"Education, Faculty of"@en . "Educational and Counselling Psychology, and Special Education (ECPS), Department of"@en . "DSpace"@en . "UBCV"@en . "Stewart, David Alan"@en . "2010-06-28T22:02:12Z"@en . "1985"@en . "Doctor of Education - EdD"@en . "University of British Columbia"@en . "The purpose of this study was to examine comprehension by deaf students of stories presented in Signed English (SE) and American Sign Language (ASL), under three modal conditions manual-only, manual plus oral, and manual plus oral plus aural. It was predicted that: (1) an increase in comprehension would correspond to an increase in the number of modes used in presenting the stories; (2) ASL would be a more efficient method of communication than SE; (3) there would be an interaction effect between language and mode of presentation; and (4) in unbalanced bilinguals a translation to the dominant language would occur when a story was presented in the subordinate language.\r\nThirty-six deaf subjects from the British Columbia provincial School for the Deaf participated in the study; their mean age was 16 years 7 months, and their average hearing threshold level in the better ear was 99.8 decibels with a range of 83 decibels to 113 decibels. All subjects had a minimum of five years. experience as students in total communication programs using SE. Three ghost stories (mean readability level = Grade 2.7) were videotaped under all modal conditions for each of the languages. In the experimental task, subjects were shown a different story under each of the three modal conditions; but each subject was given stories in only one language. After each viewing the subject's retelling was videotaped.\r\nData analyses showed that: there was no significant treatment effect for mode of presentation; subjects reproduced stories presented in ASL better than SE stories; there was an interaction between language and modes, where adding speechreading to the manual-only modality led to higher comprehension scores in the SE presentations; and a majority of subjects retold ASL and SE stories in ASL.\r\nThe results support ASL as being the more effective method of communication for signing deaf students who have extensive training in total communication and Signed English. It is suggested that total communication classes adopt an ASL-English bilingual program to enhance classroom communication and assist in the development of oral and aural skills, and that speech always accompany the use of SE. Suggestions were made for future research activities."@en . "https://circle.library.ubc.ca/rest/handle/2429/26045?expand=metadata"@en . "EFFECTS OF DIFFERING SIGN LANGUAGES AND COMMUNICATION MODES ON THE COMPREHENSION OF STORIES BY DEAF STUDENTS by DAVID ALAN STEWART B . S c , Simon Fraser Un ivers i t y , 1976 M.A., Univers i ty Of B r i t i s h Columbia, 1982 A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF EDUCATION in THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES Educational Psychology And Special Education We accept t h i s thes is as conforming to the required standard THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA January 1985 \u00C2\u00A9 David Alan Stewart, 1985 In presenting t h i s thes is in p a r t i a l fu l f i lment of the requirements for an advanced degree at the Univers i ty of B r i t i s h Columbia, I agree that the L ibrary s h a l l make i t f ree ly ava i lab le for reference and study. I further agree that permission for extensive copying of th i s thes is for scholar ly purposes may be granted by the Head of my Department or by h is or her representat ives . I t i s understood that copying or pub l icat ion of t h i s thes is for f i n a n c i a l gain s h a l l not be allowed without my wr i t ten permission. Department of Educational Psychology And Special Education The Univers i ty of B r i t i s h Columbia 2075 Wesbrook Place Vancouver, Canada V6T 1W5 Date: January 8, 1985 i i Abstract The purpose of th i s study was to examine comprehension by deaf students of s to r ies presented in Signed Engl ish (SE) and American Sign Language (ASL), under three modal condit ions -manual-only, manual plus o r a l , and manual plus o ra l plus a u r a l . It was predicted that : (1) an increase in comprehension would correspond to an increase in the number of modes used in presenting the s t o r i e s ; (2) ASL would be a more e f f i c i e n t method of communication than SE; (3) there would be an in teract ion ef fect between language and mode of presentat ion; and (4) in unbalanced b i l i n g u a l s a t r a n s l a t i o n to the dominant language would occur when a story was presented in the subordinate language. T h i r t y - s i x deaf subjects from the B r i t i s h Columbia p r o v i n c i a l School for the Deaf par t i c ipated in the study; the i r mean age was 16 years 7 months, and the i r average hearing threshold l eve l in the better ear was 99.8 decibels with a range of 83 decibels to 113 d e c i b e l s . A l l subjects had a minimum of f i ve years. experience as students in t o t a l communication programs using SE. Three ghost s to r ies (mean r e a d a b i l i t y l e v e l = Grade 2.7) were videotaped under a l l modal condit ions for each of the languages. In the experimental task, subjects were shown a d i f f e r e n t story under each of the three modal cond i t ions ; but each subject was given s t o r i e s in only one language. After each viewing the subject 's r e t e l l i n g was videotaped. Data analyses showed that : there was no s i g n i f i c a n t treatment e f fec t for mode of presentat ion; subjects reproduced s to r ies presented in ASL better than SE s t o r i e s ; there was an in teract ion between language and modes, where adding speechreading to the manual-only modality led to higher comprehension scores in the SE presentat ions; and a majority of subjects re to ld ASL and SE s to r ies in ASL. The resu l t s support ASL as being the more e f f e c t i v e method of communication for s igning deaf students who have extensive t r a i n i n g in t o t a l communication and Signed Eng l i sh . It i s suggested that t o t a l communication c lasses adopt an ASL-Engl ish b i l i n g u a l program to enhance classroom communication and a s s i s t in the development of o ra l and aural s k i l l s , and that speech always accompany the use of SE. Suggestions were made for future research a c t i v i t i e s . i v Table of Contents Abstract i i L i s t of Tables v i i L i s t of Figures v i i i Acknowledgement ix Chapter I INTRODUCTION 1 1 . BACKGROUND OF THE PROBLEM 2 2. RESEARCH PROBLEM 9 3. DEFINITIONS OF' TERMS 12 Chapter II REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE 15 1. MANUAL FORMS OF COMMUNICATION 15 2. RESEARCH ON SIGN LANGUAGE AND SIGN SYSTEMS 27 2.1 Sign Language Acqu is i t ion 28 2.2 S o c i o l i n g u i s t i c s Of Sign Language 33 2.2.1 Phonological Var ia t ion 36 2.2.2 Lex i ca l Var iat ions 37 2.2 .3 Grammatical Var ia t ions 37 2.3 Psycho l ingu is t ics Of Sign Language 38 2.3.1 Production Of Sign Language 39 2.3 .2 Perception Of Sign Language 41 2.3 .3 Memory For Sign Language 44 3. SIMULTANEOUS COMMUNICATION 50 4. BILINGUAL EDUCATION 60 5. BILINGUAL RESEARCH 69 6. RELATED RESEARCH 7 5 6.1 Intersensory Integration 75 6.2 Attent ion 88 Chapter III METHODOLOGY 96 1 . OVERVIEW 96 2. METHODOLOGY 97 2.1 Design 97 2.2 Subjects And Sampling 103 3. PILOT STUDY 104 3.1 Stor ies 104 V 3.2 Signed Presentations 106 3.3 Time Limit 107 3.4 Scoring Instrument 108 3.5 P i l o t Subjects 109 / 4. DEVELOPMENT OF TESTING MATERIALS 111 4.1 Instrument 111 4.2 Administrat ive Procedures 111 4 . 3 Scoring 112 4.4 Data Analyses 113 Chapter IV RESULTS 115 1. STATISTICAL ANALYSES 115 2. ANALYSES OF LANGUAGE OF REPRODUCTION 126 3. INDIVIDUALDIFFERENCES 130 4. SUMMARY OF FINDINGS 131 Chapter V DISCUSSION OF RESULTS 133 1. MODAL CONDITIONS AND THE COMPREHENSION OF STORIES 133 2. LANGUAGE AND THE COMPREHENSION OF STORIES 136 3. MODES OF COMMUNICATION AND LANGUAGE .140 4. DOMINANT LANGUAGE EFFECTS 142 Chapter VI SUMMARY, CONCLUSIONS, IMPLICATIONS, LIMITATIONS, AND RECOMMENDATIONS FOR FUTURE RESEARCH 145 1 . SUMMARY 1 45 2. CONCLUSIONS 148 3. IMPLICATIONS 151 4. LIMITATIONS 155 5. RECOMMENDATIONS FOR FUTURE RESEARCH 155 LITERATURE CITED 157 APPENDIX A - SCORING INSTRUMENT* 173 APPENDIX B - STORIES IN ENGLISH 179 STORY A: THE MAN WHO CLEARED HIS NAME 179 v i STORY B: THE GHOST WHO OUTSMARTED HIS RELATIVES 179 STORY C: THE HOUSE THAT WAS NOT THERE 180 APPENDIX C - STORIES IN AMERICAN SIGN LANGUAGE 182 KEY TO AMERICAN SIGN LANGUAGE TRANSCRIPTIONS ** 182 STORY A: THE MAN WHO CLEARED HIS NAME 184 STORY B: THE GHOST WHO OUTSMARTED HIS RELATIVES 185 STORY C: THE HOUSE THAT WAS NOT THERE 187 APPENDIX D - DEMOGRAPHIC DATA 190 v i i L i s t of Tables I. Summary of Repeated Measures Analys is of Variance of Comprehension Scores 116 I I . Comprehension Means for ASL and SE, by Levels of Five Independent Var iables 117 I I I . Comprehension Means for Levels of Six Independent Var iables 118 IV. Bonferonni t s t a t i s t i c : S ign i f icance of Dif ferences Between Orders 121 V. Bonferonni t s t a t i s t i c : S ign i f icance of Language Differences by Mode 123 VI . Bonferonni t s t a t i s t i c : S ign i f icance of Language Differences by Story 125 VI I . Language c h a r a c t e r i s t i c s of subjects 129 v i i i L i s t of Figures 1. Cokely target language accommodation model 26 2. Greco-Lat in square sequence for the assignment of . subjects 99 3. Mean Comprehension Scores by Order of Presentation . .120 4. ASL and SE Mean Comprehension Scores by Mode 122 5. ASL and SE Comprehension Scores by Story 124 ix Acknowledgement In completing th i s d i sse r ta t ion I am indebted to several ind i v idua ls who provided me with valuable input and moral support. I would l i k e to give a very spec ia l thanks to the chairman of my committee Dr. Bryan R. Clarke for providing me with a boundless think tank that often helped me through d i f f i c u l t periods in wr i t ing t h i s paper. I would l i k e to thank the other members of my committee Dr. Anne Treisman, for helping me see my work from a d i f fe ren t perspect ive , and Dr. Robert Conry, for guiding me through the s t a t i s t i c s maze. I would l i k e to thank a l l the subjects of t h i s study whose journey through the education system i s providing me with the motivation to conduct research. In a d d i t i o n , thanks to the P r i n c i p a l of Jer icho H i l l School for the Deaf, Ms. Helen Adam and the V i c e - p r i n c i p a l , Ms. Nancy M i l l e r for a l lowing me to conduct my study with the i r students. Many thanks to my research ass is tants Aas t r id F lan jak , Danny Lecours, Doug Lambert, Ce l ia Corr iveau, and B i l l McKee for the i r work and s p i r i t that made t h i s study a pleasure. A very spec ia l thanks to Mrs. Betty Reid for her typing and moral support that helped me f i n i s h on schedule. F i n a l l y , a big hug and kisses for my dear wife E l i z a b e t h , for her ever present love, support, and understanding. 1 I. INTRODUCTION Total communication programs in the education of the deaf current ly endorse the pos i t ion that the most e f f e c t i v e means of communication w i l l consist of a simultaneous combination of a u d i t i o n , speechreading, and s ign ing . In nearly a l l programs the signing component has been one of several Engl ish based systems (Jordan, Gustason, & Rosen, 1979). However, some concerns have been raised over the use of a v i sua l l y -based system to represent an aud i to r i l y -based language. Kretschmer and Kretschmer (1978) have suggested that i f a v i sua l l y -based system used to represent an aud i to r i l y -based system is symbol ical ly organized in a d i f f e r e n t way, then the simultaneous comprehension of these divergent systems may not be f e a s i b l e . They propose that a v i s u a l system should be presented f i r s t to ensure a c h i l d ' s communication prof ic iency and the next step should be to \"piggyback standard Engl ish onto t h i s symbol system ei ther as spoken or read-wr i t ten language\" (Kretschmer & Kretschmer, 1978, p. 140). To implement t h i s proposal would s i g n i f i c a n t l y change the manner in which present t o t a l communication programs are being conducted. More recent ly , Clarke (1983) has reviewed t r a d i t i o n a l methods in teaching language to hearing impaired ch i ldren in t o t a l communication and o ra l based programs. He found that language as taught in the school curr iculum did not provide an adequate basis for the a s s i m i l a t i o n of grammatical s t ructures . Clarke f e l t that too much emphasis was given to s p e c i f i c language teaching areas such as morphology and syntax, and too 2 l i t t l e to communication. As a remedy, he proposed that the emphasis should be sh i f ted to a conversational approach backed up by su i tab le a c t i v i t y - b a s e d s i tuat ions to st imulate communication and authentic language t ransact ions . There i s a c lear need for a c r i t i c a l examination of the framework of t o t a l communication programs as they are presently def ined. If one i s to concede that language development i s the primary concern of an e f f e c t i v e t o t a l communication program then two questions in p a r t i c u l a r must be invest igated . F i r s t , with regard to processing information, does the prov is ion of a simultaneous communication method employing a u d i t i o n , speechreading, and signs f a c i l i t a t e language ass imi la t ion? Second, with respect to language, does the use of Signed Eng l i sh , the language of the classroom, more adequately f a c i l i t a t e authentic language transact ions than American Sign Language, the language of the deaf community? 1. BACKGROUND OF THE PROBLEM The basic assumption made by proponents of t o t a l communication i s that in simultaneous communication, information i s concurrently perceived (1) through the auditory and v i s u a l senses and (2) in the v i s i o n sense through signs and speechreading. Further , i t i s assumed that the more sources of information ava i lab le to an ind i v idua l the more information w i l l be perceived. The advent of t o t a l communication over the past 15 years was st imulated by research based on these assumptions. In simultaneous communication three d i s t i n c t modes are u t i l i z e d to convey information through two sensory channels. In 3 the auditory channel the aural mode i s used for the perception of speech sounds. In the v i s u a l channel two modes are used to t ransfer messages: The ora l mode accomplishes t h i s through l i p movements and f a c i a l expressions ( i . e . , speechreading) and the manual mode through hand movements and body language. Thus, in simultaneous communication, two channels are used for the perception of s ignals and three modes for conveying the s i g n a l s . In other words, simultaneous communication implies a bisensory and a tr imodal form of communication. Although t h i s i s the model that t o t a l communication has embraced, the f e a s i b i l i t y of processing multi -modal sources of information has been questioned (Wilbur, 1979). Several f i e l d studies have examined the processing of multi -modal presentat ions. Most of them have shown that an increase in information a s s i m i l a t i o n occurs when modes are added to create presentations which are s i m i l a r to those of simultaneous communication (Klopping, 1972; Moores, Weiss, & Goodwin, 1973; White & Stevenson, 1975; Carson & Goetzinger, 1975; Brooks, Hudson, & Reisberg, 1981; Ouel let te & Sendelbaugh, 1982; Pudlas, 1984). For example, Pudlas (1984) found that profoundly deaf subjects extracted more information from the use of o ra l and aural modes together than from ei ther of the modes alone. And when the manual component was added, a s i g n i f i c a n t (p_< .01) increase was obtained in the comprehension of sentences. On the other hand, Beckmeyer (1976) found that an i n d i v i d u a l ' s preference for a ce r ta in communication mode was the 4 primary determining factor of a mode's e f fect iveness . In h is study, the o ra l mode was most e f f i c i e n t for those students with an o ra l preference and the manual mode for those who indicated a manual or an oral/manual preference. In add i t i on , multimodal combinations did not increase the e f f i c i e n c y of students with a unimodal preference. The question i s whether adding further modes to the best mode helps . Obviously, adding a better mode to a worse mode w i l l he lp , even i f only the better mode i s perceived. Examination of the l i t e r a t u r e seemed to warrant the conclusion that increasing the number of modes general ly increases the amount of information a s s i m i l a t e d . However, methodological considerations caution against general i z ing these f indings to the classroom. A major reason for t h i s i s the absence of adequate language items in the tes t ing of receptive s k i l l s . The use of s ing le vocabulary items (Klopping, 1972; Moores et a l . r 1973), nonsense s y l l a b l e s (Carson & Goetzinger, 1975; Beckmeyer, 1976), foreign words (Brooks et a l . , 1981), and s ing le sentences (Pudlas, 1984) are not s u f f i c i e n t to represent language in d iscourse, although each can be used to invest igate narrower aspects of communication. Furthermore, a l l previous studies used wr i t ten responses or mul t ip le -cho ice items in Engl ish as a means of tes t ing the amount of information a s s i m i l a t e d . In general , deaf ch i ldren are very weak in the i r knowledge of wr i t ten and spoken Eng l i sh , therefore the v a l i d i t y of such response methods has to be questioned se r ious l y . The present study attempted to avoid these methodological problems 5 by u t i l i z i n g s to r ies as the independent var iab le and the subject 's r e t e l l i n g of the s to r ies in signs as the dependent measure. The other area of pedagogical in terest invest igated here i s the use of a p a r t i c u l a r signing method with deaf c h i l d r e n . In t o t a l communication programs, one of several types of sign systems are used. Sign systems can be defined as methods of s igning which v i s u a l l y represent a spoken language. In B r i t i s h Columbia, i t i s the Min is t ry of Education's po l i cy that one kind of sign system, Signed Eng l i sh , be used in a l l t o t a l communication programs. However, the question whether Signed Engl ish i s a more appropriate means of signed communication than other sign systems has not received much a t t e n t i o n . Rather, since t o t a l communication programs began in the m i d - s i x t i e s (Clarke, 1972) there have been general doubts cast about the v a l i d i t y of using sign systems for i n s t r u c t i o n a l purposes (Woodward, 1973a; Bat t i son , 1974; Stokoe, 1975; Stevens, 1976; Kluwin, 1981a, 1981b). As noted e a r l i e r , a p a r t i c u l a r concern has been ra ised that a v i s u a l mode may not be appropriate to express an aud i to r i l y -based language. Further , the few experimental studies that have been done indicated that the teachers who use sign systems to represent Eng l ish rare ly approach a true one-to-one correspondence between signs and Engl ish word order (Marmor & P e t i t t o , 1979; Kluwin, 1981a). If one of the major functions of a sign system ( e . g . , Signed English) i s to represent v i s u a l l y the information being transmitted by speech, then the capacity to sign and speak 6 Engl ish accurately and simultaneously must be demonstrated. Another important aspect of Signed Engl ish i s the r e s t r i c t e d environment in which i t i s used. E s s e n t i a l l y , Signed Engl ish i s a classroom based language that i s rare ly used out of school . Outside the classroom, American Sign Language, which i s recognized as the language of the deaf community (Kannapell , 1982), i s the preferred means of communication between deaf people (Stewart, 1982). Nevertheless, Signed Engl ish or some form of i t may be used by the deaf in conversations with hearing people who are learning to sign (Padden, 1980). In f a c t , va r ia t ions of Signed Engl ish that re ta in Engl ish word order but delete sign ind icators for s u f f i x e s , p l u r a l s , a r t i c l e s , and determiners are more common than Signed Eng l i sh , both in and out of the classroom. These v a r i a t i o n s , known as pidgins (Woodward, 1973b) or reg is te rs (Cokely, 1983), are not languages per se and have not been the subject of adequate l i n g u i s t i c research. Indeed, the i r pedagogical value in communication with deaf ch i ld ren i s not known and a funct ional use for Signed Engl ish outside of the classroom s t i l l remains to be demonstrated. This lack of research and understanding of Signed Engl ish has prompted Stokoe (1978) to question i t s v i a b i l i t y as a means of communication. He states that:-7 The teacher who learns signs and puts them in Engl ish phrases and sentences to teach Deaf pupi ls w i l l f a i l to communicate, unless pupi ls already have mastered the sentence-forming and the word-forming systems of Engl ish - a most un l ike l y chance. Just seeing signs that someone thinks stand for Engl ish words i s by no means the same as learning the word-systems of Engl ish (Stokoe, 1978, quoted in Cokely, 1980, p. 141). If the goal i s to teach the deaf to learn Engl ish through the medium of s ign , then a so lut ion must be found that does not bypass the purpose of communication. Appropriate s igning r e s u l t s in comfortable and meaningful communication. Therefore, i t seems unfortunate that the language of ins t ruc t ion in the school should d i f f e r from the language used by the Deaf community. This has caused an increasing number of educators and researchers to consider the p o s s i b i l i t y of incorporat ing American Sign Language into t o t a l communication programs, thus c reat ing a b i l i n g u a l s i t u a t i o n with American Sign Language as the primary and Engl ish as the second language (Charrow & Wilbur , 1975; Cokely, 1978; Curry & Curry, 1978; Woodward, 1978; Stevens, 1980). The deaf community has a lso expressed an in terest in b i l i n g u a l education (Stewart, 1983a) and the same i s true of teachers of the hearing impaired (Stewart, 1983b). Hence, a comparison of the communicative ef fect iveness of Signed Engl ish and American Sign Language i s important. In the area of b i l i n g u a l education only a few studies have evaluated the use of Signed Engl ish and American Sign Language (Higgins, 1973; Murphy & \u00E2\u0080\u00A2 F l e i s c h e r , 1977; Ouel lette & Sendelbaugh, 1982). These studies were general ly exploratory 8 and did not provide a close examination of the many factors that may determine ef fect i veness . To obtain some information about the poss ib le outcome of a b i l i n g u a l program in education of the deaf i t may be useful to examine research in b i l i n g u a l i s m ; however, th i s usual ly involves two o ra l languages. One aspect of b i l i ngua l i sm that i s of in terest here concerns the non-balanced b i l i n g u a l i n d i v i d u a l . These ind iv idua ls are described as having one f u l l y developed language and lesser s k i l l s in a second language (Dornic, 1979) and form the largest segment of the b i l i n g u a l population (Grosjean, 1982). In the administrat ion of a b i l i n g u a l education program the assignment of each of the languages to various i n s t r u c t i o n a l tasks i s c r i t i c a l . How wel l students are able to process information in each of the i r languages w i l l be a pert inent fac to r . Information processing research with o ra l b i l i n g u a l s has revealed that the dominant language i s more e f f i c i e n t for ce r ta in tasks . Both Scherer and Wertheimer (1964) and Kolers (1966) found that b i l i n g u a l s were able to comprehend mater ia ls presented in the i r dominant language better than in the i r subordinate language. . Mcnamara (1967) found that faster responses were obtained in the dominant language when the task required the matching of words with p i c tu res . S i m i l a r l y , Preston and Lambert (1969) obtained faster times in the dominant language for a simple color-naming task. In a ser ies of s tud ies , Dornic (1979) showed that environmental no ise , mental fa t igue , emotionally loaded events, and other external factors 9 d i f f e r e n t i a l l y inf luenced the performance in each language of non-balanced b i l i n g u a l s . Grosjean (1981) summarized Dornic 's f indings by po int ing out that the b i l i n g u a l \"slows down, i s less e f f e c t i v e , and i s even tempted to switch to h is or her dominant language\" (p. 255) when the presentation i s in the subordinate language. Although research f indings on o ra l b i l i n g u a l s have been an in f luence , proponents of b i l i n g u a l education for deaf ch i ldren have provided l i t t l e more than r h e t o r i c a l support for the i r proposals. Most concur that American Sign Language should be recognized as the dominant language of deaf ch i ldren and Engl ish should be taught as a second language (Cicourel & Boese, 1972; Fant, 1972; Stokoe, 1975; Woodward, 1978; Stevens, 1980). However, the ef fect iveness of e i ther language r e l a t i v e to classroom ins t ruc t ions and Engl ish language development s t i l l awaits empir ica l evidence. U n t i l such time as relevant data have been gathered, Engl ish w i l l continue to be the only recognized language for i n s t r u c t i o n a l purposes. 2. RESEARCH PROBLEM The research undertaken here attempted to evaluate the story comprehension s k i l l s of deaf ind iv idua ls under three d i f f e r e n t modal condi t ions and two d i f f e r e n t s igning methods. The manual, o r a l , and aural modes of communication (see D e f i n i t i o n s next section) were used to present three s to r ies in each one of the fo l lowing modal cond i t ions : Manual only , manual 1 0 plus o r a l , and manual plus o ra l plus a u r a l . The s to r ies were signed in both Signed Engl ish and American Sign Language in order to assess competence in each of these two languages. F i n a l l y , subjects were assigned to one of the language condit ions then tested under each of the modal cond i t ions . Thus, the study employed a 3 (modes) X 3 (s tor ies) X 2 (language) repeated measure design. There are several features of t h i s study that d i s t i n g u i s h i t from previous work. F i r s t , the manual mode was assumed to be the subjects ' strongest mode and was used in a l l modal condi t ions . Increase in comprehension was tested with the addi t ion of the o ra l (second strongest mode) and then the aural mode. Secondly, signs were used in a story t e l l i n g language s i t u a t i o n and not as i so la ted l e x i c a l items. This provided the study with greater eco log ica l v a l i d i t y that al lows general i zat ions to be made regarding communication. F i n a l l y , only profoundly deaf subjects who use signs as the i r primary means of communication were tes ted . Impl icat ions for t o t a l communication programs w i l l therefore be drawn from resu l ts with a group of people who are most dependent on signs and who re ly more on v i s u a l rather than auditory s k i l l s . In Chapter I I , a review of the l i t e r a t u r e explores various aspects of sign communication and information processing. I n i t i a l l y , the c h a r a c t e r i s t i c s of American Sign Language and sign systems are out l ined with p a r t i c u l a r in terest given to the i r a r t i c u l a t i o n and u t i l i z a t i o n . This i s followed by a report on relevant sign language research that attempts to 11 re late the a c q u i s i t i o n , s o c i o l i n g u i s t i c , and psychol ingu is t ic c h a r a c t e r i s t i c s of sign language to those of o ra l languages. Past research on the advantages of simultaneous communication and the pred ic t ion of the e f fec ts of simultaneous communication based on theories of at tent ion are then explored. The concept of b i l i n g u a l education (English and American Sign Language) i s reviewed to determine i t s pedagogical value; and research f indings in education of the deaf and in b i l i n g u a l studies with spoken languages are interpreted to allow an explorat ion of the funct ioning of Engl ish and American Sign Language with deaf students. F i n a l l y , re lated research on intersensory integrat ion and se lec t i ve at tent ion are reviewed to provide the theore t i ca l underpinnings for the possible outcomes of t h i s study. 12 3. DEFINITIONS OF TERMS a . American Sign Language: a v i s u a l - g e s t u r a l language used by deaf people in Canada and United States. It i s a lso known as Ameslan and ASL. b. aural mode: speech sound s ignals as perceived by the ears. c . comprehension of s t o r i e s : the amount of information reproduced from a signed story . This study involves both the reception and comprehension of s t o r i e s . Since the r e c a l l of s to r ies depends on both of these s k i l l s (Bransford, 1979), a r e t e l l i n g task suggested by Goodman and Burke (1972) was used as a measure of comprehension. Obviously, memory i s an important component of the study. In some p a r t i c u l a r manner each language and modality may be advantageous to memory performance. However, due to the fact that there was no delay in r e t e l l i n g the s tor ies i t was reasoned that comprehension was probably v i t a l to accurate story reproduction. (In t h i s paper the terms r e t e l l , r e c a l l , and reproduction are used synonymously.) d. deaf community: a group of people sharing s imi la r c u l t u r a l values, sign language, and at t i tudes toward deafness. Although i t i s la rge ly composed of deaf people, the community may also include hard-of -hear ing i n d i v i d u a l s . In t h i s s i t u a t i o n these ind iv idua ls must meet the fo l lowing c r i t e r i a as stated by Higgins 1 3 (1980), \"(1) i d e n t i f i c a t i o n with the Deaf world, (2) shared experiences that comes of being hearing impaired, and (3) p a r t i c i p a t i o n in the community's a c t i v i t i e s \" (p.38). deaf person: from a c u l t u r a l perspect ive , a deaf person i s one who has a func t iona l l y s i g n i f i c a n t degree of hearing loss and i d e n t i f i e s with the language and b e l i e f s of the deaf community. And from an education point of view a deaf person i s \"one whose hearing i s d isabled to an extent . . . that precludes the understanding of speech through the ear alone, without or with the use of a hearing a i d \" (Moores, 1978, p .5 ) . hard -o f -hear ing : describes \"one whose hearing i s d isabled to an extent . . . that makes d i f f i c u l t , but does not preclude, the understanding of speech through the ear alone, without or with a hearing a i d \" (Moores, 1978, p .5 ) . hearing impaired: a generic term that encompasses both deaf and hard -of -hear ing people. In other words, i t i s used to refer to ind iv idua ls with any degree of hearing l o s s . manual mode: of or r e l a t i n g to the use of s igns . This includes s igns , f i n g e r s p e l l i n g , f a c i a l expression, and body language. o ra l mode: of or r e l a t i n g to the use of speech. In the present context , the ora l mode i s used to refer 14 exc lus ive ly to movements of the l i p s and other speech re lated f a c i a l expressions and not to the accompanying sounds. Signed Eng l i sh : i s a means of representing Engl ish using the medium of signs and f i n g e r s p e l l i n g . sign language: i s a method of manual communication that i s the primary language of the deaf. Each sign language has i t s own lex icon and syntax that i s general ly quite d i f f e r e n t from the spoken language of the community at la rge . sign system: a method of s igning that has been developed as a means of representing a spoken language. There are several d i f fe ren t sign systems in use in t o t a l communication programs in Canada and the United States . simultaneous communication: the simultaneous use of signs and speech. t o t a l communication: in theory r e f l e c t s a process embraced by teachers, parents, and ch i ld ren which uses any ava i lab le means of communication to express a thought. In p r a c t i c e , i t c a l l s for teachers and parents to develop the i r various s k i l l s , and those of deaf i n d i v i d u a l s , to transmit and receive information. Within t o t a l communication programs, simultaneous use of speech and signs i s strongly encouraged. 15 I I . REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE 1. MANUAL FORMS OF COMMUNICATION Sign language i s a manual form of communication that does not re ly upon audit ion and the speech mechanism. B r i e f l y , i t i s a v i s u a l form of language that has been developed and used by the deaf for interpersonal communications (Stokoe, 1981). It involves movements of the hands, f i ngers , body, and f a c i a l features to transmit language. Symbols formed by the hands, are c a l l e d signs and are analagous to the words or phrases of a spoken language. The const ra ints of v i s u a l reception and the a r t i c u l a t o r y dynamics of manual movements, have resulted in the development of a grammatical structure that i s unique and d i s t i n c t from spoken languages (Stokoe, 1981). Ref lec t ing the emphasis in contemporary l i t e r a t u r e , d iscussion in t h i s paper w i l l focus on American Sign Language (ASL) as representative of the native sign language used by deaf people in Canada and the United States . However, i t should be noted that a project i s presently underway to compile signs for a Canadian Sign Language d i c t i o n a r y . Coordinated by the Canadian Coordinating Counci l on Deafness, t h i s project w i l l represent the jo in t e f f o r t s of the Canadian Associat ion of the Deaf, the Canadian Cu l tu ra l Society of the Deaf, the Associat ion of V i sua l Language Interpreters of Canada, Deaf communities across Canada, and other resource people. Included in ASL i s f i n g e r s p e l l i n g . F ingerspe l l ing uses d i f f e r e n t handshapes to present l e t t e r s of the alphabet. 