Transcript When Learning to Read Means Learning a Second Language Via

When Learning to Read Means Learning a
Second Language Via Print: The Challenge for Deaf Children
Catherine L. Caldwell-Harris, Robert J. Hoffmeister, Marlon Kuntze, Boston University
Presented at the Annual Meeting of the Society for the Scientific Study of Reading, Boston, June 25-27, 2009
The Average Reading Level of Deaf Adults
Is 4th Grade …. Why? How to Fix It?
Traditional view: Deaf children's difficulty in reading stems from their lack of
access to sound and hence to phonological decoding, which is currently
believed to be a critical component of the reading process (Stanovich, 2000).
A competing view: deaf children face two deficits in reading; only indirectly
related to deafness
• If parents and schools do not use sign language, deaf children encounter
cognitive/social disadvantages because they lack high quality language input
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(Hoffmeister, 2000).
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Stage 2: Grappling with Complex Mappings
Facilitates “Print is a Separate Language
” Insight
Construction of a Theoretical Model of Deaf
Children's Litearcy Acquisition, Based on
Observations of Learners and Interviews
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Even when deaf children have good ASL input, they face the problem of how
to learn English as a second language via print (Hoffmeister, Greenwald, Czubek,
& Diperri, 2003; Kuntze, 2005).
In a Bilingual Learning Mode, Learners Understand:
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Deaf children of Deaf parents (DCDP) engage in an initial mapping process,
mapping English words to frozen signs (stage 1).
A difficult learning phase is reached when it is necessary to learn complex
mappings which violate 1-to-1 translatability (see Table 1).
Disequilibrium caused by complex mappings (stage 2) can force reorganization
and the insight that print is not a method for writing ASL, but contains coding
rules for a language that is different than their native language.
Deaf children who have made this insight, and who have good ASL skills, will be
in a bilingual-language learning situation, using ASL to learn English via print
(stage 3).
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Many words/signs lack translation equivalents
Groups of words/signs (phrases, collocations) have meanings, not just
individual words/signs
General strategy for grasping the full meaning of a print sentence is to bring to
the reading process additional strategies, such as background knowledge,
narrative skills and metalinguistic knowledge in ASL.
Basic SVO word order holds for both English and ASL
Word order variations in ASL generally do not correspond to variations in
English (such as passive variation, relative clause, etc.)
How to learn new words/signs from context
Whole-word Learning or Sublexical Chunking?
What Educational Techniques and Learning
Models Do We Have for Learning a
Second Language Via Print
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• Learners must often rely on the whole-word method,
mapping an entire word to a meaning.
• Sensitivity to morphology may be important, and thus
comparisons to Chinese readers, who are more sensitive
to clues from morphology than to phonology while
reading, are thus instructive (Shu, McBride-Chang, Wu, & Liu, 2006).
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Stage 1: Initial Mapping Procedure
Stage 3: Learning English print using an L1-to-L2
Language Interdependence Process
• Scholars learning ancient Greek?
• Prior generations of school kids learning Latin?
• Is it even possible to learn a second language without
social interaction?
Evaluating English as a second language via print
Why Haven ’t Educators Long Been Discussing
Learning English L2 Via Print?
45% of deaf children enrolled in schools that focus on oral training
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On this model, the first language is English via lip-reading or ‘usable’ hearing.
Problem: lip-reading works best for those with residual hearing
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Complexities of the Initial Mapping Procedure
50% of deaf children learn through forms of Signed English
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SE forms use single signs to code English function words and morphemes
Problem 1: forming isolated signs takes 4 times as long as speech
Problem 2: isolated signs are expressed linearly and do not take advantage of space and
movement for meaning
Advantage of ASL: natural sign languages layer signs in space
• Capitalize on inuitively comprehensible sign iconicities
• Use both hands; employ body movements and facial gestures
• Provide for predictable rules based on handshape, movement, & location
Table 1. Items
weighted by ease of
translatability X
frequency predicts
learning (also note
polysemy problem)
Leve ls
English
ASL
Trans
Freq
Level 1: Basic object
Boy, girl, shoe, man,
woman, cookie
BOY, GIRL, SHOE, ,
COOKIE
1.0
1
1
Level 2: Phrasal:
Brother, s ister,
Compound signs:
MAN, W OMAN
2.0
1
2
Level 2: Phrasalverbs: C ompound
Give in, give up, go in,
get off, etc.
