American Sign Language Signs Research Articles

Visual attention for linguistic and non-linguistic body actions in non-signing and native signing children.

Evidence from adult studies of deaf signers supports the dissociation between neural systems involved in processing visual linguistic and non-linguistic body actions. The question of how and when this specialization arises is poorly understood. Visual attention to these forms is likely to change with age and be affected by prior language experience. The present study used eye-tracking methodology with infants and children as they freely viewed alternating video sequences of lexical American sign language (ASL) signs and non-linguistic body actions (self-directed grooming action and object-directed pantomime). In Experiment 1, we quantified fixation patterns using an area of interest (AOI) approach and calculated face preference index (FPI) values to assess the developmental differences between 6 and 11-month-old hearing infants. Both groups were from monolingual English-speaking homes with no prior exposure to sign language. Six-month-olds attended the signer’s face for grooming; but for mimes and signs, they were drawn to attend to the “articulatory space” where the hands and arms primarily fall. Eleven-month-olds, on the other hand, showed a similar attention to the face for all body action types. We interpret this to reflect an early visual language sensitivity that diminishes with age, just before the child’s first birthday. In Experiment 2, we contrasted 18 hearing monolingual English-speaking children (mean age of 4.8 years) vs. 13 hearing children of deaf adults (CODAs; mean age of 5.7 years) whose primary language at home was ASL. Native signing children had a significantly greater face attentional bias than non-signing children for ASL signs, but not for grooming and mimes. The differences in the visual attention patterns that are contingent on age (in infants) and language experience (in children) may be related to both linguistic specialization over time and the emerging awareness of communicative gestural acts.

The Effect of Iconicity on Weak Hand Drop in American Sign Language

The research community generally accepts that signed and spoken languages contain both iconicity and arbitrariness. Iconicity's impact on statistical distributions of motivated forms throughout signed language lexicons is clear (e.g. Occhino, 2016). However, there has been little work to determine whether the iconic links between form and meaning are relevant only to a sign's initial formation, or if these links are stored as part of lexical representations. In the present study, 40 Deaf signers of American Sign Language were asked to rate two-handed signs in their citation form and in one-handed (reduced) forms. Twelve signs were highly iconic. For each of these highly iconic sign, a less iconic but phonologically similar sign of the same grammatical category was also chosen. Signs were presented in carrier sentences and in isolation. Participants preferred one-handed forms of the highly iconic signs over one-handed forms of their phonolgogically similar but less iconic counterparts. Thus, iconicity impacted the application of a synchronic phonological process. This finding suggests that lexical representations retain iconic form-meaning links and that these links are accessible to the phonological grammar.

Embodied cognition

AbstractRecent work has shown that ASL (American Sign Language) signers not only articulate the language in the space in front of and around them, they interact with that space bodily, such that those interactions are frequently viewpointed. At a basic level, signers use their bodies to depict the actions of characters, either themselves or others, in narrative retelling. These viewpointed instances seem to reflect “embodied cognition”, in that our construal of reality is largely due to the nature of our bodies (Evans and Green, 2006) and “embodied language” such that the symbols we use to communicate are “grounded in recurring patterns of bodily experience” (Gibbs, 2017: 450). But what about speakers of a spoken language such as English? While we know that meaning and structure for any language, whether spoken or signed, affect and are affected by the embodied mind (note that the bulk of research on embodied language has been about spoken, not signed, language), we can learn much about embodied cognition and viewpointed space when spoken languages are treated as multimodal. Here, we compare signed ASL and spoken, multimodal English discourse to examine whether the two languages incorporate viewpointed space in similar or different ways.

Adjective position and referential efficiency in American Sign Language: Effects of adjective semantics, sign type and age of sign exposure

Previous research has pointed at communicative efficiency as a possible constraint on language structure. Here we investigated adjective position in American Sign Language (ASL), a language with relatively flexible word order, to test the incremental efficiency hypothesis, according to which both speakers and signers try to produce efficient referential expressions that are sensitive to the word order of their languages. The results of three experiments using a standard referential communication task confirmed that deaf ASL signers tend to produce absolute adjectives, such as color or material, in prenominal position, while scalar adjectives tend to be produced in prenominal position when expressed as lexical signs, but in postnominal position when expressed as classifiers. Age of ASL exposure also had an effect on referential choice, with early-exposed signers producing more classifiers than late-exposed signers, in some cases. Overall, our results suggest that linguistic, pragmatic and developmental factors affect referential choice in ASL, supporting the hypothesis that communicative efficiency is an important factor in shaping language structure and use.