16 Commonly referred to as the manual alphabet, each of the l e t t e r s can be shown by a s ingle handshape on one hand. This i s in contrast to the two-handed manual alphabet of England, A u s t r a l i a , New Zealand, and other parts of the B r i t i s h Commonwealth. F ingerspe l l ing alone in conjunction with speech has a lso been used as a method of communication. Known as the Rochester method i t s use was short l i v e d and very few classes are now using i t (Jordan, Gustason, & Rosen, 1976, 1979). However, i t i s mentioned here because of i t s capacity to represent Engl ish by s p e l l i n g out a l l of the words. Research on the ef fect iveness of f i n g e r s p e l l i n g as a communication tool w i l l be discussed at a l a t e r point in t h i s paper. In addit ion to sign languages, sign systems a lso represent a manual form of communication. The d i s t i n c t i o n between a sign language and a sign system i s an important one. Sign systems, in North America, are a resu l t of borrowing signs from ASL, c reat ing new ones and using these signs in a grammatically correct Engl ish word order. Sign languages, on the other hand, are considered d i s t i n c t languages. They cons is t of a grammar and lex icon unique in the i r v i s u a l emphasis and the constra ints of a manual a r t i c u l a t i o n system that act upon i t s expression and reception (Friedman, 1977; Wilbur , 1979; Klima & B e l l u g i , 1979; Stokoe, 1981). In contrast , a sign system conforms to the grammar of an aud i to r i l y -based language and i s therefore not a separate language (Bornstein, 1973). A further d i s t i n c t i o n can be made by examining the respective mil ieux in which the two kinds of signs are used. 17 Within the deaf community, ASL i s c u l t u r a l l y based and i s used among f luent signers (Markowicz, 1972; Stewart, 1981). Because of the i r d i f f i c u l t y in conversing o r a l l y , many deaf people are drawn towards the deaf community for the derived benefi ts of signed communication which i t o f fe rs (Jacobs, 1974a, 1974b). ASL al lows i t s users to integrate into t h i s community. Largely through signed communication these group members are able to ass imi la te the s o c i a l c h a r a c t e r i s t i c s of a community bound by deafness and the experiences i t e n t a i l s . ASL, deaf c u l t u r e , and the deaf community are three s o c i a l phenomena that are nurtured by deaf . people 's desire to f u l f i l l the s o c i a l aspects of the i r l i v e s (Jacobs, 1974a, 1974b; Baker & Padden, 1978; Kannapell , 1982). Sign systems on the other hand, are most commonly used in t o t a l communication classrooms. The creat ion of these systems was based not upon the communication strengths of people but rather upon the needs (and ideas of the people who devised them) of an educational methodology. The advent of t o t a l communication in education of the deaf in the la te s i x t i e s resul ted in a change in teaching methods which up to that time had been dominated by the o ra l method (Vernon, 1972, 1975). Whereas, the o ra l method focused on aspects of communication such as l i s t e n i n g s k i l l s , speech, and speechreading, t o t a l communication combined the o ra l approach with other v i s u a l aspects such as signing and f i n g e r s p e l l i n g . A cent ra l issue in t o t a l communication, however, was the role of signs and the kind of signs to be used. 18 In adhering to the t o t a l communication approach, educators had to determine a method of s igning as a standard for both students and teachers. Here, the choices were e i ther to adopt the sign language used by the deaf or to u t i l i z e one of the various sign systems. Bearing heavi ly upon the decis ion not to use ASL was the fact that i t has a grammatical structure vast ly d i f f e r e n t from Engl ish (Stokoe, 1960) whereas sign systems fol low the grammar of spoken language. Although sign systems are not regarded as languages per se (Bornstein, 1973; Wilbur, 1979), the i r proximity to spoken languages favoured them as the best means of s igning in t o t a l communication programs. As the term sign systems impl ies , there i s more than one system that incorporates signing into Engl ish word order. Two common c h a r a c t e r i s t i c s of a l l sign systems are that each has a one-to-one correspondence between signs and words or- morphemes of spoken Eng l i sh ; and each incorporates to a d i f f e r e n t extent, the use of ASL signs (Crystal & C ra ig , 1978). Another important aspect of these systems i s the i r r e s t r i c t e d environment. They are intended for use only within the confines of a classroom and in in te ract ions between teacher and students. However, the extent of the i r use has not met the requirements of a t o t a l communication program. It has been shown that the degree to which teachers ac tua l l y use sign systems to represent Engl ish var ies according to the experience of the signer and rare ly approaches a true one-to-one correspondence between signs and Engl ish word order (Marmor & P e t i t t o , 1979; Kluwin, 1981a). This ra ises serious questions as to the f e a s i b i l i t y of requi r ing 19 a person to accurately sign and speak Engl ish simultaneously, thus, cast ing doubt upon the capacity of sign systems to f u l f i l l one of the i r major functions - that of providing a v i sua l representation of the information concurrently transmitted by speech. This i s one of the areas to be examined in t h i s study. The r e s t r i c t e d environment of sign systems may in i t s e l f defeat the purpose of teaching Engl ish through a v i s u a l mode. Language i s a means of communication and as such serves a c r i t i c a l function in the community. The members of the deaf community do not use sign systems to communicate amongst themselves (Stewart, 1982), and general ly use a form of Pidgin Sign Engl ish when communicating with people who do not know ASL (Woodward, 1973b). This implies that perhaps a sign system is non- funct ional in that i t y i e l d s good sentences for wr i t i ng but poor ones for conversations (Stevens, 1976). However, due to the lack of research, any proposi t ion on the usefulness of sign systems would be hypothet ica l . As mentioned e a r l i e r there i s more than one sign system. In North America a survey of programs w i l l f ind any of the fo l lowing in use; Seeing Essent ia l Eng l i sh , Signing Exact Eng l i sh , L i n g u i s t i c of V i sua l Eng l i sh , Manual Engl ish and Signed Engl ish (Jordan, Gustason, & Rosen, 1979). \u00E2\u0080\u00A2 The present study focuses on Signed Engl ish (SE) as i t i s the po l i cy of the Min is t r y of Education that SE w i l l be used in a l l t o t a l communication programs with in the province of B r i t i s h Columbia. For a descr ip t ion of the other sign systems the reader i s referred to reviews by Anthony (1971), Bornstein (1973), Meadow 20 (1976), C rys ta l and Craig (1978), Reimer (1979), and G r i f f i t h (1980). Signed Engl ish i s the most recent sign system devised, and i t s course of development and evaluation i s comparatively wel l documented (Bornstein, 1973, 1974, 1979, 1982; Bornstein , Hamilton, & Sauln ier , 1975; Bornste in , Sau ln ie r , & Hamilton, 1980; Bornstein & Sauln ier , 1981). O r i g i n a l l y intended for pre-school ch i ld ren i t was extended to elementary school ch i ldren and i s presently advocated by Bornstein (1982) as su i tab le for adolescents and adu l ts . SE i s not as complex as other sign systems. ASL signs provide the basis for the vocabulary and fourteen sign markers are used to indicate word form changes with f i v e of these markers being adopted from ASL. Only one sign marker may be added to a sign word and those words that cannot be represented by a sign(s) are f i n g e r s p e l l e d . The ef fect iveness of SE has not been c l e a r l y demonstrated but a study by Bornstein and Saulnier (1981) on ch i ld ren who have used SE for four years, showed a noteworthy rate of growth in vocabulary. In the f i r s t three years of using SE, t h i s rate was determined to be 43 percent of the rate at which hearing ch i ldren normally acquire spoken Engl ish words. However, in the f i n a l year of the study there was a decrease in t h i s r a t e . The study a lso indicated the development of some competence in the Engl ish language. A p a r a l l e l study with other methods of communication w i l l be necessary before object ive claims can be made for the value of using SE. One of SE's o r i g i n a t o r s , Bornstein (1982), i s now 21 advocating that the complete SE system be used with ch i ldren in the i r ear ly childhood u n t i l they have obtained a mastery of ce r ta in elements of Engl ish in any modal ity . At t h i s time de let ions of sign words and sign markers should be allowed i f Engl ish can be inferred or i f i t i s poss ib le to subst i tute a s ing le sign for two or more words. This change in philosophy seems to be conceding that SE i s not the most e f f i c i e n t mode for communication and that older ch i ldren should be allowed to sign in a manner in which they are most at ease. The c h a r a c t e r i s t i c s of t h i s modified form await future i n v e s t i g a t i o n , but i t may wel l be a va r ia t ion of Pidgin Sign Eng l i sh . Pidgin Sign Engl ish (PSE) i s a t h i r d type of s igning relevant to t h i s study. Before d iscuss ing PSE the inf luence of Engl ish upon ASL w i l l be examined. Invar iab ly , some e f fec ts on a minori ty language can be expected when the minori ty group in te rac ts with the majority group u t i l i z i n g the majority -based language. The ef fect would be increased i f neither group knew the other 's language wel l and conversation was d i s t o r t e d (Nash & Nash, 1978). In such a s i tua t ion the minori ty group a l t e r s i t s own language to make i t easier for the majority group to understand. Eventual ly , the group begins to incorporate more of the majority group's lex icon and grammatical ru les to f a c i l i t a t e communication. When the modes of communication are d i f f e r e n t , the s i t u a t i o n becomes more complicated. Such i s the case of the deaf community l i v i n g within a large hearing soc ie ty . In such an environment, deaf ind iv idua ls must be able to communicate in many d i f f e r e n t s i t u a t i o n s . This may require them to use ASL, 22 spoken Eng l i sh , wri t ten Eng l i sh , and sign systems. To cope, a signer may resort to a l t e r i n g h is own sign language to conform with d i f fe ren t contexts (Stokoe, 1970). One such va r ia t ion i s PSE which was described as being a mixture of Engl ish and ASL (Woodward, 1973b). PSE does not adhere to the structures of e i ther ASL or Engl ish but puts signs in Engl ish word order along with the delet ion and a l t e r a t i o n of various grammatical features . Thus, on a continuum of sign language and sign systems, PSE would l i e between ASL at one extreme and Engl ish at the other with va r ia t ions in PSE according to the extent to which ASL or Engl ish features are incorporated (Bornstein, 1978). Because of the Engl ish word order ing, PSE has become the preferred system for most hearing adults who learn to sign (Bornstein, 1978; R e i l l y & M c l n t i r e , 1980). It has been suggested that deaf people who use PSE are , to some extent, f a m i l i a r with Engl ish ( R e i l l y & M c l n t i r e , 1980). Furthermore, f luent signers are found to write the way they would sign in PSE (Jones, 1979). Further research i s needed to determine the possible use of PSE in teaching Eng l i sh . There i s however, another side to PSE as suggested by Cokely 's (1983) invest igat ion into the d e f i n i t i o n and analys is of PSE.\u00E2\u0080\u009E In es tab l i sh ing the groundwork for studying a p idg in , Cokely began with the necessary precondit ions for i t s emergence and development as put for th by Ferguson and DeBpse (1977). In summary these are : a . Asymmetrical spread of the dominant language among 23 speakers of one or more subordinate language, without rec ip roca l spread of that language(s) among speakers of the dominant language. b. A c lose network of i n t e r a c t i o n , l im i ted with respect to speakers and uses, which i s conducive to r e l a t i v e s t a b i l i t y . c . An a t t i tude on the part of a s i g n i f i c a n t number of users that the emergent var ie ty i s recognized as a separate e n t i t y ; i . e . , i t i s perceived as a \"whole\" by the communities (Cokely, 1983, p. 2) . In applying these precondit ions to the ASL-Engl ish contact s i tua t ion Cokely concluded that they were inadequately met. With respect to asymmetry i t was f e l t that the recent increase in ASL c lasses at col leges and u n i v e r s i t i e s and i t s acceptance for studies in l i n g u i s t i c s has served to balance the spread of ASL with that of Engl ish among the deaf. Secondly, i t i s almost impossible to expect a c lose network of in te ract ions only between deaf ind i v idua ls as the demands of society mandates that deaf ind i v idua ls a c t i v e l y interact with members of the hearing community. These demands are evident in education ( e . g . , United States Publ ic Law 94-142, Sections 503 & 504) and by the lack of p a r a l l e l serv ice agencies and i n s t i t u t i o n s within the deaf community. F i n a l l y , the necessity of recognizing a pidgin as a separate e n t i t y from ASL and SE has been hindered by the fact that ASL i s s t i l l in the process of a t t a i n i n g f u l l recognit ion as a separate language. If the intermediate ASL-Engl ish language v a r i e t i e s that 24 occur cannot be c l a s s i f i e d as pidgins then what are the a l te rnat i ves? Cokely (1983) put for th a model that incorporated the v a r i e t i e s that occur in an ASL-Engl ish continuum. The cornerstone of h is model i s the assumption that reg is te rs can be used to account for v a r i a t i o n s . A reg is ter i s a s p e c i f i c way of using two languages in a given s i t u a t i o n (Hymes, 1971). \"Baby t a l k \" and \"foreigner t a l k \" are two examples of reg is te rs that are deemed to be appropriate ways of t a l k i n g to babies and addressing foreigners (Cokely, 1983). The use of a reg is ter i s cont ro l led by factors determined by the community (Ferguson & DeBose, 1977). Thus, within a community one can expect a reg is ter such as foreigner ta lk to be consistent amongst the members. The model as depicted for the ASL-Engl ish continuum u t i l i z e d the notion of foreigner ta lk (FT) (see Figure 1). The pert inent features of FT as i d e n t i f i e d by Ferguson and DeBose (1977) and reported by Cokely, (1983) are as fo l lows : a . Short sentences. b. Analy t ic paraphrases of l e x i c a l items and ce r ta in const ruct ions . c . Reduction of i n f l e c t i o n s . d. Lack of function words. e. Avoidance of slang or d i a l e c t form in favour of more standard forms. f . Use of f u l l forms instead of cont ract ions . g. Repet i t ion of words. h. Slow, exaggerated enunciation (p. 10). 25 Thus, s igning becomes more A S L - l i k e or more E n g l i s h - l i k e depending on the extent to which each of the above features i s present. Thus, for example, a Deaf person whose native language i s ASL, w i l l tend to use signs that are more E n g l i s h - l i k e when communicating with a person whose native language i s Eng l i sh . Further elaborat ions of the model took into account the s o c i o l i n g u i s t i c nature of the in te rac t ion between conversers. As an i l l u s t r a t i o n , a hypothet ical s i tua t ion was establ ished whereby a deaf person, f luent in ASL, i s conversing with a hearing person who i s in the process of learning ASL and i s able to sign using ASL features. The deaf person makes an i n i t i a l subject ive assessment of the hearing person's s igning s k i l l s in order to determine the amount of FT to u t i l i z e . Cokely, referred to t h i s assessment as a prof ic iency judgment (PJ) . L ikewise, the hearing person depending upon his knowledge of ASL i s able to incorporate a ce r ta in amount of ASL into h is s ign ing . As the nature of the in teract ion places the emphasis on ASL then the target language for both par t ies i s ASL. Consequently, the hearing person makes accommodations in h is own signing towards ASL. Cokely, c a l l e d th i s a target language accommodation (TLA). Taken together, the in te rac t ion can be presented in the fo l lowing way: 2 6 F i g u r e 1 - C o k e l y t a r g e t language accommodation model >FT:PJ ^ \ ASL USER ] normal r e g i s t e r s [ ENGLISH USER V \ , PJ.-TLA ~* In the above f i g u r e , f o r e i g n e r t a l k ( F T ) , judgement of p r o f i c i e n c y ( P J ) , and t a r g e t language accommodations (TLA) a r e t h r e e c r i t i c a l v a r i a b l e s . Together they h e l p account f o r the s i g n v a r i e t i e s t h a t l i e between the extremes of ASL and E n g l i s h . The n o t i o n of PSE as an i n t e r m e d i a r y s t e p between ASL and E n g l i s h s t i l l h o l d s . W ith f u r t h e r development t h i s model might not o n l y o f f e r a more s y s t e m a t i c method of a n a l y s i n g the s i g n v a r i e t i e s t h a t l i e a l o n g the A S L - E n g l i s h continuum but i t may a l s o prove t o be an e x c e l l e n t E n g l i s h and ASL language assessment t o o l , t h e r e b y , g i v i n g e d u c a t o r s a p r a c t i c a l s t a r t i n g p o i n t f o r language i n s t r u c t i o n . 27 2. RESEARCH ON SIGN LANGUAGE AND SIGN SYSTEMS Research on sign language i s a r e l a t i v e l y new f i e l d . It i s only within the las t twenty years that attempts have been made by l i n g u i s t s and s o c i o l o g i s t s to grant sign language a status on a par with spoken language. In a pioneer study, Stokoe (1960) was the f i r s t to invest igate and describe ASL. He recognized the l i n g u i s t i c c h a r a c t e r i s t i c s of ASL and i t s existence as a c u l t u r a l e n t i t y : . . . t h e c u l t u r a l system which employs ce r ta in of the v i s i b l e act ions of the face and hands, combines them in recurrent sequences, and arranges these sequences into systematic d i s t r i b u t i o n in r e l a t i o n to each other and in reference to other c u l t u r a l systems. (p. 30) Stokoe's work stimulated further invest igat ions and analyses. Stokoe, C a s t e r l i n e , and Croneberg (1965) published the i r f i r s t comprehensive l i s t of ASL signs in the \"Dict ionary of American Sign Language\" a d d i t i o n a l l y , Stokoe examined the phonology, morphology, semology, syntax, i c o n i c i t y , and phonetic and phonemic notation of ASL structures (Stokoe, 1960, 1970, 1972, 1980, 1981). His descr ipt ion of sign language provides the fo l lowing guidel ine for researchers . . . . . . s i g n language i s quite l i k e Engl ish or any other language. I ts elements contrast with each other ( v i s i b l y instead of aud ib l y ) . They combine in cer ta in ways, not in others. These combinations, s igns , \"have meaning\" as words or morphemes do. Constructions combining s igns , l i k e construct ions combining words, express meaning more completely and complexly than s ingle signs or words can. These construct ions or syntact ic structures are systematic , rule-governed s t ructures . But there i s a unique set of ru les for making sign language construct ions just as there i s for making standard Engl ish construct ions , non-28 standard Engl ish const ruct ions , or the construct ion of any language. (1981, p. xv) In other words sign language was no longer regarded as being pantomimic or iconic in nature, as many laymen had previously supposed ( B o n v i l l i a n , Nelson, & Charrow, 1976). 2.1 Sign Language Acqu is i t ion The a c q u i s i t i o n of ASL by deaf ch i ldren w i l l d i f f e r according to whether the parents are deaf or hearing. The two environments provide d i f f e r e n t language models. T y p i c a l l y , deaf ch i ld ren of deaf parents are exposed to a language model akin to that of hearing \u00E2\u0080\u00A2 ch i ldren of hearing parents. Both, are receiv ing a language that can be read i l y acquired and used. On the other hand, deaf ch i ld ren of hearing parents are confronted with Engl ish that i s not read i l y acquired in a v i s u a l mode. In both s i tua t ions however, there are r e l a t i v e l y few studies and the development of hearing ch i ld ren i s used as a framework for comparison. Evidence gathered from the l i t e r a t u r e indicated that the a c q u i s i t i o n of ASL progresses along developmental stages that are s i m i l a r to those of ch i ld ren learning a spoken language (Hoffmeister & Wilbur, 1980). However, the evidence i s r e l a t i v e l y scant. Much of i t comes from master's theses, doctoral d i s s e r t a t i o n s , unpublished manuscripts or from papers presented at conferences. The review presented here depends la rge ly on an overview of the l i t e r a t u r e by Hoffmeister and 29 Wilbur (1980). Co l l ins -Ah lg ren (1974, 1975) made several observations based on the a c q u i s i t i o n of sign language by two preschoolers. Both ch i ldren had hearing parents and were learning sign language in a t o t a l communication program. As with hearing ch i ld ren the i r a c q u i s i t i o n of nouns, verbs, and adject ives showed the overextension phenomenon. That i s , s p e c i f i c words were used to represent whole c lasses of words. It was a lso found that cer ta in words developed mul t ip le meanings over a period of t ime. Co l l ins -Ah lg ren concluded that deaf ch i ldren advanced l i n g u i s t i c a l l y in a manner that could be predicted from research on normal hearing c h i l d r e n . Mc lnt i re (1974) reported the s ize of a deaf c h i l d ' s vocabulary. At age 10 months, the deaf c h i l d had a vocabulary of about 20 s igns . In comparison, hearing ch i ld ren are usual ly just beginning to pronounce the i r f i r s t word at t h i s age. In studies of hearing ch i ldren of deaf parent(s) an e a r l i e r sign vocabulary was also observed (Prinz & P r i n z , 1981). This phenomenon seems to be re lated to the fact that cont ro l of the hands i s accomplished at an e a r l i e r stage than manipulation of the o r a l - a r t i c u l a t o r y system. Nevertheless, some caution in in te rpret ing these resu l ts i s needed, as the i n t e l l i g i b i l i t y of a c h i l d ' s f i r s t word (sign) may be obvious to the parents but not to other observers (Hoffmeister & Wilbur, 1980). In the acqu is i t i on of phonology motor development played a v i t a l r o l e . P a r t i c u l a r l y , where handshapes were, concerned, the stages of development incorporated mastery of increasingly 30 d i f f i c u l t motor movements. Mclnt i re (1974, 1977) i d e n t i f i e d four .stages of handshape development that re f lec ted three d i s t i n c t i v e c h a r a c t e r i s t i c s , namely, opposit ion of thumb, extension of one or more f ingers , and contact of a f inger with the thumb. The f i r s t stage cons ists of handshapes where the thumb could be l e f t in i t s natural p o s i t i o n : S, L, A, G, C, baby 0, and 5. The motor requirement for these handshapes appeared to be much less than those, for example, in stage 3: I, Y, D, P, H, W, and 3. Another behaviour c h a r a c t e r i s t i c of the language a c q u i s i t i o n process of deaf ch i ldren of deaf parent(s) was examined by Kantor (1982). This behaviour referred to those POINTing gestures that are af fected by ASL r u l e s . Kantor found that i n i t i a l l y POINTing i s used in a s i m i l a r manner by deaf ch i ldren acquir ing signs and by hearing ch i ld ren acquir ing speech. During the ear ly stages of development both groups are learning the structure of ind icat ion and s i g n i f i c a t i o n (symbolizing and naming). Eventual ly , in hearing ch i ld ren speech replaces POINTing, as a means of s i g n a l l i n g and naming. On the other hand POINTing for deaf ch i ld ren continues to develop and incorporates adult syntax re lated to verbal modulation and indexing reference. Livingstone (1983) reported on the a c q u i s i t i o n of s igns , e i ther ASL or SE, by deaf ch i ld ren entering a t o t a l communication program. Six subjects were examined over a 15 month per iod . These students were congeni ta l l y deaf, had no add i t iona l impairments and had hearing parents who did not know 31 how to s ign . The s p e c i f i c question asked was what language was acquired by students exposed to SE models. Results revealed the fo l low ing : a . Greater grammatical f a c i l i t y in the use of ASL was obtained than with SE. b. ASL processes appeared e a r l i e r than s i m i l a r processes in SE. c . Basic p r i n c i p l e s of language development were evident in both ASL and SE and these were s i m i l a r to those guiding the a c q u i s i t i o n of language by hearing c h i l d r e n . Thus, subjects became l i n g u i s t i c a l l y competent in a language for which they had no adult model. However, the importance of peer models must not be overlooked. As Falberg (1971 ) c la imed, ASL i s the only extant language that has been passed down from ch i ld ren to c h i l d r e n . Liv ingstone (1983) remarked that perhaps: . . . s i m i l a r development p r i n c i p l e s are part of \"a genet i ca l l y determined human language f a c i l i t y \" (Trotter , 1975, p. 33) that oversees the general design of language development while al lowing leeway for both p a r t i c u l a r s t r u c t u r a l forms and for v a r i a t i o n in exposure to l i n g u i s t i c models. (p. 282) If the above statement i s true the impl icat ions for language development and teaching methods for deaf ch i ld ren would be d r a s t i c . Focus would be sh i f ted from the perspective of the society (teach a language) to that of the c h i l d (acquire a language). 32 Studies on the a c q u i s i t i o n of syntax in sign language are ser ious ly l a c k i n g . Within the few that have been done, word order, the most obvious c h a r a c t e r i s t i c of sentence s t ructure , has been but b r i e f l y examined; and even amongst the few studies that have been undertaken there i s l i t t l e agreement. Fischer (1975) suggested that ASL i s b a s i c a l l y a subject -verb-object (SVO) ordered language. She claimed that although ASL was to a larger extent SOV in the past i t has now evolved to a SVO ordering because of the inf luence of Eng l i sh . Evidence by L idde l (1977) a lso supported t h i s c l a i m . Friedman (1976) however c r i t i c i z e d F i s c h e r ' s f indings because they were based on prepared sentences presented to deaf subjects rather than l i v e d iscourse. In her study Friedman (1976) used language samples based on conversations. From these samples Friedman suggested that ASL word ordering was r e l a t i v e l y free with a basic underlying sentence pattern of SOV. Further , Wilbur (1979) noted that in both of the above studies \"the point in space\" as u t i l i z e d in ASL signing was c r i t i c a l in determining word order. She described the point in space as a sign which functions as an index for a noun phrase or a pronoun and as an ind icat ion of a verb 's i n f l e c t i o n . She attempted to resolve the controversy of ASL word order by s t i p u l a t i n g that i n f l e c t e d verbs themselves are a condit ion for free word order ing . More recent ly , Mc lnt i re (1982) examined the locat i ve construct ions in e l i c i t e d and narrat ive discourse of deaf signers and offered a d i f fe ren t perspective on ASL word order ing . She noted that the capacity to encode simultaneously 33 a lo t of information into a s ing le sign reduces the s ign i f i cance of word order ing. Thus, the d i s t i n c t i o n between subject and object becomes less important in analyzing ASL sentences because of the wealth of other information incorporated into a s ingle s ign . As Mclnt i re (1982) stated \"a s ingle sign may contain agent/experiencer, verb, and pat ient/goal ; and that the s igner ' s eyes, face, and body can at the same time be adding both semantic and syntact ic information\" (p. 381). She further observed that i f l i n e a r i t y in spoken languages was imposed by a vocal -audi tory modality, then i t may be possib le that a s p a t i a l -v i s u a l modality can convey information simultaneously. Obviously more research i s needed to iden t i f y c l e a r l y the processes involved in sign language a c q u i s i t i o n . The knowledge gained w i l l enhance the understanding of languages and thought in general and may enable the drawing up of p a r a l l e l schemata for the development of auditory and v i s u a l languages. Subsequently, models may then be formulated which a r t i c u l a t e the rat ionale and processes involved in acquir ing an auditory-based language in a v i s u a l mode. 2.2 S o c i o l i n g u i s t i c s Of Sign Language S o c i o l i n g u i s t i c research has an important ro le to play in the understanding of ASL. As a language, ASL exh ib i ts va r ia t ions that are inf luenced, for example, by geographical factors (Woodward, E r t i n g , & O l i v e r , 1976), r a c i a l factors (Woodward, 1976), and gender (DeSantis, 1977). I t has already 34 been noted that the s ty le of s igning i s inf luenced by environmental condit ions (Cokely, 1982). The form and function of a language in society have impl icat ions for i t s use in the education system. S o c i o l i n g u i s t i c research on ASL i s s t i l l r e l a t i v e l y meagre but an out l ine of some of the more relevant studies fo l lows . It has been reported that the present day form of ASL i s re lated to the French Sign Language (FSL) that was brought to the United States by Thomas Gallaudet and Laurent Clerc in the ear ly 19th century as a means of teaching deaf ch i ldren (Stokoe, 1971; Friedman, 1977; Hoemann, 1978). Empir ica l research has substantiated t h i s c la im by showing that FSL and ASL cognates are undergoing s imi la r h i s t o r i c a l changes. (Woodward, 1976). In h is study Woodward found that in 92.6% of the instances of h i s t o r i c a l change French signers used older forms more often than American Signers. This i s not to say that ASL and FSL are i d e n t i c a l languages. Rather, as Woodward (1976) has shown the d i f ferences between FSL and ASL are far too great to be a t t r ibu ted to divergences from a common language over a mere 160 year per iod . As an a l te rna t i ve explanation Woodward (1978, 1980) has suggested that the present var ie ty of ASL represents a c r e o l i z a t i o n of the FSL signs and the signs that were already in use in America before Gallaudet and Clerc began the i r work. Within the United States and Canada there are a lso va r ia t ions in the form of s igning used. An attempt to explain these va r ia t ions was f i r s t made by Stokoe (1970) who used the concept of d i g l o s s i a as h is framework. D ig loss ia in t h i s 35 instance refers to a condit ion which u t i l i z e s d i f f e r e n t v a r i e t i e s of a language according to the needs of the s i t u a t i o n (Ferguson, 1959). T y p i c a l l y , a l i t e r a r y var ie ty i s used in more formal s i tuat ions and a c o l l o q u i a l var iety in less formal s i tuat ions (Woodward, 1980). Within the Deaf community, Stokoe (1970) i d e n t i f i e d Engl ish as being the l i t e r a r y var ie ty and ASL as the c o l l o q u i a l . By i d e n t i f y i n g Engl ish as the l i t e r a r y v a r i e t y , Stokoe appears to support the notion that Engl ish i s viewed as superior to ASL. However, t h i s notion has been chal lenged. Hawking (1983) in h is examination of Ferguson's (1959) c h a r a c t e r i s t i c s of d i g l o s s i a found reason to dispute some of the claims o r i g i n a l l y made by Stokoe (1970) concerning which language i s denoted as the l i t e r a r y or the superior form. The c h a r a c t e r i s t i c s examined were funct ion , p res t ige , l i t e r a r y her i tage , a c q u i s i t i o n , s tandard izat ion , s t a b i l i t y , grammar, l e x i c o n , and phonology. The language v a r i e t i e s compared were sign systems and ASL. By taking a d i f f e r e n t perspective of the environment in which the languages are used, Hawking was able to show that ASL in ce r ta in circumstances becomes the superior language. However, Hawking himself d id not attempt to c l a s s i f y e i ther of the languages. Instead, he i n s i s t e d that the r e l a t i o n s h i p between ASL and sign systems should be more properly examined against theories by r e l a t i n g them to b i l i n g u a l i s m . He suggested a lso that observed va r ia t ions of sign systems and ASL are simply foreigner t a l k , an idea that i s shared by Cokely (1983). He c r i t i c i z e d any attempt to elevate 36 the status of one of these languages because of the a r t i f i c i a l bar r ie rs that i t would create and suggested that u l t imate ly . both forms of s igning would have much to gain from each other and that a peaceful coexistence between the two would be opt imal . In addi t ion to s o c i o l i n g u i s t i c d i f ferences between ASL and Engl ish (signed English) other d i f ferences are found in phonology, l e x i c o n , and syntax. Much of the research in t h i s area was done by Woodward and h is colleagues and has been summarized by Woodward (1980). 