Sign languages and second language acquisition research: An introduction

Schönström, Krister

doi:10.22599/jesla.73

Cited by 15 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 41 publications

(54 reference statements)

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“…Despite the growth of interest in researching the fields of sign second language acquisition (SSLA) and sign language pedagogy in the past 30 or so years, there is not much research in SSLA (see Chen Pichler and Koulidobrova, 2016;Boers-Visker and Pfau, 2020;Rosen, 2020;Schönström, 2021). While spoken languages are oral-aural, signed languages are gestural-visual.…”

Section: Background Second Language and Second Modality Learnersmentioning

confidence: 99%

Second language learning of depiction in a different modality: The case of sign language acquisition

Kurz

Kartheiser²,

Hauser³

2023

Front. Commun.

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This study investigated the acquisition of depicting signs (DS) among students learning a signed language as their second-modality and second-language (M2L2) language. Depicting signs, broadly described, illustrate actions and states. This study sample includes 75 M2L2 students who were recruited from college-level American Sign Language (ASL) courses who watched and described three short clips from Canary Row the best they could in ASL. Four types of DS were coded in the students' videorecorded retellings: (1) entity depicting signs (EDS); (2) body part depicting signs (BPDS); (3) handling depicting signs (HDS); and (4) size-and-shape specifiers (SASS). Results revealed that SASS and HDS increase in instances as students advance in their ASL learning and comprehension. However, EDS expressions did not have a relationship with their ASL comprehension. ASL 2 students produced less DS than the ASL 1 students but did not differ from the ASL 3+ students. There were no differences in instances of BPDS among the three groups of L2 learners although their ability to produce BPDS was correlated with their ASL comprehension. This study is the first to systematically elicit depicting signs from M2L2 learners in a narrative context. The results have important implications for the field of sign language pedagogy and instruction. Future research, particularly cross-sectional and/or longitudinal studies, is needed to explore the trajectory of the acquisition of DS and identify evidence-based pedagogical approaches for teaching depicting signs to M2L2 students.

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Section: Background Second Language and Second Modality Learnersmentioning

confidence: 99%

Second language learning of depiction in a different modality: The case of sign language acquisition

Kurz

Kartheiser²,

Hauser³

2023

Front. Commun.

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“…Although research on SSLA is a growing field of interest among scholars, most of the research to date has focused on M2 adult learners, i.e., primarily hearing adults with an L1 spoken language that is learning a sign language as an L2 (e.g., Schönström, 2021). There are few studies of M1 learners, i.e., primarily deaf adults with an L1 sign language learning another sign language as an L2.…”

Section: Sign Second Language Acquisition (Ssla)mentioning

confidence: 99%

L2M1 and L2M2 Acquisition of Sign Lexicon: The Impact of Multimodality on the Sign Second Language Acquisition

Schönström

Holmström

2022

Front. Psychol.

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In second language research, the concept of cross-linguistic influence or transfer has frequently been used to describe the interaction between the first language (L1) and second language (L2) in the L2 acquisition process. However, less is known about the L2 acquisition of a sign language in general and specifically the differences in the acquisition process of L2M2 learners (learners learning a sign language for the first time) and L2M1 learners (signers learning another sign language) from a multimodal perspective. Our study explores the influence of modality knowledge on learning Swedish Sign Language through a descriptive analysis of the sign lexicon in narratives produced by L2M1 and L2M2 learners, respectively. A descriptive mixed-methods framework was used to analyze narratives of adult L2M1 (n = 9) and L2M2 learners (n = 15), with a focus on sign lexicon, i.e., use and distribution of the sign types such as lexical signs, depicting signs (classifier predicates), fingerspelling, pointing, and gestures. The number and distribution of the signs are later compared between the groups. In addition, a comparison with a control group consisting of L1 signers (n = 9) is provided. The results suggest that L2M2 learners exhibit cross-modal cross-linguistic transfer from Swedish (through higher usage of lexical signs and fingerspelling). L2M1 learners exhibits same-modal cross-linguistic transfer from L1 sign languages (through higher usage of depicting signs and use of signs from L1 sign language and international signs). The study suggests that it is harder for L2M2 learners to acquire the modality-specific lexicon, despite possible underlying gestural knowledge. Furthermore, the study suggests that L2M1 learners’ access to modality-specific knowledge, overlapping access to gestural knowledge and iconicity, facilitates faster L2 lexical acquisition, which is discussed from the perspective of linguistic relativity (including modality) and its role in sign L2 acquisition.

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“…While L2 signers were included in some individual studies during the 20th century, it was not until the 2000s that the field really began to contribute to the theory and practice of SLA. However, despite the growing interest, research focusing on sign SLA is still very sparse (Boers-Visker, 2020;Chen Pichler & Koulidobrova, 2016;Schönström, 2021). In general, most studies involving L2 signers, beginner signers, and non-signers, have not had these as key participants but as a control cohort.…”

Section: Sign Second Language Acquisitionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…With this in mind, we consider acquisition and use of signs in L2 signers to be of particular interest, given on the one hand the role of vocabulary in sign language lexicon/morphology, and on the other hand the role of morphology in SLA research. For STS there are now several ongoing studies on sign SLA using corpus-based approaches (Mesch & Schönström, 2018, 2021Schönström & Mesch, 2017). The present study is among the first of this kind.…”

Section: Sign Second Language Acquisitionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…To the best of our knowledge, this developmental perspective on sign learning is unique, as most of the results from earlier studies on L2 signers have been based on novice or non-signers (cf. Schönström, 2021; see also Marshall & Morgan, 2015). With this aim, even though our study is data-driven and merely exploratory and restricted to the use of lexicon in STS, we hope to contribute to a better understanding of the status of signs, and in particular depicting signs, in relation to the entire sign language lexicon of L2 learners.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Second language acquisition of depicting signs

Schönström

Mesch

2022

LIA

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This paper concerns the acquisition of the sign lexicon in L2 learners of Swedish Sign Language. Sampled data (conversation and narrative retelling) from a longitudinal learner corpus with 16 adult L2 signers was analyzed and compared with data from nine L1 signers. The use of three broad types of signs was analyzed: lexical signs, partly-lexical signs (i.e. depicting signs) and non-lexical signs. The results revealed some differences between L1 and L2 signers, especially with regard to depicting signs. The number of depicting signs used by L2 learners increased over time, approaching the target language use. Qualitatively, we observed differences between L1 and L2 signers in their use of depicting signs, related to handshape choice and sign constructions. We discuss these findings in light of previous research linked to L2 vocabulary as well as the role of gestural knowledge in sign L2 acquisition.

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Sign languages and second language acquisition research: An introduction

Cited by 15 publications

References 41 publications

Second language learning of depiction in a different modality: The case of sign language acquisition

Second language learning of depiction in a different modality: The case of sign language acquisition

L2M1 and L2M2 Acquisition of Sign Lexicon: The Impact of Multimodality on the Sign Second Language Acquisition

Second language acquisition of depicting signs

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