Describes an instrument for objective assessment of sign language interpreters, which used videotapes to assess the accuracy of interpreted output. It categorizes the kinds of modifications made in response to cultural factors, estimates the degree of American Sign Language or English use, and records fingerspelling influence. (Author/SED)

When hearing raters subjectively evaluated the signed and spoken output of 25 sign language interpreters, rater agreement was between 0.52-0.86; the correlation between subjective and objective evaluation was between 0.59-0.79. Raters were unsuccessful in identifying which interpreters had deaf parents. (CB)

A study of 30 sign language interpreters (N=30) attempted to isolate cognitive, perceptual, psychomotor, and affective factors predictive of effective interpretive skills. Analysis revealed that family background (hearing or deaf family members) significantly affected certain personality traits and interpretive skills. (Author/CB)

The performance of two sign language interpreters in interpreting and transliterating two English texts in 1973 and again in 1985 was analyzed. Both interpreters significantly increased their use of four linguistic features of American Sign Language: classifiers; rhetorical questions; noun-adjective word order; and nonmanual negation. (Author/CB)