2.2.1 Phonological Var ia t ion Woodward, E r t i n g , and Ol iver (1976) noticed that there was a face-to -hand v a r i a t i o n between signers from the Washington DC area and signers from more southerly regions of the United States . As an example the fo l lowing signs are usual ly signed on the face by Washington DC s igners , and on the hands by south-eastern state s igners : MOVIE, RABBIT, LEMON, COLOR, SILLY, PEACH, and PEANUT. DeSantis (1977) documented an elbow to hand s h i f t in ce r ta in ASL signs that was found to be d i f f e r e n t in males and females. The signs involved in t h i s s h i f t were formerly a l l signed near the elbow. Today, these signs are becoming more popularly signed near the hand. Furthermore, i t was found that for some of these s igns , DOOR, BEE, WARN, HELP, GUIDE, FLAG, POOR, and PUNISH, males tended to use the newer hand va r ia t ion more often than females. A t r a n s i t i o n from two-handed signs on the face to one-37 handed signs has been found for the fo l lowing s igns : CAT, CHINESE, COW, DEVIL, HORSE, DONKEY, DEER, and FAMOUS (Woodward, 1976). Woodward also found an ethnic va r ia t ion occurring with Black Southern signers who were more l i k e l y to use the older two-handed version than were White s igners . 2.2.2 Lex i ca l Var iat ions Over the past 15 years a common l e x i c a l va r ia t ion has been introduced by the borrowing of i n i t i a l l e t t e r s from Engl ish words. For example, the sign for grandfather was formerly made with an open-five-handshape. Today, the G-handshape i s usual ly u t i l i z e d to sign grandfather. This type of borrowing from Engl ish i s more l i k e l y to be used by educated signers (Woodward, 1980). Further examples of l e x i c a l borrowing have been documented by Batt ison (1978). A common category includes those Engl ish words that may be quick ly f i n g e r s p e l l e d . Thus over time signs such as OR, ALL, BUT, WHAT, SURE, and SOON are being replaced in cer ta in instances by a modified f ingerspe l led vers ion . 2 .2 .3 Grammatical Var iat ions Woodward and DeSantis (1977) noted that there was a d i f ference between Northeastern state signers and Northwestern state signers in the i r use of negative incorporat ion. Negative incorporat ion i s a process whereby signs such as KNOW, WANT, LIKE, and GOOD were negated by a bound out-ward tw is t ing movement of the act ive hand(s). It was found that the Northwestern signers used s i g n i f i c a n t l y more negative 38 incorporation than the Northeastern s igners . Soc ia l d i f ferences may also be re f lec ted in grammar. Woodward (1973c) revealed s o c i a l va r ia t ions in ASL rules involv ing negative incorporat ion , agent -benef ic iary , d i r e c t i o n a l i t y , and verb redup l i ca t ion . It was found that deaf people, people with deaf parents, and people who learned signs before the age of s ix were more l i k e l y to use these ASL rules than were hearing people, people with hearing parents, and people who learned signs a f te r the age of s i x . 2.3 Psycho l inqu is t i cs Of Sign Language Psycho l ingu is t ics i s the study of the way people generate and comprehend language (Morgan, King, & Robinson, 1979). One might guess that the study of sign language has much to of fer in t h i s area. However, the r e l a t i v e novelty of sign language research has meant that there i s l i t t l e knowledge on the subject . Consequently, l i n g u i s t s usual ly f a l l back upon ora l language theor ies to generate hypotheses and give meaning to observed l i n g u i s t i c t r a i t s of sign language. A t r a n s i t i o n from ora l language theories to a theory of sign language however, may not be so s t ra ight forward . As Grosjean (1980) s ta ted , a model of l i n g u i s t i c performance must include \"those aspects of encoding and decoding that are s p e c i f i c to the modality of communication, o ra l or v i s u a l \" (p. 34) as wel l as those aspects common to a l l languages i r resp ec t i v e of modal i ty . It i s a basic assumption amongst l i n g u i s t s that there are 39 commonalities shared by a l l languages. Nevertheless, language i t s e l f has yet to be defined (Fromkin, 1978). The c h a r a c t e r i s t i c s of sign languages may be an important step towards a d e f i n i t i o n as l i n g u i s t s attempt to map auditory language universals onto v i s u a l languages. To th i s end an analys is of features re lated to the production and perception of sign language i s c r i t i c a l . The fo l lowing overview of the l i t e r a t u r e summarizes the research in t h i s area. 2.3.1 Production Of Sign Language In the few studies a v a i l a b l e , the var iab le most commonly observed has been rate of product ion. Generally the notion of language universals inf luences the l i ne of research undertaken so that t y p i c a l l y , in these s tud ies , the rate of production and other t r a i t s of sign language were compared with those of spoken languages. Be l lug i and Fischer (1972) performed a number of experiments designed to compare the rate of production in Engl ish and ASL. (Grosjean (1980), cautioned that the s ign ing , in t h i s experiment, probably more c lose ly resembled sign systems than ASL.) They found that the rate of a r t i c u l a t i o n in signs (2.37 signs per second) was half that of speech (4.7 words per second). The slower rate for sign language i s not unexpected as the movements of the a r t i c u l a t o r y muscles of the vocal mechanism are much smaller than those involved in the manual movements. In another experiment, Be l lug i and Fischer (1972) examined the rate of production for p ropos i t ions . Results indicated that 40 both signs and spoken Engl ish produced proposit ion at a s imi la r rate (1.47 signed proposit ion per second and 1.27 spoken proposit ions per second). The authors concluded that sign language made up for i t s slower rate of production for s ingle signs by being heavi ly i n f l e c t e d . As noted e a r l i e r , Mclnt i re (1982) expressed a s imi la r view in her explanation of simultaneous encoding in sign language. A further comparison of Engl ish and ASL rates of production was made by Grosjean (1977, 1978, 1979). I n i t i a l l y , Grosjean (1977) examined the change in perception of subject 's s igning and speaking rate when they were allowed to vary rate of production. Results showed that the r a t i o of actual change in rate of production to perceived change was nearly i d e n t i c a l for signers and speakers. For both groups, i t was found that when the i r rate of production was doubled they perceived i t to be a s i x f o l d increase in ra te . I t was suggested that a common underlying mechanism enabled speakers and signers to perceive s imi la r sensations of the i r rate of production (Grosjean, 1978). As a fo l low-up Grosjean (1979) invest igated the factors involved in a change of ra te . The r e l a t i v e duration of pause time and a r t i c u l a t i o n time proved to be the major factor that d is t inguished signers from speakers. In lowering the rate of a r t i c u l a t i o n signers slowed down the movements involved in making a s i g n . Speakers, on the other hand, increased the number of pauses in the i r d iscourse . The respi ratory requirements of speech were used to explain th i s d i f ference (Grosjean, 1980). 41 From the l i t t l e research that has been done i t seems that both spoken and signed language share some common production cont ro l mechanisms. Grosjean (1978) elaborated on th i s by ind ica t ing that in both languages production i s inf luenced by the required rate of output, the semantic novelty of the message, the syntact ic structure of the sentence, and the tendency for groups of words and signs to be produced with equal lengths. As these factors are further explored and new ones examined a deeper understanding of language w i l l be reached. 2 .3 .2 Perception Of Sign Language The perception of sign language can be described as the \"processing of the v i s u a l s igna l from the moment i t i s detected by the re t ina to the moment the word or utterance i s understood by the observers\" (Grosjean, 1980, p. 16). There are few studies which have attempted to del ineate the processes involved in percept ion. Pr ior to a review of t h i s area, a descr ip t ion of the phonological c h a r a c t e r i s t i c s of the formation of signs i s appropr iate. In the f i r s t l i n g u i s t i c ana lys is of ASL, Stokoe (1960) i d e n t i f i e d three d i s t ingu ish ing phonological aspects of a sign as fo l lows : a . tabula - the locat ion of sign in r e l a t i o n to the body. b. designator - the conf igurat ion of the hand(s) involved in producing a s i g n . c . s ignat ion - the movement(s) of the hand(s). By using these three aspects Stokoe claimed that any sign could 42 be described and d is t inguished from a l l others . Since t h i s i n i t i a l e f f o r t , l i n g u i s t s have come to recognize that a fourth aspect, o r i e n t a t i o n , i s a lso necessary to describe a sign (Bat t ison , 1978). Spat ia l o r ientat ion refers to the r e l a t i o n of the hands to each other as wel l as to the body. Reference to these four aspects provides the basis for descr ib ing various features inherent in the perception of sign language. Francois Grosjean and associates provided the bulk of the l i t e r a t u r e ava i lab le in t h i s f i e l d . Research on sign recognit ion was undertaken by Grosjean, Teuber, and Lane (1979) and summarized by Grosjean (1980). To determine when a sign ac tua l l y began Grosjean et a l . , (1979) repeatedly presented a sign that would stop short of completion at various durations ranging from 28 msec to 744 msec. Subjects involved in the task were to copy the sign as they had seen i t , guess at what sign had been presented, and give an estimate of the i r confidence in that guess. Results showed that o r i e n t a t i o n , conf igurat ion , and locat ion of the hands were co r rec t l y copied and guessed e a r l i e r than movement. This observation was explained by the fact that movement i s d i s t r i b u t e d over t ime. Consequently, movement was the f i n a l aspect that t r iggers correct i d e n t i f i c a t i o n of a s ign . From these observations the authors concluded that the \"on - l i ne processing of a sign does not consist of an a l l - o r - n o n e operation but rather that observers narrow in on the sign parameter by parameter\" (Grosjean, 1980, p. 48). Further ana lys is of the recognit ion of signs showed that on the average only the f i r s t half of a sign i s c r i t i c a l when i t i s 43 signed out of context (Grosjean et a l . , 1979). Grosjean (1981) in a comparison of sign recognit ion with word recognit ion found that on the average 51% of a sign i s needed for recognit ion whereas 83% i s needed for spoken words. Grosjean (1981) a lso i d e n t i f i e d word length as a c r i t i c a l recognit ion var iab le for speech, and frequency of locat ion for s ign . Another important issue in the perception of signs i s coding. One of the studies that examined t h i s issue was car r ied out by Mclnt i re and Yamada (1976). As reported by Grosjean (1980), the i r study had deaf subjects shadowing in sign language s to r ies signed in ASL by deaf s igners . An i n i t i a l latency period ranging from 200 msec to 800 msec was found. An ana lys is of errors gave evidence for p a r a l l e l and in te rac t i ve processing of l i n g u i s t i c information. F i r s t , ungrammatical ASL sentences were not found even where errors in shadowing were committed. Thus, semantic and syntact ic processing were occurr ing during the shadowing task. Secondly, many examples of semantic subst i tu t ion occurred ind ica t ing that during o n - l i n e processing decoding proceeded at a l l l i n g u i s t i c l e v e l s . Reef, Lane, and Batt ison (1978) explored the l i n g u i s t i c encoding of s igns . They hypothesized that subjects would react quicker to those signs that are codable. A sign was deemed codable i f i t incorporated phonological features used in the formation of ASL s igns . To test t h i s hypothesis a v i s u a l persistence test was designed u t i l i z i n g ASL handshapes and handshapes not found in ASL. Results showed that shorter v i s u a l persistence time was found for the ASL s igns . This was taken to 44 be ind ica t i ve of the codab i l i t y of the ASL signs (Grosjean, 1980). The perception of sign language seems to be re lated to the a r t i c u l a t o r y dynamics of s ign , which could explain the d i f ferences found between studies examining the recognit ion of signs and of words. Recognition times of each are probably inf luenced by modality c h a r a c t e r i s t i c s that make meaningful comparisons d i f f i c u l t . 2 .3 .3 Memory For Sign Language The las t area of interest in psycho l ingu is t i c research i s that of memory. For the most par t , the f indings here are s i m i l a r to those found with hearing subjects ( B e l l u g i , Kl ima, & S i p l e , 1975; Grosjean, 1980). The fol lowing review shows that most studies have focused on the re la t ionsh ip of memory and the formational and semantic propert ies of s igns . In one of the e a r l i e s t studies on short term memory Odom, Blanton, and Mclntyre (1970) tested deaf and hearing c h i l d r e n ' s r e c a l l of l i s t s of signable and non-signable words presented on videotape. It was expected and found that the deaf reca l led the sign equivalent words better than the non-signable words and that hearing non-signers demonstrated no d i f ference between l i s t s . Results a lso showed the deaf to be superior to the hearing on both l i s t s . The authors concluded that gestural s igns , v i s u a l features , and v i s u a l images were important in a deaf c h i l d ' s symbolization of verbal m a t e r i a l . In r e l a t i o n to the f indings by Odom et a l . , (1970), Wilbur 45 (1974) suggested that deaf people who know ASL u t i l i z e i t for the coding and r e c a l l of wr i t ten Eng l i sh , converting Engl ish to a sign representat ion. This would correspond with hearing people converting v i s u a l l y presented mater ial to phonological representation for coding and storage. Supportive evidence for t h i s suggestion was found by B e l l u g i , K l ima, and S ip le (1975). They studied deaf and hearing subjects ' performance on short term memory tasks to determine var iab les involved in encoding. For both groups a recency and a primacy e f fec t were found and hearing subjects scored higher than deaf subjects on memory span (5.9 items to 4.9 items on a 7 item l i s t ) . An in terest ing f ind ing by the authors was the consistency amongst r e c a l l e r r o r s . Hearing c h i l d r e n , as expected, made large ly phonetic errors for example, as in replacing the word \"vote\" by \"boat\" . However, deaf subjects tended to make errors based on the formational c h a r a c t e r i s t i c s of the s igns . For example, the sign \"VOTE\" would be replaced by the sign \"TEA\". The only d i f ference between the two i s in the movement of the hand. The other three d i s t i n g u i s h i n g phonological aspects, handshape, o r i e n t a t i o n , and locat ion are the same for both s igns. Thus, where hearing subjects made acoust i ca l errors the deaf subjects ' errors were v i s u a l l y based and d i r e c t l y re lated to the formational propert ies of the s igns. On the other hand, S i p l e , F i scher , and B e l l u g i (1977) co l l ec ted data that c o n f l i c t e d with these f indings of Be l lug i et a l . , (1975). The intent of the i r experiment was to see i f retent ion of ASL signs would be in ter fe red with by s i m i l a r signs 46 when they were treated as s ingle v i s u a l l e x i c a l items. They found that deaf subjects (N=7) did not mistakenly recognize signs on the basis of strong, v i s u a l , formational s i m i l a r i t i e s . The authors suggested that items may be stored in a one-store memory system based on semantic and conceptual information. In an e f f o r t to resolve the c o n f l i c t i n g data thus far c o l l e c t e d Poizner , B e l l u g i , and Tweney (1981) conducted three experiments to test for the e f fec ts of format ional , semantic, and iconic information on the ordered r e c a l l of ASL s igns . Their f indings revealed that only formational s i m i l a r i t y between signs decreased the ordered r e c a l l of a sequence of s igns . Semantic s i m i l a r i t y and i c o n i c i t y had no s i g n i f i c a n t e f f e c t . They concluded that deaf signers coded ASL signs in terms of l i n g u i s t i c a l l y s i g n i f i c a n t formational parameters. Poizner et a l . , (1981) a lso put fo r th a model to explain how deaf signers process signed sentences: Due to the rapid flow of signs in sentences, signs are temporari ly held in a working store in phonological (formational) form rather than in semantic or iconic form. Incoming signs are processed in part by reference to the contents of t h i s working s tore , as more and more sentent ia l structure i s revealed. Information from short - term working store i s t ransferred into a more permanent, semantic presentat ion . (p. 1158) Formational , semantic, and iconic information are three aspects that may inf luence r e c a l l . However, because both psycho l ingu is t i c research and research in sign language are 47 r e l a t i v e l y new f i e l d s i t may be too ear ly at the present time to f i t the f indings of research on memory into ex i s t ing models. The various processes in the s t ructur ing of ASL sentences seem to be c r i t i c a l in determining the ef fect iveness of r e c a l l of e i ther complete sentences or i nd i v idua l s igns . Tweney and Heiman (1977) tested 60 deaf ASL signers and found that grammatical structure f a c i l i t a t e s the r e c a l l of signed sequences. That i s , a co r rec t l y signed ASL sentence gave a higher r e c a l l for embedded signs than did random st r ings of ASL s igns . Poizner , Newkirk, B e l l u g i , and Klima (1978) examined morphological e f fec ts on coding. By using ten basic ASL verbs and eight i n f l e c t e d forms the authors attempted to determine i f i n f l e c t e d verbs were remembered as such or in terms of a base and an i n f l e c t i o n . For example, the sign \"ASK\" can be i n f l e c t e d to mean - to ask me; to ask each other; to ask the two of them; to ask them; to ask each one; to continue asking over t ime; to ask over and over again; and to ask incessant ly . It was found that the congeni ta l l y deaf subjects (N=10) tended to r e c a l l the items in terms of a base and an i n f l e c t i o n . These data are p a r t i c u l a r l y in te res t ing in view of the fact that i n f l e c t i o n a l processes in ASL are coded as simultaneous changes as opposed to the sequential addit ions that occur in spoken languages. Poizner et a l . , (1978) concluded that i n f l e c t i o n s and basic verb signs were stored separately and that short term memory processes are guided by l i n g u i s t i c a l l y s i g n i f i c a n t components that are e i ther auditory or v i s u a l . 48 S i p l e , Caccamise, and Brewer (1982) hypothesized that i f s k i l l e d signers based the i r processing on the v i s u a l l i n g u i s t i c structure of s igns , then as the i r s k i l l s increased so should the i r use of t h i s processing system. To test t h i s hypothesis, 22 invented signs that did not v i o l a t e phonological propert ies of ASL, were given to 341 deaf subjects and 73 hearing subjects in a test of sign language recept ion. The 22 signs were d iv ided into pai rs of formational ly s i m i l a r s igns. The authors concluded that s k i l l e d signers encoded the invented signs in terms of l i n g u i s t i c structures whereas the u n s k i l l e d signers used encoding processes based on v i s u a l - p i c t o r i a l s t i m u l i . That i s , the u n s k i l l e d signers depended more on the v i s u a l s i m i l a r i t i e s of signs for coding. This was re f lec ted in the high number of errors made on pa i rs of s imi la r s igns . On the other hand, the s k i l l e d signers made fewer errors on the s i m i l a r sign p a i r s . F i n a l l y , with respect to reading pr in t two studies are worth mentioning for the i r emphasis on coding s t rateg ies used by the deaf. In a ser ies of experiments Hung, Tzeng, and Warren (1981) looked at sentence processing in deaf ch i ld ren aged 14 -18 years. It was found that deaf ch i ld ren used a l i n g u i s t i c coding strategy when sentences were signed in Eng l i sh , but not when sentences were presented in p r i n t . They suggested that the deaf subjects t reated reading as a general problem solv ing a c t i v i t y and not a l i n g u i s t i c a c t i v i t y . In another ser ies of experiments, Treiman and Hirsh-Pasek (1983) used second generation deaf ch i ld ren to test for recoding 49 i n r e a d i n g . U s i n g p r o c e d u r e s a n a l o g o u s t o tho s e used t o t e s t p h o n o l o g i c a l r e c o d i n g i n h e a r i n g p o p u l a t i o n s the a u t h o r s t e s t e d f o r the p o s s i b i l i t i e s of t h e i r s u b j e c t s r e c o d i n g u s i n g a r t i c u l a t i o n , f i n g e r s p e l l i n g , and ASL, or not r e c o d i n g a t a l l . Data c o l l e c t e d i l l u s t r a t e d t h a t as a group the deaf recoded i n t o s i g n s . The a u t h o r s a l s o noted t h a t second g e n e r a t i o n deaf c h i l d r e n were among the most s u c c e s s f u l r e a d e r s . They a t t r i b u t e d r e c o d i n g of E n g l i s h t e x t i n t o a n a t i v e s i g n language as a p o s s i b l e r e a s o n f o r t h i s s u c c e s s . A l t h o u g h t h e e v i d e n c e i s s p a r s e , i t seems l i k e l y t h a t memory f o r s i g n s i s enhanced by l i n g u i s t i c p r o p e r t i e s s p e c i f i c t o s i g n language. The e n c o d i n g of s i g n s i s i n f l u e n c e d by p h o n o l o g i c a l , m o r p h o l o g i c a l , and g r a m m a t i c a l q u a l i t i e s . Whether th e s e q u a l i t i e s h o l d f o r s i g n s i n g e n e r a l or f o r s i g n s i n the c o n t e x t of a v i s u a l l y - b a s e d language ( e . g . , ASL) s t i l l remains t o be seen. C o m p a r a t i v e s t u d i e s on SE and ASL are c e r t a i n l y n e c e s s a r y t o p r o v i d e a deeper i n s i g h t i n t o t h e s e q u e s t i o n s . 50 3. SIMULTANEOUS COMMUNICATION Simultaneous communication implies a bisensory (v isua l and auditory) and trimodal (manual, o r a l , and aural ) form of communication. Although t h i s i s the method that t o t a l communication has embraced, the f e a s i b i l i t y of processing m u l t i -modal sources of information i s s t i l l being questioned (Wilbur, 1979). A few studies have been done in an attempt to resolve t h i s i ssue . A summary of these studies followed by a d iscussion of the i r l i m i t a t i o n s i s now g iven. Klopping (1972) assessed the language comprehension of 30 deaf subjects between the ages 13 and 20 years in a state school for the Deaf. In administer ing vocabulary items, four modes of communication were u t i l i z e d ; speech, speechreading, f i n g e r s p e l l i n g , and s igns . Klopping then compared speechreading with speech, f i n g e r s p e l l i n g with speech, and each of the modes with t o t a l communication. Demographic var iab les invest igated included gender, r e s i d e n t i a l versus day students, and average versus above average IQ. I t was found that t o t a l communication scores were s i g n i f i c a n t l y higher than f i n g e r s p e l l i n g scores and both t o t a l communication and f i n g e r s p e l l i n g were higher than e i ther speech or speechreading. No other s i g n i f i c a n t d i f ferences were found. Klopping concluded that the simultaneous presentation displayed in t o t a l communication was most e f f e c t i v e for the population sampled. However, a c loser examination of the reason for the increase in scores when t o t a l communication was used would have resulted i f K lopping's study had included a sign only mode. I t may wel l be that only the 51 signs in a t o t a l communication presentation are being comprehended. Moores, Weiss, and Goodwin (1973) developed a receptive communication test to assess the fo l lowing modes: sound alone, the pr inted word, sound plus speechreading, sound plus speechreading plus f i n g e r s p e l l i n g , and sound plus speechreading plus s igns . (The las t condit ion most c lose l y describes present day t o t a l communication programs.) Seventy-four subjects with an average age of 62.2 months and an average hearing loss of 96.45 dB were selected from seven programs. They were then administered vocabulary items that had been suggested by teachers in the programs. As modes were added scores improved from sound alone (34%), to pr inted words (38%), to sound plus speechreading (56%), to sound plus speechreading plus f i n g e r s p e l l i n g (61%), to sound plus speechreading plus signs (72%). Moores et a l . , concluded that the simultaneous use of a u d i t i o n , speechreading, and signs provided the most e f f i c i e n t means of communication with young deaf c h i l d r e n . Again, t h i s conclusion i s weakened by the absence of a sign only presentat ion . The comprehension of o ra l communication, manual communication, t o t a l communication, and reading was explored by White and Stevenson (1975). Using a random sample of deaf students aged 11.0 to 18.7 years and with IQ s ranging from 60 to 140, the authors found that reading, or the pr in t mode, proved to be the most comprehensible. They also found no s i g n i f i c a n t d i f ference between manual and t o t a l communication. 52 Oral communication was the least e f f i c i e n t of a l l modes. Of interest here i s the f ind ing that signs plus speech resulted in better comprehension than speech alone but not signs alone. It might be postulated that the strength of the v i s u a l mode and the weakness of the auditory mode contr ibuted to t h i s f i n d i n g . This proposal i s discussed in more d e t a i l l a te r in t h i s paper. In a study by Carson and Goetzinger (1975) 35 deaf, eight to ten year old subjects were tested on a nonsense s y l l a b l e learning task. The subjects were div ided into seven modal cond i t ions : speechreading, s igns , a u d i t i o n , speechreading plus aud i t ion , speechreading plus s igns , signs plus a u d i t i o n , and signs plus speechreading plus a u d i t i o n . The speechreading plus audi t ion condit ion obtained the highest score and was s i g n i f i c a n t l y higher than a l l of the others . The signs plus speechreading plus audi t ion condit ion gave the next highest score, which indicated that the addi t ion of signs impaired performance. This l a t t e r condit ion was in turn s i g n i f i c a n t l y greater than the score obtained with signs plus a u d i t i o n . On the basis of these resu l t s the authors doubted the ef fect iveness of the t o t a l communication approach in education of the deaf, Pudlas (1984), however, warned of the l i m i t a t i o n s of the study which included small sample s i z e , lack of considerat ion given to other var iab les such as communication experience, and the use of nonsense s y l l a b l e s which have l i t t l e pedagogical relevance. The receptive a b i l i t i e s of deaf subjects in a t o t a l communication program were tested by Beckmeyer (1976). The test consisted of nonsense trigrams (consonant-vowel-consonant) to 53 which the subjects had been exposed in an i n i t i a l t r a i n i n g per iod . Trigrams were presented in the o r a l , f i n g e r s p e l l i n g , s ign , o ra l plus s ign , and ora l plus f i n g e r s p e l l i n g modes. The 22 deaf subjects received a l l modal condit ions but were categorized according to communication preference. Beckmeyer found no s t a t i s t i c a l l y s i g n i f i c a n t e f fec ts although the scores obtained by both the o ra l and sign modes were superior to those obtained by f i n g e r s p e l l i n g . Observation of communication preference groups showed that the o ra l mode was most e f f i c i e n t for those with o ra l preference, manual mode for those with manual preference as wel l as for those with both o ra l and manual preference. Consequently i t was proposed that in communication, e f f i c i e n c y depended to a large extent on the mode of communication preferred by the p a r t i c u l a r deaf i n d i v i d u a l . The resu l t s a lso suggested that bimodal presentations were not necessar i l y superior to unimodal presentat ion. Various combinations of both unimodal and bimodal presentations were u t i l i z e d to teach Spanish number words to 42 deaf subjects aged 12 - 15 years by Brooks, Hudson, and Reisberg (1981). Subjects were randomly assigned to one of seven modes of videotaped presentat ions: audi tory , speechreading, f i n g e r s p e l l i n g , auditory plus speechreading, auditory plus f i n g e r s p e l l i n g , speechreading plus f i n g e r s p e l l i n g , and auditory plus speechreading plus f i n g e r s p e l l i n g . I n i t i a l l y a learning assignment was presented whereby Spanish numerals and the i r Engl ish counterparts were presented to the subjects . Af ter t h i s t r a i n i n g per iod , subjects were asked to write the numeral that 54 corresponded to the presented Spanish numerals. The resu l ts showed auditory plus speechreading plus f i n g e r s p e l l i n g to be the most e f f i c i e n t modal combination. The other high scores a l l contained f i n g e r s p e l l i n g as one of the modal components. The authors a lso performed an analys is of covariance and found neither WISC scores nor age to be a s i g n i f i c a n t covar ia te . With regard to lea rn ing , Brooks et a l . , concluded that bisensory communication was superior to unisensory. However, i t should be noted that the bisensory condit ions were not s i g n i f i c a n t l y higher than f i n g e r s p e l l i n g only . Thus, once more the strength of the manual mode in communication i s revealed. One of the f i r s t studies that attempted to test deaf students' reception of language was conducted by Pudlas (1984). In a c a r e f u l l y constructed design Pudlas presented s ing le sentences to 106 deaf subjects with an average age of 14.6 years and a mean hearing threshold l e v e l of 97.7 dB. Each subject received sentences in one of the fo l lowing modes: o ra l (speech-reading) , aura l (aud i t ion) , manual (s igns) , o r a l - a u r a l (speechreading plus a u d i t i o n ) , and simultaneous (speechreading plus audi t ion plus s igns ) . Responses to the videotaped presentations were wr i t ten and a maximum score of 57 was a t t a i n a b l e . The simultaneous condit ion (M= 33.2) and the manual (M= 31.5) received the highest scores and were both s i g n i f i c a n t l y higher (p_<.0l) than the other cond i t ions . At the lower end of the scale i t was found that the o r a l - a u r a l mode (M=7.3) was s i g n i f i c a n t l y higher (p_<.05) than the o ra l (M=3.8) or the aural (M=3.2) modes. Signed Engl ish was the sign method 55 used and analyses of personal and demographic var iab les indicated that the subjects ' syntact ic a b i l i t i e s , in a l l but the aural mode, accounted for a large proportion of the var iance. The requirement that the responses be wr i t ten may have contr ibuted to th i s f i n d i n g . Furthermore, although i t could be said that in th i s study multimodal presentations f a c i l i t a t e d language recept ion, the high resu l ts obtained by the manual-only mode must be examined. It should be noted that the addi t ion of information through the weaker auditory channel to the stronger v i s u a l channel containing a manual component did not s i g n i f i c a n t l y enhance recept ion. Therefore, the multimodal condit ion proved to be more e f f e c t i v e only when compared with the o ra l and aural modes. With the severe degree of hearing loss that was present in the subjects of t h i s study, the weak e f fec ts of the aural and o ra l modes were to be expected. However, in h is analyses, Pudlas did not f ind degree of hearing loss to be a s i g n i f i c a n t p red ic t i ve fac to r . In t h i s review most studies show an increase in information a s s i m i l a t i o n when modes are added. The condit ion for t h i s resu l t was that the multimodal presentation be compared with the weaker of the unimodal cond i t ions . However, methodological considerat ions make g e n e r a l i z a b i l i t y to the classroom quest ionable. A major problem concerns the var ie ty of receptive tasks used. Single l e x i c a l items, nonsense t r igrams, nonsense words, and foreign vocabulary are examples of mater ia l with very l i t t l e classroom v a l i d i t y except perhaps for s p e l l i n g t e s t s . If better communication i s the goal in th i s realm of t e s t i n g , then 56 language i s c r i t i c a l in determining the ef fect iveness of various methods of communication. The use of sentences by Pudlas (1984) was a step in t h i s d i r e c t i o n . It should prove informative to test comprehension of s to r ies and actual d iscourse. The f a i l u r e to f u l l y examine demographic and personal var iab les a lso represented a shortcoming of many of these s tud ies . Although, age, IQ, and hearing loss were taken into account by some researchers there are many other var iab les that could a f fec t communication e f f i c i e n c y . Examples would be the age the subject learned to s ign , the number of years of experience with s ign ing , the hearing status of parents, the communication environment in the home, the method of s igning u t i l i z e d , hearing a id usage, e t io logy , and school s e t t i n g . The hearing impaired population represents a wide range of i n d i v i d u a l s , and personal c h a r a c t e r i s t i c s and background experience may determine d i f f e r e n t patterns of communication benef i t s . Athough, most of the f indings indicated that multimodal communication i s more e f f e c t i v e than the weakest of the unimodal presentat ion, what i s not c lear i s whether t h i s f ind ing holds across a l l forms of s ign ing . Is an improvement noted when speechreading and audi t ion are added to ASL signing as compared to SE signing? This would be a s i g n i f i c a n t f ind ing in r e l a t i o n to Kretschmer and Kretschmer's (1978) concerns about simultaneous presentation of a v i s u a l l y - b a s e d and an a u d i t o r i l y -based system. Most research has dealt instead with a v i s u a l l y represented aud i to r i l y -based system. The addi t ion of 57 aud i to r i l y -based modes to SE may be expected to enhance comprehension because the language common to both modes i s Eng l i sh . Conversely, ASL is a v i sua l l y -based language with a d i f fe ren t set of grammatical ru les from Eng l i sh . Some ins ight into the information processing mechanisms could be gained from an experimental paradigm that invest igated the comprehension of s to r ies under various combinations of modes and languages. Research that has compared d i f f e r e n t forms of s igning i s minimal and the same methodological weaknesses that character ized research in simultaneous communication also apply here. Examples of two studies are given to i l l u s t r a t e the nature of the i r experimental designs. Higgins (1973) studied the comprehension of signed passages in 37 deaf undergraduate students from Gallaudet Col lege. Eighteen students were assigned to a f i n g e r s p e l l i n g group and 19 students to a S i g l i s h group. Twenty students from these two groups were then also assigned to the ASL group. S i g l i s h was defined as the use of f i n g e r s p e l l i n g and signs in a close approximation to the Engl ish language and s t ruc tu re . Each group viewed two videotaped passages and were required to respond to mul t ip le -cho ice quest ions. Results showed S i g l i s h to be s i g n i f i c a n t l y superior (p<.05) to f i n g e r s p e l l i n g and ASL. As in other experiments a wri t ten response format might have been expected to favour an Engl ish presentat ion . However, in the experiment, the ASL group scored higher than the f i n g e r s p e l l i n g group. In a s i m i l a r study by Murphy and F le ischer (1977) no d i f ferences were found in the comprehension scores between 58 S i g l i s h and ASL presentat ions. Differences in experimental design and the bio-demographic c h a r a c t e r i s t i c s of the subjects might help to explain the contradict ions found in these two s tud ies . More recent ly , Ouel lette and Sendelbaugh (1982) conducted a study into the ef fects of d i f f e r e n t forms of communication when presenting reading mater ia l s . A short -s tory and a m u l t i p l e -choice comprehension test from leve l 5 of the Stanford Achievement Test was administered to three groups of 15 subjects aged 18 to 24 years. Age, sex, hearing l o s s , onset of deafness, reading l e v e l , and preferred mode of communication were a l l examined to obtain matched groupings. The passages were presented e i ther in a p r in t mode, in a manually-coded Engl ish mode, or in ASL. The highest score was obtained by the pr in t mode followed by manually-coded Eng l i sh . A s i g n i f i c a n t d i f ference (p_>.05) was found between pr int and ASL. As an explanation of the poor r e s u l t s with ASL, the authors suggested that socioeconomic factors may have contr ibuted as wel l as lack of f a m i l i a r i t y with ASL. The authors concluded by c a l l i n g for further research in the area of communication modal i t ies and the impact of modes on reading comprehension. The present study attempts to overcome the methodological l i m i t a t i o n s of past research by measuring the e f fec ts of unimodal, bimodal, and tr imodal presentations of mater ia l in both SE and ASL. Stor ies were used in place of s ing le words and sentences in order to approach more c lose l y the rea l s i tua t ion of l i v e d iscourse. In essence, what was tested was the a b i l i t y 59 to assimilate meaning from a story. The subjects were required to r e t e l l the story u t i l i z i n g any method of communication with which they f e l t comfortable. 