Responses are due Friday, February 13th, at class time
People who communicate through the use of American Sign Language face many of the same dilemmas in learning SWE (Standard Written English) that other ESL students face. ASL is considered to be a foreign language, just like Japanese, Spanish, or French. ASL “speakers” follow a much different set of guidelines in their language than English speakers. For example, when they are communicating they only use the major words in the sentence – leaving out the articles English speakers are accustomed to. For example, instead of saying “I sit in the chair”, the ASL “speaker” might say “I sit chair”.
This is not the only difference in the two languages. Those you communicate through the use of ASL construct sentences different from what would normally be expected in SWE. When asking somebody a question the ASL “speaker” will typically put the question part of the sentence (such as who, what, when, or where) at the end of the sentence much the way SWE uses a question mark. When stating that something happened in the past ASL “speakers” do not simply change the tense of the verb; they place the word finish before the action. For example:
SWE: I wrote this blog post.
ASL: I finish write this blog post.
When citing a specific time, ASL “speakers” place the time at the beginning. To take the last example a step further:
SWE: I wrote this blog post last night.
ASL: Last night I finish write this blog post.
To take it a step further, ASL requires that the “speaker” perform movements to help the “listener” understand the message. These movements include head movements, holding signs longer, or even raising/lowering their eye brows.
It is nice to know this information but unless it is applied it is only information. It is important to know this because ASL ‘speakers” are required to write in SWE when they write. This means that they are required to take their own words and translate those words into a different language (SWE) every time they must write. To best help the ASL “speaking” student a teacher must understand the dilemmas faced by the student as well as what kind of errors to expect and how to help them fix those mistakes and become better writers.
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21 comments:
I really enjoyed the article. I liked learning how ASL speakers write. I had no idea that they were so similar to foreign language speakers in their writing. I do find it unbelievable that ASL speakers are asked to wire in SWE. I understand that they must learn how to do this. However, as a teacher I would try to give them as much time as they needed to learn SWE. I would work with the ASL writers in their writing process. By helping them one-on-one in editing their papers and explaining politely the rules of SWE and what they have done wrong. I liked that the summary showed examples of their writing to help me better understand what they do in their writing.
This was an interesting article. Although I did know that those who use sign language leave out unimportant words, it never occurred to me that this affects their writing. I think that it is important to take this factor into account when grading their work, but it also means that these students need additional assistance. Teachers need to be aware of the challenges that face ASL speakers. I would not ignore their mistakes, but I would spend extra time explaining how to correct these mistakes. I think that this is just another area in which it is vital to keep educators informed. It is extremely important that disabled children be a priority to educators and that they have every opportunity to learn in the way that other children do.
This article was very informative to me. It taught me a lot about sign language. I did not know that ASL does not use articles. It was also interesting how they sign questions and place time at the beginning of the statement. I never thought of the Deaf as minorities. I also did not know a lot of the obstacles they faced. It was very interesting learning the history of the Deaf community. Deaf students face many obstacles in a regular classroom where they are sometimes the only person who knows sign language. I think it is important to have resources for these students. As a future teacher, I would make sure to spend one on one time with the student helping him or her with writing. My aunt is a Pre-K teacher and her school has a class for the deaf students. Also, many of the teachers have been learning sign language. I believe a lot of schools should do this.
I can't imagine living in a world where when I wanted to get my thoughts across I couldn't just say them. Formulating hand motions, and accepting that not everyone is going to understand them, must be difficult. This poses a whole new set of problems. Just because a student can't speak English, and resorts to ASl doesn't mean he or she should be isolated. On the other hand, he or she deserves to be in the same environment as other children, but teachers aren't always adequately prepared. Some teachers don't posses the necessary tools to instruct a child with learning disabilities.
This article was very interesting.I never knew what was exactly being said during sign language. I guess I just figured it was exactly reiterating what was being said. It was interesting to learn how they structure their sentences and how their english is much different from SWE. I agree that it is very difficult for a sign language student/child to learn to write in SWE. Sign language is a language of its' own, and learning any new language would be hard. I give these people credit for taking on such a hard task such as learning SWE. If a teacher can fully understand how a child's brain functions, then they will benefit the best.
I agree that teachers are not always prepared for students like this, who do not speak English as their first language. I think that they should be allowed to with other students, but should be given one-on-one help to complete their work and to learn what is going on in the classroom.
