This article puts forward a solution to the impending shortage of culturally and linguistically competent interpreters: the education of heritage signers as heritage language learners. It examines the current landscape of American Sign Language (ASL) as a course of study and the difficulties heritage signers report when they begin learning ASL. In…

In 1981, Swedish Sign Language gained recognition by the Swedish Parliament as the language of deaf people, a decision that made Sweden the first country in the world to give a sign language the status of a language. Swedish was designated as a second language for deaf people, and the need for bilingualism among them was officially asserted. This…

Stories were presented in signed English and American Sign Language (ASL) to 36 profoundly deaf subjects. Results showed that both ASL- and English-dominant bilinguals translated English stories to ASL in retelling. Relevant literature is reviewed, and implications for bilingual education of deaf students are noted. (Author/SED)

The research resumes presented here comprise the responses received by the Stanford Child Language Project to a general request for reports on research in progress. These reports include all those distributed at the Child Language Research Forum in March 1972 and a small number received later. The resumes cover a wide range of topics and present,…

Examines a number of ways in which the process of natural acquisition of American Sign Language (ASL) from competent adult and child users of the language might directly enhance the learning of English. The natural acquisition of ASL, contact signing, and fingerspelling may enhance English language literacy. (45 references) (MDM)

The research resumes presented here comprise the responses received by the Stanford Child Language Project to a general request for reports on research in progress. These reports include all those distributed at the Child Language Research Forum in April 1973. The resumes cover a wide range of topics and present, in order, the following…

A review of literature addresses two main issues: (1) how the acquisition of English by deaf signing children has been understood as an instance of second language learning; and (2) how deaf children learn to read English, given this understanding. The first chapter chronicles the history of language use in deaf education and reviews research on…

Discussion of speech instruction in bilingual education for deaf children refutes the assumption that speech is acquired automatically by hearing children and examines a program in which deaf children are taught alongside hearing children. The first part looks at how speech functions and how children acquire it: including the nature of the…

This study, reported entirely in French, investigated reasons for deaf secondary students' delay in acquisition of reading skills. The study examined relationships between the students' individual cognitive styles, use of Quebec Sign Language, reading in French, and reading strategies. Subjects were 24 students enrolled in one school, paired in a…

A five-year period of particular activity in Australian language policy and language planning culminated with the 1991 publication of the White Paper called Australia's Language, which outlines proposed government programs in languages until 1994. Many of the papers in this theme issue of the journal of the Applied Linguistics Association of…