sign bilingual program in Sydney by adapting a British Sign Language (BSL) test to Australian Sign Language (Auslan). The test…

We report the results of an experiment investigating the ramifications of using space to express coreference in American Sign Language (ASL). Nominals in ASL can be associated with locations in signing space, and pronouns are directed toward those locations to convey coreference. A probe recognition technique was used to investigate the case of…