Comparing stimulus equivalence‐based instruction to self‐study of videos to teach examples of sign language to adults

AbstractThe current study compared equivalence‐based instruction (EBI) to self‐study of American Sign Language (ASL) videos to teach eight 3‐member classes of signs with 24 college students. Four of the equivalence classes consisted of verbs (i.e., throw, touch, blow, spin) and four classes were object nouns (i.e., truck, dollar, egg, ball). Each class consisted of (a) a picture corresponding to the targeted sign, (b) a video clip depicting the sign's topography, and (c) a printed corresponding word. Pretests and posttests assessed the degree to which participants (a) showed emergence of classes during match‐to‐sample (MTS) tests, (b) could sign both single words and verb‐noun pairs (i.e., speaker tasks), and (c) could comply with signed requests consisting of ASL verb‐noun pairs (i.e., listener tasks). EBI consisted of training the AB relation (picture to video clip) followed by tests of all possible derived relations. The AC relation (picture to printed word) was not trained because it was assumed to be present in the participants' repertoires. Self‐study consisted of viewing video clips of the eight ASL signs simultaneously presented with the printed word. The MTS posttest showed equivalence classes emerged for all participants from both EBI and self‐study groups. In addition, all EBI participants met passing criterion for emitting all single signs, all verb‐noun sign pairs, and they complied with all listener tasks. In contrast, only 4 of 12 participants from the self‐study group emitted the single signs. After re‐exposure to self‐study, most participants then passed all posttests. These results are important because they demonstrate recombinative generalization of ASL signs, which increases the utility of ASL skills.

The effects of multiple linguistic variables on picture naming in American Sign Language.

Picture-naming tasks provide critical data for theories of lexical representation and retrieval and have been performed successfully in sign languages. However, the specific influences of lexical or phonological factors and stimulus properties on sign retrieval are poorly understood. To examine lexical retrieval in American Sign Language (ASL), we conducted a timed picture-naming study using 524 pictures (272 objects and 251 actions). We also compared ASL naming with previous data for spoken English for a subset of 425 pictures. Deaf ASL signers named object pictures faster and more consistently than action pictures, as previously reported for English speakers. Lexical frequency, iconicity, better name agreement, and lower phonological complexity each facilitated naming reaction times (RT)s. RTs were also faster for pictures named with shorter signs (measured by average response duration). Target name agreement was higher for pictures with more iconic and shorter ASL names. The visual complexity of pictures slowed RTs and decreased target name agreement. RTs and target name agreement were correlated for ASL and English, but agreement was lower for ASL, possibly due to the English bias of the pictures. RTs were faster for ASL, which we attributed to a smaller lexicon. Overall, the results suggest that models of lexical retrieval developed for spoken languages can be adopted for signed languages, with the exception that iconicity should be included as a factor. The open-source picture-naming data set for ASL serves as an important, first-of-its-kind resource for researchers, educators, or clinicians for a variety of research, instructional, or assessment purposes.

Mapping Word to World in ASL: Evidence from a Human Simulation Paradigm.

Across languages, children map words to meaning with great efficiency, despite a seemingly unconstrained space of potential mappings. The literature on how children do this is primarily limited to spoken language. This leaves a gap in our understanding of sign language acquisition, because several of the hypothesized mechanisms that children use are visual (e.g., visual attention to the referent), and sign languages are perceived in the visual modality. Here, we used the Human Simulation Paradigm in American Sign Language (ASL) to determine potential cues to word learning. Sign-naïve adult participants viewed video clips of parent-child interactions in ASL, and at a designated point, had to guess what ASL sign the parent produced. Across two studies, we demonstrate that referential clarity in ASL interactions is characterized by access to information about word class and referent presence (for verbs), similarly to spoken language. Unlike spoken language, iconicity is a cue to word meaning in ASL, although this is not always a fruitful cue. We also present evidence that verbs are highlighted well in the input, relative to spoken English. The results shed light on both similarities and differences in the information that learners may have access to in acquiring signed versus spoken languages.

