The sentence repetition task as a measure of sign language proficiency

Schönström, Krister; Hauser, Peter C.

doi:10.1017/s0142716421000436

Cited by 11 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 42 publications

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“…The dependent variable was the number of correctly reproduced sentences. As estimates of reliability, internal consistency and inter-rater reliability provided excellent values in a previous study, with Cronbach's α = 0.92 and ICC = 0.90 (Schönström and Hauser, 2021). Furthermore, the test provides evidence for good validity as suggested by better performance in adults than in children, and that delayed language acquisition is associated with lower scores.…”

Section: Swedish Sign Language Sentence Repetition Testmentioning

confidence: 60%

“…To assess sign language sentence reproduction, the Swedish Sign Language Sentence Repetition Test (STS-SRT, Schönström and Hauser, 2021), a Swedish adaptation of the American Sign Language Sentence Repetition Test (ASL-SRT; Hauser et al, 2008), was used. Filmed STS sentences (N = 31), of different length and difficulty, produced by a deaf native signing man, were presented to the participant.…”

Section: Swedish Sign Language Sentence Repetition Testmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Associations Between Sign Language Skills and Resting-State Functional Connectivity in Deaf Early Signers

2022

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The processing of a language involves a neural language network including temporal, parietal, and frontal cortical regions. This applies to spoken as well as signed languages. Previous research suggests that spoken language proficiency is associated with resting-state functional connectivity (rsFC) between language regions and other regions of the brain. Given the similarities in neural activation for spoken and signed languages, rsFC-behavior associations should also exist for sign language tasks. In this study, we explored the associations between rsFC and two types of linguistic skills in sign language: phonological processing skill and accuracy in elicited sentence production. Fifteen adult, deaf early signers were enrolled in a resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study. In addition to fMRI data, behavioral tests of sign language phonological processing and sentence reproduction were administered. Using seed-to-voxel connectivity analysis, we investigated associations between behavioral proficiency and rsFC from language-relevant nodes: bilateral inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) and posterior superior temporal gyrus (STG). Results showed that worse sentence processing skill was associated with stronger positive rsFC between the left IFG and left sensorimotor regions. Further, sign language phonological processing skill was associated with positive rsFC from right IFG to middle frontal gyrus/frontal pole although this association could possibly be explained by domain-general cognitive functions. Our findings suggest a possible connection between rsFC and developmental language outcomes in deaf individuals.

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Section: Swedish Sign Language Sentence Repetition Testmentioning

confidence: 60%

Section: Swedish Sign Language Sentence Repetition Testmentioning

confidence: 99%

Associations Between Sign Language Skills and Resting-State Functional Connectivity in Deaf Early Signers

2022

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“…Pilot work using this test with DHH adults showed that even native signers found it challenging to recall all aspects of the sentences, with almost none achieving full marks. The same pattern has also been found in SRTs in other sign languages (Hauser et al, 2008;Schönström & Hauser, 2021). As a result, SRTs developed for DHH adults in ASL (Hauser et al, 2008), BSL (Cormier et al, 2012), German Sign Language (DGS; Kubus & Rathmann, 2012) and Swedish Sign Language (SSL; Schönström & Hauser, 2021) minimize facial expressions when presenting sentences and ignore errors in facial expression when scoring.…”

Section: Sign Language Assessment Instrumentsmentioning

confidence: 61%

“…Another type of test used to measure sign language development involves repetition of linguistic material such as sentence repetition (Haug et al, 2020;Hauser et al, 2008;Schönström & Hauser, 2021). Repetition tests have the advantage of being applicable to a range of ages, and have been used effectively in spoken languages to identify developmental language disorder (DLD) (e.g., Maillart & Parisse, 2008;Snow & Hoefnagel-Höhle, 1978;Stokes & Fletcher, 2003;Volterra et al, 2003).…”

Section: Sign Language Assessment Instrumentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessments of Sign Language Development

Herman

Rowley

2022

Hrvat. rev. rehabil. istraž. (Online)