I really enjoyed reading this article. When I was in middle school I had an ASL speaker in one of my classes. She was able to stay in class and participate in math and science portions of the class, but when it came time for grammar she had a very difficult time. She had an aid who was one of the most patient people I have ever met. She took her time to help her say what she wanted to. When we were writing papers, she and her aid always left that classroom to go work separately on her paper. I feel that by having an aid in the classroom, it helped tremendously with her educational experience. With there being so many students, having the extra help, especially for an ASL speaker, is something that more schools should consider.
I can certainly see how ASL and SWE would be hard to juggle for a young student. I was completely unaware that the expressions I'd always noticed in deaf students when I went to school served a grammatical purpose. I agree with Eric, though - someone should put this information to good use.
I wish ASL was taught more and that more people had an interest in it. MTV can hardly be considered inspiring, but their show True Life has it's moments. Recently, it aired a show about deaf teenagers and their struggles in school and with overcoming them.
I found this article very interesting overall. It really gives people who don't speak ASL to see into their language. I suppose I never took the time to think about the fact that it would be especially difficult to communicate tenses in a sentence. I also never realized that a singer could communicate so much through facial expressions! I've always found sign language to be an interesting way to communicate and reading this article reminded me why.
I enjoyed reading this article because it opened my eyes to a new culture that I had very limited knowledge about. I did not know that this society has such a broad reach, even extending to things such as sports. I found it thorough and easy to understand. It also seems like Deaf people are enthusiastic about sharing their culture with the hearing.
This site also made me think about what exactly a language is, how languages differ, and how language defines people. I always wondered how sign language was formed and proliferated, but it makes sense now that it evolved like any other language - from elements imported from foreign lands combined with "words" (signs!) that people used in their own homes and communities.
I am not surprised that ASL speakers leave out the articles in sentence makeup. It would be nearly impossible to compose a language with a sign for every word in the english language. ASL can be seen as an art form in a way; the speaker needs to find creative ways to use their body language in order to gain understanding of the recipient. Ive had many encounters with ASL speakers, and I find it very interesting to communicate with them. They need to be skilled in both body language and also lip reading to fully be involved in the conversation.
I think ASL is so fundemental and important and could be used as an aid to help ESL students learn faster. I believe that communicating through the use of signs is something everyone could and should learn.
It was interesting to discover ( though it makes perfect sense) that ASL avoids using articles in their speech. I could see where this might affect their writing in SWE. It is the same for any foreign language; if one becomes accustomed to speaking a certain way, that dialect will likely become attached to how he or she writes. I was not surprised to read that ASL use a lot of body language when they communicate- I think that goes for a lot of cultures, my family included being Greek.
This article was both informative and interesting.I never knew that ASL was so different from SWE.I now know why it is viewed as a foreign language. I have seen ASL being used in one of classes. I often find myself more interested in the sign language than the class. Because it can be difficult for students to understand while in the classroom, I believe that it is extremely crucial that teacher make sure that they pay close attention to special need students. Teachers take extra time out to make sure that ASL students understand what is required, and also that there special needs will be met. When this done ASL students are given an equal opportunity of learning.
okay, I'd admit that this article was somewhat gravitational. Learning how different ASL writers are from SWE writers were already reveiwed prior to the article, but it also taught me about sign language. To be honest, I think that there are numerous words/syllables with our English language that are unnecessary. On that notion alone, I may just convert to sign language. I've been acquainted with people that used sign language and their meanings are somewhat vague, but studyin certain expressions made it easier to understand. It takes patience.
I found this article interesting. I know a few people who speak ASL. I also know they leave out verbs in their writing and leave off the letter "s". Teaching them how to write correctly is a hard task. One girl I know it only partially deaf, she can speak very well, but her writing is confusing. Trying to explain how to correct her writing only makes her mad, so we just try to do the best we can in reading it. She is older and I guess she doesn't want anyone to tell her how to write properly. You can't force them to learn you just have to hope they are willing to try. As a teacher one-on-one training would help out a lot.
I can understand why ASL speakers may have an extremely had time writing SWE. I see why they would of course have to reconstruct sentences, because there is no possible way to sign in tenses. Learning ASL has to be a tough process within itself. I can only imagine trying to learn how to communicate words and you can't hear them, or learning to understand what sign goes to what word. Of course writing in SWE would show to be somewhat difficult.
I had always wondered how ASL speakers communicated. Although I knew they used sign language, I had always been interested in exactly how the words translate from the brain to the hands to the other persons eyes, and to their brain. I've never seen any writing from ASL speakers, but I could imagine how mistakes would be made, and I'm sure they'd be easy to fix. ASL speakers need different things in the learning environment than non-ASL speakers so it would definitely be important to include them when creating lesson plans.
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