Getting to grips with BSL linguistics, acquisition, & assessment

Books

Baker, Anne & Woll, Bencie (eds)
Sign language acquisition
John Benjamins, 2008
ISBN 9789027222442
Articles of research into sign language acquisition covering the basics of doing this research including the use of assessment tools, problems of transcription, analysing narratives and carrying out interaction studies.

Goldin-Meadow, Susan
Resilience of language: what gesture creation in deaf children can tell us about how all children learn language
Psychology Press, 2003
ISBN 1841690260
Looks at the way in which deaf children who have not been exposed to formal sign language develop methods of communicating using gesture. Series: Essays in Developmental Psychology

Johnston, Trevor & Schembri, Adam
Australian sign language: an introduction to sign language linguistics
Cambridge U P, 2007
ISBN 9780521540568
The first comprehensive introduction to the linguistics of Auslan, exploring each key aspect of the structure of Auslan.

Schick, Brenda; Marschark, Marc; Spencer, Patricia Elizabeth (Eds)
Advances in the sign language development of deaf children
Oxford University, 2006
ISBN 0195180941
Series: Perspectives on Deafness Academic papers on the acquisition of sign language in deaf children.

Sutton-Spence, Rachel & Woll, Bencie
Linguistics of British Sign Language: an introduction
Cambridge U P, 1999
ISBN 052163718X

DVDs

Scottish Sensory Centre
Dr Mary Brennan BSL Video Resource: Classroom Work: BSLCla008: Garvel Deaf Centre classroom sessions: BSL acquisition, Classifiers
Scottish Sensory Centre, 2006
Garvel, Sign language acquisition, classifiers: a longitudinal study. Track 1: Classifiers, a longitudinal study; 10 mins 14 secs; Track 2: Classifier development; 4 mins 12 secs; Track 3: Examples of aspect; 2 mins 54 secs; Track 4: Language enrichment; 4 mins 41 secs; Track 5: Repeat of tape - different dub

Sutton-Spence, Rachel & Woll, Bencie
.Linguistics of British Sign Language: an introduction (DVD)
CACDP, 1999
DVD of the video to accompany the book.

Assessment Materials

Herman, Rosalind; Holmes, Sallie; Woll, Bencie
Assessing British Sign Language (BSL) development: receptive skills test
Forest, 1999
ISBN 0946252467
Pack comprises: Video, Picture Booklet, Tester's Manual, Score Sheets and a pack of 20 picture cards.

Articles

Byrne-Dunne, Deirdre
Language acquisition of a deaf child in Ireland
Deaf Worlds
2005, Vol 21 (2), pS104-S118
A deaf mother of a deaf child who is also now a linguist relates her experience of her child's early language acquisition (first 3 years.)

Cormier, Kearsy; Smith, Sandra; Sevcikova, Zed
Predicate structures, gesture, and simultaneity in the representation of action in British Sign Language: evidence from deaf children and adults
Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education
July 2013, Vol 18 (3), p370-390
Compares BSL usage of deaf children with deaf adults.
http://jdsde.oxfordjournals.org/

de Beuzeville, Louise
Acquisition of classifier signs in Auslan (Australian Sign Language) by Deaf children from Deaf families: a preliminary analysis
Deaf Worlds
2004, Vol 20 (2), p120-140
A study of the acquisition of sign language in deaf children from deaf families, focusing on classifier signs.

Giezen, Marcel R; Baker, Anne E; Escudero, Paola
Relationships between spoken word and sign processing in children with cochlear implants
Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education
Jan 2014, Vol 19 (1), p107-125
A study of the impact of learning both spoken language and sign language for children with cochlear implants.
http://jdsde.oxfordjournals.org/

Haug, Tobias; Herman, Rosalind; Woll, Bencie
Constructing an online test framework, using the example of a sign language receptive skills test
Deafness and Education International
Mar 2015, Vol 17 (1), p3-7
Explores the possibilities of using online delivery for the sign language receptive skills test.
http://www.signlang-assessment.info/index.php/british-sign-language-receptive-skills-test.html

Henner, Jon; Novogrodsky, Rama; Reis, Jeanne; Hoffmeister, Robert
Recent issues in the use of signed language assessments for diagnosis of language disorders in signing deaf and hard of hearing children
Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education
Oct 2018, Vol 23 (4), p307-316
A discussion of some of the available signed language assessments and their limitations.
http://jdsde.oxfordjournals.org/

Mann, Wolfgang; Roy, Penny; Marshall, Chloe
Look at the other 90 per cent: investigating British Sign Language vocabulary knowledge in deaf children from different language learning backgrounds
Deafness and Education International
June 2013, Vol 15 (2), p91-116
Looks at sign language vocabulary testing for children aged 4-17 of varying levels due to linguistic backgrounds and learning abilities.

Rinaldi, Pasquale ... [et al]
Sign vocabulary in deaf toddlers exposed to sign language since birth
Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education
July 2014, Vol 19 (3), p303-318
Looks at the breadth of language attained by deaf children exposed to sign from birth and compares with hearing/speaking peers.
http://jdsde.oxfordjournals.org/

Schembri, Adam; Jones, Caroline; Burnham, Denis
Comparing action gestures and classifier verbs of motion: evidence from Australian sign language, Taiwan sign language and nonsigners' gestures without speech
Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education
Summer 2005, Vol 10 (3), p272-290
Research into gestures used by nonsigners compared with signs of recognised sign languages.
http://jdsde.oxfordjournals.org/

Sehyr, Zed Sevcikova; Giezen, Marcel R; Emmorey, Karen
Comparing semantic fluency in American Sign Language and English
Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education
Oct 2018, Vol 23 (4), p399-407
Looks at the fluency of people who have learned ASL as a second language with native users.
http://jdsde.oxfordjournals.org/

Stamp, Rose; Schembri, Adam; Evans, Bronwen G; Cormier, Kearsy
Regional sign language varieties in contact: investigating patterns of accommodation
Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education
Jan 2016, Vol 21 (1), p70-82
Participants from Belfast, Glasgow, Manchester and Newcastle were studied for their regional signing variation and how well they overcame differences in vocabulary.
http://jdsde.oxfordjournals.org/

Tate, Granville; Collins, Judith; Tymms, Peter
Assessments using BSL: issues of translation for performance indicators in primary schools
Deaf Worlds
2003, Vol 19 (1), p6-35
Looks at adapted primary school assessments (National Curriculum) for pupils whose preferred language is BSL.

Tolar, Tammy; Lederberg, Amy R; Gokhale, Sonali; Tomasello, Michael
Development of the ability to recognize the meaning of iconic signs
Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education
Spring 2008, Vol 13 (2), p225-240
The researchers assessed children's ability to correctly interpret iconic sign language. Findings suggest that below 3 years old most children have difficulties with iconicity but that this develops during the preschool years.
http://jdsde.oxfordjournals.org/

Waters, Dafydd & Sutton-Spence, Rachel
Connectives in British Sign Language
Deaf Worlds
2005, Vol 21 (3), p1-29
Looks at one linguistic element of BSL.

Websites

British Sign Language corpus project
DCAL Research Centre, 2018 [Accessed: 05/03/2020]
The BSL Corpus is a publicly accessible, on-line record of BSL used by Deaf people in the UK.
https://bslcorpusproject.org/