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Since the late nineties, several assessments to track and assess sign language acquisition in deaf and hard of hearing (DHH) children have been developed and standardised for some sign languages (Herman, Rowley, Mason, & Morgan, 2014; Rosenburg, Lieberman, Caselli, & Hoffmeister, 2020). These assessments have provided important insights into how DHH children acquire sign language and how acquisition can be impacted by developmental or acquired disorders (Mason et al., 2010; Quinto-Pozos, Forber-Pratt, & Singleton, 2011). Moreover, the development of sign language assessments has enabled research studies to show associations between language, cognitive skills and literacy (Botting et al., 2017). The availability of sign language assessments has confirmed that DHH children from DHH, signing families achieve similar milestones in sign language as their hearing counterparts in spoken language. Yet the measures developed to date are insufficient for tracking bimodal bilingual development in DHH children, particularly as children progress through the later school years. This article reviews hitherto mentioned and new issues in test development and standardization related to the status of sign language research, the size and nature of the population of DHH signers, and tester issues with a specific focus on assessments used by practitioners rather than those designed for research purposes. References are made to the reasons why DHH children are at risk for language delay. A selection of different types of sign language test is presented. In the UK and elsewhere, many of the tests developed to date have focused on the earlier stages of language development. We therefore include a description of a UK project that is adapting an assessment for adolescent signers.

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“…Across all conditions in both studies, age of first language acquisition was a strong predictor of performance. The pattern that emerged from the two initial studies and that has since been replicated with additional controls and alternative protocols ( Mayberry and Eichen, 1991 ; Mayberry, 1993 ; Emmorey et al, 1995b ; Morford and Carlson, 2011 ; Hauser et al, 2016 ; Woll, 2018 ; Schönström and Hauser, 2022 ), is that earlier acquisition is associated with rapid and efficient processing of phonological form in order to access and store linguistic meaning. In Mayberry and Fischer’s studies, native signers deleted or substituted signs during shadowing and recall, but in a manner that preserved the meaning of the stimulus sentences.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 94%

Effects of Age-of-Acquisition on Proficiency in Polish Sign Language: Insights to the Critical Period Hypothesis

et al. 2022

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This study focuses on the relationship between the age of acquisition of Polish Sign Language (PJM) by deaf individuals and their receptive language skills at the phonological, morphological and syntactic levels. Sixty Deaf signers of PJM were recruited into three equal groups (n = 20): (1) a group exposed to PJM from birth from their deaf parents; (2) a group of childhood learners of PJM, who reported learning PJM between 4 and 8 years; (3) a group of adolescent learners of PJM, who reported learning PJM between 9 and 13 years. The PJM Perception and Comprehension Test was used to assess three aspects of language processing: phonological, morphological and syntactic. Participants were asked to decide whether a series of signs and sentences were acceptable in PJM. Results show that the age of PJM acquisition has a significant impact on performance on this task. The earlier deaf people acquire PJM, the more likely they were to distinguish signs and sentences considered permissible and impermissible in PJM by native signers. Native signers had significantly greater accuracy on the phonological, morphological, and syntactic items than either the Childhood or the Adolescent signers. Further, the Childhood signers had significantly greater accuracy than the Adolescent signers on all three parts of the test. Comparing performance on specific structures targeted within each part of the test revealed that multi-channel signs and negative suffixes posed the greatest challenge for Adolescent signers relative to the Native signers. The above results provide evidence from a less-commonly studied signed language that the age of onset of first language acquisition affects ultimate outcomes in language acquisition across all levels of grammatical structure. In addition, this research corroborates prior studies demonstrating that the critical period is independent of language modality. Contrary to a common public health assumption that early exposure to language is less vital to signed than to spoken language development, the results of this study demonstrate that early exposure to a signed language promotes sensitivity to phonological, morphological and syntactic patterns in language.

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The sentence repetition task as a measure of sign language proficiency

Cited by 11 publications

References 42 publications

Associations Between Sign Language Skills and Resting-State Functional Connectivity in Deaf Early Signers

Associations Between Sign Language Skills and Resting-State Functional Connectivity in Deaf Early Signers

Assessments of Sign Language Development

Effects of Age-of-Acquisition on Proficiency in Polish Sign Language: Insights to the Critical Period Hypothesis

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