The efficiency and effectiveness of an interactive videodisc system to teach sign language vocabulary

Forty students enrolled in the course 74.153, Introduction to Sign Language, at Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania participated in a study using an interactive videodisc system to teach sign language vocabulary. The experimental group (n = 20) learned signs via an interactive videodisc system while the control group (n = 20) learned the same signs through a traditional classroom approach. Results indicated no significant differences between the groups in their ability to recognize signs. In addition, the experimental group took one-third less time to learn as many signs as the control group.     

The psychotherapist and the sign language interpreter

Specialized psychotherapy for deaf people in the Dutch and Western European mental health systems is still a rather young specialism. A key policy principle in Dutch mental health care for the deaf is that they should receive treatment in the language most accessible to them, which is usually Dutch Sign Language (Nederlandse Gebarentaal or NGT). Although psychotherapists for the deaf are trained to use sign language, situations will always arise in which a sign language interpreter is needed. Most psychotherapists have the opinion that working with a sign language interpreter in therapy sessions can be a valuable alternative option but also see it as a second-best solution because of its impact on the therapeutic process. This paper describes our years of collaborationship as a therapist and a sign language interpreter. If this collaborationship is optimal, it can generate a certain therapeutic power in the therapy sessions. Achieving this depends largely on the interplay between the therapist and the interpreter, which in our case is the result of literature research and our experiences during the last 17 years. We analyze this special collaborative relationship, which has several dimensions and recurrent themes like, the role conception of the interpreter, situational interpreting, organizing the interpretation setting, or managing therapeutic phenomena during therapy sessions.     

口语教学要渗透小品语言的艺术魅力

优秀的喜剧小品是一本极好的口语教材,在口语教学中优秀小品语言的艺术魅力,是兼顾语工具性和人性的理想举措。分析小品语言的“音”美、“形”美、“意”美、“情”美,不仅能以最有趣、最生动的方式教会学生掌握口语交际的基本原则和一般技巧,还能有效提升学生的化品位、审美情趣和艺术鉴赏力,使他们从中获得思的启迪、美的熏陶、情的感染。     

模糊语言在英语日常会话中的交际功能

本文从言语交际的角度出发,简要论述了模糊语言的含义、类型和特征,详细阐述了其在日常交际中的功能和作用,以及运用不恰当时造成的消极效果。通过研究,本文得出这样的结论：模糊语言的使用不存在绝对的“好”和“坏”的问题,而是要根据具体的语境来决定使用成功与否。     

现代汉语标准口语语感特征探究

本文从语音层面上探讨现代汉语标准口语语感的感知性、自然性、界域性、节律性、模糊性、审美性等特征,意在揭示现代汉语标准口语语感的内在涵义。     

The sign language skills classroom observation: a process for describing sign language proficiency in classroom settings

In collaboration with teachers and students at the National Technical Institute for the Deaf (NTID), the Sign Language Skills Classroom Observation (SLSCO) was designed to provide feedback to teachers on their sign language communication skills in the classroom. In the present article, the impetus and rationale for development of the SLSCO is discussed. Previous studies related to classroom signing and observation methodology are reviewed. The procedure for developing the SLSCO is then described. This procedure included (a) interviews with faculty and students at NTID, (b) identification of linguistic features of sign language important for conveying content to deaf students, (c) development of forms for recording observations of classroom signing, (d) analysis of use of the forms, (e) development of a protocol for conducting the SLSCO, and (f) piloting of the SLSCO in classrooms. The results of use of the SLSCO with NTID faculty during a trial year are summarized.     

对学好“教师口语”的思考

教师口语是教师传授知识、解释疑难、开启心灵、塑造品性的重要工具。一个合格的教师,必须掌握好这个工具。     

有关口语中英文夹杂使用的问题

随着文化发展的交流日益加大,人们对英语的学习越来越重视.在生活中出现汉语中夹杂使用英文的现象越来越多,英文的吸收有丰富汉语的作用,但直接在汉语中夹杂使用英语不符合汉语规范.如何解决好英语外来词的吸收问题是我们值得关注和研究的问题.这一问题时汉语的健康发展以及中小学的教学都有着举足轻重的地位.     