60 4. BILINGUAL EDUCATION A further aim of t h i s study was to invest igate the use of a p a r t i c u l a r s igning method with deaf c h i l d r e n . Signed Engl ish i s used in most t o t a l communication programs despite the fact that ASL i s the language of the deaf community (Stokoe, 1981; Kannapel l , 1982). Furthermore, amongst deaf adu l t s , ASL i s the preferred method of s igning (Stewart, 1982). This d i f ference in the language used in the schools and in the community has caused an increasing number of educators and researchers to consider the p o s s i b i l i t y that ASL should be incorporated into t o t a l communication programs and thus create a b i l i n g u a l s i tua t ion using ASL and Engl ish (Charrow & Wilbur , 1975; Cokely, 1978; Curry & Curry, 1978; Woodward, 1978; Stevens, 1980). The deaf community has also expressed an interest in the concept of b i l i n g u a l education (Stewart, 1983b) and the same i s true of teachers of the hearing impaired (Stewart, 1983a). Therefore, a comparison of the ef fect iveness of SE and ASL with respect to communication i s important. Various d e f i n i t i o n s and uses of the term b i l i n g u a l i s m can be found. Schlesinger (1978), suggested as a common d e f i n i t i o n \"the coexistence of two languages which d i f f e r r a d i c a l l y in most l i n g u i s t i c features with only minimal sharing of vocabulary items\" (p. 63). Stokoe (1976), referred to b i l i ngua l i sm as \"the constant use of two languages\" (p. 22). Kannapell (1974) adopted a d e f i n i t i o n which has reference to people who are able to converse comfortably in two d i f f e r e n t languages. One who i s comfortable speaking Engl ish and signing in ASL would be an 61 example of a b i l i n g u a l person. A d i s t i n c t i o n between ASL and sign systems, as they re late to b i l i n g u a l i s m , i s c r u c i a l in understanding the i r possible ro les in b i l i n g u a l education. B i l i ngua l i sm impl ies the use of two languages. Spoken Engl ish and Signed Engl ish are not d i f f e r e n t languages although they use d i f f e r e n t communication modes. Bimodalism i s the preferred descr ip t i ve term to describe the v i s u a l and auditory representation of one language u t i l i z i n g two modal i t ies (Schlesinger, 1978). Thus, b i l i n g u a l i s m d i f f e r s from bimodalism in that i t refers to the use of two languages rather than the manipulation of two communication modes. Further d i s t i n c t i o n s are needed to describe s i tuat ions in which a language may be a l te red according to communication needs. Woodward (1973b) thought of sign language as a continuum ranging from ASL at one extreme to the exact v i s u a l representation of Engl ish through signs at the other . Var iat ion i s allowed to occur according to the signing s k i l l s of the ind i v idua ls involved. Shared knowledge of ASL, between two speakers for example, would favour communication in signs representative of the ASL end of the continuum. The use of d i f f e r e n t var iants of a language according to the needs of the s i t u a t i o n i s referred to as d i g l o s s i a (Ferguson, 1959). Pidgin Sign Engl ish i s a d i g l o s s i c form of, ASL. Both d i g l o s s i a and bimodalism add to the complexit ies of in tegrat ing a b i l i n g u a l philosophy with teaching s t rateg ies involv ing sign language. Fundamental to the issue of b i l i n g u a l i s m i s the resolut ion of the language quest ion: Which language i s to be a deaf c h i l d ' s 62 f i r s t language, ASL or English? L i te rature deal ing with the spoken languages of minority groups here reveal some important c r i t e r i a . Fishman (1970) emphasized the importance of community a t t i tudes towards d i f fe rent languages, p a r t i c u l a r s i tuat ions c a l l i n g for use of a s p e c i f i c language, and the s t a b i l i t y of each language in the community. Richards (1970) re lated educational programs and b i l i n g u a l p o l i c i e s by implying that a b i l i n g u a l program w i l l only be e f f e c t i v e to the extent that i t \"recognizes and re inforces community asp i rat ions and values\" (p. 1). Walker (1979), in reviewing Mackey's (1972) concept of b i l i n g u a l education, l i s t e d four relevant dimensions, the home behaviour of the b i l i n g u a l , the school 's curr icu lum, the surrounding community in the immediate area, and the status of each of the languages. It has a lso been noted that many of the d i f f i c u l t i e s which chi ldren from two cultures experience in school , a r i se from c u l t u r a l rather than l i n g u i s t i c d i f ferences (Walker, 1979). To supplement the advantages brought about by using a c h i l d ' s f i r s t language, the state of Texas has included in i t s b i l i n g u a l education programme the requirement of attending to the development in a c h i l d of a p o s i t i v e ident i t y with h is or her c u l t u r a l her i tage, as wel l as improving h is or her se l f assurance and confidence (Walker, 1979). Thus, i t i s suggested that the accent in b i l i n g u a l education should be on respect for the minor i t y ' s language and the cu l ture in which i t i s embedded. Although the deaf population i s widely dispersed within the larger hearing population i t s values and a t t i tudes are very 63 i m p o r t a n t . The deaf community, l i k e o t h e r m i n o r i t i e s has i t s own language and c u l t u r e and as K a n n a p e l l (1974) demanded ASL s h o u l d be r e c o g n i z e d as a deaf c h i l d ' s f i r s t language and used as a b a s i s f o r d e v e l o p i n g E n g l i s h s k i l l s w i t h i n the s c h o o l s . K a n n a p e l l (1975) f u r t h e r argued t h a t t h i s r e c o g n i t i o n would l e a d t o an improved s e l f - c o n c e p t and a g r e a t e r w i l l i n g n e s s on the p a r t of a deaf c h i l d t o l e a r n E n g l i s h as a f o r e i g n language. I t seems r e a s o n a b l e and o b v i o u s t o expect deaf c h i l d r e n t o l e a r n ASL as t h e i r f i r s t language when t h e i r p a r e n t s a r e a l s o d e a f . On the o t h e r hand when the p a r e n t s a r e h e a r i n g , the c o n d i t i o n s n e c e s s a r y t o a c q u i r e ASL a r e not as f a v o u r a b l e . Many h e a r i n g p a r e n t s may not want t h e i r deaf c h i l d t o be a c c u l t u r a t e d i n t o the deaf community. A d v i c e g i v e n t o p a r e n t s over the y e a r s has emphasized t h a t f o r deaf c h i l d r e n t o become t a l k i n g members of the h e a r i n g s o c i e t y , they s h o u l d a v o i d c o n t a c t s w i t h the deaf (Gannon, 1981). Moreover, f o r y e a r s , s i g n i n g has been a s t i g m a t i z e d form of communication deemed i n f e r i o r t o speech (Van Uden, 1970). Thus, a l t h o u g h b i l i n g u a l e d u c a t i o n may be a d e s i r a b l e g o a l , the d e c i s i o n t o use a p a r t i c u l a r language may u l t i m a t e l y r e f l e c t not the communication needs of the c h i l d but s o c i e t y ' s c u r r e n t a t t i t u d e towards communication. The i d e a of t e a c h i n g E n g l i s h t o the deaf as a f o r e i g n language has been s u p p o r t e d by a number of e d u c a t o r s ( C i c o u r e l & Boese, 1972; F a n t , 1972; Moores, 1972; Stokoe, 1975; Woodward, 1978; C u r r y & C u r r y , 1978; Coye, Humphries, & M a r t i n , 1978; St e v e n s , 1980). Teachers of the h e a r i n g i m p a i r e d and the Deaf community a l s o s u p p o r t t h e i n t r o d u c t i o n of b i l i n g u a l e d u c a t i o n 64 ( S t e w a r t , 1983a, 1983b). D e s p i t e t h e i r s u p p o r t , the p r o c e s s of implementing b i l i n g u a l e d u c a t i o n i s sure t o fa c e a s t r o n g c h a l l e n g e . Two of the major s t u m b l i n g b l o c k s a r e m i s c o n c e p t i o n s about ASL and the a t t i t u d e of pe o p l e towards i t (Vernon & Makowsky, 1969; Woodward, 1978). Some common m i s c o n c e p t i o n s about ASL have been d e s c r i b e d by Markowicz (1977). I n c l u d e d i n h i s l i s t a r e the f o l l o w i n g : ASL i s u n i v e r s a l , i c o n i c , c o n c r e t e , and ungra m m a t i c a l . Markowicz goes on t o r e f u t e each of t h e s e c l a i m s and t o c r e d i t ASL w i t h b e i n g a f u n c t i o n a l language as demonstrated i n i t s use by deaf p e o p l e . Over the pa s t few y e a r s o t h e r l i n g u i s t s s t u d y i n g ASL have commented t h a t the sp r e a d of n e g a t i v e a t t i t u d e s and m i s u n d e r s t a n d i n g s of ASL i s found not o n l y amongst the h e a r i n g p o p u l a t i o n but a l s o w i t h i n deaf communities the m s e l v e s (Woodward, 1978). As an example Woodward quoted the o p i n i o n of a deafened a d u l t , George J o h n s t o n : What B e l l u g i ( s i c ) i n C a l i f o r n i a and o t h e r p e o p l e a r e c a l l i n g American S i g n Language.... i s a c t u a l l y Deaf E n g l i s h . DEAF ENGLISH i s the t y p i c a l e r r o r s (from improper or i n s u f f i c i e n t or u n c l e a r exposure) t o E n g l i s h . I t i s a c h o i c e of words, a s u b - c u l t u r e s t y l e , ... ( J o h n s t o n , 1977, p. 22). Deaf s t u d e n t s , t o o , a r e o f t e n unaware of what ASL i s and a r e l i k e l y t o form n e g a t i v e a t t i t u d e s towards i t (B e r k e , 1978; C u r r y & C u r r y , 1978). Thus, a t t i t u d i n a l b a r r i e r s must be removed b e f o r e an atmosphere c o n d u c i v e t o b i l i n g u a l e d u c a t i o n i s c r e a t e d . As more i n f o r m a t i o n becomes a v a i l a b l e about the l e x i c o n and 65 s t r u c t u r e of ASL, i t seems l i k e l y t h a t m i s u n d e r s t a n d i n g s about ASL w i l l be reduced. In a d d i t i o n , c u l t u r a l , h i s t o r i c a l , and p h y s i c a l a s p e c t s of ASL s h o u l d be s t u d i e d and p u b l i c i z e d t o ensure i t s wider a c c e p t a n c e ( B a t t i s o n & Cogen, 1978). As w i t h o t h e r l a n g u a g e s , the emphasis s h o u l d be on v i e w i n g ASL as a d i s t i n c t language and not as a poor d i a l e c t of E n g l i s h . Coye, Humphries, and M a r t i n (1978) suggested t h a t the f o l l o w i n g f i v e b a s i c c l a i m s be a f f i r m e d t o h e l p overcome c u l t u r a l b i a s e s between deaf and h e a r i n g p e o p l e : a. A l l p e o p l e have a f u n c t i o n a l language. b. ASL and E n g l i s h a r e d i s t i n c t l anguages. c. E n g l i s h i s not n e c e s s a r y t o o b t a i n an e d u c a t i o n , t o be i n t e l l i g e n t , or t o a t t a i n s u c c e s s and v a l u e . d. The p o s s e s s i o n of E n g l i s h s k i l l s does not n e c e s s a r i l y g u a r a n t e e h a p p i n e s s , and e. C o o p e r a t i o n between two c u l t u r e s can b e n e f i t b o t h . Thus, i t i s seen t h a t r e s e a r c h and a change i n p e o p l e ' s a t t i t u d e s towards ASL are two p o s s i b l e pathways l e a d i n g t o a more p r o m i s i n g b i l i n g u a l atmosphere. U n t i l now w r i t t e n and v e r b a l r h e t o r i c have o f f e r e d t h e o n l y s u p p o r t f o r the f e a s i b i l i t y of b i l i n g u a l programs. I m p l e m e n t a t i o n and r e s u l t s s t i l l remain f o r f u t u r e e x p l o r a t i o n s . From the few s t u d i e s t h a t have been done, t h e r e i s no i n d i c a t i o n t h a t a b i l i n g u a l approach would be d e t r i m e n t a l t o the development of E n g l i s h s k i l l s . I n a s i x week experiment w i t h f o u r e l ementary aged deaf c h i l d r e n , S a l l o p (1973) taught E n g l i s h as a second language. 66 The students were inst ructed in d i f fe ren t methods of sign communication depending upon the i r own language s k i l l s . That i s , the c h i l d who only used gestures was taught ASL. Those chi ldren who were competent in ASL, were taught SE. Thus, Engl ish was only taught when a f i rm foundation in ASL had been estab l i shed . Although, Sal lop claimed success, the small number of subjects and the short duration of the study make his f indings t e n t a t i v e . The approach to Engl ish as a Second Language was also used at the Engl ish language program at the Tu to r ia l Center of Gallaudet College (Goldberg & Bordman, 1975). Here, ASL was employed in a l l discourse and Engl ish was mainly pract ised in wri t ten form or whenever students wanted to express themselves in manual E n g l i s h . This notion of using ASL as a communication s k i l l and Engl ish as a wr i t ten s k i l l may be a feas ib le compromise in a b i l i n g u a l program for deaf c h i l d r e n . This would be a content - spec i f i c approach where each language would be used only in ce r ta in courses (Cokely, 1978). In a d d i t i o n , Cokely spec i f ied two other approaches, namely the geographical and the temporal approach. The former implied that one of the languages would be used in some parts of the school and not others , while the l a t t e r implied that ce r ta in time periods would be dedicated to the use of a p a r t i c u l a r language. The ef fect iveness of Cokely 's proposal i s s t i l l to be tes ted . The language competence of b i l i n g u a l students was invest igated by H a t f i e l d , Caccamise, and S ip le (1978). Two hundred and nineteen students from the National Technical 67 Ins t i tu te for the Deaf (Rochester, New York) were c l a s s i f i e d according to s o c i o l i n g u i s t i c data into a high, medium, or a low group. The c r i t e r i a for grouping were structured to place the most p r o f i c i e n t ASL signers in the high group. Two videotaped s to r ies in ASL and manual coded Engl ish (MCE) were presented to the subjects , followed by t r u e - f a l s e questions signed in the language of the presentat ion. Results showed that there was no s i g n i f i c a n t d i f ference for the high group using e i ther language (ASL or MCE). The authors concluded that poss ib ly ASL s k i l l s are t ransferred to increase p ro f i c iency in rece iv ing s to r ies in Eng l i sh . In recent years in terest has been growing in the teaching of ASL as a second language to hearing people or to those with ora l language fluency (Ingram, 1982; Woodford, 1982; Cogen & P h i l i p s , 1982). Ingram (1982) has c r i t i c i z e d past sign communication courses for t h e i r emphasis on PSE and MCE. As an a l te rna t i ve he suggested c r i t e r i a for designing a un ivers i t y l e v e l ASL curr iculum that would be based on communication competence. Secondary object ives would include a l i n g u i s t i c understanding of ASL and deaf cu l tu re awareness. The notion of teaching ASL .as a second language was e a r l i e r explained in a sign language book for beginners by Fant (1972). Recently , a more elaborate ser ies of sign language books have been wr i t ten by Baker and Cokely (1980). These construct ive methods for teaching sign language may wel l improve the image of ASL and help to defuse negative a t t i t u d e s towards i t . This review has shown that the concept of b i l i n g u a l 68 e d u c a t i o n i s r e l a t i v e l y new i n the e d u c a t i o n of deaf c h i l d r e n . The concept i t s e l f i s more t h e o r e t i c a l than e x p e r i m e n t a l , even though t h e r e i s every i n d i c a t i o n t h a t the time i s r i p e f o r r e s e a r c h e r s t o e x p l o r e t h i s a r e a of s t u d y . The t h e s i s of t h i s paper i s a p a r t i a l t e s t of a b i l i n g u a l e d u c a t i o n t h e o r y t h a t u n t i l now has been hidden i n academic j o u r n a l s . U n t i l e x p e r i m e n t a l e v i d e n c e p o i n t s o t h e r w i s e t o t a l communication programs w i l l c o n t i n u e t o p l y t h e i r t r a d e of p r e s e n t i n g E n g l i s h b i m o d a l l y . 69 5. BILINGUAL RESEARCH Research on speaking b i l i n g u a l s w i l l provide some insight into the expectations of a b i l i n g u a l education for deaf students. Furthermore, on the basis of c h a r a c t e r i s t i c s of b i l i n g u a l s , predict ions on the performance of subjects in the present study can be made. In the area of b i l i n g u a l research Dornic (1979) stated that \"the study of the non-balanced b i l i n g u a l ' s performance in information processing tasks in h is two languages i s of paramount importance for ce r ta in areas in appl ied psychology as we l l as in education\" (p. 331). The deaf ind i v idua l i s an idea l subject for such a l i n e of research. In general , a deaf student 's grasp of Engl ish i s low and SE i s used pr imar i l y for communication within the classroom and mainly with teachers. For interpersonal communication with other deaf ind iv idua ls ASL i s used. On t h i s bas is , the assumption i s made here that ASL i s the dominant language and Engl ish the subordinate language of our non-balanced b i l i n g u a l deaf subjects . This pos i t ion i s taken in order to f a c i l i t a t e analogies with other b i l i n g u a l s i t u a t i o n s . Information processing research on b i l i n g u a l s has revealed that the dominant language i s more e f f i c i e n t in ce r ta in tasks of processing. Research in general , has shown that comprehension speed or decoding e f f i c i e n c y i s slower in the nondominant language than in the dominant (Dornic, 1980). Dornic (1979) a t t r ibu ted t h i s slower decoding of words p a r t i a l l y to the e f f e c t s of the semantic content of words. It was reasoned that 70 the processes involved simply took longer to complete when presentations were in the nondominant language. An early study by Lambert (1955) provided evidence in support of the hypothesis that nondominant language inputs were processed at a slower ra te . In h i s study, Lambert recorded the time required for b i l i n g u a l s to respond to ins t ruc t ions in one of the i r languages. Instruct ions were given which informed the subjects that they had to press a key which was i d e n t i f i e d by pos i t ion and co lour . Results showed that when ins t ruc t ions were in the nondominant language react ion times were slower. Lambert suggested that the speed of response was a r e l i a b l e measure of language dominance. A s i m i l a r experiment was performed by Dornic (1977; 1979). Instruct ions were given that defined a ser ies of items in terms of co lour , shape, p o s i t i o n , and value. The dependent var iab le in t h i s design was the time i t took subjects to check off the appropriate items. The b i l i n g u a l groups used were as fol lows (dominant language stated f i r s t ) : Swedish-Engl ish, Swedish-German, German-Swedish, Slovak-German, S lovak -Eng l i sh , Eng l i sh -German, German-English, Pol ish -Swedish, F innish-Swedish, Spanish -Engl ish , and French-Engl ish . Again, i t was found that speed of response was slower when ins t ruc t ions were given in the nondominant language. Macnamara and Kushnir (1971) examined processing at time of input by looking at a b i l i n g u a l ' s capacity to interpret l i n g u i s t i c a l l y mixed passages. In four d i f f e r e n t tasks un i l ingua l and b i l i n g u a l sentences or paragraphs were presented 71 to French-Engl ish and Engl ish-French subjects . The purpose of a l l tasks was to invest igate i f the time required to switch languages in b i l i n g u a l mater ia l added s i g n i f i c a n t l y to the time to process u n i l i n g u a l m a t e r i a l . Recorded times showed that language switching tasks took longer. It was suggested that the reason for t h i s stemmed from the existence of two d i s t i n c t systems which were involved in the i n i t i a l analys is of input before the input was further analyzed and attended t o . I t was also observed when un i l ingua l presentations were in the native language of the subject , responses were f a s t e r . Thus, for decoding, mater ia l presented in the dominant language appeared to be processed faster than mater ia l presented in the nondominant language. Research in t h i s area has not been s u f f i c i e n t to al low one to general ize the ef fect of slower processing, time on comprehension of mater ia ls presented in s igns . However, there i s other evidence that may be h e l p f u l in c l a r i f y i n g the d i r e c t i o n of t h i s genera l i za t ion . From the resu l t s of a ser ies of experiments Dornic (1979, 1980) concluded that through d i f f e r e n t s t rateg ies and compensatory processes an imbalanced b i l i n g u a l i s able to conceal h is slower funct ioning in h is nondominant language. In a d d i t i o n , the ind i v idua l w i l l a lso compensate for h i s lower degree of automatici ty as wel l as h is i n f e r i o r knowledge of the grammar and syntax of the weaker language. These weaknesses are usual ly revealed when the ind i v id ua l comes under pressure caused by information overload, environmental, emotional, s o c i a l s t resses , or fa t igue . Such weaknesses, when exposed, become 72 good ind icators of the covert imbalance between the dominant and non-dominant languages. One of the procedures used to induce st ress involved increasing information load . Dornic (1979) described a v i sua l search task that was used to increase information load . The task required subjects to search for two -d ig i t numbers, or words for two d i g i t numbers, presented in the dominant or the nondominant language. Ins t ruc t ions , given in e i ther of the languages, had subjects searching for one, two, or three of the targets at the same t ime. A pronounced increase in search time was found when the nondominant language was used. In explanation of t h i s f ind ing Dornic stated that a \"more laborious and time-consuming process of rehearsa l , . . . l e f t less capacity ava i lab le for the search\" (p. 336). Other experiments by Dornic (1979, 1980) produced s i m i l a r r e s u l t s : Stress tasks showed b i l i n g u a l s function more s lowly , less e f f e c t i v e l y , and occas ional ly switch to the dominant language under s t r e s s f u l cond i t ions . Grosjean (1982) has commented that t h i s i s a common experience for b i l i n g u a l s who have said they f e l t t i r e d af ter conversing in the nondominant language for a long t ime, or have reported that in cer ta in emotional s i tuat ions they could not speak one of the i r languages. As Grosjean (1982) remarked, i t i s not unreasonable to expect b i l i n g u a l s to rever t , in times of s t r e s s , . t o the i r most comfortable language. In the present study the tes t ing condit ion can be viewed as being st ress inducing. Subjects were required to r e t e l l a 73 story . Apprehension of forget t ing parts of the story is a possible source of stress as i s viewing the story in the weaker language (English or ASL). Anxiety might a lso be created by f a i l u r e to understand s igns, l i p movements, or d i s t i n g u i s h the auditory s i g n a l s . The assumption was made that a language switch in the r e t e l l i n g of a story would indicate the dominant language. In t h i s regard, i t was assumed that the subjects would switch from the i r nondominant to the i r dominant language. The tendency to t rans late to the dominant language has been demonstrated in a number of experiments. Goggin and Wickens (1971) administered a r e c a l l task of Spanish and Engl ish words to 384 un ivers i ty students. The subjects rated themselves on a scale with uni l ingual ism in Spanish at one end and Engl ish at the other. The middle of the scale represented the strongest form of b i l i n g u a l i s m . The b i l i n g u a l s were div ided into high and low groups, with the high group being the most comfortable in both languages. It was found that the high group reca l led s i g n i f i c a n t l y more items than the low group. The authors postulated that t h i s was due to the low b i l i n g u a l s t r a n s l a t i n g from the nondominant to the dominant language whereas the high b i l i n g u a l s were able to encode items d i r e c t l y . Macnamara and Kushnir 's (1971) experimental f indings led them to a s i m i l a r conclusion to Goggin and Wickens. The authors reexamined the hypothesis of b i l i n g u a l s t r a n s l a t i n g to the i r stronger language. In the i r study i t was found that French-Engl ish and Engl ish-French b i l i n g u a l s responded more slowly to mixed-language sentences than to sentences given completely in 74 the i r weaker language. Because i t was assumed that t r a n s l a t i o n was taking place in the mixed presentat ions, the hypothesis had to be re jected . However, the b i l i n g u a l s in the study were highly f luent in both languages. Macnamara and Kushnir concluded that t r a n s l a t i o n from nondominant to dominant language does occur during the i n i t i a l stages of becoming a b i l i n g u a l . In add i t i on , they f e l t that s t r e s s f u l condit ions was the feature that induced the strategy of t r a n s l a t i n g from the nondominant to the dominant language. This review suggests that a t r a n s l a t i o n from the language in which the s to r ies are presented to the other language may i d e n t i f y the stronger language in unbalanced deaf b i l i n g u a l subjects . Another pred ic t ion i s that b i l i n g u a l s w i l l demonstrate greater comprehension of s to r ies presented in the i r stronger language. Results from t h i s study w i l l be used to check the f i r s t of these two hypotheses. If the p red ic t ion i s not upheld, new hypotheses s p e c i f i c to b i l i n g u a l s dominated by the i r dependency on v i s u a l perception w i l l be needed. 75 6 . RELATED RESEARCH The aim of the p r e s e n t study i s t o examine the comprehension of s t o r i e s by deaf s u b j e c t s under t h r e e modal and two language c o n d i t i o n s . In a s e a r c h of the l i t e r a t u r e no t h e o r y was found t o s e r v e as a framework f o r the p r e s e n t s t u d y . However, i n the ar e a of i n t e r s e n s o r y i n t e g r a t i o n and s e l e c t i v e a t t e n t i o n t h e r e a r e s e v e r a l s t u d i e s which p r o v i d e d i f f e r e n t p e r s p e c t i v e s on the p r o c e s s i n v o l v e d i n s i m u l t a n e o u s communication. These s t u d i e s w i l l now be b r i e f l y r e v i e w e d . 6 . 