Literacy In Nicaraguan Sign Language

Assessing
"Written Sign" Recognition Skills
at the Escuelita de Bluefields

by
Janice Gangel-Vasquez
PVasqEZ@aol.com

California State University
Dominguez Hills, California



 Summary

 Abstract

 Thesis Chapter 1

Thesis Chapter 2

 Thesis Chapter 3

References

 
Summary
This study is a master's degree thesis by Janice Gangel-Vasquez, completed Winter 1997 at California State University at Dominguez Hills, California. It is important for the history of SignWriting since it is the first study testing "sign language literacy" using SignWriting. Literacy levels of deaf children in Nicaragua were studied and the results point to success in reading signs. Quoting from the thesis:

"The test results indicate that even beginning signers can be taught to recognize written signs. Further, there is evidence that achievement of "sign language literacy" may open the door to literacy in an oral language."


Abstract April-May, 1998

LITERACY IN NICARAGUAN SIGN LANGUAGE
Assessing "Written Sign" Recognition Skills
at the Escuelita de Bluefields

By Janice M. Gangel-Vasquez


Presented at the following conferences:

1. Impact of Deafness on Cognition, AERA Conference. San Diego, California. April 13-14, 1998.

2. SALSA, Sixth Annual Symposium about Language and Society. University of Texas, Austin, April 24-26, 1998

3. California State University 12th Annual Student Research Competition, California State University, Chico, May 1-2, 1998

HYPOTHESIS
Deaf students of the sign language school of Bluefields, Nicaragua, are acquiring their first language, Nicaraguan sign language, at a very late age. It is hypothesized that even those with very late first-language-acquisition can achieve literacy, if "literacy" is defined as reading their native language as transcribed in the "alphabet" of SignWriting (SW), a system for recording body movement and facial expressions.

BACKGROUND
Before 1995, the deaf of the Atlantic Coast of Nicaragua had no language. They communicated in home signs, which are highly idiosyncratic and variable signs differing from one family to the next. Since the establishment of the Escuelita de Bluefields in Bluefields, students have been acquiring their primary (sign) language simultaneously with learning literacy (learning to read signs). The students, who range in age from 6 to 36, are not required to learn a second, oral language in order to access written literature; rather they are taught to read Nicaraguan sign language.

STUDY PARTICIPANTS
The 15 deaf participants are grouped by age of introduction to sign language: fluent signers, pre-puberty and post-puberty groups of students who have been acquiring Nicaraguan sign language since 1995, and students who range in age from 13 to 22 years and with less than 6 months of sign language acquisition.

METHODS AND MATERIALS
Responses to 45 multiple-choice problems measure recognition of several salient features of Nicaraguan sign language. Each test item consists of 6 randomly-arranged options (correct sign; errors of handshape, orientation, movement, location; and a nonsense sign) written in SignWriting and presented opposite a picture of the target sign, which is signed by the presenter. See below...

Above. Typical signed dictionary entry for YELLOW (AMARILLO) and the SignWriting test item for YELLOW. Each test item consists of random order presentation of the six options opposite a picture of the target sign, which is simultaneously signed by the test director.



RESULTS
Four members of the study group scored at least 75% correct: 2 fluent signers, a post-puberty student with 3 years sign language acquisition, and a puberty-aged student with only a few months of sign language acquisition.

The test results indicate that even beginning signers can be taught to recognize written signs. Further, there is evidence that achievement of "sign language literacy" may open the door to literacy in an oral language.

The results also suggest that fluency in sign language does not bestow literacy in SignWriting, since a fluent-signing 23-year-old participant, with very little SignWriting training, scored less than 50% on the test.

IMPLICATIONS AND VALUE OF THE STUDY
This study establishes a base line of literacy for the 15 participants. The test can be used in future evaluation of their reading skills and can become part of the existing battery of tests, which includes the videotaping of students' signing as they progress through the school.

Learning some level of literacy through SignWriting is possible for this very late first-language-acquisition population. To counterpose teaching literacy in the dominant oral language of the country...in the Bluefields case, English or Spanish...does not appear to be a reasonable approach. However, for a few of the students, SignWriting may be a bridge to learning to read an oral-based language, as indicated by Antonio, who is currently accessing many written Spanish words through his knowledge of SignWriting.

 

Would you like a photocopy of this entire thesis? The paper version includes more diagrams and a Table that lists the results of the tests. To receive a copy through snail mail, write to the author:

Janice Gangel-Vasquez
PVasqEZ@aol.com


 Summary

 Abstract

 Thesis Chapter 1

Thesis Chapter 2

 Thesis Chapter 3

References