Matching pictures and signs: An ERP study of the effects of iconic structural alignment in American sign language

Event-related potentials (ERPs) were used to explore the effects of iconicity and structural visual alignment between a picture-prime and a sign-target in a picture-sign matching task in American Sign Language (ASL). Half the targets were iconic signs and were presented after a) a matching visually-aligned picture (e.g., the shape and location of the hands in the sign COW align with the depiction of a cow with visible horns), b) a matching visually-nonaligned picture (e.g., the cow's horns were not clearly shown), and c) a non-matching picture (e.g., a picture of a swing instead of a cow). The other half of the targets were filler signs. Trials in the matching condition were responded to faster than those in the non-matching condition and were associated with smaller N400 amplitudes in deaf ASL signers. These effects were also observed for hearing non-signers performing the same task with spoken-English targets. Trials where the picture-prime was aligned with the sign target were responded to faster than non-aligned trials and were associated with a reduced P3 amplitude rather than a reduced N400, suggesting that picture-sign alignment facilitated the decision process, rather than lexical access. These ERP and behavioral effects of alignment were found only for the ASL signers. The results indicate that iconicity effects on sign comprehension may reflect a task-dependent strategic use of iconicity, rather than facilitation of lexical access.

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OPINION Reactions ShareShare onFacebookTwitterWechatLinked InRedditEmail C&EN, 2021, 99 (34), p 5September 20, 2021Cite this:C&EN 99, 34, 5Letters to the editorSign language in chemistry“Growing Sign Language’s Scientific Vocabulary” (C&EN, July 5/12, 2021, page 26) is an excellent article and can easily stimulate further productive discussion in the interest of outreach, understanding, and the development of scientific talent. American Sign Language (ASL) can be considered to be a scientific language between scientists.Chemistry lecturers have the normal human tendency to speak with their hands. Accurate use of expressive and iconic ASL signs for scientific terms and concepts could be beneficial to hearing as well as deaf scientists and deaf science students.ASL is a source of utilities (such as the American Manual Alphabet, numbers, and basic word signs) that can help hearing and deaf students in academic study.Leigh Krietsch Boerner was wise to include a sidebar about Deaf and deaf. Although there are support groups (such as the Hearing Loss Association of America), lip-readers (that is, speech readers) and the hard of hearing can be less organized and in some ways less supported than the Deaf community. Deaf culture should flourish and never be persecuted again. Also, speech readers and the hard of hearing should not be deprived of ASL-based (simplified, practical) signed English, which in view of the ASL-based baby sign language explosion may be, in concept, an actual, natural, intermediate language that can accomplish good will between the hearing, hard of hearing, speech readers, and deaf people.Robert J. McGuane Jr.Wellesley, MassachusettsAfter reading the article on the use of sign language for the instruction of deaf students in the July 5/12 issue of C&EN, I was left with the following question and suggestion. Have the lectures that include a signer, mentioned in the article, been videotaped, and could a subtitle be added to those recordings? This would combine a written, standardized interpretation of the visual (signed) message in a concise and reviewable package.I recall using audiotapes in a general chemistry class (1970s), which allowed the student to rewind and review complex concepts as often as required to transfer the information or concept. Adding subtitles to a video of the signed message with ASL signs would provide the same learning opportunity.Keith AlbynMadison, Alabama CorrectionsNov. 30, 2020, page 37: An ACS News article on the 2020 Linus Pauling Medal Award incorrectly says Paul J. Chirik presented a talk during the Linus Pauling Award Symposium on Oct. 9, 2020. He will present a talk at the Oct. 9, 2021, symposium at the University of Washington.Sept. 13, 2021, page 21: A feature article on Mitsubishi Chemical Holdings misstates its number of employees. It is 70,000, not 54,000. Also, the article notes past non-Japanese executives but doesn’t mention that the firm’s current chief technology officer, Larry Meixner, is an American.Sept. 13, 2021, page 56: The Newscripts article on the 2021 Ig Nobel Prizes incorrectly states the age of the study on controlling cockroaches in submarines. It is 50 years old, not 40 years old.