1 I n t e r s e n s o r y I n t e g r a t i o n In s i m u l t a n e o u s communication, i n f o r m a t i o n from t h r e e s o u r c e s i s p r e s e n t e d t o the senses. V o i c e i s t r a n s m i t t e d i n the a u r a l mode, s i g n s i n the manual mode, and s p e e c h r e a d i n g i n the o r a l mode. For s i m u l t a n e o u s communication t o be s u c c e s s f u l , i n f o r m a t i o n must be combined from each of the i n p u t modes, hence, the importance of i n t e r s e n s o r y i n t e g r a t i o n . The e f f i c i e n c y of the t o t a l system i s dependent upon t h e a b i l i t y t o i n t e g r a t e the messages as w e l l as on the s t r e n g t h of the i n d i v i d u a l s i g n a l s . O b v i o u s l y , f o r a h e a r i n g i m p a i r e d c h i l d the s t r e n g t h of the a u d i t o r y i n p u t w i l l be much weaker than t h a t of the v i s u a l i n p u t s . I n d i v i d u a l s i g n i n g and s p e e c h r e a d i n g s k i l l s w i l l d e t e r m i n e the s t r e n g t h of manual and o r a l s i g n a l s . A l t h o u g h , t h e r e a r e no models a v a i l a b l e t h a t d i r e c t l y d e s c r i b e the i n f o r m a t i o n p r o c e s s e s i n v o l v e d i n s i m u l t a n e o u s communication, t h e r e a r e s e v e r a l c r o s s - m o d a l i n v e s t i g a t i o n s t h a t do p r o v i d e an i n s i g h t i n t o the p o s s i b l e r e l a t i o n s h i p between the 76 sensory moda l i t i es . Intersensory or cross-modal integrat ion refers to the t ransfer of information received in one modality to another modality as wel l as the integrat ion of s imi la r information from two or more moda l i t ies . For example, a v i s u a l l y perceived t r iangular object may be subsequently recognized through touch when the eyes are c losed. For th i s to occur, the v i s u a l information must in some way be matched to information perceived in the tac tua l modal ity . In the present study several questions can be raised that re la te to the f i e l d of intersensory in teg ra t ion . The most obvious question i s whether or not any benef i ts can be expected when information i s perceived in two or more modal i t ies r e l a t i v e to that which i s only received in the best s ing le modal ity . One necessary condi t ion for increased perception as suggested by Goodnow (1971) i s redundancy of information between moda l i t i es . That i s , when information i s s i m i l a r , input to one mode enhances the comprehension of the input to another mode. However, where the information from the modal i t ies d i f f e r s , an overloading of information may occur, leading to a disadvantage in understanding the incoming s t i m u l i . Walden, Prosek, and Worthington (1975) used t ransfer analys is of redundant information to describe the performance of hearing impaired adults (N=98) on consonant-recognit ion tasks . Results showed that transmission of durat ion , p l a c e - o f -a r t i c u l a t i o n , f r i c a t i o n , and nasa l i t y information increased s u b s t a n t i a l l y with the prov is ion of v i s u a l cues. Furthermore, 77 the i r data suggested that the improvement in audiovisual consonant-recognit ion a b i l i t y r e s u l t i n g from v i s u a l cues i s r e l a t i v e l y constant across a broad range of hearing impairment. These f indings are supported by studies which showed the addi t ion of the o ra l mode to aural presentations increased the amount of information ass imi lated (Moores, et a l . , 1973; Pudlas, 1984). Thus, for hearing impaired adults perception of speech i s enhanced when both auditory and v i s u a l cues are a v a i l a b l e . Further evidence for the importance of v i s u a l cues in audiov isual speech tasks was provided by Erber (1979). Using o p t i c a l d i s t o r t i o n techniques to degrade the v i s u a l c l a r i t y of l i p movements, Erber found that the greater the v i s u a l d i s t o r t i o n the less accurate the perception of speech sounds. This f ind ing i s s i m i l a r to studies which have shown that degrading acoustic s ignals decreases the leve l of speech perception by both hearing and hearing impaired subjects (B innie , 1973; B inn ie , Montgomery, & Jackson, 1974). Erber concluded that in speech perception the loss of information in one modality can be compensated by cues perceived in the other modal i ty . In a more elaborate experiment, Baggett and Ehrenfeucht (1981) invest igated whether simultaneous presentation of v i s u a l and verbal information would lead to poorer encoding of information than when the v i s u a l and verbal information were presented sequent ia l l y . The instrument used was a 16 mm sound and colour f i l m and the subjects were 459 un ivers i t y students. Upon presentation of the f i l m the subjects were to answer 63 78 questions on the f i l m t o p i c . Findings showed that subjects could encode and re ta in v i s u a l and verbal information which occurred simultaneously in the movie better than the information that occured sequent ia l l y . Evidence here suggested that in simultaneous communication encoding of information would not be hindered. In t h i s study, v i sua l images in the movie enhanced coding and re ta in ing of information gathered in the auditory mode (nar rat ion) . Encoding of information in the present study might a lso be enhanced by. the v i s u a l images that can be st imulated by the types of signs used. In t h i s respect, ASL, by i t s nature as a v i s u a l l y or iented language, may have an advantage over Signed Eng l i sh . Another question that can be asked i s whether d i f fe rent modal i t ies are better sui ted for d i f f e r e n t kinds of information. O'Connor and Hermelin (1978, 1981) conducted a ser ies of experiments on deaf, b l i n d , subnormal, and a u t i s t i c ch i ld ren in an invest igat ion of m o d a l i t y - s p e c i f i c processing. They observed that p a r t i c u l a r modality s p e c i f i c memory stores were spec ia l i zed for the appreciat ion of cer ta in q u a l i t i e s of the input . For example, s p a t i a l q u a l i t i e s were more read i l y encoded in the v i s u a l modal ity , and s t i m u l i in the successive temporal order favoured encoding in the auditory modal i ty . To further test t h i s observat ion, O'Connor and Hermelin presented verbal items in the v i s u a l mode to see i f the items would be encoded in the v i s u a l modality or in terms of a verbal sequence. The subjects tested were normal, congeni ta l l y deaf, a u t i s t i c , and subnormal c h i l d r e n . The task involved memorizing 79 three d i g i t s which were s p a t i a l l y displayed in the order, 1 4 7; but, were temporally displayed in the order, 4 7 1. That i s , the d i g i t , 4, was the f i r s t number presented and was in the second pos i t ion of the f i r s t d i s p l a y . Results showed that for normal subjects and for subnormals with verbal IQs of 60 and above the v i s u a l l y presented items were recoded in an audi tory -verbal form as r e c o l l e c t i o n of the d i g i t s was temporal in nature ( i . e , 4 7 1). For a l l others the coding was in the v i s u a l modality and r e c a l l was l ikewise v i s u a l l y or iented ( i . e . , 1 4 7 ) . Thus as M i l l e r (1981) had suggested, r e c a l l was dependent upon the subjects ' own exper ien t ia l background. Therefore, in simultaneous communication one might expect information from a l l inputs to be coded in the modality that has become spec ia l i zed for i t through the experiences of the observer. Thus f a r , studies have shown that , when the content of the information i s s i m i l a r , simultaneous presentation to d i f f e r e n t modal i t ies usual ly leads to more e f f i c i e n t perception than i f e i ther modality alone i s presented. That i s , a weakened acoustic s igna l i s enhanced by v i s u a l cues and v ice versa . However, what happens when the information to the eye and ear are in competition with each other? O'Connor and Hermelin (1978) suggested that where there i s a c o n f l i c t of information being perceived by the senses the process of sensory dominance becomes operat ive. That i s , the information picked up by the dominant sense w i l l assume prominence over a l l inputs in the other moda l i t ies . Usual ly in a s i tua t ion of c o n f l i c t between modal input, the non-dominant 80 sensory system adapts to conform with the dominant one (O'Connor & Hermelin, 1978, 1981). Hence, \"sound may appear to or ig inate from an apparent source which i s v i s u a l l y present, when in fact i t i s emitted from somewhere e lse\" (O'Connor & Hermelin, 1981, p. 319). The authors suggested that t h i s phenomenon of adaptation i s c r i t i c a l because i t indicates a cer ta in degree of perceptual equivalence between two or more sensory inputs. In simultaneous communication the d i f fe rent senses ava i lab le to perceive input s ignals ra ise the question as to whether the information from d i f fe ren t sources i s semantical ly s i m i l a r . For example, can we assume that words perceived by the ears y i e l d information that i s s imi la r to the messages resu l t ing from English-based words that are represented in signs and perceived by the eyes? (Total communication programs have implied that t h i s assumption i s correct \u00E2\u0080\u0094 however, research evidence i s s t i l l lack ing . ) If the information i s not s imi la r then sensory dominance may play a ro le in simultaneous communication. In another study on non-redundant information McGurk and MacDonald (1976), and MacDonald and McGurk (1978) presented subjects with dubbed video-records in which there was a c o n f l i c t of information between l i p movements and sounds. They found that the c o n f l i c t of information led subjects to report neither the sound they heard nor the l i p movements they saw. For example, when exposed to the sound /pa/ dubbed onto the l i p movements / k a / , the subjects perceived / t a / . The authors concluded that the subjects were looking for compatible information in both moda l i t i es . In the auditory f i e l d , /pa/, 81 / k a / , and / t a / have vo ice less consonants, and in the v i s u a l f i e l d , /ka/ and / t a / have s i m i l a r l i p movements. Therefore, the subjects often responded with / t a / as the best f i t of the data perceived. They used information from both modal i t ies to a r r i ve at a so lut ion that was compatible to both s t i m u l i . Thus, i t would seem that information from both the v i s u a l and auditory moda l i t i es , are being integrated in the perception of speech sounds. It i s apparent that moda l i t ies , in some instances, are spec ia l i zed for the perception of ce r ta in kinds of information. Furthermore, the s p e c i a l i z a t i o n i s re lated to the experiences of the observer. Thus, as described e a r l i e r , for congeni ta l l y deaf subjects the v i s u a l modality would be expected to assume dominance over the auditory modality in the coding of v i s u a l l y presented verbal information which was coded in the auditory mode in hearing subjects (O'Connor & Hermelin, 1978). When inputs are received in two modal i t ies the question a r i ses as to which modality i s used for the f i n a l coding in long term memory. This review however does not attempt to examine the various theories that have been proposed to account for the way in which t h i s coding may occur. Nevertheless, some theories that deal with the coding of information from d i f f e r e n t senses, w i l l be reviewed. One model that examined the coding of information was presented by Pick (1970). He suggested that \" information obtained through a nonspecial ized modality i s recoded and represented in the form of the spec ia l i zed modality\" (Marcell & 82 A l l e n , 1978, p. 172). In other words, information i s stored in whichever modality best processes thi.s type of information. Pick (1970, 1974) presented subjects with c o n f l i c t i n g sensory information on the locat ion of an object . V i s u a l l y perceived s t i m u l i were found to exert the greatest inf luence on the subjects ' sense of l o c a t i o n . P i c k ' s model would therefore imply that information on locat ion received from any of the modal i t ies should be stored in a v i sua l form. According to P i c k ' s model, s t imu l i received through simultaneous communication would be most appropr iately stored in a v i s u a l - l i n g u i s t i c form. Since the strength of deaf ch i ldren l i e s in the i r v i s u a l rather than the i r auditory s k i l l s , one might expect storage to be more c l o s e l y re lated to the v i s u a l moda l i t i es . Hence, a perceived sound would be t rans lated to the v i s u a l modal i ty . Furthermore, where the perception of signs i s easier than the perception of comprehensible l i p movements i t may be assumed that the storage of l i n g u i s t i c information i s more c lose l y re lated to the language of s igns , than i t i s to speech. Research in the psycho l ingu is t i cs of signs reviewed e a r l i e r in t h i s chapter, supports t h i s idea (Odom, Blanton, & Mclntyre , 1970; Reef, Lane, & B a t t i s o n , 1978). Jones and Connolly (1970) a lso attempted to draw up a model that best accounted for resu l t s obtained in experiments on intersensory integrat ion (Freides, 1974). They suggested that \" information from the input modality i s recoded pr io r to i t s storage in the context of the modality of output\" (Marcel & A l l e n , 1978, p. 172). In t h i s model the t ransfer of 83 information occurs pr io r to i t s storage in short - term memory. This t r a n s l a t i o n occurs through a system which u t i l i z e s a long-term memory store that has a quasid ict ionary l i s t of equivalent modality e n t r i e s . Hence, a f te r t ransfer has occurred the information could be held in the context of the output modality. Whereas, Jones and Connol ly 's model dealt with input through one modality which i s subsequently transformed to a representation in another, simultaneous communication has input in two or more moda l i t i es . T y p i c a l l y , for the profoundly deaf, the manual mode i s one of the input modal i t ies and usual ly the output modal i ty . However, for ce r ta in ind i v idua ls there could also be o ra l and auditory inputs . Here, the auditory s ignals would be recoded in a manual mode permitt ing the perceived sounds to match the s igns . S i m i l a r l y , i f one were t r y ing to match sounds to l i p movements, the auditory s ignals would be encoded in an o r a l modal i ty . Obviously, in simultaneous communication there could be a benef i t in in tegrat ing information from the auditory and v i sua l moda l i t i es . Research on intersensory integrat ion provide some clues as to how the information i s matched. Corcoran and Weening (1969), attempted to develop a model that would predict performance on an aud io - v i sua l task based on f indings on audio only and v i s u a l only tasks . The auditory task was to d i s t i n g u i s h noise emitted through earphones and the v i s u a l task was to d i s t i n g u i s h s p e c i f i c noise patterns on an o s c i l l o s c o p e . Both the eye and the ear would make a judgement on a redundant input s i g n a l . This judgement along with a measure of cer ta inty 84 would be passed on to a \"decis ion system\" where a f i n a l judgement on the information contained in the input s ignal i s made. The most successful model was one which assumed that the auditory and v i s u a l systems act independently up to the leve l where the decis ions are made. To date, much of the l i t e r a t u r e provides supporting evidence for Corcoran and Weening's (1969) conclusion of a u d i t o r y - v i s u a l independence ( Ingersol l & DiVesta, 1972; Walden, Prosek, & Worthington, 1975; O'Connor & Hermelin, 1978; Baggett & Ehrenfeucht, 1981; Raney, Dancer & Bradley, 1984). For example, O'Connor and Hermelin (1978) in a ser ies of experiments conducted on deaf, b l i n d , a u t i s t i c , and subnormal c h i l d r e n , showed that when i d e n t i c a l s t i m u l i were presented in d i f fe ren t modal i t ies there was evidence for modality s p e c i f i c coding. Fewer studies have demonstrated support for co r re la t io n of , or an interdependency between, the auditory and v i s u a l systems (Lendau, Buschbaum, Coppola, & Sibvonen, 1974; McGurk & MacDonald, 1976; MacDonald & McGurk, 1978). Another theory holds that cross-modal t ransfer i s mediated by language, names, or verbal descr ipt ions ( E t t l i n g e r , 1967). M i l l a r (1981) cautioned against putt ing too much weight on language as the sole factor in mediating intersensory t rans la t ion because of evidence demonstrating cross-modal t ransfer in apes, monkeys, and preverbal c h i l d r e n . She stated that for v i s u a l l y impaired i n d i v i d u a l s , verbal information without re lated sensory experiences i s i n s u f f i c i e n t to account for the var ie ty of cross-modal evidence. She also suggested 85 that the c r i t i c a l var iab le determining the e f f i c i e n c y of a cross-modal task would be the status of an i n d i v i d u a l ' s ava i lab le knowledge and how read i l y th i s information could supplement or complement inputs perceived in d i f fe rent modal i t ies . Hence, where the verbal information necessary for a cross-modal t r a n s l a t i o n i s not a v a i l a b l e , the p o s s i b i l i t y of another process being used i s not ruled out. Research has also been conducted to determine i f s k i l l s in d i f f e r e n t modal i t ies are cor re lated across i n d i v i d u a l s . Raney, Dancer, and Bradley (1984) studied the r e l a t i o n s h i p between auditory and v i s u a l systems in speech tasks . Using normal-hearing adults (N= 30), the Harr is Revised Centra l Ins t i tu te for the Deaf Everyday Sentence L i s t s were administered under a speech- in -noise (auditory only) condi t ion and a speechreading (v isua l only) cond i t ion . Results showed no r e l a t i o n s h i p between modal i t ies in the a b i l i t y to understand speech. That i s , good a b i l i t y in speechreading was not found to be re la ted to good auditory s k i l l s . I t was concluded that the auditory and v i s u a l systems are independent in processing unimodal speech s igna l s . From the experimental evidence reviewed on intersensory in te ract ion i t i s reasonable to postulate that in simultaneous communication the addi t ion of modal i t ies cont r ibut ing to the input s ignals w i l l not impair performance. There are two requirements necessary for subjects to benefi t from redundant information in two moda l i t i es . F i r s t , the information presented must be compatible in both moda l i t i es . Second, for enhancement to occur the a u d i t o r y - v i s u a l and the v i s u a l - v i s u a l integrat ion 86 mechanism must be funct iona l l y developed. Reasons for the f i r s t assumption have already been demonstrated by c o n f l i c t i n g information studies (McGurk & MacDonald, 1976; MacDonald & McGurk, 1978). For the second assumption, some support may be drawn from research on the re la t ionsh ip of reading and intersensory in teg ra t ion . This discussion i s presented here because of the p o s s i b i l i t y that the s k i l l s involved in reading pr in t may be re lated to those s k i l l s used in perceiv ing SE - -both pr in t and SE are v i s u a l representations of speech. In a d d i t i o n , i t has been suggested that s igning in one form or another may be used to f a c i l i t a t e the reading s k i l l s of deaf students (Vernon, Coley, & Ott inger , 1979). B i rch and Belmont (1964) invest igated the re la t ionsh ip between reading and a u d i t o r y - v i s u a l in tegrat ion using non-verbal information. I n i t i a l l y , B i rch (1962) hypothesized that a reading disorder was associated with d i f f i c u l t i e s in integrat ing information from d i f fe rent modal i t ies ( V e l l u t i n o , 1979). B i rch and Belmont (1964) tested t h i s theory on normal readers (N= 50) and poor readers (N= 150) and found that normal readers made s i g n i f i c a n t l y fewer errors on auditory and v i s u a l matching t e s t s . The task , which required subjects to match auditory patterns with v i s u a l - s p a t i a l dot patterns was l a t e r administered to ch i ld ren (N= 220) from kindergarten to grade s ix (Birch & Belmont, 1965). This time the resu l ts were cor re lated with reading achievement. It was found that a u d i t o r y - v i s u a l in tegrat ion cor re lated with reading achievement in f i r s t and second grades, but, the c o r r e l a t i o n diminished in older students 87 a l l of whom had wel l developed a u d i t o r y - v i s u a l integrat ion a b i l i t y . These i n i t i a l f indings by Bi rch and Belmont (1964, 1965) have been c r i t i c i z e d for not c o n t r o l l i n g for intrasensory d e f i c i t s (Ve l lu t ino , 1979). The suggestion was made that intersensory d i f ferences may have been due to d i f ferences in intrasensory a b i l i t i e s . Later e f f o r t s to v e r i f y B i rch and Belmont's i n i t i a l theory produced inconclusive evidence (Kavale, 1980). Kavale (1980) attempted to summarize the data co l lec ted from 31 c o r r e l a t i o n a l studies on a u d i t o r y - v i s u a l integrat ion and reading achievement. U t i l i z i n g techniques of meta-analys is , c o e f f i c i e n t s from the c o r r e l a t i o n a l studies were analyzed. This s t a t i s t i c a l integrat ion of the l i t e r a t u r e d id show that a u d i t o r y - v i s u a l integrat ion was s i g n i f i c a n t l y re lated to reading achievement i r respect i ve of tes t ing methods. It would seem that for integrat ion to occur in simultaneous communication both aud i to ry - v i sua l (sound - speechreading and signs) and v i s u a l - v i s u a l (speechreading - signs) integrat ion must be developed. Poor integrat ion s k i l l s may prove to be a confounding factor in the present study, espec ia l l y i f the perception of SE requires s k i l l s s i m i l a r to those used in reading p r i n t . However, in a review of the l i t e r a t u r e by S i l vers ton and Deichmann (1975) a u d i t o r y - v i s u a l t ransfer s k i l l s were found to increase with age up to approximately f i f t h grade. It i s therefore assumed that the integrat ion s k i l l s of the subjects in the present study (aged, 13 years and above) have 88 already been wel l developed. 6.2 Attent ion During simultaneous communication a l i s t e n e r i s exposed to auditory and v i s u a l s i g n a l s . For a deaf i nd i v idua l the perceived auditory information i s a function of the strength of the auditory s ignal and the perceptive a b i l i t i e s of the ears e i ther with the assistance of hearing aid(s) or without. Given ideal environmental cond i t ions , there are no add i t iona l sources of sounds competing for at tent ion in the auditory channel. On the other hand, in the v i s u a l channel s ignals from the two sources give r i se to the perception of speech from l i p movements and f a c i a l expression (the ora l mode) and the perception of signs from hand and body movements and f a c i a l expressions (the manual mode). It i s not known how the cent ra l nervous system processes information simultaneously presented in the o ra l and manual modes. Nevertheless, theories of se lec t i ve at tent ion do of fer some ins ight into the f e a s i b i l i t y of perceiv ing information from multi -modal sources. In general , theories of se lec t i ve at tent ion imply that multimodal presentation of redundant information should not decrease the amount of information processed r e l a t i v e to the amount that would be processed unimodally and might increase i t (Broadbent, 1957, 1958; Deutsch & Deutsch, 1963; Treisman, 1964; Neisser , 1967; Norman, 1968). How much add i t iona l information can be gleaned from the extra inputs depends upon the experimental condit ions and the cogni t ive structures of the i n d i v i d u a l . A l l theories indicate that at least some i f not a l l 89 of the i n i t i a l sensory inputs w i l l be processed and stored in a perceptual system. The information that i s then pul led from th i s system i s dependent upon the exper ien t ia l knowledge of the rece iver , the nature of the messages, and the rate of presentat ion . As an example, consider two subjects both f luent in s igns , but A has poor auditory s k i l l s whereas B i s much better able to d i s t ingu ish some sounds. When a bimodal presentation of signs and auditory s ignals i s given to both subjects , one would expect B to u t i l i z e h is knowledge of sounds to process auditory information to a greater extent than A. On the other hand, A might simply bypass processing the auditory input . Thus, a simultaneous bimodal presentat ion, might not necessar i l y lead to a decrease for A in the amount of information processed. There are three ways of deploying at tent ion during messages. Attent ion may be on one modality , or i t may be rapid ly switched between two moda l i t ies , or i t may be div ided between the moda l i t ies , so that they are processed in p a r a l l e l . In simultaneous communication p a r a l l e l processing may take place as long as the capacity for processing has not been overextended. When th i s has occurred, then s e r i a l processing may be brought into p lay . An important var iable may be whether the s igna ls in the d i f f e r e n t modal i t ies are redundant or d i f f e r e n t . Many studies have used d i f f e r e n t s t i m u l i . The evidence with simple non-ve rba l , non-redundant s t i m u l i i s c o n f l i c t i n g . S h i f f r i n and Grantham (1974) provided some evidence of p a r a l l e l processing. 90 Using three modal i t ies , a fa in t l i g h t , a fa in t sound, and a gentle v ib ra t ion on the s k i n , s t imu l i were appl ied to seven undergraduate subjects to determine i f i t was as easy to attend to a l l three modal i t ies at once as i t was to attend to just one modal i ty . For both simultaneous and successive presentat ions, subjects were to respond to the presence of a stimulus using a button cont ro l led response box. Results showed no reduction in performance with three modal i t ies rather than one. This led S h i f f r i n and Grantham to suggest that an automatic mechanism abstracts relevant information from incoming s ignals and t ransfers i t to short-term memory s tores . They a lso suggested that se lec t i ve at tent ion does not funct ion during perceptual processing but i s u t i l i z e d in short - term stores subsequent to perceptual processing Co lav i ta (1974), on the other hand, concluded that the cent ra l information processing mechanism (attention) could handle information from only one channel at a t ime. Auditory (sound) and v i s u a l ( l ight ) s t i m u l i were presented simultaneously to subjects who were required to judge the magnitude of each. I n i t i a l l y , auditory and v i s u a l s t imu l i were matched for subject ive magnitude by the subjects . Under condit ions of simultaneous presentations i t was found that the v i s u a l stimulus was perceived more readi ly than the auditory one. Furthermore, i t was revealed that on some l i g h t - t o n e presentations subjects were unaware of the auditory tone. Thus, p a r a l l e l processing appeared to be very d i f f i c u l t with bimodal presentat ions . Using more complex non-redundant l i n g u i s t i c s t i m u l i , 91 Spelke, H i r s t , and Neisser (1976) attempted to determine i f extensive pract ice would a s s i s t p a r a l l e l processing when subject 's resources were i n i t i a l l y overloaded. They u t i l i z e d d i f f e r e n t information in a reading and d i c t a t i o n task. Working on two subjects they were able to show that a f ter s ix weeks of t r a i n i n g , both subjects could read and take d i c t a t i o n just as wel l together as they could separately . Spelke et a l . , then modified the task and had the subjects write the categor ica l names of a given word ( e . g . , furn i ture for c h a i r ) . Again, a f ter pract ice s imi la r resu l t s were obtained. This would seem to indicate that in simultaneous communication prolonged pract ice might make i t poss ib le to glean information from a l l modes. The necessary precondit ion for th i s to occur would be that the ind i v idua l had adequate communication s k i l l s in each mode, and extensive pract ice in attending to both at once. Another invest igat ion of p a r a l l e l and s e r i a l processing with non-redundant verbal messages was made by Treisman and Davies (1973). E a r l i e r , Treisman (1969) had suggested that p a r a l l e l processing might be possib le between two d i f f e r e n t analysing mechanisms such as those for the ear and eye. S e r i a l processing would be neccesary when the same mechanism i s used for two inputs being received through one channel. To test t h i s , Treisman and Davies had dual phonological targets (words containing the l e t t e r s \"END\" or the sound \"end\") and semantic targets (animal names) presented to subjects v i s u a l l y or a u d i t o r i l y , in the same or d i f fe ren t moda l i t ies . Results showed that subjects were better able to d iv ide the i r at tent ion between 92 two inputs when both inputs were in d i f fe rent moda l i t i es . This f ind ing gave support to Treisman's (1969) reasoning on p a r a l l e l processing. A v a r i a t i o n of Treisman's suggestion i s ca r r ied out in the present study with a change in modal presentat ions. The v i s u a l mode i s to cons ist of an o ra l and a manual component. An important d i s t i n c t i o n i s between the concept of channels and modes. Within the auditory channel the one mode presented w i l l be a u d i t i o n , whereas, in the v i s u a l channel an o ra l and manual mode w i l l be presented together to determine the capacity of at tent ion to be div ided between l i n g u i s t i c sources as wel l as phys ica l sources (v isual and aud i to ry ) . One of the few studies that has used redundant s ignals was car r ied out by M i l l e r (1982) using non-verbal s t i m u l i . He examined two models for response se lect ion in experiments on div ided a t t e n t i o n . In the separate -act ivat ion model responding i s cont ro l led by the detect ion of a s ignal through e i ther one of the two channels. Conversely, the coact ivat ion model postulates that when redundant s ignals are bimodally presented then both s ignal components w i l l a f fec t the response. To test these models, M i l l e r administered a timed bimodal detect ion task employing auditory (be l l tone) and v i s u a l (aster isk on video screen) s ignals and a l e t t e r search task. . He found that responses to the redundant s ignals were too fast to be explained as the resu l t of a response to the faster of the two ind i v idua l s i g n a l s . He concluded that redundant s ignals stemming from d i f fe ren t input modes both contr ibuted to the process of 93 e l i c i t i n g a response. He interpreted these resu l ts as support for the coact ivat ion model for redundant s t i m u l i . In simultaneous communication the coact ivat ion model would predict an increase in performance over a unimodal presentation of , for example, the word \" c a r \" . Because the sign for \"CAR\", the l i p movements for the word \"CAR\", and the sound for \"CAR\" a l l have the same l e x i c a l meaning, comprehension should be faster with simultaneous presentation in a l l three modes. Another important var iab le a f f e c t i n g processing may be the in tens i t y of the messages. Norman and Bobrow (1975) suggested that the ef fect iveness of simultaneous presentation could be reduced by lowering the in tens i t y of one or some of the s t i m u l i . P a r a l l e l processing i s possib le only when the strength of both sets of s t i m u l i i s s u f f i c i e n t . Therefore, in simultaneous communication an i n d i v i d u a l ' s response to various s t i m u l i could depend on the in tens i t y of the s t i m u l i that he i s rece iv ing . For example, subjects with severe hearing loss would be expected to gain l i t t l e when auditory s ignals are added to manual and/or o ra l presentat ions. The present study i s not designed d i r e c t l y to test any theories of a t t e n t i o n . The design w i l l not allow us to d i s t ingu ish between p a r a l l e l processing and rapid switching of at tent ion from one mode to another. Both would resu l t in benef i ts from redundant presentation of the same story through more than one mode. S e r i a l processing would lead to a decrement only i f switching were slow and the information rate exceeded the subjects ' capac i ty . The studies discussed in t h i s sect ion 94 show that when inputs converge on a common representat ion, coact ivat ion may occur, i f M i l l e r ' s (1982) conclusions can be general ized to l i n g u i s t i c s t i m u l i . If d i f fe ren t analyzing systems are involved in information processing then p a r a l l e l processing may be poss ib le (Treisman & Davies, 1973). If each of the receptive s k i l l s ( e . g . , manual, o r a l , and aural) are p r a c t i s e d , then at tent ion l i m i t s may disappear (Spelke et a l . , 1976). F i n a l l y , i f s t imu l i c o n f l i c t , then the v i s u a l s ignals may dominate (Co lav i ta , 1974), espec ia l l y i f they are more intense than the other input s ignals (Norman & Bobrow, 1975) and more pract ised ( e . g . , s igning in ASL or signing in SE.) This br ie f review suggests that some gain from simultaneous communication should not be ruled out by at tent ion l i m i t s when s i m i l a r information i s presented. This suggestion i s a lso supported by evidence from resu l t s of experiments on intersensory in tegrat ion reviewed e a r l i e r . The focus of in terest in t h i s study l i e s in the communication methods used in the classroom. It i s designed to test whether simultaneous communication w i l l increase e f f i c i e n c y in comprehending the f u l l message expressed in an o ra l plus aural plus manual presentat ion. It w i l l a lso explore the in te ract ion e f fec ts between language and mode. S p e c i f i c a l l y , w i l l there be a d i f ference when a v i sua l l y -based language (ASL) i s used in place of an aud i to r i l y -based language (Engl ish) , that i s v i s u a l l y represented by SE, for the manual component of simultaneous communication. 95 Kretschmer and Kretschmer (1978) have s tated : If v i sua l l y -based systems are organized symbol ical ly in a d i f f e r e n t way from aud i to r i l y -based systems, the simultaneous presentation of divergent systems does not seem reasonable. ( p . 1 4 0 ) The present study invest igated t h i s c laim by tes t ing subjects ' comprehension of s to r ies in ASL and SE under various modal condit ions of presentat ion. 96 I I I . METHODOLOGY 1. OVERVIEW The purpose of thi s study was to investigate deaf students' comprehension of stories presented in Signed English and American Sign Language under unimodal, bimodal, and trimodal conditions. The modes u t i l i z e d were aural (audition), oral (speechreading), and manual (signing). It was realized that memory is also an important component of the study. It may well be that what i s examined here i s how each language and modality i s advantageous to both memory performance and comprehension of st o r i e s . The present study did not separate these two components. Nevertheless, due to the fact that there was no delay in r e t e l l i n g the sto r i e s i t was f e l t that comprehension was probably e s s e n t i a l for accurate r e t e l l i n g . As indicated in the review of the l i t e r a t u r e , one can expect comprehension to be enhanced as the number of modes are increased. However, the increase in comprehension i s dependent upon the strength of the i n i t i a l mode presented. If a l l of the information can be eas i l y perceived through one mode then the addition of others w i l l not increase the amount of data processed. Due to the v i s u a l strengths of deaf people the manual mode i s l i k e l y to be understood best, followed by the o r a l , and then the aural modes. Thus, the present study arranged the manual mode as the unimodal condition, the manual plus oral as the bimodal' condition, and the manual plus oral plus aural as the trimodal condition. The inclusion in the experiment of two languages, English 97 (SE) and ASL, was made in response to the b i l i n g u a l environment in which signing deaf ch i ldren i n t e r a c t . So fa r , there has been very l i t t l e research that ser ious ly examines the d i f ferences between the two languages. Research on other b i l i n g u a l s suggests that students w i l l perform better in the i r dominant language. Another question considered was the capacity of a v i s u a l l y based sign system (Signed English) to represent an aud i to r i l y -based language. F i n a l l y , i t was of in terest to see whether some modes combined more e f f e c t i v e l y with one language than the other. Signed Engl ish more d i r e c t l y matches the o ra l and aural modes and might therefore benefi t more from multimodal presentat ions . 