Single signs
2.0
2
4
Level 3: Phrasal:
Nouns
Blackboard, h i-chair,
rocking chair, checkbook,
peanut butter etc.
Subordinate level
combo basic signs +
3.0
3
9
Come here, open-door,
soup, sandwich, N-V
relationships, e tc.
Single frames
3.0
1
3
3.0
1
3
Level 4: Si mple
classifier frames
One h anded CL
T X F*
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Deaf children may initially regard print as a format for
communicating ASL on paper
First learn association between a single printed word to a
single ASL frozen sign (often concrete, imagable)
The problem of English polysemy (Table 1)
Role of handshape mnemonics?
Visual short-cuts; Learning sublexical chunks
• nuclear, nucleus and neutral treated as same word
Key Prediction: American Sign Language
Correlates with English literacy
Multiple signs
Level 6: Complex
classifier: One
handed CL
Give+X, Show-to-Y, As kto-Y, etc.
Level 5: Complex
classifier frames:
Two h anded CL
Give+X, Handle verbs,
Kick+Y, Read +Z, e tc. go to-bed
Verb notions in ASL
4.0
1
4
Level 7: Context
Classifi er frames:
HIT: the ball, a person,
SLAP: af ace, a han d
Verb notions:
independent han ds
5.0
2
10
Level 8: Multiple
meanings
RUN,
Jog, o perate,
manage, e tc.
6.0
1
Level 9: Idiomatic
frames: Simple si gn
frames
Kick the bucket, missed
the boat, raining cats and
dogs, etc.
DEAD, GONE,
7.0
4-5
28-35
Level 10: Idiomatic
frames: C omplex
sign frames
Get a move on, matter of
fact, jog someoneХs
memory, commit
something to memory,
HURRY+GO =5,
MEMORIZE,
REM IND SOMEONE,
etc.
7.0
4-5
28-35
Level 11:
Vocabulary requiring
sentences
Mental verbs require
embedded sentences
Mental verbs require
discourse knowledge,
i.e., role shift , turn
taking, e tc.
8.0
5.0
40
7
Two h anded CL
6
4
Significant Correlations between ASL tasks and SAT-HI
• Hoffmeister , 2000: 78 subjects, 17 DCDP and 61 DCHP : SAT-RC (reading
comprehension), ASL Antonyms: r =.58; ASL Synonyms: r =.54; ASL PLU:
r = .53 (all p values < .01).
• Fish, Hoffmeister , & Thrasher, 2005 : 190 subjects, 40 DCDP & 150 DCHP:
ASL rare vocabulary & SAT-RV (reading vocabulary); r = .60 ; DCDP: r = .56 ;
DCHP: r = .57, all p Š 0.01
• Fish, Hoffmeister , & Williams-McVey, 2006: 189 subjects, 40 DCDP & 149
DCHP: SAT-RC & rare ASL vocabulary : r = .60 ; DCDP: r = .64 ; DCHP: r =
.57 (all p values < .01)
• Other studies: Mayberry, Lock & Kazmi , 2003: Chamberlain & Mayberry,
2008; Mayberry, 2009; Strong & Prinz, 2000.
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Explains why ASL facilitates English literacy
• Learners can draw on L1 as a foundation for SLA
• can use L1 to discuss English as an object; important
since English can ’t be learned via immersion and social
interaction
Explains obstacles, suggests teaching strategies
• Failing to recognize that print is a separate language
from a signed language results in a learning plateau
• Having a limited L1 vocabulary
• Teach English as L2: instructors can explain polysemies,
grammar, meaning correspondences