抓住典型语言信息提高阅读教学效率

阅读教学要深读课文,抓住典型语言信息,领悟语言文字表情达意之精妙,避免繁琐的分析,提高阅读教学效率。可以通过抓住重点词语,围绕课文题目,紧扣中心语句,精学一段课文,强化一处细节的方法,引导学生精读分析,积累语言．     

外语教学的低效与高效

传统式教学法的低效已经是广大教育工作者的共识,越来越成为教育现代化的障碍。现代化教育技术引入教育领域,必将为优化教育资源,扩大课堂信息输入量,促进教育模式和教育理念的转变起到积极的促进作用。     

Approaching sign language test construction: adaptation of the German sign language receptive skills test

There is a current need for reliable and valid test instruments in different countries in order to monitor deaf children's sign language acquisition. However, very few tests are commercially available that offer strong evidence for their psychometric properties. A German Sign Language (DGS) test focusing on linguistic structures that are acquired in preschool- and school-aged children (4-8 years old) is urgently needed. Using the British Sign Language Receptive Skills Test, that has been standardized and has sound psychometric properties, as a template for adaptation thus provides a starting point for tests of a sign language that is less documented, such as DGS. This article makes a novel contribution to the field by examining linguistic, cultural, and methodological issues in the process of adapting a test from the source language to the target language. The adapted DGS test has sound psychometric properties and provides the basis for revision prior to standardization.     

Psychological testing of sign language interpreters

Twenty-eight sign language interpreters participated in a battery of tests to determine if a profile of cognitive, motor, attention, and personality attributes might distinguish them as a group and at different credential levels. Eight interpreters held Level II and nine held Level III Virginia Quality Assurance Screenings (VQAS); the other 11 held Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf (RID) certification. Six formal tests, the Quick Neurological Screening Test-II, the Wonderlic Personnel Test, the Test of Visual-Motor Skills (TVMS), the d2 Test of Attention, the Integrated Visual and Auditory Continuous Performance Test, and the Sixteen Personality Factor Questionnaire (16PF), were administered to the interpreters. Average scores were high on most of the tests; differences across the three groups were not statistically significant. Results from only one test, the d2 Test of Attention, were significantly correlated with interpreter level. Comparisons between educational and community interpreters also revealed no differences. Personality traits were widely distributed, but one trait, abstract reasoning, tested extremely high in 18 interpreters. Discussion of the potential implications of these results, particularly for educational interpreters, is offered.     

心理结构对口语语言和书面语言的影响初探

无论是口语语言还是书面语言,都是用语言表达心理活动的一种方式。但它们在组成内容、表现形式及对心理结构的依赖方面具有明显的差异。本文将从日语的口语表达和书面表达所依赖的心理因素出发,分析语言主体的心理结构对口语语言和书面语言的影响。     

The acquisition of spatial constructions in American sign language and English

Spatial relations in American Sign Language (ASL) are often signed from the perspective of the signer and so involve a shift in perspective and mental rotation. This study examined developing knowledge of language used to refer to the spatial relations front, behind, left, right, towards, away, above, and below by children learning ASL and English. Because ASL is a classifier language in which noun referents are placed into groups, each spatial relation also appeared with person, animal, and vehicle classifiers. Twenty-three children and adults who learned ASL before the age of 5 years and 23 native English-speaking adults and children participated. Both language groups participated in a comprehension task in which they chose which of 2 pictures depicted a signed or spoken relation. Results showed that children learning ASL acquired the constructions for spatial relations that typically involve perspective shifts and mental rotation later than constructions that do not involve these abilities and later than English-speaking children. Children learning ASL did not differ from English-speaking children in learning constructions that did not involve these abilities. Results also suggest that users of ASL initially comprehend spatial relations more accurately with person and animal classifiers than with the classifier for vehicles. The results are relevant to understanding the acquisition of spatial relations in ASL.     

加强口语训练,提高学生口语交际能力

通过有目标、有要求地对学生加强口语训练,帮助他们口语交际能力。     

Sign language comprehension: the case of Spanish sign language

This study aims to answer the question, how much of Spanish Sign Language interpreting deaf individuals really understand. Study sampling included 36 deaf people (deafness ranging from severe to profound; variety depending on the age at which they learned sign language) and 36 hearing people who had good knowledge of sign language (most were interpreters). Sign language comprehension was assessed using passages of secondary level. After being exposed to the passages, the participants had to tell what they had understood about them, answer a set of related questions, and offer a title for the passage. Sign language comprehension by deaf participants was quite acceptable but not as good as that by hearing signers who, unlike deaf participants, were not only late learners of sign language as a second language but had also learned it through formal training.     

BEC口语测试与测试成绩的关系研究

广开题源,强调学科交叉应用,走开放性命题道路,提高测试成绩的含金量;开发测试技术,增加测试成绩的信度;运用测试策略,促进测试成绩的效度。为正式考试挑选真正符合标准的试题,以保证测试成绩的信度、效度,并为建立常模提供依据,使测试成绩能有效适应不同社会实践领域对人才英语能力检测的个性要求。     

试论语言符号的任意性和理据性

文章回顾了现代语言学鼻祖--Saussure提出的语言的任意性,总结了现代语言学家对语言符号理据性的探索,并结合多义词的例证,认为语言符号既有任意性,又有理据性,两者对立同一,并存互动,推动语言不断发展.