2. METHODOLOGY 2.1 Design The experimental design employed a 2 (language) X 3 (mode) X 3 (story) repeated measure approach to evaluate the comprehension s k i l l s of deaf i n d i v i d u a l s . As i l l u s t r a t e d in Figure 1, the between subjects factors were language (ASL & SE), gender, and combination. A Greco-Lat in square design was used to determine the combination of story and mode, where each story was presented in one of the three modal cond i t ions : manual only, manual plus o r a l , and manual plus o ra l plus a u r a l . In each of the modal condit ions s to r ies were signed in e i ther SE or ASL to allow invest igat ion of the d i f ferences in comprehension between the two languages. The with in subjects factors were story , mode, and order of presentat ion. Counterbalancing of both s to r ies and modes of presentation 98 was necessary. To enhance g e n e r a l i z a b i l i t y (and to generate degrees of freedom), each subject was tested under each of the modal cond i t ions . This required that three s to r ies be u t i l i z e d . Secondly, the p o s s i b i l i t y ex isted that the subjects would improve from one presentation to the next while going through the sequence of these s t o r i e s . Therefore, i t was a lso necessary to have, across a l l subjects , each modal condi t ion shown an equal number of times at the s t a r t , middle, and f i n a l pos i t ion of the sequence. To accomplish both of these ends, Greco-Lat in square design was used to counterbalance simultaneously the repeated (within subjects) factors of s t o r i e s , modes, and order of presentat ion. 99 Figure 2 - Greco-Lat in square sequence for the assignment of subjects MODE(a) Gender Combinat ion M MO MOA 1 A1 (b) B3 C2 female 2 B2 C1 A3 3 C3 A2 B1 Signed Engl ish American Sign Language 1 A1 B3 C2 male 2 B2 Cl A3 3 C3 A2 B1 1 A1 B3 C2 female 2 B2 C1 A3 3 C3 A2 B1 1 A1 B3 C2 male 2 B2 C1 A3 3 C3 A2 B1 (a) M = Manual; MO = Manual+Oral; MOA = Manual+Oral+Aural. (b) Story type - indicated by the l e t t e r s A, B, & C. Order of presentation - indicated by the numbers 1, 2, & 3. N=3 for each combination. 100 Each subject was assigned to one of the Greco-Lat in sequences and to one of the languages. Thus, for t h i s design the number of subjects used had to be a mult ip le of twelve and a minimum of 36. The independent v a r i a b l e s , and the i r leve ls were: a . language: Signed Engl ish and American Sign Language b. mode: manual; manual plus o r a l ; manual plus o ra l plus aural c . s tory : three s to r ies with themes deal ing with supernatural events. The dependent measure for the experiment was an aggregate score based on a scoring system proposed by Goodman and Burke (1972) (see Appendix A) . The aggregate score was an average of the scores obtained from three ASL-Engl ish b i l i n g u a l deaf judges. In addit ion to the above experimental v a r i a b l e s , b i o -demographic information was co l lec ted to determine the extent to which such factors a f fec t performance. A l l information was obtained from current school records. These var iab les were: a . age b. gender c . age at onset of hearing loss d . et io logy of hearing loss e. age at which subject learned to sign f . s igning s k i l l s - as rated by four teachers g . hearing threshold l e v e l (HTL) i . e . , the pure tone average of the better ear at 500, 1000, and 2000 Hertz (ANSI) 101 h. h is tory of educational set t ings i . h is tory of communication methods used j . hearing status of parents k. hearing status of s i b l i n g s . The c r i t i c a l questions of t h i s study were: a . Is there a d i f ference in the amount of information reproduced when s to r ies are presented in the manual, manual plus o r a l , and manual plus ora l plus aural modes? b. Is there a d i f ference in the amount of information reproduced when s to r ies are signed in ASL and SE? c. Is there an in te rac t ion ef fect between modes and language in the amount of information reproduced under various modal condit ions and in ASL and SE? d. In addi t ion to these quest ions, i t i s of secondary in terest to know i f subjects w i l l r e t e l l the i r s to r ies in the i r dominant language. Based on these questions the fo l lowing hypotheses were formulated: Hypothesis 1: Comprehension w i l l be at a maximum for mode in the manual plus o ra l plus aural mode followed by the manual plus o ra l mode and then the manual-only mode. Past research indicated that as the number of modes of input increased there was a corresponding increase in the amount of information comprehended. T y p i c a l l y , t h i s occurred when the o ra l and then the manual modes were added to the aural mode. However, in the present study the assumption i s made that the 102 subjects would comprehend the most information in the manual mode .as compared to the ora l and aural modes. Therefore, th i s study reexamined the benefit of multimodal presentations by using the manual mode to a t t a i n a unimodal comparison score. Hypothesis 2 : Comprehension w i l l be greater for s to r ies t o l d in ASL than for s to r ies to ld in SE. American Sign Language as, a community-based language, should be more readi ly understood than SE, which i s a method of s igning developed to be used mainly in the classroom. Furthermore, the language structure of ASL evolved so le ly for the purpose of v i s u a l channel recept ion. Conversely, SE i s based on the language structure of aud i to r i l y -based Eng l i sh . Thus, ASL, with an evolut ion that emphasized communication, would be comprehended better than SE, which was recently developed for i n s t r u c t i o n a l purposes. Hypothesis 3: The addi t ion of the ora l and aural modes to the manual-only presentation w i l l resu l t in greater increases in comprehension scores when SE i s the language of presentation than when ASL i s presented. It was assumed that the s i m i l a r i t y between spoken Engl ish and Signed Engl ish would lead to subjects being more receptive to the information being presented in the o ra l and aural modes. That i s , since a l l three modes would be re lay ing the same information ( e . g . , the word \" t ree\" would appear in s igns , on the l i p s , and in a u d i t i o n ) , i t was expected that the o ra l and aural modes would be more l i k e l y to add to the information that would be comprehended in a manual-only, SE presentat ion. American Sign Language did not develop to complement information in the o ra l and aural modes; therefore , the benef i ts of adding these 103 two modes to a manual-only ASL presentation was not expected to be as great as when SE was used. In addi t ion to these three major hypotheses, th i s study examined the e f fec ts of a dominant language on unbalanced b i l i n g u a l subjects . It was predicted that subjects would tend to r e t e l l s to r ies in the i r strongest language. Because there are no ava i lab le tests of dominance in s ign ing , the c r i t e r i o n for dominance was teachers' ra t ings . Along with students' opinions t h i s method i s recommended by Macnamara (1967) as the most accurate measure of language dominance in o ra l b i l i n g u a l s . Co r re la t iona l analyses of the biodemographic var iab les previously l i s t e d and subjects ' scores under the various s igning condit ions were also ca r r ied out. Each subject was shown a videotaped story that was approximately f i ve minutes long. Af ter viewing the videotape, the subject was required to r e t e l l immediately as much of the story as poss ib le . Upon completion of the sub ject 's f i r s t s tory , the second and the t h i r d story was then shown. 2.2 Subjects And Sampling To f a c i l i t a t e data c o l l e c t i o n and to ensure that the signs used in the experimental task had a high p r o b a b i l i t y of being known by a l l subjects , the sample (N= 36) selected was la rge ly drawn from the B r i t i s h Columbia P r o v i n c i a l School for the Deaf. (Known as the Jer icho H i l l School for the Deaf, t h i s school i s much l i k e other p r o v i n c i a l schools for the deaf in Canada. I t has both r e s i d e n t i a l and day students and uses t o t a l communication with a l l students.) Within t h i s population the 104 fo l lowing se lec t ion c r i t e r i a were used: a . profoundly deaf (HTL of 90 dB or greater in the better ear) b. 13 to 19 years of age c. v i s i o n was s u f f i c i e n t to enable the subject to see the signs on the t e l e v i s i o n monitor c l e a r l y d. no known add i t iona l phys ica l d i s a b i l i t y e. past f i ve years of education in a t o t a l communication program. As reported e a r l i e r a t o t a l of 36 students were required by the design of t h i s study. The sample comprised 65 percent of the ava i lab le school population in the designated age i n t e r v a l . 3. PILOT STUDY Pr io r to the main study, four important tasks had to be performed. They were: a . developing three s to r ies equated for syntax, reading l e v e l , and interest l e v e l ; b. recording each story in a l l three modal cond i t ions ; c . se lec t ing the time l i m i t to be allowed for each subject to reproduce the story ; and d. developing a procedure for r e l i a b l e scoring of videotaped r e t e l l i n g s of s t o r i e s . 3.1 Stor ies The task of wr i t ing and equating three s to r ies was undertaken by Clarke (1984). To ensure a high l e v e l of in terest three ghost s to r ies (see Appendix B) were selected and subsequently revised to match on r e a d a b i l i t y , syntact ic complexity, and the degree of s igning d i f f i c u l t y as measured by 105 the number of words and number of sentences. Using the Spache test of r e a d a b i l i t y and the syntact ic complexity formula suggested by B o t e l , Dawkins, and Granowsky (1973), the fol lowing scores were obtained: Story A Story B Story C Syntact ic complexity 127 127 127 Number of words 390 399 393 Number of sentences 37 37 37 Average sentence length 10.5 10.8 10.6 Spache Grade l e v e l 2.8 2.4 2.8 The r e a d a b i l i t y l eve l was deemed to be appropriate for the population of i n t e r e s t . This was based on f indings that showed the average deaf i nd i v idua l to have a reading l e v e l of Grade 3.7 upon leaving school (Conrad, 1979). The scores obtained in the ana lys is of syntax ensured that the l e v e l of comprehension was s i m i l a r across s t o r i e s . Furthermore, Engl ish was used as the language on which the s t o r i e s were equated. I n i t i a l l y , i t may seem to be appropriate to have a lso used ASL complexity as a c r i t e r i a . However, ana lys is of ASL has not yet progressed to a stage that would allow one to equate ASL passages. 106 3 . 2 Signed Presentations I n i t i a l l y , the three ghost s to r ies were t ranscr ibed to ASL by the author (see Appendix C) . Each of the s t o r i e s , in SE and ASL, were then put on one half inch black and white videotape using the f a c i l i t i e s and personnel of the Aud io -v i sua l Serv ices, Department of the Faculty of Education at the Univers i ty of B r i t i s h Columbia. A deaf male, competent in s igning ASL and SE, signed a l l of the s t o r i e s . The signer (also the author) has previously been a teacher at the P r o v i n c i a l School for the Deaf. (This was a potent ia l source of b i a s , however rat ings by deaf adults were obtained to minimize t h i s e f f e c t . ) The signer was in a standing pos i t ion ten feet from the camera. The camera centered the signer from the waist to three inches above h is head to enclose what i s c a l l e d the \"signing space\" of an i n d i v i d u a l . An o f f -wh i te wal l served as the background and the signer wore a short sleeved navy blue sh i r t to enhance c l a r i t y of the s igns . Taping proceeded under l i g h t i n g condit ions normally found in classrooms. The spoken part of the SE presentations followed the s to r ies as they appear in Appendix B. The words were spoken at a rate that synchronized each word with the proper s igns. However, in the ASL presentations not a l l words were spoken. As shown in Appendix C, a l l signs that are not underl ined were spoken. Due to the nature of ASL i t i s awkward to say a word for each of the signs produced. For example, in ASL i t i s possible to communicate simultaneously two or more thoughts. When t h i s occurs i t i s inappropriate to say a s t r i n g of words 107 that match these thoughts. Another example i s when the f a c i a l expressions accompanying the signs make i t d i f f i c u l t to a lso say a word. In these instances the f a c i a l expression i s usual ly deemed to be important for conveying the appropriate messages. A panel of three profoundly deaf adu l t s , competent in signing SE and ASL, were used to judge the r e a d a b i l i t y of the signs in the videotaped s t o r i e s . Videotapes were revised as required; f i n a l copies were viewed separately by each of the judges. They were asked to attend to speed of s ign ing , c l a r i t y of l i p movements, and the comprehension of i n d i v i d u a l signs as wel l as to report any i r r e g u l a r i t i e s ( e . g . , unusual f a c i a l expressions or body movements) that might have af fected the message being conveyed by the s igner . Upon completion of each viewing the judges were given the story to read. This allowed for a check of the i r own comprehension of the s tory . Following t h i s , each of the judges was then interviewed by the author. The resu l t s of t h i s procedure showed a general agreement among judges, that the videotapes were c l e a r l y presented and no changes were necessary. F i n a l l y , two hearing adults were used to determine the c l a r i t y of the voice on the videotape. Again, c l a r i t y of presentations was evidenced. 3.3 Time Limit It was also necessary to determine an optimal amount of time in which the subject would reproduce the s tory . No lower time l i m i t was establ ished and for upper l i m i t s i t was decided that subjects would be asked to indicate when they had f in i shed 108 reproducing the s t o r i e s . 3.4 Scoring Instrument A scoring system for comprehension was used that was based on Goodman and Burke's (1972) Miscue Analysis Procedure for R e t e l l i n g Stor ies (see Appendix A) . Results of the p i l o t study showed that prompting would be necessary to e l i c i t appropriate responses. Prompts were administered by a deaf female with s igning competence in ASL and SE. Training of the administrater consisted of her viewing the tapes of the three p i l o t subjects and ind ica t ing to the author when i t was considered necessary to prompt and how she would then prompt the subject . The prompts used were those suggested by Goodman and Burke and adhered to three general guidel ines as recommended in the i r manual: a . The questions should make use of no s p e c i f i c information not already introduced by the subject , ( e . g . , If in the course of r e t e l l i n g Story C the subject mentioned the word \"co in\" without any reference to a p a r t i c u l a r s i t u a t i o n , then the test administrator l a t e r prompted by asking the subject , \"Can you t e l l me more about the coin?\") b. The questions should be general in nature so that the i r formulation would not lead the subject to ins ights or views which did not grow from h is or her own reading. ( e . g . , A l l prompts used were of the \" T e l l me more about Bob\" or \"What about the poison\" v a r i e t y , given that the subject had already mentioned Bob or the poison in the i r i n i t i a l r e t e l l i n g of the 109 s tory . ) c. Any name changes which the subject has i n s t i t u t e d should be retained by the test adminis t rator . ( e . g . , A subject los t four points under the scoring subscale, Character Ana lys i s , i f he or she subst i tuted the name Paul for Bob in Story B. No further points were taken off for th i s error in the other scoring subscales. ) The test administrator reported that no more than two prompts per story were given. The number of prompts given was recorded and was consistent across both languages. A t o t a l score of 100 points per story was poss ib le based on four subscales; Character Analys is - 30 po in ts , Theme - 20 po ints , P lot - 20 po in ts , and Events - 30 po in ts . Another subscale was c a l l e d Addi t ional Information. Here, the scorers recorded anything that they thought would not f i t under the other subscales. A maximum of two marks was allowed here and under no circumstances were points deducted. The method of scoring used in the present study was to u t i l i z e the t o t a l scores where inter - judge r e l i a b i l i t i e s were h igh . As i s discussed l a t e r , t h i s was the case for a l l s t o r i e s . 3.5 P i l o t Subjects Three profoundly deaf subjects from the p r o v i n c i a l School for the Deaf were selected for the p i l o t study. Although i t would have been desi rable to have used more subjects , the a v a i l a b i l i t y of subjects was such that i f any more were used in 1 1 0 the p i l o t there would have been i n s u f f i c i e n t numbers for the experiment. 111 4. DEVELOPMENT OF TESTING MATERIALS 4. 1 Instrument Twelve videotapes were used to present the s to r ies to the 36 experimental subjects . Six of the videotapes were in SE and s ix of them were in ASL. In each language group each story was recorded once in the manual mode only and once with manual, o r a l , and aural modes simultaneously. The second set was used for both the manual plus o ra l mode and the manual plus o ra l plus aural mode. The only d i f ference between the l a t t e r two modal condit ions was that the sound was turned on for the manual plus ora l plus aural mode. The volume cont ro l was set so that the output was at about the average loudness l e v e l for speech ( i . e . , in the range 60 - 65 d e c i b e l s ) . A l l subjects ' responses were taped on one-half inch videotape for scor ing . The subjects were taped in a s i t t i n g pos i t ion ten feet from the camera. Again, the camera was centered on the i n d i v i d u a l ' s s igning space defined as the space between the waist and three inches above the head. 4.2 Administ rat ive Procedures Administrat ion of the task was ca r r ied out by two deaf s igners , one male and the other female. Both were competent in signing and comprehending SE and ASL. A l l dut ies re lated to the videotape machine were handled by the male techn ic ian . A l l ins t ruc t ions were given in Pidgin S ign .Eng l ish by the female adminis t rator . Where d i f f i c u l t y in understanding ins t ruc t ions was encountered, the administrator switched to e i ther SE or ASL and repeated the d i r e c t i o n s . Inst ruct ions stated c l e a r l y that 1 12 the subject was required to watch the story c a r e f u l l y and then r e t e l l as much of the. story as possib le in any mode he or she wished. When each subject f e l t that he had re to ld the story to the best of h i s a b i l i t y he or she was required to inform the administ rator . At t h i s time ei ther prompting was given ( in SE, ASL, or PSE i f the test administrator wanted further c l a r i f i c a t i o n ) or taping of the in d i v id ua l was stopped. I n i t i a l l y subjects were ranked by age, numbered from 1 to 36, then each odd-numbered subject was to assigned to the ASL group and each even-numbered subject to the SE group, and f i n a l l y each was randomly placed in one of three Greco-Lat in sequences (see Figure 2) . Af ter presentation of the f i r s t story and taping of the sub ject 's response, ins t ruc t ions s i m i l a r to the f i r s t story were given and then the second story was shown. S imi lar administ rat ive procedures were used for the t h i r d s tory . A l l s to r ies were administered in the same s i t t i n g and each subject took approximately 40 minutes to complete the tasks . 4.3 Scoring Three profoundly deaf persons competent in both ASL and SE scored the taped responses. For each subject three separate scoring sheets corresponding to the three s to r ies were used (see Appendix A ) . The judges i n d i v i d u a l l y viewed the videotapes and scored each subject 's responses. During scoring the judges were not aware of the condit ion of presentat ions. Scoring was completed two weeks a f te r the l a s t subject had been tes ted . The scoring of the subjects ' reproductions of the story was based on Goodman and Burke's (1972) Miscue Analys is Procedure 113 for R e t e l l i n g S t o r i e s . Upon completion of a l l scor ing , i n t e r -judge r e l i a b i l i t y c o e f f i c i e n t s were found using Pearson's c o r r e l a t i o n . On Story A, the r e l i a b i l i t y c o e f f i c i e n t for Judge 1 and Judge 2 was .82 , for Judge 1 and Judge 3, .88 , and for Judge 2 and Judge 3, . 8 1 . L ikewise, for Story B the c o e f f i c i e n t s were .80 , .78 , and .87 . Story C resulted in the highest co r re la t ions of .93 , .92 , and .93 . A l l r e l i a b i l i t i e s were s i g n i f i c a n t (p_<.00l), thus permitt ing the scores for each subject to be averaged across judges. The scorers a lso noted the language in which the subject responded. This was accomplished by recording the s igning most often used by the subject on a scale of one to seven. A \"one\" indicated that ASL was the language used and a \"seven\", Signed Eng l i sh . Numbers between one and seven referred to the continuum of s igning found between SE and ASL (see Chapter I I ) . An inter - judge r e l i a b i l i t y c o e f f i c i e n t was found using Pearson's c o r r e l a t i o n . For story one, the r e l i a b i l i t y c o e f f i c i e n t for Judge 1 and Judge 2 was .59, for Judge 1 and Judge 3, .68 , and for Judge 2 and Judge 3, .60 . Respect ive ly , for story two, the c o e f f i c i e n t s were .52 , .59 , and .60 . For story 3, the c o e f f i c i e n t s were .44, .58, and .58 . These rat ings were also averaged across judges. 4.4 Data Analyses Cor re la t iona l analyses were conducted using the S t a t i s t i c a l Package for the Soc ia l Sciences: Version 8:00 (Nie, et a l . , 1975) and Version X (SPSS, 1983). The subprograms used were PEARSON CORRELATION and PARTIAL CORRELATION. A l l analyses of 1 1 4 variance (ANOVAs) were conducted using the BMDP S t a t i s t i c a l Software (Dixon, 1981). The computer was an AMDAHL 470 V/8, maintained by the Univers i ty of B r i t i s h Columbia Computing Center. Mu l t ip le analyses using a three - factor ANOVA model with repeated measures on two factors were pooled to y i e l d the resu l t s summarized in Table I. The s t a t i s t i c a l s ign i f i cance (p robabi l i t y of type I error) was determined for each independent var iab le and for each estimable i n t e r a c t i o n . The Bonferroni t s t a t i s t i c (cf . K i r k , 1978) was then employed as a post hoc analys is to determine the l o c i of s i g n i f i c a n t d i f ferences found in main and in te ract ion e f f e c t s . 1 1 5 IV. RESULTS * The purpose of t h i s study was to examine deaf students' comprehension of s to r ies presented under two language condit ions (English and American Sign Language) and three modal condit ions (manual, manual plus o r a l , manual plus ora l plus a u r a l ) . Based on a review of the l i t e r a t u r e , three hypotheses were formulated s ta t ing expected main e f fec ts and in teract ions of language and mode. Summaries of Demographic c h a r a c t e r i s t i c s of subjects can be found in Appendix D. The resu l t s of i n f e r e n t i a l s t a t i s t i c a l tests of the hypotheses are presented below. 1. STATISTICAL ANALYSES Hypothesis 1: Comprehension w i l l be at a maximum for mode in the manual plus o r a l plus aural mode followed by the manual plus o ra l mode and then the manual-only mode. ANOVA r e s u l t s revealed that mode was not s i g n i f i c a n t (see Table I ) . The f i r s t hypothesis was not supported. Hypothesis 2: Comprehension w i l l be greater for s t o r i e s t o l d in ASL than for s to r ies t o l d in SE. The main ef fect for language approached s t a t i s t i c a l s ign i f i cance (p_= .0576; see Table I ) , with the ASL mean exceeding that for SE under a l l experimental condit ions (see Table I I ) . 1 16 Table I - Summary of Repeated Measures Analys is of Variance of Comprehension Scores Source of Var ia t ion df Mean F P robab i l i t y (a) Square Between Subjects Language 1 29073.9 3.98 .0576 Gender 1 7268.5 0.99 Combinat ion 2 3099.9 0.42 Lang X Gend 1 1281 .3 0.18 Lang X Comb 2 13354.0 1 .83 Gend X Comb 2 1814.6 0.25 Lang X Gend X Comb 2 8712.3 1.19 Persons (within 24 7311.0 -Lang, Gend, and Combination) :hin Subjects Mode 2 2823.4 1 .65 Order 2 13675.8 8.01 .0010 Story 2 3860.8 2.26 Lang X Mode 2 5707.2 3.34 .0437 Lang X Story 2 5409.0 3.17 .0509 Lang X Order 2 555.3 0.33 Gend X Mode 2 2866.8 1 .68 Gend X Story 2 2189.1 1 .28 Gend X Order 2 743.4 0.44 Lang X Mode X Gend 2 854.8 0.50 Lang X Ord X Gend 2 3888.8 2.28 Lang X Sto X Gend 2 776.2 0.45 Ord X Person 48 1706.3 -(within Lang, Gend, and Combination) (a) P r o b a b i l i t i e s are given for a l l e f fec ts where p_<.l0. 1 17 Table II - Comprehension Means for ASL and SE, by Levels of Five Independent Var iables Factor Level Language ASL SE Modes Manual - 68.2 47.6 Manual+Oral - 65.8 59.8 Manual+Oral+Aural - 66.3 60. 1 Gender Female - 70.6 57.4 Male - 62.9 54.2 Story A - 59.8 55.0 B - 72.6 .52.4 C - 67.9 60. 1 Order F i r s t - 60.6 48.0 Second - 7 1 . 3 63.4 Third - 6 8 . 4 55.7 Combinat ion 1 - 68.7 49.3 2 - 73.4 56.2 3 - 58. 1 61 .9 118 Table III \u00E2\u0080\u00A2 - Comprehension Means for Levels Independent Var iab les of Six Factor Level Comprehension Means Language American Sign Language 6 6 . 8 Signed Engl ish 5 5 . 8 Mode Manual 5 7 . 9 Manual+Oral 6 2 . 8 Manual+Oral+Aural 6 3 . 2 Gender Female 6 4 . 0 Male - 5 8 . 6 Story A - 57 . 4 B - 6 2 . 5 c - 6 4 . 0 Order F i r s t 5 4 . 4 Second 6 7 . 4 Third 6 2 . 1 Combination (see Figure 2 ) 1 2 3 - 5 9 . 0 - 6 4 . 8 - 6 0 . 0 119 Given t h i s pat te rn , and the alpha leve l of p_<.0576, the language e f fec t warrants d iscuss ion . The language factor l e v e l means were: ASL, 66.8 ; SE, 55.8 (see Table I I I ) . There was a s i g n i f i c a n t main ef fect found for order (see Table I ) . As shown in Figure 3 (and confirmed by the post hoc analys is ) there was a s i g n i f i c a n t increase in scores from the f i r s t to the second presentation (see Table IV). Means from f i r s t and t h i r d , and from the second and t h i r d presentations were not found to d i f f e r s i g n i f i c a n t l y . The d i f ference between the means of the f i r s t and second presentations l i k e l y resul ted from pract i se and task f a m i l i a r i z a t i o n . The s l i g h t decrease in scores from the second to the t h i r d presentation may have resul ted from fa t igue . Hypothesis 3: The addit ion of the o ra l and aural modes to the manual-only presentation w i l l resu l t in greater increases in comprehension scores when SE i s the language of presentation than when ASL i s presented. Table I shows that there was a s i g n i f i c a n t in te rac t ion ef fect between mode and language. Figure 4 i l l u s t r a t e s the in te ract ion found. The most obvious reason appears to be that s to r ies in the manual-only mode were more e a s i l y reproduced when they were presented in ASL rather than in SE. Using the Bonferonni t s t a t i s t i c the d i f ference between these scores was found to be s i g n i f i c a n t (see Table V) . The d i f fe rence in scores between the manual mode and the manual plus o ra l mode was also examined. A s i g n i f i c a n t 1 2 0 Figure 3 - Mean Comprehension Scores by Order of Presentation 7 0 Mean Comprehension Scores 6 0 5 0 4 0 F i r s t Second Third ORDER 121 Table IV - Bonferonni t s t a t i s t i c : S ign i f icance of Dif ferences Between Orders Differences between comprehension scores 1 3 2 Order Score (a) 1 = 163.3 - 22.9 38.8 * 3 = 186.2 - 15.9 2 = 202.1 (a) Mean scores are reported as the sum over three judges. *p< .05 1 2 2 Figure 4 - ASL and SE Mean Comprehension Scores by Mode 70 Mean Comprehension Scores 60 50 - K ASL -o SE 40 Manual Manual Manual Plus Oral Plus Oral Plus Aural Mode 1 23 Table V - Bonferonni t s t a t i s t i c : S ign i f icance of Language Dif ferences by Mode Differences between comprehension scores 4 5 6 2 3 1 Combination Score (a) 4. (SE,M) 142.7 36.7* 37.5* 54.6* 56.2* 61.9* 5. (SE,MO) 179.4 0.8 17.9 19.5 25.2 6. (SE,MOA) 180.2 - 17. 1 18.7 24.4 2. (ASL,MO) 197.3 - 1 .6 7.3 3. (ASL,MOA) 198.9 - 5.7 1. (ASL,M) 204.6 -Levels are : ASL - - American Sign Language SE \u00E2\u0080\u0094 Signed Engl ish M - - Manual MO \u00E2\u0080\u0094 Manual plus Oral MOA \u00E2\u0080\u0094 Manual plus Oral plus Aural (a) Mean scores are reported as the sum over three judges. * -p_< .05 1 24 Figure 5 - ASL and SE Comprehension Scores by Story Mean Comprehension Scores 4 0 Story 125 Table VI - Bonferonni t s t a t i s t i c : S ign i f i cance of Language Differences by Story Differences between comprehension scores 5 4 1 6 3 2 Combination Score (a) 5. (SE,B) 1 57.2 7.9 22.1 33.0 46.5* 60.6* 4. (SE,A) 1 65. 1 14.2 25.1 38.6* 52.7* 1. (ASL,A) 179.3 10.9 24.4 38.5* 6. (SE,C) 190.2 - 13.5 27.6 3. (ASL,C) 203.7 - 14.1 2. (ASL,B) 217.8 Levels are : ASL \u00E2\u0080\u0094 American Sign Language SE - - Signed Engl ish A \u00E2\u0080\u0094 Story A B \u00E2\u0080\u0094 Story B C \u00E2\u0080\u0094 Story C (a) Mean scores are reported as the sum over three judges. * -p_< .05 1 26 d i f ference was found when the language of presentation was SE and not ASL (see Table V) . That i s , when speechreading was added to signs the subjects were able to reproduce more of the SE s t o r i e s , but scores d id not change when speechreading was added to s to r ies presented in ASL. The decrease in ASL scores from the manual-only mode to the manual plus ora l mode was not s i g n i f i c a n t . Therefore, the hypothesis for a language by mode in te ract ion was accepted. A s i g n i f i c a n t in te ract ion e f fec t was a lso found between language and s tory . From Figure 5, i t appears that Story B was more d i f f i c u l t to r e c a l l when presented in SE and easier to r e c a l l in ASL, than the other two s t o r i e s . The resu l ts of the Bonferonni t s t a t i s t i c confirmed t h i s (see Table V I ) . Furthermore, when the language of presentation was ASL, scores for Story B were higher than those for Story A (p_< .05) . It seems that equating the s to r ies on the basis of wr i t ten Engl ish c r i t e r i a i s an inadequate procedure when s to r ies are to be signed in ASL or SE. 2. ANALYSES OF LANGUAGE OF REPRODUCTION In addi t ion to the major hypothesis of t h i s study the e f fec ts of the dominant language on unbalanced b i l i n g u a l subjects were examined. It was predicted that subjects would tend to reproduce the s to r ies in the i r strongest language. I n i t i a l l y , subjects were c l a s s i f i e d on the basis of rat ings 127 by four judges of signing s k i l l s in SE and ASL. The higher rat ing of the two languages was then used as the basis for assigning dominant language s tatus . Results of t h i s f i r s t step showed 27 subjects to be ASL dominant b i l i n g u a l s , seven subjects as Engl ish dominant b i l i n g u a l s and two subjects as balanced b i l i n g u a l s (see Table V I I ) . Next, rat ings on the subjects ' s igning of s to r ies were c o l l e c t e d . A seven point ra t ing scale was used by the judges and the subjects were div ided as f o l l o w s : - A score of 3.5 or less was seen to be ind ica t i ve of s igning in ASL and a score greater than 3.5 was ind i ca t i ve of s igning in SE. (Note: Due to the lack of d e f i n i t i v e research that c l e a r l y defines the boundaries of ASL, SE, and Pidgin Sign Eng l i sh , a t h i r d category for PSE was omitted.) With information ava i lab le on subjects ' dominant language and the i r language of r e c a l l , i t was now possible to determine the re la t ionsh ip between the two (see Table V I I ) . Of the 27 subjects who were c l a s s i f i e d as ASL dominant b i l i n g u a l s , 24 reproduced s to r ies using ASL s ign ing . The three ASL dominant b i l i n g u a l s who reproduced s to r ies in SE had a l l received the s to r ies in SE. Twelve (80.0%) of the ASL-dominant b i l i n g u a l s to whom the s to r ies were presented in SE, reproduced the s to r ies in the i r dominant language, ASL. Of the seven SE dominant b i l i n g u a l s , f i ve (71.4%) reproduced the s to r ies in ASL and two (28.6%) reproduced them in SE. Of the f i ve subjects who reproduced the s to r ies in ASL two of them had watched s to r ies which were presented in SE. F i n a l l y , of the two who reproduced s to r ies in SE one had watched 128 an ASL presentation and the other an SE presentat ion . The two b i l ingual , subjects had been presented with s to r ies in ASL and both subsequently reproduced the s to r ies in ASL. On the basis of these resu l ts two statements can be made. F i r s t , ASL dominant b i l i n g u a l s general ly preferred to reproduce s to r ies in the i r dominant language. Second, SE dominant b i l i n g u a l s a lso general ly preferred to use ASL as the i r language of communication when reproducing s t o r i e s . The pred ic t ion that subjects w i l l tend to reproduce s to r ies in the i r strongest language holds true for ASL dominant b i l i n g u a l subjects but not for SE dominant b i l i n g u a l s . Thus, for s igning deaf students ASL was the preferred language for reproducing s t o r i e s . One further s t a t i s t i c on the language of reproduction i s presented at t h i s t ime. The type of t r a n s l a t i o n that occurred i s important because i t allows comparison with previous b i l i n g u a l research. Table VII i l l u s t r a t e s the language of story presentation and the respective language of reproduction. Of the 18 subjects who viewed s to r ies presented in ASL, only one (5.5%) subject t rans lated the s to r ies to SE. Further inspection revealed that t h i s one subject was a SE dominant b i l i n g u a l . Of the 18 s to r ies presented in SE, 14 (77.7%) were t rans lated to ASL. Twelve of these t rans la t ions were effected by ASL dominant b i l i n g u a l s . 