Predictors of reading comprehension in deaf and hearing bilinguals

AbstractThis study investigates reading comprehension in adult deaf and hearing readers. Using correlational analysis and stepwise regression, we assess the contribution of English language variables (e.g., vocabulary comprehension, reading volume, and phonological awareness), cognitive variables (e.g., working memory (WM), nonverbal intelligence, and executive function), and language experience (e.g., language acquisition and orthographic experience) in predicting reading comprehension in deaf and hearing adult bilinguals (native American Sign Language (ASL) signers, non-native ASL signers, and Chinese–English bilinguals (CEB)), and monolingual (ML) controls. For all four groups, vocabulary knowledge was a strong contributor to reading comprehension. Monolingual English speakers and non-native deaf signers also showed contributions from WM and spoken language phonological awareness. In contrast, CEB showed contributions of lexical strategies in English reading comprehension. These cross-group comparisons demonstrate how the inclusion of multiple participant groups helps us to further refine our understanding of how language and sensory experiences influence reading comprehension.

Comprehension benefits of visual-gestural iconicity and spatial referencing

Studies have shown that iconicity can provide a benefit to non-signers during the learning of single signs, but other aspects of signed messages that might also be beneficial have received less attention. In particular, do other features of signed languages help support comprehension of a message during the process of language learning? The following exploratory study investigates the comprehension of sentences in two signed and two spoken languages by non-signers and by American Sign Language (ASL) learners. The design allows for the examination of message comprehension, with a comparison of unknown spoken and signed languages. Details of the stimulus sentences are provided in order to contextualize features of the signing that might be providing benefits for comprehension. Included in this analysis are aspects of the sentences that are iconic and spatially deictic – some of which resemble common gestural forms of communication. The results indicate that iconicity and referential points in signed language likely assist with comprehension of sentences, even for non-signers and for a signed language that the ASL signers have not studied.

The unexplored role of handshape similarity in processing numbers on the hands

With two simple experiments we investigate the overlooked influence of handshape similarity for processing numerical information conveyed on the hands. In most finger-counting sequences there is a tight relationship between the number of fingers raised and the numerical value represented. This creates a possible confound where numbers closer to each other are also represented by handshapes that are more similar. By using the American Sign Language (ASL) number signs we are able to dissociate between the two variables orthogonally. First, we test the effect of handshape similarity in a same/different judgment task in a group of hearing non-signers and then test the interference of handshape in a number judgment task in a group of native ASL signers. Our results show an effect of handshape similarity and its interaction with numerical value even in the group of native signers for whom these handshapes are linguistic symbols and not a learning tool for acquiring numerical concepts. Because prior studies have never considered handshape similarity, these results open new directions for understanding the relationship between finger-based counting, internal hand representations and numerical proficiency.

Multi-Frequency RF Sensor Fusion for Word-Level Fluent ASL Recognition

Deaf spaces are unique indoor environments designed to optimize visual communication and Deaf cultural expression. However, much of the technological research geared towards the deaf involve use of video or wearables for American sign language (ASL) translation, with little consideration for Deaf perspective on privacy and usability of the technology. In contrast to video, RF sensors offer the avenue for ambient ASL recognition while also preserving privacy for Deaf signers. Methods: This paper investigates the RF transmit waveform parameters required for effective measurement of ASL signs and their effect on word-level classification accuracy attained with transfer learning and convolutional autoencoders (CAE). A multi-frequency fusion network is proposed to exploit data from all sensors in an RF sensor network and improve the recognition accuracy of fluent ASL signing. Results: For fluent signers, CAEs yield a 20-sign classification accuracy of %76 at 77 GHz and %73 at 24 GHz, while at X-band (10 Ghz) accuracy drops to 67%. For hearing imitation signers, signs are more separable, resulting in a 96% accuracy with CAEs. Further, fluent ASL recognition accuracy is significantly increased with use of the multi-frequency fusion network, which boosts the 20-sign fluent ASL recognition accuracy to 95%, surpassing conventional feature level fusion by 12%. Implications: Signing involves finer spatiotemporal dynamics than typical hand gestures, and thus requires interrogation with a transmit waveform that has a rapid succession of pulses and high bandwidth. Millimeter wave RF frequencies also yield greater accuracy due to the increased Doppler spread of the radar backscatter. Comparative analysis of articulation dynamics also shows that imitation signing is not representative of fluent signing, and not effective in pre-training networks for fluent ASL classification. Deep neural networks employing multi-frequency fusion capture both shared, as well as sensor-specific features and thus offer significant performance gains in comparison to using a single sensor or feature-level fusion.

