Learning Sign Language As A Second Language

I decided to choose sign language learning as my topic, because I have been interested in how it differs from learning any other language. I was able to find relevant articles to my topic, concerning infant, deaf and adult sign language learning. The first article also gives a background to sign language teaching at schools, and how it was not supported in the past.

Rosen, R. (2008). American Sign Language as a Foreign Language in U.S. High Schools. The

Modern Language Journal, 92(1), 12-15. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/25172990

          The article discusses the procedure of American Sign Language accepted as a foreign language in American secondary schools. At early stages, it was believed that the placement of deaf students in classrooms with hearing students would provide an opportunity for the deaf students, so they could learn the hearing and speaking communication skills they need to interact with hearing students. This movement – of course - created a barrier between the signing students and the hearing students. Public education schools found it difficult to ignore sign language because the interest toward ASL by hearing students and by teachers was growing. The demand of ASL has led to state recognition of ASL as a foreign language (38 states in 2004).

          The article was helpful, because it showed us the background of sign language and how it made its way to education. It also showed us how sign language was treated in the past, and that nowadays it is considered as an important language.

Mayberry, R. (2006). Learning Sign Language As A Second Language. San Diego: Elsevier

Ltd. Retrieved from http://grammar.ucsd.edu/mayberrylab/papers/Mayberry_2ndLangLrng_06.pdf

          Sign languages are natural languages, so they are often learned as L2. Babies whose parents use sign language with them, often learn two languages simultaneously. They can acquire both a spoken language and a sign language. Sign languages as L2 are popular amongst adults and teenagers, as well. The first stage of adult L2 learning is dominated by the iconic features of the signs. It helps the learners to remember the vocabulary items. All sign languages have phonological structure that consists of meaningless articulatory units. L2 learners of sign languages need to master morphology and syntax as well.

          With the help of the article above, one can learn about babies and the way they learn sign language. The article also compares infant sign language learners with adult sign language learners. It is useful for my research project because I get to learn the differences between two groups of sign language learners.

Schowe, B. (1958). Some Observations On Sign Language. Educational research Bulletin,

37(5), 120-124. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/1475030

          The article presents studies concerning deaf people, mostly deaf children. The interest in sign languages at educational level is high. Deaf children who learn to use sign language at early stages will learn to speak more easily than the ones who did not use the sign language at infancy. Signing is a dominant force in language development.

          The article is relevant to my topic, because it concerns deaf children and their way of learning sign languages. I get to know a different point of view on learning sign language. The experience of deaf learners is different from the experience of adult and young learners.