1 29 Table VII - Language c h a r a c t e r i s t i c s of subjects Signed Engl ish (SE) s to r ies Subjects Teacher Language Judges Language of Ratings Dominance(a) Ratings on Reproduction(a) Reproduct ion SE ASL 1 3.75 2.25 + 1 .56 + 2 3.75 2.75 + 3.56 -3 3.00 1 .75 2.11 + 4 4.50 2.55 + 2.33 + 5 2.75 2.50 + 4.56 -6 2.75 1 .50 + 2.11 + 7 4.00 2.00 + 1 .56 + 8 2.25 1 .25 + 1 .67 + 9 3.00 1 .25 + 1 .56 + 10 3.00 2.00 + 3.22 + 1 1 4.00 2.25 + 3.67 -12 1 .00 4.00 - 5.89 -13 4.25 3.00 + 2.89 + 1 4 4.25 2.75 + 2.33 + 1 5 2.00 3.00 - 2.78 + 1 6 2.00 3.00 - 3.22 + 17 4.00 2.00 + 1 .67 + 18 5.00 1 .00 + 1 .78 + American Sign Language (ASL) s to r ies 19 3.25 1 .50 + 1 .44 + 20 1 .75 3.75 - 1 .89 + 21 3.00 2.00 + 1 .89 + 22 3.00 1 .50 + 1 .67 + 23 1 .75 1 .25 + 1 .56 + 24 4.00 2.00 + 1 .78 + 25 4.00 3.00 + 1 .44 + 26 2.00 2.25 - 3.56 -27 1 .00 1 .00 * 1 .67 + 28 2.00 1 .50 + 1 .33 + 29 3.00 2.75 + 2.44 + 30 2.00 1 .00 + 1 .44 + 31 3.00 2.00 + 2.33 + 32 2.00 2.00 * 2.11 + 33 3.25 2.25 + 2.56 + 34 2.00 3.00 - 1 .67 + 35 2.00 3.00 - 2.89 + 36 2.75 1 .25 . + 1 .78 + (a) + = ASL; - = SE; * = Balanced 1 30 3. INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES In the t h i r d part of t h i s chapter, c o r r e l a t i o n a l techniques are used to re late biodemographical data to subjects ' scores on the experimental tasks . The Pearson c o r r e l a t i o n procedure was used to cor re la te each of the var iab les with the subjects ' average score on three s t o r i e s . The intent of t h i s analys is was to determine which of the biodemographic factors af fected the subjects ' scores. Only one of the v a r i a b l e s , SE Signing s k i l l s , was found to be s i g n i f i c a n t l y re lated to comprehension scores. Appendix D l i s t s the biodemographic data that were examined. The average age of the subjects was 16 years 9 months, the average age for the onset of deafness was 3.2 months, the average age subjects learned to sign was 81.0 months, and the average hearing threshold l e v e l in the better ear at 500, 1000, and 2000 Hertz (ANSI) was 99.8 decibels with a range of 83 decibels to 113 d e c i b e l s . Other biodemographic var iab les invest igated were e t io logy , h is tory of educational s e t t i n g s , h is tory of communication methods used, age at which hearing a id use began, present use of hearing aids at home and at school , and hearing status of parents and s i b l i n g s . The var iab le signing s k i l l was based on the average rat ings of four teachers who knew the subject w e l l . The f i ve point subjective scale had teachers choosing from a score of \"one\" for excel lent s igning s k i l l s to a \" f i v e \" for poor s igning s k i l l s . The average signing s k i l l across a l l subjects in ASL was 2.1 and in SE, 2 .9 . A s i g n i f i c a n t pos i t i ve c o r r e l a t i o n was found between SE signing s k i l l s and comprehension scores regardless of 131 whether SE or ASL s to r ies had been presented (r=.5946; p_<.00l). This was the only var iable examined that had a s i g n i f i c a n t re la t ionsh ip with subjects ' comprehension of s t o r i e s . 4. SUMMARY OF FINDINGS In the present chapter, the resu l ts of subjects ' comprehension of s to r ies under three modal condit ions and two languages were analysed. Analysis of variance showed order to be the only s i g n i f i c a n t main e f f e c t , with the lowest score being atta ined on the f i r s t presentat ion. E f fects for language, mode, gender, and story were not found although the language ef fect came close to s i g n i f i c a n c e . There was an in te rac t ion ef fect between mode and language with the manual plus o r a l mode leading to an increase in comprehension over the manual-only mode when the s to r ies were presented in SE. There was a lso a language by story in te ract ion with Story B obtaining higher comprehension scores when signed in ASL compared with the same story signed in SE. The pred ic t ion that the dominant language would be used in story reproduction was borne out for ASL dominant b i l i n g u a l s . It must a lso be noted that Signed Engl ish dominant b i l i n g u a l s (N=7) preferred to reproduce s to r ies in ASL, and t h i s was also the case with the two balanced b i l i n g u a l s . Age, age at onset of deafness, hearing l o s s , age learned to s ign , s igning s k i l l s in ASL and SE, e t io logy , h is tory of educational s e t t i n g s , h is tory of communication methods used, age at which hearing a id use began, present use of hearing aids at home and at school , and hearing status of parents and s i b l i n g s 1 32 were examined as possible biodemographic factors which could inf luence deaf students' comprehension of s ign ing . It was found that SE s igning s k i l l was the only var iab le s i g n i f i c a n t l y cor re lated with subjects ' t o t a l scores on the experimental tasks . The fo l lowing chapter presents a discussion of these f ind ings . 1 33 V. DISCUSSION OF RESULTS Over the las t f i f t e e n years in education of the deaf, t o t a l communication programs rapid ly have become a dominant force in teaching methodology. The foundation of t o t a l communication rests on the u t i l i z a t i o n of a simultaneous combination of a u d i t i o n , speechreading, and signing to f a c i l i t a t e greater comprehension in communication (Vernon, 1972). In adhering to the language of the major i ty , sign systems with Engl ish-based syntax have been prefer red . In B r i t i s h Columbia, for example, the sign system u t i l i z e d i s Signed Eng l i sh , which borrows signs found in American Sign Language \u00E2\u0080\u0094 the language used in deaf communities across Canada and the United States . In the review of the l i t e r a t u r e , questions were ra ised concerning the methodological techniques used in previous studies which purport to demonstrate the ef fect iveness of m u l t i -modal over uni-modal presentat ions. The l i t e r a t u r e a lso revealed a recent trend amongst educators and researchers to question the p r a c t i c a l i t y of omitt ing ASL from the curr iculum of t o t a l communication programs. For these reasons i t seemed t imely to explore the e f fec ts of various modal and language condit ions on deaf students' comprehension of s t o r i e s . 1. MODAL CONDITIONS AND THE COMPREHENSION OF STORIES Reca l l scores under manual-only, manual plus o r a l , and manual plus o r a l plus aural modal condit ions showed no overa l l improvement as modes were added. This d i f f e r s from other researchers who u t i l i z e d d i f f e r e n t methodological procedures and 134 found multimodal presentations to be superior to unimodal ones in comprehension and learning tasks (Klopping, 1972; Moores, Weiss, & Goodwin, 1973; White & Stevenson, 1975; Carson & Goetzinger, 1975; Brooks, Hudson, & Reisberg, 1981; Pudlas, 1984). Here, i t was found that when language was not taken into cons iderat ion , there was no s i g n i f i c a n t increase with the addi t ion of modes. However, as w i l l be discussed l a t e r , there was a language by mode i n t e r a c t i o n , with the use of speechreading and signs leading to improved scores over the sign only presentation in SE. Using a d i f fe ren t experimental design and task, Beckmeyer (1976) came to a s i m i l a r conc lus ion . He found that bimodal presentations were not necessar i ly superior to unimodal presentations and he suggested that the e f f i c i e n c y of a p a r t i c u l a r communication method i s dependent upon the preference of the i n d i v i d u a l . The present study i s a lso consistent with an e a r l i e r f ind ing by White and Stevenson (1975). They found that although the signs plus speech mode resulted in higher scores than the speech only mode, there was no s i g n i f i c a n t d i f ference when bimodal resu l t s were compared with the sign only mode. H i s t o r i c a l l y , ASL has not been regarded as a language. It has been defined as a manual form of broken Engl ish with the impl icat ion that ASL could not compete with ora l languages as a means of communication (Markowicz, 1977). Over the past twenty years however, these c r i t i c i s m s have been systemat ical ly refuted by researchers invest igat ing the l i n g u i s t i c s of ASL (Stokoe, 1960, 1981; Friedman, 1977; Wilbur , 1979; Klima & B e l l u g i , 135 1979). Largely on the basis of the i r work, ASL has been establ ished as a language per se. There i s no reason for expecting communication in ASL to be less e f f e c t i v e than communication in spoken Eng l i sh . The only source of d i f ferences might be the fluency of users in e i ther language. There are two possible reasons why adding modes did not help under ASL presentat ions. F i r s t , i t may be that the obtained comprehension scores represent the best that could have been expected given the condit ions of the experiment. That i s comprehension and memory in the manual-only mode was s u f f i c i e n t to the point where add i t iona l modes d id not he lp . A l l information that could be retained from the story was already picked up in the manual-only mode, and the o ra l and aural modes only served to re inforce t h i s information. Secondly, i t i s possible that signs in ASL syntax do not match speech s ignals as wel l as signs presented in Engl ish syntax. That i s , i t may not be as simple to match aud i to r i l y -based s ignals (speech) with v i sua l l y -based ones (ASL signs) espec ia l l y when both s ignals were developed for d i f fe rent languages. Signed Engl ish i s a v i s u a l representation of an a u d i t o r i l y -based language. The s ignals produced by hand movements convey messages that have auditory counterparts. The addi t ion of inputs in the o r a l and aural modes might be expected to enhance the matched information which i s being processed manually. For example, these modes might provide the observer with a clue as to the correct meaning of a sign which was not perceived c l e a r l y enough or which seemed to be out of context. This would be 1 36 condi t iona l on the intersensory integrat ion mechanism being both appl icable and funct ional in the context of the present experiment. Although no o v e r a l l e f fect for mode was observed, future research should formulate s i m i l a r hypotheses taking into considerat ion the language of the signs being used. F i n a l l y , i t must be noted that the aural mode might have presented s ignals too weak for detect ion by the subjects . The average hearing threshold l e v e l of the subjects was 99.8 dec ibe l s . In the study, the volume for speech was set at conversational l eve l which i s usual ly between 60 and 65 dec ibe l s . The rat ionale for t h i s procedure was that i t allowed a close simulat ion of a t o t a l communication environment. Although an examination of the subjects ' use of hearing aids and auditory s k i l l s might have c l a r i f i e d t h i s study's f ind ings , i t s omission does not detract from the importance of the r e s u l t s : In a t o t a l communication se t t ing the add i t iona l use of speech and audi t ion does not appear to y i e l d greater comprehension than that obtained in a signing only s i t u a t i o n when ASL i s the language of presentat ion. 2. LANGUAGE AND THE COMPREHENSION OF STORIES A greater amount of content was reproduced when s to r ies were signed in ASL than when they had been signed in SE. This resu l t was s i g n i f i c a n t when signs were the only mode used, but not when o ra l information was added. However, the o v e r a l l d i f ference between language approaches s t a t i s t i c a l s ign i f i cance at \u00C2\u00A3 = .0576. The fact that under a l l experimental condit ions ASL scores were higher than SE scores warrants a d iscussion of 1 37 the possib le reasons for the obtained d i f ferences in language. There i s very l i t t l e research ava i lab le with which to compare t h i s f i n d i n g . In a short story comprehension task, H a t f i e l d , Caccamise, and S ip le (1978) and Ouel lette and Sendelbaugh (1982) found no d i f ference in scores between manually-coded Engl ish and ASL. In another comprehension task, scores on S i g l i s h signed passages were s i g n i f i c a n t l y higher than those on ASL signed passages (Higgins, 1973). However, a la te r study by Murphy and F le ischer (1977) found that there was no d i f ference in comprehension scores obtained through S i g l i s h and ASL presentat ions. The present experimental resu l t s provided evidence that ASL s to r ies are more e a s i l y reproduced than SE s to r ies even when the students have experienced a large part of the i r education in a t o t a l communication set t ing which u t i l i z e d SE. The power of the experimental design h igh l ights the advantage of ASL for deaf students who have had at least f i ve years' experience with t o t a l communication. Higher scores for ASL presentations were obtained under a l l condit ions of gender, modes, s t o r i e s , and order of presentat ions. These scores were not af fected by demographic f a c t o r s . Regardless of age, e t io logy , onset of deafness, hearing threshold l e v e l s , age at which sign was learned , s igning s k i l l s in ASL and SE, age hearing a id use began, h i s to ry of educational s e t t i n g s , h is tory of communication methods used, present use of hearing aids at home and at school , and hearing status of parents and s i b l i n g s , deaf students comprehended ASL presentations better than SE 1 38 presentat ions. An in te res t ing supplementary f ind ing i s that subjects ' s k i l l in SE was p o s i t i v e l y cor re lated (r_ = 0.5946; p_ < .001) with comprehension scores for both ASL and SE presentat ions. On a descending f i ve point ra t ing scale for s igning s k i l l s the overa l l average for ASL was 2.12, with a range from 1.00 to 3 .75, and for SE the average was 2.92 and ranged from 1.00 to 5.00. The higher ra t ing and smaller range in ASL are ind i ca t i ve of the homogeneity of the group with respect to that language. This i s not unusual when one considers that ASL i s the language of the deaf community (Kannapell , 1982; Stewart, 1982). S i m i l a r l y , one might expect hearing adolescents to have highly developed speech s k i l l s with l i t t l e v a r i a t i o n between good and poor speakers. There may have been l i t t l e co r re la t ion of s k i l l in ASL with comprehension scores due to the higher development of ASL across subjects . Thus, the co r re la t ion between SE signing s k i l l s and comprehension may have been obtained because of greater i nd i v idua l d i f ferences between the subjects ' development of Signed Eng l i sh . As d i f ferences in SE s k i l l s approach zero a s imi la r reduction in the co r re la t ion with comprehension would l i k e l y occur. Perhaps ASL s to r ies were better reproduced simply because ASL syntax has i t s basis in a v i s u a l - s p a t i a l medium. Research by Tweney and Heiman (1977) showed that ASL grammatical structure f a c i l i t a t e d better r e c a l l than a random s t r i n g of ASL s igns . Perhaps ASL permits better resu l ts because i t has evolved to match the a r t i c u l a t o r y dynamics of a v i s u a l - s p a t i a l 139 mode, whereas SE u t i l i z e s a v i s u a l - s p a t i a l medium in an attempt to represent the temporal auditory components of the Engl ish language. As suggested by Kretschmer and Kretschmer (1978) the simultaneous reception of symbol ical ly d i f f e r e n t a u d i t o r i l y -based and v i sua l l y -based systems may not be advantageous. F i n a l l y , considerat ion must be given to the language c h a r a c t e r i s t i c of the sample. The teachers' rat ings of the s igning s k i l l s of the subjects and the subjects ' use of language in reproducing the s tor ies both showed that the sample was composed mainly of ASL dominant b i l i n g u a l s . This fact may have accounted for some of the subjects doing wel l on ASL s t o r i e s . However, the low reading leve l of the s to r ies cautions against using language dominance as the sole reason. When one considers that SE has been the o f f i c i a l sign system for t o t a l communication programs in the province for the past s ix years, the higher scores obtained in ASL presentations urges one to question current teaching methods. Perhaps deaf students have become ASL dominant b i l i n g u a l s because the language i t s e l f i s more conducive to comfortable communication. Being conceptually based i t may allow for an easier i n t e r n a l i z a t i o n of the world around them. This would lead not only to i t s use amongst ASL signers but a lso to more relaxed behaviour in s t r e s s f u l s i tuat ions such as the classroom and the experimental condit ions of t h i s study. 1 40 3. MODES OF COMMUNICATION AND LANGUAGE A s i g n i f i c a n t in te ract ion was observed between modes of communication and language. To date, there are no known studies with which t h i s resu l t can be compared. It had been hypothesized that an in te rac t ion would be evidenced with increased comprehension of SE c o r r e l a t i n g with the addi t ion of the o ra l and aura l modes. B r i e f l y , i t i s argued that because ASL develops independently of the speech and hearing systems then, for f luent s igners , benef i ts from the aural and ora l modes should not be expected. However, with SE, an advantage for multi -modal over unimodal presentations was expected due to the i d e n t i c a l grammatical natures of SE and spoken Eng l i sh . It does seem that when a language i s used which has complementary s ignals in both the manual-only mode and the o ra l and aural modes then integrat ion of information from d i f fe ren t modes i s p o s s i b l e . Theories of se lec t i ve at tent ion predict that some i f not a l l of the i n i t i a l sensory inputs w i l l be processed and stored in a perceptual system (Broadbent, 1957, 1958; Deutsch & Deutsch, 1963; Treisman, 1964; Neisser , 1967; Norman, 1968). What information i s drawn from t h i s system depends upon the e x p e r i e n t i a l knowledge of the rece iver , the nature of the message, and the rate of presentat ion . The design of the present study does not allow one to make an assumption about the amount of information gathered in the ora l and aural modes. However, t h i s study d id show that when SE was used input from the o ra l mode was processed and u t i l i z e d by the observer to increase comprehension of s t o r i e s . Thus, there was an advantage 141 of redundant and/or complementary information being presented in two modes and in Eng l i sh , r e l a t i v e to a presentation in the best s ing le modality (Walden, Prosek, & Worthington, 1975; Erber, 1979; Baggett & Ehrenfeucht, 1981). However, the resu l t s here should not be taken as d i rec t support for f indings in intersensory in teract ions because the benef i ts of multi -modal presentations were found only with inputs in the v i s u a l channel. The increase in SE comprehension noted in the manual plus o r a l mode might have been the resu l t of the speech s igna ls adding meaning to some of the signs that were not understood or were overlooked when presented alone. That i s , i t may be that l i p movements helped because they matched SE better than ASL. In t h i s instance, not only i s redundant information an asset for comprehension in a manual plus o ra l presentation but a complementary language system must a lso be used in the two modes. Thus speech, being a component of an auditory language system, does not provide the same benef i t when the modes of communication are used with a v i s u a l l y based language ( e . g . , ASL). A l t e r n a t i v e l y , i t may a lso be that in the present study the scores in SE were simply low to begin with and any add i t iona l input served to increase comprehension. F i n a l l y , there are three possib le explanations for the lack of mode e f fec t when ASL was used. F i r s t , there may have been a l i m i t on the proportion of the story that can be reproduced with the score obtained on the manual-only mode representing t h i s l i m i t . A second p o s s i b i l i t y i s that the subjects found i t more d i f f i c u l t to match l i p movements with ASL because speech i s not 142 a complementary component of ASL. And l a s t l y , the subjects had s u f f i c i e n t prof ic iency in ASL that they were able to comprehend the s to r ies using information received in the manual-only mode alone. Poss ib ly , some of the subjects received information in the o ra l and aural modes but i t served to re inforce and not add to the information that was obtained in the manual-only mode. The t y p i c a l manner of observing a signer includes watching the face of the signer (who may or may not a lso be speaking). The o ra l and aural inputs may have reinforced the manual only input and made reception in the manual plus o ra l plus aural mode easier to observe without increasing comprhension. Perhaps in a multimodal s i t u a t i o n , at tent ion i s allowed to switch between d i f f e r e n t modes thereby r e l i e v i n g the s t r a i n of focusing on just one mode. Further research i s necessary to explore these p o s s i b i l i t i e s and to d i s t ingu i sh the cont r ibut ions of each mode in a multimodal presentat ion. 4. DOMINANT LANGUAGE EFFECTS It was predicted that unbalanced b i l i n g u a l subjects would reproduce s to r ies in the i r dominant language. This was confirmed for ASL dominant b i l i n g u a l s . For SE dominant b i l i n g u a l s however, ASL was a lso the i r preferred language of r e c a l l . It i s only the resu l t s ASL dominant b i l i n g u a l s which support previous f indings that indicated s t r e s s f u l s i tuat ions often induce subjects to t rans late from the nondominant to the dominant language (Goggin & Wickens, 1971; Macnamara & Kushnir , 1971; Dornic, 1979, 1980). \u00E2\u0080\u00A2 The present experiment involved 1 43 condit ions which l i k e l y contr ibuted to s t r e s s . During the tes t ing period the subject was in the company of two adu l t s , aware that he or she was being videotaped, and was under ins t ruc t ions to reproduce as much as poss ib le . Reproducing the s to r ies in ASL may wel l have made a s t r e s s f u l s i t u a t i o n more bearable. The ease of conversing in ASL could be a t t r ibu ted to i t s nature. Although, SE uses ASL s igns , the syntax of Engl ish has the signs u t i l i z e d in a d i f fe ren t order and a d i f f e r e n t form than that of ASL. This may be a c r i t i c a l point as syntax may be pert inent in es tab l i sh ing the intended meaning of a p a r t i c u l a r s ign . Translat ion from SE to ASL would occur i f a subject f e l t that t h i s was a more appropriate and comfortable medium in which to base one's conception of the s tory . Furthermore, given that the SE s to r ies were understood, a t r a n s l a t i o n would be favoured i f i t allowed greater f l e x i b i l i t y for the signer in the r e t e l l i n g . Memory l i m i t s might a lso have had an ef fect on t r a n s l a t i o n . In Chapter II i t was suggested that memory for signs i s enhanced by l i n g u i s t i c propert ies s p e c i f i c to sign language and that the encoding of signs was influenced by these phonologica l , morphological , and grammatical q u a l i t i e s . For example, Tweney and Heiman (1977) found that ASL grammatical s t ructures f a c i l i t a t e d the r e c a l l of signed sequences over random st r ings of ASL s igns . The sequencing of SE however, cannot be compared with random st r ings of ASL s igns ; but the p o s s i b i l i t y remains that the reproduction of ASL signs in Engl ish word ordering 1 44 could be more d i f f i c u l t than i s the case with ASL. Hence, t rans la t ion to ASL might be used as a strategy to f a c i l i t a t e memory. F i n a l l y , the method used to determine language dominance for the sample's unbalanced b i l i n g u a l s i s not a standardized procedure although i t was recommended by Macnamara (1967) as being an accurate measure of language dominance in o ra l b i l i n g u a l s . At present, a l l that can be said i s that future research i s required to explore the evaluation of language dominance in s igning b i l i n g u a l s . 1 45 VI . SUMMARY, CONCLUSIONS, IMPLICATIONS, LIMITATIONS, AND RECOMMENDATIONS FOR FUTURE RESEARCH 1. SUMMARY This study examined deaf students' comprehension of s to r ies under two language condit ions and three modal cond i t ions . One of the languages, Eng l i sh , was represented by Signed Eng l i sh , which i s the sign system recommended for use in a l l t o t a l communication programs in the province of B r i t i s h Columbia. The other, American Sign Language, i s recognized as the language of the Deaf community. The three modal condit ions were: manual-only , manual plus o r a l , and manual plus ora l plus a u r a l . The strength of v i s i o n r e l a t i v e to audi t ion in deaf i n d i v i d u a l s , and the signing behavior of the sample population indicated that the manual mode should be present in a l l three cond i t ions . This dec is ion stemmed from past research which showed multimodal presentations to be comprehended better than unimodal ones. T y p i c a l l y , the evidence was based on experiments showing an increase in the amount of information comprehended when the two v i s u a l modes, o ra l and manual, were added to the aural mode. By using the manual-only mode as the unimodal condi t ion i t was poss ib le to re-examine multimodal presentations for the benef i ts of using weaker modes to supplement stronger ones. In other words the question was asked i f s igning by i t s e l f , was a s u f f i c i e n t means of communication. Two assumptions guided t h i s study; from s o c i o l i n g u i s t i c s came the proposi t ion that the language of the deaf community i s 1 46 more e f f i c i e n t for comprehension than a sign system developed for the classroom; from research in simultaneous communication came the suggestion that the more inputs ava i lab le to the receiver the more information that i s understood. In considering the nature of the two languages, one a u d i t o r i l y -based (SE) and the other v i sua l l y -based (ASL), i t was predicted that there would be an in te ract ion ef fect between SE and the modes of presentat ion. In a d d i t i o n , i t was f e l t that the dominant language of the unbalanced b i l i n g u a l s in the study would inf luence the subjects* choice of language in r e t e l l i n g the s t o r i e s . The experiment presented three s to r ies on videotapes under s i x d i f f e r e n t condi t ions . Reproduction of the s to r ies was videotaped and three profoundly deaf, b i l i n g u a l judges scored them. High r e l i a b i l i t i e s allowed the scores to be averaged across judges. To test the hypotheses, analys is of variance was then used to determine main and in teract ion e f fec ts for language, treatment, gender, s tory , and order. The sample consisted of 18 females and 18 males with 26 taken from the p r o v i n c i a l School for the Deaf on-campus c lasses and 10 from off-campus c l a s s e s . The mean age was 16 years 7 months, and the average hearing threshold l e v e l in the better ear was 99.8 dec ibe ls . Eighteen had learned to sign by the time they were f i v e years of age, ten by seven years of age and seven a f te r the age of seven. A l l had been both enro l led in t o t a l communication programs and exposed to SE for the l a s t f i ve years. 147 Data analyses revealed no s i g n i f i c a n t o v e r a l l mode e f f e c t : The manual plus o r a l and the manual plus o ra l plus aural modes d id not resul t in more information being reproduced than the manual-only mode alone. The d i f ference between ASL and SE r e c a l l scores approached s ign i f i cance (\u00C2\u00A3=.0576), with ASL being higher than SE under a l l experimental cond i t ions . An in teract ion ef fect between language and mode occurred with the addi t ion of speechreading resu l t ing in improved comprehension scores when the s t o r i e s were presented in SE. Subjects who were better signers in SE a lso scored higher on a l l the r e t e l l i n g tasks , i r respect i ve of whether the s t o r i e s were presented in SE or ASL. An order e f fec t was found with subjects scoring s i g n i f i c a n t l y higher on the second presentation than on the f i r s t one. As wel l there was a language by story in teract ion with Story B being easier to reproduce when presented in ASL than in SE. Both ASL dominant b i l i n g u a l s and SE dominant b i l i n g u a l s tended to r e c a l l s to r ies in ASL. L a s t l y , because there were no main e f fec ts for s t o r i e s , an average score for s t o r i e s was computed for each subject . These scores were then cor re lated with a l l of the demographic v a r i a b l e s . Results indicated only one s i g n i f i c a n t pos i t i ve r e l a t i o n s h i p . This was between SE s igning s k i l l s and comprehension of s t o r i e s score. 148 2. CONCLUSIONS In the present study i t was found that , o v e r a l l , the addi t ion of an ora l mode, and then an ora l plus aural mode to the manual-only mode neither increased nor decreased comprehension of short s t o r i e s . However, when language was taken into account the addi t ion of speechreading to the SE presentation d id improve scores. Two conclusions can be drawn from t h i s r e s u l t . F i r s t , ASL i s a language that r e l i e s on s ignals transmitted in the manual-only mode in order to convey messages. This i s an obvious conclusion in view of the fact that ASL evolved with constra ints imposed upon i t by v i s ion and the a r t i c u l a t o r y dynamics of the body. This i s not to say that ASL i s always signed without speech. In the study, many of the students commented that i t was easier to fol low a presentation (ASL or SE) that had l i p movements along with s igns . M i l l e r ' s (1982) theory of coact ivat ion would predict that responses to redundant messages presented simultaneously in d i f fe ren t modes would be faster than in just one of the modes alone. Poss ib l y , multimodal presentat ions , by a l lowing for inputs to be perceived through d i f f e r e n t modes, puts less stress on the observer. Consequently, a more comfortable l e v e l of communication i s a t ta ined . Nevertheless, for the population in the present study, ASL i s comprehended equally wel l manually as i t i s when speechreading and sounds are added to the manual presentat ion. The second conclusion i s that by i t s e l f , SE was not an e f f i c i e n t means for communication for the subjects of th i s study. Signing in SE and speech (with or without sound) must be 1 4 9 used together in order to a t t a i n maximum benef i t . With the profoundly deaf subjects of t h i s experiment one of the e f fec ts of at least f i ve years exposure to SE in a t o t a l communication set t ing seem to have been the coordination of these two complementary communication systems. When sign systems were in the i r i n i t i a l stage of being created the enhancement of speech s ignals was one of the i r goals . In th i s respect, SE seems to have been success fu l . This conclusion complements f indings in intersensory research which for the present experiment predicted that the amount of information processed in a multimodal presentation of redundant information would increase r e l a t i v e to the amount that would be processed unimodally. Although, the manual and ora l modes represent an intrasensory in te ract ion the notion i s s t i l l v a l i d that two communication modes can be simultaneously integrated given that the information they provide i s complementary. American Sign Language for the deaf students tested in th i s study appeared to be a more e f f e c t i v e means of communication than Signed Engl ish in both the receptive and expressive moda l i t ies . Although t h i s f ind ing was only s i g n i f i c a n t in the manual mode, the overa l l resu l t for scores in ASL to be higher than the i r counterparts in SE tends to support t h i s conclus ion. The usefulness of ASL in the adult deaf community i s thus extended to deaf students in t o t a l communication programs. It i s of in terest to note that a survey of deaf adults showed support for the incorporation of ASL into educational programs 150 for signing deaf students because of the ease of communication i t brings (Stewart, 1982). In conjunction with t h i s study's resu l ts i t i s not unreasonable to expect that the use of ASL in the classroom could f a c i l i t a t e more e f f e c t i v e communication between teachers and students providing teachers have fluency in ASL. However, the resu l t s of th i s study need further invest igat ion with respect to the e f f i c i e n c y of language. The higher scores of ASL need care fu l in te rpretat ion not only because of the in te ract ion between language and mode but a lso because SE i s meant to be signed in conjuct ion with speech. I t would be of in terest to know i f higher ASL scores could be expected across a l l l eve l s of story d i f f i c u l t i e s . Given t h i s information a curr iculum for language usage in the schools might be l a i d out which would take account of communication leve l of the students. Research on normally hearing b i l i n g u a l s indicated that a t r a n s l a t i o n from the nondominant to the dominant language w i l l occur under condit ions of s t ress (Dornic, 1979, 1980). In the present study deaf b i l i n g u a l students tended to express themselves in ASL. ASL dominant b i l i n g u a l s demonstrated a marked trend to t rans late SE s to r ies to ASL; yet SE dominant b i l i n g u a l s d id not demonstrate a trend to t rans la te ASL s to r ies to SE. It i s possible that some of the subjects may have erroneously been c l a s s i f i e d as SE dominant b i l i n g u a l s . However, the impl icat ion of the present study i s that a l l subjects tended to r e c a l l in ASL rather than SE, regardless of language 151 dominance. The value of simultaneous communication in improving Engl ish communication s k i l l s of deaf ind iv idua ls was demonstrated by