Implicit causality biases and thematic roles in American Sign Language

Implicit causality (IC) biases, the tendency of certain verbs to elicit re-mention of either the first-mentioned noun phrase (NP1) or the second-mentioned noun phrase (NP2) from the previous clause, are important in psycholinguistic research. Understanding IC verbs and the source of their biases in signed as well as spoken languages helps elucidate whether these phenomena are language general or specific to the spoken modality. As the first of its kind, this study investigates IC biases in American Sign Language (ASL) and provides IC bias norms for over 200 verbs, facilitating future psycholinguistic studies of ASL and comparisons of spoken versus signed languages. We investigated whether native ASL signers continued sentences with IC verbs (e.g., ASL equivalents of ‘Lisa annoys Maya because…’) by mentioning NP1 (i.e., Lisa) or NP2 (i.e., Maya). We found a tendency towards more NP2-biased verbs. Previous work has found that a verb’s thematic roles predict bias direction: stimulus-experiencer verbs (e.g., ‘annoy’), where the first argument is the stimulus (causing annoyance) and the second argument is the experiencer (experiencing annoyance), elicit more NP1 continuations. Verbs with experiencer-stimulus thematic roles (e.g., ‘love’) elicit more NP2 continuations. We probed whether the trend towards more NP2-biased verbs was related to an existing claim that stimulus-experiencer verbs do not exist in sign languages. We found that stimulus-experiencer structure, while permitted, is infrequent, impacting the IC bias distribution in ASL. Nevertheless, thematic roles predict IC bias in ASL, suggesting that the thematic role-IC bias relationship is stable across languages as well as modalities.

The ASL-LEX 2.0 Project: A Database of Lexical and Phonological Properties for 2,723 Signs in American Sign Language.

ASL-LEX is a publicly available, large-scale lexical database for American Sign Language (ASL). We report on the expanded database (ASL-LEX 2.0) that contains 2,723 ASL signs. For each sign, ASL-LEX now includes a more detailed phonological description, phonological density and complexity measures, frequency ratings (from deaf signers), iconicity ratings (from hearing non-signers and deaf signers), transparency (“guessability”) ratings (from non-signers), sign and videoclip durations, lexical class, and more. We document the steps used to create ASL-LEX 2.0 and describe the distributional characteristics for sign properties across the lexicon and examine the relationships among lexical and phonological properties of signs. Correlation analyses revealed that frequent signs were less iconic and phonologically simpler than infrequent signs and iconic signs tended to be phonologically simpler than less iconic signs. The complete ASL-LEX dataset and supplementary materials are available at https://osf.io/zpha4/ and an interactive visualization of the entire lexicon can be accessed on the ASL-LEX page: http://asl-lex.org/.

Sign Language in Papua New Guinea. A Primary Sign Language from the Upper Lagaip Valley, Enga Province by Adam Kendon

