This article concerns online data capture using survey methods when the target population(s) comprise not just of several different language-using groups, but additionally populations who may be multilingual and whose total language repertoires are commonly employed in meaning-making practices--commonly referred to as translanguaging. It addresses…

Background and Context: Physical computing involves complex negotiations of multiple, on and off-screen tasks, which calls for research on how to best structure collaborative work to ensure equitable learning. Objective: We focus on how pairs self-organized their multi-domain tasks in physical computing, and how their social interactions supported…

Purpose: We present the first study of echolalia in deaf, signing children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). We investigate the nature and prevalence of sign echolalia in native-signing children with ASD, the relationship between sign echolalia and receptive language, and potential modality differences between sign and speech. Method: Seventeen…

Kenyan Sign Language (KSL) is a thriving national sign language used by tens of thousands of signers in Kenya, and which emerged out of two deaf schools in western Kenya in the early 1960s. In this thesis, I provide a thorough description and analysis of the basic phonological components of the KSL lexicon used in the southwestern region of Kenya…

The view of sign languages as bounded systems is often important for deaf community empowerment and for pedagogical practice in terms of supporting deaf children's language acquisition and second language learners' communicative competence. Conversely, the notion of translanguaging in the American Sign Language (ASL) community highlights a number…

In this article two dimensions of handshape complexity are analyzed as potential building blocks of phonological contrast-joint complexity and finger group complexity. We ask whether sign language patterns are elaborations of those seen in the gestures produced by hearing people without speech (pantomime) or a more radical reorganization of them.…

Semantic and lexical decision tasks were used to investigate the mechanisms underlying code-blend facilitation: the finding that hearing bimodal bilinguals comprehend signs in American Sign Language (ASL) and spoken English words more quickly when they are presented together simultaneously than when each is presented alone. More robust…

Background: Deafness has an adverse impact on children's ability to acquire spoken languages. Signed languages offer a more accessible input for deaf children, but because the vast majority are born to hearing parents who do not sign, their early exposure to sign language is limited. Deaf children as a whole are therefore at high risk of language…

Deaf children whose hearing losses prevent them from accessing spoken language and whose hearing parents have not exposed them to sign language develop gesture systems, called "homesigns", which have many of the properties of natural language--the so-called resilient properties of language. We explored the resilience of structure built…

This dissertation centers on the application of the mental space theory to expand our understanding of the role lexical discourse markers (LDMs) play in discourse. LDMs have been recognized by many researchers for their discourse connective function(s) (Levinson, 1983; Schiffrin, 1987; Blakemore, 1989, 2000, 2001, 2002; Fraser, 1996, 1999, 2006).…

Families with children who are deaf face many important decisions, especially the mode(s) of communication their children will use. The purpose of this focus group study was to better understand the experiences and recommendations of families who chose American Sign Language (ASL) as their primary mode of communication and to identify strategies…

Handshape works differently in nouns versus a class of verbs in American Sign Language (ASL) and thus can serve as a cue to distinguish between these two word classes. Handshapes representing characteristics of the object itself ("object" handshapes) and handshapes representing how the object is handled ("handling" handshapes)…

In school, deaf and hard of hearing students (d/hh) are often exposed to American Sign Language (ASL) while also developing literacy skills in English. ASL does not have a written form, but is a fully accessible language to the d/hh through which it is possible to mediate understanding, draw on prior experiences, and engage critical thinking and…

This qualitative ethnographic Linguistic Landscape (LL) study collected and analyzed ten individual "walking tour" interviews with residents of Memphis, Tennessee, exploring the personal thoughts and feelings about linguistic changes in the communities triggered by the LL. The researcher focused the participants' attention on…

The reading skills of many deaf children lag several years behind those of hearing children, and there is a need for identifying reading difficulties and implementing effective reading support strategies in this population. This study embraces a balanced reading approach, and investigates the efficacy of applying multi-sensory coding strategies…