Research over the past two decades has reported a robust relationship between relative social status and first-person singular (FPS) pronoun use in English. For my dissertation study, I wanted to test the replicability of those findings using American Sign Language (ASL) data that I collected for this purpose. In alignment with previous work, I…

This study examined the effect of a 1-day, 6-hour key word signing (KWS) workshop on in-service special education teachers' and speech-language pathologists' (SLPs) (a) skill identifying American Sign Language (ASL) signs; (b) skill producing ASL signs; (c) use of KWS in the classroom or therapy room; and (d) perceived changes from taking part in…

The American Sign Language construction commonly known as "role-shift" (referred to afterward as Constructed Action) superficially resembles mimic forms, however unlike mime, Constructed Action is a type of depicting construction in ASL discourse (Roy 1989). The signer may use eye gaze, head shift, facial expression, stylistic variation,…

The focus of this mixed method study was to investigate the play behaviors, play interactions, and language use--within a bilingual AS L/English classroom--of a Deaf child who is a native user of American Sign Language (ASL). Play is an essential element in all children's development. Previous research suggests that there is a strong relationship…

Despite the fact that American Sign Language (ASL) courses at the college-level have been increasing in frequency, little is understood about the capabilities of hearing individuals learning a sign language as a second language. This study aims to begin assessing the language skills of advanced L2 learners of ASL by comparing L2 signer productions…