t h i s study. By i t s e l f , SE does not seem to be the most e f f i c i e n t means for conveying information. However, when grammatical complexity in Engl ish i s low ( e . g . , the present study's reading l e v e l i s Grade 2.7) SE along with speech can be comprehended at a l e v e l that i s not s i g n i f i c a n t l y lower than comprehension of a counterpart ASL presentat ion. 3. IMPLICATIONS In t h i s study deaf students reproduced more when s to r ies were presented only in ASL than when they were signed in SE. In ASL, students performed as wel l in unimodal presentations as in multimodal ones; however, in SE, the addi t ion of speech improved the comprehension of s t o r i e s . It was suggested that when knowledge of ASL was s u f f i c i e n t there was l i t t l e to be gained in comprehension through the add i t iona l cues derived from speechreading and audi t ion in simultaneous communication. In general , the preferred language of r e c a l l was ASL. On the basis of these experimental f i nd ings , the fo l lowing impl icat ions for t o t a l communication programs are proposed: (1) Implementation s t ra teg ies for the inc lus ion of ASL in t o t a l communication programs should be considered. In the province of B r i t i s h Columbia, teachers of the hearing impaired (Stewart,1983a) and members of the adult deaf community (Stewart, 1983b) have expressed the i r support for a b i l i n g u a l education for students in t o t a l communication programs. If deaf 152 students' s k i l l s in ASL are shown to be at a higher l eve l than the i r s k i l l s in SE, a program which recognizes Engl ish as a second language would seem appropr iate. An important decis ion in t h i s implementation would be the establishment of the f i r s t language ( i . e . , the language that an ind i v idua l w i l l use for interpersonal in teract ions) in a b i l i n g u a l program. If ASL i s chosen as the f i r s t language, a c o n f l i c t w i l l be created with the signing environment of the home. Ninety percent of deaf ch i ld ren have parents who are hearing and whose common method of communication in the home i s speech. For the few parents who do learn to s ign , SE or PSE are the usual methods of communication. Therefore, at the present time one can expect l i t t l e reinforcement of ASL in -the home. This s i t u a t i o n i s unl ike that of o ra l b i l i n g u a l s , whose f i r s t language usual ly i s the one spoken in the home. One could argue that in t h i s respect, ASL i s not the f i r s t language of deaf ch i ld ren and that Eng l i sh , or even a pidgin Eng l i sh , has a stronger c l a i m . However, ASL does seem for whatever reason to be the language in which most deaf ch i ld ren are p r o f i c i e n t , i r respect i ve of the language used in the home. Hence, i t i s proposed that for s igning deaf c h i l d r e n , po tent ia l prof ic iency in a language be used as the c r i t e r i o n for f i r s t language s tatus . (2) Results of t h i s study suggest that simultaneous communication may indeed help the development of aura l and o ra l s k i l l s in deaf c h i l d r e n . In ora l communication hearing impaired youngsters are often faced with the task of understanding and 153 repeating messages that make l i t t l e sense. A command of good signing s k i l l s could permit the youngster to comprehend the content of a signed and spoken conversat ion, which in turn would provide a firmer base for speech and auditory t r a i n i n g . It has been said that signs w i l l take away from ora l s k i l l s because the deaf signer w i l l re ly too heavi ly upon the signs for conversing (Van Uden, 1970; Reeves, 1977). This seems unreasonable when one considers that in signed communication the eyes are focused on the l i p s and face of the s igner . As demonstrated in research on intersensory in tegra t ion , there can be a t ransfer of information from one mode to another. It i s l i k e l y that information obtained through s igns , could a s s i s t in c l a r i f y i n g the probable weaker s ignals picked up in the o ra l and aural modes. (3) Deaf students' re l iance upon signing for comprehension requires that teachers become good ro le models in the two languages. Fluency in Engl ish should be re f lec ted in the i r a b i l i t y to sign accurately in SE. Current ly , very few teachers are able to do so. It has been suggested that most teachers' s igning can be described as a Pidgin Sign Engl ish (Woodward, 1973c) or as a reg ister of Engl ish (Cokely, 1983). It i s not surpr is ing that deaf students' wr i t ing has also been l ikened to the way they sign in PSE (Charrow, 1975; Jones, 1979).. From t h i s perspective one might suggest that PSE be recognized as a t h i r d component of the signing environment in t o t a l communication programs. Perhaps, PSE could be u t i l i z e d as an intermediary step between ASL and SE in deaf c h i l d r e n ' s 154 language development. However, i t i s important that the target language of the hearing community, Eng l i sh , and of the deaf community, ASL, assume key ro les in guiding the language curr iculum. Poss ib ly , the present use of PSE i s a resul t of inconsistency in the t r a i n i n g of teachers of the deaf. I t could be that the dominance of PSE in the signing behavior of teachers resu l t s from inadequacies in the teaching of SE or ASL in t r a i n i n g programs, and from the schools themselves not enforcing the proper use of SE. Thus, teachers use a form of s igning that best approximates PSE because they have not been taught to s ign , ASL or SE. The present study h ints at the benef i ts that could resu l t i f teachers were f luent signers in the dominant language of the i r students. (4) Speech must be used with SE in order to guarantee that a higher l eve l of comprehension w i l l be obtained. By i t s e l f , SE i s r e l a t i v e l y poorer form of communication than e i ther ASL only or SE with speech. It would seem that for pre-school and elementary aged deaf ch i ldren ASL would be a more appropriate means of communication because both the Engl ish and speech l e v e l of the chldren may be too low to f a c i l i t a t e e f fec t i ve communication. Cer ta in ly i f e f f i c i e n t communication, i r respect i ve of language usage, i s the goal (Clarke, 1983), then ASL could be used as the primary language with Engl ish assuming a second/foreign language r o l e . 155 4. LIMITATIONS (1) The f indings of t h i s study are general izable only to profoundly deaf students, 13 to 19 years of age, who have spent at least f i ve years in a t o t a l communication program. (2) The s to r ies were equated on measures perta in ing to Engl ish but not ASL. An in teract ion e f fec t between s to r ies and languages was found, and techniques for measuring equivalences of s to r ies presented in ASL are required. (3) No tests were made of speechreading a b i l i t y , aural s k i l l s , or of memory capaci ty . (4) A main ef fect for order of presentation was found. A p re - tes t p rac t i se story could have been useful in e l iminat ing t h i s e f f e c t . 5. RECOMMENDATIONS FOR FUTURE RESEARCH (1) Rep l icat ion of t h i s study in other t o t a l communication programs should be undertaken. Wherever p o s s i b l e , information should be gathered on students' academic achievement leve ls to determine pert inent r e l a t i o n s h i p s . This may be of assistance in remediation programs. Students' preference for a p a r t i c u l a r modal condit ion should a lso be considered. In a d d i t i o n , hearing subjects should be tested for comprehension of the same s t o r i e s . This might a s s i s t in determining i f there are memory l i m i t a t i o n s act ing on the r e c a l l of the s t o r i e s . (2) Research i s needed to design implementation s t rateg ies for b i l i n g u a l programs and to evaluate the ef fect iveness of such programs in a t o t a l communication framework. 1 56 (3) Measurement techniques evaluating s igning s k i l l s in SE and ASL should be developed in both the expressive and receptive areas. This could be of benefit in the assessment of teachers' as wel l as students' s k i l l s . (4) To date, many studies have focused on maximizing the information acquired in multi -modal presentat ions. 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(1977). The e f fec t of sign language grammatical st ructure on r e c a l l . B u l l e t i n of the 171 Psychonomic Society , 10, 331-334. Van Uden, A. (1970). A world of language for deaf c h i l d r e n : Part 1, Basic p r i n c i p l e s . Netherlands: Rotterdam Univers i ty Press. V e l l u t i n o , F.R. (1979). Dys lex ia : Theory and research. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press . Vernon, M. (1972). Mind over mouth: A rat iona le for \" t o t a l communication\". Volta Review, 74, 529-540. Vernon, M. (1975). Communication and the education of deaf and hard -of -hear ing c h i l d r e n . In T.J.Watson (Ed. ) , Methods of communication current ly used in the education of deaf ch i ldren (pp.99-109). Letchworth, Her t fordsh i re : Garden C i ty Press . Vernon, M. , Coley, J . , & Ott inger , P. (1979). The use of Sign Language in the reading-language development process. Sign Language Studies, 22, 89-94. Vernon, M. , & Makowsky, B. (1969). Deafness and minority group dynamics. Deaf American, 21, 3 -6 . Walden, B .E . , Prosek, R.A. , & Worthington, D.W. (1975). Auditory and audiovisual feature transmission in hear ing-impaired adu l t s . Journal of Speech and Hearing Research, 18, 272-280. Walker, J . (1979). Education in two languages: A guide for b i l i n g u a l teachers. Washington, DC: Univers i ty of America Press. White, A . H . , & Stevenson, V.M. (1975). The e f fec ts of t o t a l communication, manual communication, o ra l communication and reading on the learning of factua l information in r e s i d e n t i a l school deaf c h i l d r e n . American Annals of the Deaf, 120, 48-57. Wilbur, R.B. (1974). When i s a phonological ru le not a phonological rule? The Morphology of S ie r ra Miwok. In A.Bruck, R.Fox, & M.LaGaly (Eds. ) , Papers from the Parasession on Natural Phonology (pp~T 385-395). Chicago, IL: Chicago L i n g u i s t i c Society . Wilbur, R.B. (1979). American Sign Language and sign systems. Balt imore: Univers i ty Park Press. Woodford, P .E . (1982). Foreign language t e s t i n g : Impl icat ions for American Sign Language (ASL) s k i l l s . In F.Caccamise, M.Garretson, & U.Bel lugi (Eds.) Teaching American Sign Language as a second/foreign language (pp. 222-231). S i l v e r Spr ing, MD: Nat ional Associat ion of the Deaf. 1 72 Woodward, J . C . (1973a). A program to prepare language s p e c i a l i s t s for work with the deaf. Sign Language Studies , 2j_ 1-8. Woodward, J . C . (1973b). Language continuum: A d i f fe ren t point of view. Sign Language Studies , 2, 81-83. Woodward, J . C . (1973c). Some c h a r a c t e r i s t i c s of Pidgin Sign Eng l i sh . Sign Language Studies, 3, 39-46. Woodward, J . C . (1976). Signs of change: H i s t o r i c a l va r ia t ion in American Sign Language. Sign Language Studies , 10, 81-94. Woodward, J . C , (1978). Some s o c i o l i n g u i s t i c problems in the implementation of b i l i n g u a l education for Deaf students. In F.Caccamise & D.Hicks (Eds. ) , National Symposium on Sign Language Research and Teaching (pp.183-210). S i l v e r Spr ing, MD: National Associat ion of the Deaf. Woodward, J . C . (1980). Some s o c i o l i n g u i s t i c aspects of French and American Sign Language. In H.Lane & F.Grosjean (Eds . ) , Recent perspectives on American Sign Language (pp.103-118). H i l l s d a l e , NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates . Woodward, J . C , & DeSantis, (1977). Two to one i t happens: Dynamic phonology in two sign languages. Sign Language Studies, 17, 329-346. Woodward, J . C , E r t i n g , C , & O l i v e r , S. ( 1976). Facing and hand(l ) ing va r ia t ion in American Sign Language. Sign Language Studies, 10, 43-51. 1 73 APPENDIX A - SCORING INSTRUMENT* Subject: Date Scored: Score: Story A: The Man Who Cleared His Name A. Character Analys is (30) Reca l l Development Jim (5) B i l l (5) Po l i ce (3) B i l l ' s wife (2) Worked, k i l l e d (5) Owner, dream (5) Investigate J im's death (3) Po l i ce phoned her (2) B. Theme (20) A person who has died may come back, (as a ghost) to c lear any misunderstandings. (10) Sometimes we must t rust what our dreams t e l l us. (10) C. Plot (20) When Jim got h is job back, why d id he disappear? (6) Was that a rea l ghost in B i l l ' s dream expla in ing that Jim did not k i l l h imself? (7) W i l l they f ind out how Jim died? (7) D. Events (30) A year a f te r Jim qu i ts h is job B i l l spots him on the street dressed in poverty. (4) B i l l gives Jim h is o ld job back and Jim goes to a big party for the people who work at B i l l ' s s tore . (4) B i l l does not go to the party , but has a dream in which Jim says people blame him for something he d id not do. (6) Jim never shows up for work so B i l l ask po l i ce to inves t igate . Po l i ce t e l l B i l l ' s wife that Jim committed s u i c i d e . (5) B i l l doubts the po l i cy story and asks for further 1 74 i n v e s t i g a t i o n . Po l i ce f ind out Jim drank poison from a bot t le he brought home from the party . The poison k i l l e d J im. (7) So i t was the ghost in B i l l ' s dream that informed B i l l that Jim did not k i l l h imsel f . (4) E. Add i t iona l Information: F. Rating of subject 's s igning 2 3 4 5 6 7 ASL SE A. B. C. D. E. Character Analysis . . . Theme Plot Events Add i t iona l Information Total Points (#) - numbers in brackets indicate the points a l l o t t e d for the par t . 175 Subject Date Scored: Scorer: Story B: The Ghost Who Outsmarted h i s Relat ives A. Character Analys is (30) Reca l l Bob (4) Sue (4) Re la t i ves , fami l ies (2) Woman (2) Banker (1) Mechanic (1) Lawyer (1) Development Loves Sue, dies (4) Does not get money (4) Do not l i k e Sue (2) Message from Bob (2) Gets Box (1) Gets Car (1) Should receive l e t t e r (1) B. Theme (20) Ghost w i l l return to help when i t has unf inished work l e f t . (10) Cannot stop two people's love for each other. (10) C. Plot (20) When Bob and Sue get married w i l l the r e l a t i v e s approve? How w i l l Bob inform Sue about the valuable things he has l e f t for her? (10) D. Events (30) Relat ives do not want Bob and Sue to marry and w i l l take everything away i f they do. (4) Bob and Sue marry and go to France to v i s i t r e l a t i v e s who are not nice to Sue. (5) Bob has heart attack and d i e s . (2) Relat ives give nothing to Sue and t e l l her to leave the country. (3) Woman passes message from dead husband to Sue. (3) Sue fol lows message by going to the bank and garage. (2) 176 Sue gets money, diamonds, car , and l e t t e r . (4) Letter should go to Lawyer but Bob dies before that could be done. (2) Bob explains in l e t t e r that he knows about h is r e l a t i v e s plan to keep a l l the money so he has hidden valuable things for Sue. (4) E. Add i t iona l Information: F. Rating of subject 's s igning 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 ASL SE A. Character A n a l y s i s . . . . B. Theme C. Plot D. Events E. Add i t iona l Information Total points 177 Subject: Date Scored: Scorer: Story C: The House That Was Not There A. Character Analys is (30) Reca l l Development B i l l (4) John (4) Ken (4) Man (3) Inv i tes John & Ken, doubts story (4) V i s i t s B i l l ; stays in car (4) V i s i t s B i l l ; asks for d i r e c t i o n (4) Gives d i rec t ions to Ken (3) B. Theme (20) Ghost w i l l help people in times of t rouble . (10) Although you might not bel ieve someone you should check i t out. (10) C. Plot (20) B i l l i n v i t e s John and Ken who become los t in the snow on the i r way to B i l l s . (7) Who gives d i rec t ions to Ken on f ind ing B i l l ' s house? (6) Does B i l l bel ieve the i r story and how do they check t h i s out? (7) C. Events (30) B i l l i n v i t e s John and Ken for a v i s i t . On the i r way to B i l l ' s they become los t in the snow. (5) Ken spots a l i gh ted house on top of a h i l l . They dr ive up, open a metal gate, then Ken asks the man at the house for d i rec t ions to B i l l . (7) Ken gives the man a coin then Ken and John dr ive to B i l l ' s place la te at n ight . (4) B i l l does not bel ieve John and Ken's story about the house because i t burned down 20 years ago. (4) The next morning, the three of them dr ive to 1 78 the house and f ind that i t was burned down. The metal gate has not been open for a long t ime. But they see the car t racks and f o o t p r i n t s . (7) They f ind the coin in the snow. (3) E. Add i t iona l Information F. Rating of sub ject 's signing 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 ASL SE A. Character A n a l y s i s . . . . B. Theme C. Plot D. Events E. Addi t ional Information Total Points 1 79 APPENDIX B - STORIES IN ENGLISH STORY A: THE MAN WHO CLEARED HIS NAME Jim worked at B i l l ' s store for three years. Then one day Jim decided to quit h is job at the s tore . About a year l a t e r , B i l l was walking down.a street when he saw a young man. The man seemed depressed and s i c k . He was very th in and h is c lothes were o l d . He looked l i k e he might be broke. Suddenly, B i l l r e a l i z e d that the young man was J im. B i l l offered Jim his o ld job back because Jim had been a good worker. Jim was very thankful and accepted the job. Every year B i l l had a party for the people who worked in B i l l ' s s to re . B i l l was too busy to attend but Jim went to the big party . The same night as the party , B i l l had a strange dream. He dreamed that Jim was t a l k i n g to him about something very important. Jim said that people blamed him for something, but that he d id not do i t . Jim d id not want B i l l to think that he was g u i l t y of i t . Jim said that he was innocent. Af ter the party , Jim d id not go to work for several days. He never phoned B i l l to explain why he wasn't coming to work. F i n a l l y , B i l l began to worry about J im. He t r i e d to contact Jim but was not success fu l . He phoned the p o l i c e . He asked the po l i ce to f ind out what had happened to J im. When B i l l a r r i ved home from work, h is wife informed him that something t e r r i b l e had happened. The po l i ce said that Jim had k i l l e d h imsel f . It happened r ight a f ter the party . B i l l thought about the dream that he had the night of the party . B i l l t o l d h is wife that the po l i ce were wrong about J im's death. B i l l d id not bel ieve that Jim had k i l l e d h imsel f . B i l l t o l d the po l i ce to invest igate J im's death more. The po l i ce la te r found out that they had made a mistake. J im's death had been an acc ident . Jim l e f t the party with a bot t le and went home. He thought that i t was a bot t le of a l c o h o l , but i t was r e a l l y poison. Jim had a drink from the bot t le and the poison k i l l e d him. When the po l i ce found h is body, they thought that he had k i l l e d h imsel f . So the night of J im's death, h i s ghost came back in B i l l ' s dream. J im's ghost to ld B i l l that Jim did not k i l l h imsel f . STORY B: THE GHOST WHO OUTSMARTED HIS RELATIVES Bob loved Sue very much but h is family did not want him to marry her. His re la t i ves would take away a l l of h is money i f he married her. Bob and Sue married anyway. After the wedding, they went to v i s i t Bob's r e l a t i v e s in France. They wanted h is 180 family to meet Sue, but h is family was not nice to Sue. His r e l a t i v e s thought that Sue did not r e a l l y love Bob. They said that she only wanted h is money. Then one day a t e r r i b l e thing happened. Bob had a heart attack and d ied . His family ordered Sue to leave the country. Sue kept the jewelry and clothes that she was wearing. Bob's family permitted Sue to keep nothing e l s e . Sue decided to go to England and a lucky thing happened to her there. One day she was t a l k i n g to a woman when the woman suddenly sat up s t ra ight and became very s t i f f . The woman t o l d Sue that she had a message for her . The message was from her dead husband. The woman began wr i t ing very fast on a piece of paper. The woman wrote the address of a bank, a man's name, and a number on the paper. Sue went to the bank and she asked for the man. She. showed the man the number. He gave her a spec ia l box that matched the number. She found money, diamonds, car keys, and the address of a garage inside the box. She went to the garage and gave the car keys to a mechanic. The mechanic went to get the car that matched the keys. She found another box inside the car . There were more money, diamonds, and a l e t t e r inside t h i s box. Sue's husband had wr i t ten the l e t t e r before he d ied . The l e t t e r explained that Bob knew that h is r e l a t i v e s would cheat Sue. They would keep h is money and diamonds and give Sue nothing. But Bob wanted Sue to have h is money and valuable diamonds. Bob had an idea. He decided to hide h is money and diamonds from h is r e l a t i v e s . He would t e l l Sue where he had hidden h is money and diamonds. This way Sue would be able to have h is money and diamonds. But Bob died before he gave the l e t t e r to h is lawyer. So Bob's ghost returned from the dead. His ghost t o l d Sue where she would f ind the money, the valuable diamonds and the l e t t e r . STORY C: THE HOUSE THAT WAS NOT THERE B i l l i nv i ted h is f r i ends , John and Ken, to v i s i t him. While John and Ken were d r i v ing to B i l l ' s , i t began to snow. John and Ken became los t in the deep snow. Ken noticed a l i g h t a few miles away, so they drove toward i t . They soon came to a large metal gate. A huge house was behind the metal gate, at the top of the h i l l . Some l i g h t s were on in the house. They opened the gate and drove up to the house. Ken went to ask for d i rec t ions and John stayed in the ca r . Ken went to the front door and rang the d o o r b e l l . A man answered the door. When Ken f in i shed t a l k i n g to the man, he gave the man something. Then Ken went back to the car . The man had explained how they could get to B i l l ' s house. John asked Ken what he had given the 181 man. Ken to ld John that he had given the man a coin for h is he lp . The two men followed the man's d i r e c t i o n s . They ar r ived at B i l l ' s house la te that n ight . They explained to B i l l what had happened. They to ld B i l l about gett ing l o s t , the house, the man, and the c o i n . B i l l l i s tened to a l l of the i r s tory . When they had f i n i s h e d , B i l l t o l d them that he d id not bel ieve a word of i t . B i l l said that they couldn' t have v i s i t e d that house because i t burned to the ground 20 years ago. So the next morning, the three of them drove to the house to see i f i t was there. When they reached the gate, i t was locked. It looked l i k e i t had not been opened for years. The men looked up the driveway but d id not see a house at the top of the h i l l . They only saw the house that had burned down. Then they noticed car t i r e t racks that continued up the driveway. The gate was locked, but the tracks d id go up to the house. The t racks , a l s o , went back down to the gate. The t racks proved that a car had been there. The three men ran to the top of the h i l l . They found c lear footpr in ts that went to the house and away from i t . They found the most surpr is ing thing of a l l at the door of the burned house. Something was b r i g h t l y shining in the snow. It was the coin that Ken had given the man. 182 APPENDIX C - STORIES IN AMERICAN SIGN LANGUAGE KEY TO AMERICAN SIGN LANGUAGE TRANSCRIPTIONS ** Symbol Explanat ion Example Translat ion + repeated once KNOW+ I know ++ repeated two or more times KNOW++ I know about that (2) signed with both hands BROKE(2) broken; damaged LH; RH signed with only the l e f t or r ight hand he=GIVE (RH)=her he gives to her R; L signed on the r ight or l e f t side INFORM-L inform, informed F signed in the front area of the s igner 's space ASK-F Ask S signed in the side area of the s igner 's space (see 'RS') B signed in the back area of the s igner 's space HIS-LB h is LF signed to the l e f t and forward GO-LF go there RS signed to the r ight and on the side STAY-RS stay there LB signed to the l e f t and back HE-LB he, him TO under l in ing indicates that the word was not spoken when speech was used. TO s ign , but do not say the word \"to\" 183 Symbol Explanat ion Example Trans lat ion - used where two or more words are necessary to represent a s ingle ASL unit of meaning READY-TO-WRITE in pos i t i on to begin wr i t ing > ; < movement to the r ight or l e f t ASIDE> move or put out of the way B-O-B dashes between l e t t e r s indicate that the word i s f ingerspe l led B-O-B Bob BSR body s h i f t to the r ight FAMILY-BSR family BSL body s h i f t to the l e f t NICE-BSL nice # name sign SUE# Sue used to jo in the parts of a complex sign where the sign i t s e l f has more than one part and each part has a meaning. Each part i s labeled with a word. The p r i n c i p a l part of each sign i s c a p i t a l i z e d and the other parts that modify in some way are pr inted in lower case. HELP=me near=PAST she=GIVE= you help me or lend a hand recent past or very recent ly she gives to you lower case l e t t e r s indicate signs made with the nondominant hand (the hand used less f requent ly ) . yes yes !\u00C2\u00BB tl \u00E2\u0080\u00A2 \u00E2\u0080\u00A2 \u00E2\u0080\u00A2 ind icates a mimed or a signed-mimed expression \"SO-THAT'S -IT\" so t h a t ' s what i t i s about **Most of the symbols in th i s key were derived from the s ty les of Fant (1977) and Madsen (1982). 184 STORY A: THE MAN WHO CLEARED HIS NAME B - I - L - L STORE/ J - I - M WORK THERE-RF THREE YEAR HAPPEN ONE-DAY JIM QUIT AROUND YEAR LATER B - I - L - L WALK++ NOTICE-R MAN YOUNG DEPRESSED SICK SEEM THIN CLOTHES OLD BROKE(2) SUDDENLY! MIND POP-UP THAT-L J - I - M B - I - L - L OFFER-L JOB B-A-C-K OFFER-L / REASON before=AGO J - I - M WORK GOOD J - I - M ACCEPT-BSR THANK-YOU-BSR every=NEXT-YEAR+++ B - I - L -L PARTY HAVE FOR+? PEOPLE WORK FOR HIM-RF GATHER ONCE PARTY BIG J - I - M GQ-LF / B - I - L - L HOME STAY-RS HAPPEN PARTY SAME NIGHT B - I - L - L DREAM STRANGE HE-RS DREAM J - I - M INFORM-RS++ IMPORTANT SOMETHING J - I - M EXPLAIN-RS PEOPLE BLAME++ / WRONG SELF-LF NOT~YET(2)+ B - I - L - L FEEL J - I - M GUILTY / J - I - M don't-WANT-BSR / SELF-LF INNOCENT PARTY FINISH / SEVERAL DAY J - I - M SHOW-UP WORK NOT~YET(2)++ SELF-LF PHONE-RS B - I - L - L / WORK MISS WHY? NOT~YET(2)++ he-RF FINALLY B - I - L - L WORRY B - I - L - L CONTACT J - I - M TRY / SUCCEED NOT HE-RS PHONE-F POLICE ASK-F / J - I - M HAPPEN INVESTIGATE \"WELL\" WORK FINISH B - I - L - L GQ-LS HOME ARRIVE-LS WIFE HIS-LS INFORM-LS / HAPPEN SOMETHING TERRIBLE POLICE TELL-HER-LS J - I - M DEAD / WHY? / SELF-RF KILL 185 HAPPEN WHEN? / PARTY FINISH KILL B - I - L -L before=AGO PARTY SAME NIGHT DREAM BACK=look-in-past B - I - L - L TELL-LB WIFE / POLICE WRONG J - I - M SELF-RF KILL / DOUBT \"SHAKE HEAD-NO\" AGAIN POLICE PHONE-F / INVESTIGATE! LATER=after-awhile POLICE MISTAKE ADMIT JIM DEAD / HAPPEN \"HOW EXPRESSION\" before=AGO PARTY FINISH / J - I - M LEFT BOTTLE GQ-R HOME ARRIVE-R / HE-RF THOUGHT BOTTLE SELF-R LIQUOR / WRONG INSIDE POISON \"SO-THAT'S-IT\" / HE-RF DRINK / KILL POISON / THAT-RF POLICE BODY FIND / THOUGHT SELF-RF KILL \"SHAKE HEAD-NO\" before=AGO NIGHT J - I - M DIE -/ B - I - L - L DREAM \"DREAM CLOUD\" J - I - M GHOST SHOW-UP / GHOST INFORM J - I - M SELF-RF KILL NOT STORY B: THE GHOST WHO OUTSMARTED HIS RELATIVES B-O-B , BOB# / POINT-LB S-U-E , SUE# / POINT-LS HE-LB LOVE HER-LS TRUE TWO-OF-THEM MARRY / HIS-LB FAMILY-BSR don't=WANT SUPPOSE++ TWO-OF-THEM MARRY / RELATIVE-BSR MONEY-BSL TAKE-AWAY-BSL WILL THEY-L ANYWAY TWO-OF-THEM PROCEED MARRY WEDDING FINISH(2) TWO-OF-THEM GQ-RF FRANCE BOB# RELATIVE-BSR 186 VISIT-BSR SUE# SHE-LS / FAMILY-RS / MEET WANT TWO-OF-THEM-L \"WELL\" FAMILY-BSR NICE-BSL NOT THEY-L RELATIVE-R OPINION-BSL SHE-LS LOVE HE-LB NOT SHE-LS HIS-LB MONEY WANT SHE-LS / YES ONE-DAY HAPPEN TERRIBLE / BOB# HEART-ATTACK DIE HIS-LB FAMILY ORDER-LS GET-OUT(1) COUNTRY RING WRISTWATCH NECKLACE (Note: say jewelry) CLOTHES HAVE SHE-LS KEEP-LS OTHER THING they=GIVE=she NOTHING #DO(2)++ / DECIDE GO-TO ENGLAND-RF DECIDE SELF-LS HAPPEN LUCKY THERE-RF / ONE-DAY SHE-LS WOMAN SHE-RF CHAT SUDDENLY / WOMAN SAT-UP S - T - I - F - F \"READY-TQ-WRITE\" WOMAN TELL=her MESSAGE-LF HAVE(1) her-RF MESSAGE-LF FROM WHO / HER-LS HUSBAND DEAD THAT WOMAN WRITE FAST WRITE ADDRESS B-A-N-K FIRST / MAN NAME SECOND / THIRD NUMBER WRITE / she=GIVE(RH)=her SUE# GO-TO-RF B-A-N-K / ASK MAN WHERE / MAN \"come to her\" he=MEET=her SHOW-R NUMBER / MAN \"GO AWAY COME BACK\" SPECIAL BOX MATCH NUMBER? / \"NOD\" he=GIVE(RH)=her OPEN-BOX / INSIDE MONEY DIAMOND CAR KEY ADDRESS GARAGE INSIDE HAVE \"OKAY-WELL\" she=GO~TO=LF GARAGE-LF / CAR KEY she=GIVE=him-RS MECHANIC MECHANIC \"GO AWAY\" SEARCH CAR / KEY MATCH VEHICLE \"CAR BROUGHT TO HER\" SUE# \"OPEN TRUNK\" \"SURPRISE\"! BOX ANOTHER FIND / 1 8 7 INSIDE MORE MONEY MORE DIAMOND PLUS LETTER UNDERSTAND++ / before=AGO SUE# HER-LS HUSBAND LETTER WRITE BEFORE DIE THIS LETTER / BOB# EXPLAIN HIS-LB RELATIVE CHEAT HER-LS WILL RELATIVE MONEY DIAMOND KEEP WILL THEY-R they=GIVE(RH)=her NOTHING=zero / MONEY DIAMOND FOR HER-LS WANT HIM-LB HOW? IDEA HE-LB MONEY DIAMOND HIDE / RELATIVE SEARCH FIND CAN'T they-R / HE-LB EXPLAIN-LS SUE# MONEY DIAMOND HIDE WHERE / INFORM=her MONEY DIAMOND S-TJ-E HAVE WILL SHE-LS \"WELL\" WRONG HAPPEN before=AGO LETTER he=GIVE> LAWYER BOB# DIE THAT HIS-LB GHOST / GHOST INFORM-her MONEY DIAMOND LETTER FIND WHERE INFORM=her / GHOST THAT STORY C: THE HOUSE THAT WAS NOT THERE B - I - L - L / POINT-RS J-O-H-N / JOHN# POINT-LS K-E-N / KEN# POINT-LF TWO-OF-THEM-BSL FRIEND HIS-RS HE-RS INVITE-BSL they=GO=RS-BSR VISIT-BSR \"ALL-RIGHT\" TWO-OF-THEM \"DRIVE\" SNOW! BEGIN SNOW \"DRIVE\" \"VEHICLE-WEAVING-THROUGH-THE-SNOW\" SNOW \"PILING-UP\" 188 \"VEHICLE-WEAVING-THROUGH-THE-SNOW\" (Note: say deep) LOST \"HEAD-LOOKS-TO-LEFT\" FEW M- I -L -E -S \"THERE\"-LS LIGHT-BSL / LIGHTS-SHINING-THERE-BSL / SPOT-BSL KEN# SPOT-BSL \"WHAT-IS-IT\" TWO-OF-THEM \"DRIVE-LS\" SOON-BSL ARRIVE-BSL METAL GATE-BSL \"UP-BEHIND-THE-GATE\"-BSL UP-THERE~BSL HOUSE-LS LARGE-LS there-LS \"WHAT-IS-IT\" HOUSE-BSL INSIDE-BSL LIGHT-BSL \"LIGHTS SHINING THERE\"-BSL TWO-OF-THEM GATE-OPEN / \"VEHICLE DRIVE-THROUGH-UP-HILL\"-BSL KEN#-BSL GET-OUT WALK-UP / ASK-LS HOW B - I - L - L / JOHN# CAR-RS STAY-RS KEN# WALK-UP DOOR RING-BELL DOOR-LS OPEN-LS MAN stand~LS KEN#, MAN TALK+ / FINISH KEN# SOMETHING he=GIVE(RH)=man KEN# WALK-DOWN GET-IN B - I - L - L HOUSE-BSR FIND-BSR HOW-BSR? / MAN EXPLAIN-RS FINISH-RS BEFORE JOHN# ASK=RS KEN# / R=GIVE(RH)=MAN WHAT-BSR? INFORM-L COIN R=GIVE(RH)=LF COIN B - I - L - L HOUSE-RS FIND-RS HOW-BSR? / MAN EXPLAIN LIST-QF-THINGS FOLLOW \"DRIVE\" NIGHT-LATE B - I - L - L HOUSE ARRIVE FINALLY TWO-OF-THEM-L EXPLAIN-R B - I - L - L EXPLAIN-R HAPPEN-R TWO-OF-THEM-L LOST HOUSE MAN COIN B - I - L - L LISTEN-BSL \"HEAD-SHAKES-1N-DISAGREEMENT\" / STORY FINISH LISTEN-BSL DOUBT he~R he=INFORM=them 20 YEARS BEFORE HOUSE THAT-LS FIRE-LS COLLAPSE-LS \"puzzled\" NEXT MORNING THREE-OF-THEM LET'S-SEE 189 \"DRIVE\" ARRIVE GATE LOCK! \"WHAT IS IT?\" SEEM YEAR++ GATE OPEN NOT-YET+ GATE-SHUT \"WHAT-IS-IT\" LOOK-UP-LS(2) EMPTY \"EMPTY-AROUND-THERE\" ; HOUSE-LS NONE \"WHAT-IS-IT?\" BURNT-LS COLLAPSE-LS HAVE there-LS THREE-OF-THEM NOTICE-D CAR TRACK / PUZZLED \"TRACK UP HILL TRACK DOWN HILL\" \"THAT'S STRANGE\" PROVE / BEFORE CAR THERE THREE-OF-THEM RAN-UP-HILL-L LOOK-AROUND-BSL / FOOT-PRINT \"FOOT-PRINTS-UP-HILL FOOT-PRINTS-DOWN-HILL\" \"THAT'S STRANGE\" SPOT DOOR-BSL / FIRE-BSL HOUSE-BSL COLLAPSE-BSL DOOR-BSL THERE-L SNOW SHINE-BSL SURPRISE / COIN KEN# R=GIVE(RH)=L MAN / THAT-BSL COIN-BSL 190 APPENDIX D - DEMOGRAPHIC DATA Age: average - 16 years, 9 months Frequency Percentage 13 1 4 1 5 1 6 17 18 19 years years years years years years years 2 2 1 1 4 8 5 4 5, 5, 30, 1 1 , 22, 14, 1 1 , Hearing Status: average HTL (ANSI) - 99.8 dB Et io logy : genetic meningit is rube l la Rh blood factor other/unknown 1 2 2 5 1 1 6 33.3 5.6 14.0 2.8 44.4 Age at onset of deafness: average - 3.2 months (for those with acquired deafness) 0 - 2 years 2 years and up unknown missing data Age learned to s ign : average - 81 months 0 - 2 years 3 - 5 years 6 - 7 years 7 years and up missing data Frequency 30 2 3 1 Frequency 7 1 1 10 7 1 Percentage 83.3 5.6 8.3 2.8 Percentage 19.4 30.6 27.8 19.4 2.8 191 Age hearing a id use begun: 0 - 2 years 3 - 5 years 6 - 7 years 7 years and up missing data Frequency 4 19 4 6 3 Percentage 11.1 52.8 11.1 16.7 8.3 7. Current use of hearing a i d s : Frequency At home -often 8 sometimes 11 never 16 missing data 1 At school -often 24 sometimes 4 never 7 missing data 1 8. History of educational s e t t i n g s : Frequency 1979 - 1984 on campus 26 off campus 10 p r io r to 1979 on campus off campus other 1 7 15 4 9. History of communication methods: Frequency 1979 - 1984 t o t a l commun icat ion p r io r to 1979 t o t a l communication ora l/aura l other 36 26 8 2 Percentage 22.2 30.6 44.4 2.8 66.7 11.1 19.4 2.8 Percentage 72.3 27.7 47.2 41 .7 11.1 Percentage 1 00.0 72.2 22.2 5.6 1 92 10. Hearing status of parents: Mother hearing impaired hearing missing data Frequency 7 28 1 Father hearing impaired 5 hearing 30 missing data 1 Percentage 19.4 77.8 2.8 14.0 83.3 2.8 11. Presence of deaf s i b l i n g s : Frequency Percentage yes 9 25.0 no 26 72.2 missing data 1 2.8 "@en . "Thesis/Dissertation"@en . "10.14288/1.0096787"@en . "eng"@en . "Special Education"@en . "Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library"@en . "University of British Columbia"@en . "For non-commercial purposes only, such as research, private study and education. Additional conditions apply, see Terms of Use https://open.library.ubc.ca/terms_of_use."@en . "Graduate"@en . "Effects of differing sign languages and communication modes on the comprehension of stories by deaf students"@en . "Text"@en . "http://hdl.handle.net/2429/26045"@en .