Reviewed by: Sign Language in Papua New Guinea. A Primary Sign Language from the Upper Lagaip Valley, Enga Province by Adam Kendon Josefina Safar (bio) Kendon, Adam. 2020. Sign Language in Papua New Guinea. A Primary Sign Language from the Upper Lagaip Valley, Enga Province. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. (202 pp., $143.00, hardcover, ISBN 978-902-7-20453-0, Ebook ISBN 978-902-7-26182-3) Papua New Guinea (PNG) is home to a vast number of languages (Palmer 2017), and linguists documenting spoken languages have long discovered it as being a "wellspring of linguistic diversity" (http://www.dynamicsoflanguage.edu.au/the-wellspringsof-linguistic-diversity/). Yet, surprisingly little is known about its sign languages (SLs). Although we have reason to assume that they are also numerous and diverse, first detailed accounts about sign languages from that part of the world are recent (e.g., Reed 2019). But, forty years ago, there was one man who really wanted to know: At a time when comprehensive descriptions of signed languages were scarce and research on noninstitutionalized sign languages virtually nonexistent, Adam Kendon published an in-depth account of a sign language in PNG used by one deaf woman and her hearing interlocutors. The level of detail at which Kendon covers various linguistic domains is remarkable, describing the language itself and comparing his findings with studies on other sign languages. These early typo-logical aspirations demonstrate that sign languages around the world follow some common organizational principles. Originally, Kendon's study was published in three parts in 1980. When research on "village" or "shared" sign languages gained momentum in the past decade (see, e.g., Zeshan and de Vos 2012), Kendon's work remained somehow overlooked. Now, Kendon has engaged in the challenging task of revisiting a publication after many new paradigms have emerged in the discipline. In the adjusted version, Kendon [End Page 378] changed his title from "A Deaf-Mute Sign Language from the Enga Province" to "A Primary Sign Language from the Upper Lagaip Valley, Enga Province" and has added comments that reflect new developments in the field or the author's "own revised thinking" (p. xii). The volume is organized in three parts: In part 1, Kendon presents his 1980 papers in revised form. In part 2, Lauren Reed and Alan Rumsey tie in with Kendon's study and introduce the current "state of the art" about sign languages in PNG and the Solomon Islands. In part 3, Sherman Wilcox reflects about the implications of Kendon's work for contemporary sign language and gesture studies. Part 1 starts with an introduction of Kendon's field location, his participants, and the materials he collected. Kendon's analysis is based on a relatively small corpus, consisting mostly of narratives and conversations, as well as some elicitated data. These were all gathered from one deaf woman, Imanoli, her hearing sister, as well as a hearing research assistant. In the chapters that follow, Kendon discusses the general properties of Enga signs (chapter 1), processes of sign formation (chapter 2), iconicity (chapter 3), pointing (chapter 4), nonmanual features (chapter 5), and discourse construction (chapter 6) and thereafter provides the conclusions in chapter 7. Overall, Kendon has found that Enga Sign Language shares many characteristics with other sign languages such as American Sign Language (ASL) but, at the same time, exhibits cross-linguistic differences. For instance, Enga signers seem to exploit a larger signing space than ASL signers and make use of a restricted set of primarily unmarked handshapes. Both observations are consistent with later studies on village sign languages (see, e.g., Nyst 2007). Kendon concludes that there are universal mechanisms in sign formation, which are constrained by the sociolinguistic setting of a language and its communicational requirements. With his careful, systematic treatment of various types of iconic signs (chapter 3), Kendon was ahead of his time. He touched upon various issues that later became of great interest to sign linguists, for instance, that iconicity does not affect the way proficient signers process their lexicon (e.g., Ortega and Morgan 2015) or that different types of referents favor different iconic realization devices in [End Page 379] sign and gesture (see, e...

Visual learning curves for American sign language (ASL) alphabet

The study objectives include: 1) to identify the visual key areas and the learning curves when learning the ASL alphabet, 2) to identify the impact of practice on key visual areas, and 3) to identify differences in visual learning curves between signs. An empirical behavioral study with twenty ASL untrained hearing participants performing the ASL alphabet for eight consecutive trials using virtual reality and eye-tracking was conducted. After completing the experiment, participants reduced the fixation duration by 51.90% and the observation count by 45.69%. The representations of the fingers acquired 66% of the fixation duration. In addition, the observation proportion for the visual instructions for the fingers decreased from 59% to 41% after 8 trials. An ANOVA analysis showed unequal variance for ASL signs, and a power regression showed different learning rates for all signs. Our experimental setting successfully tracked and identified the key visual areas when learning the ASL alphabet.

Teaching American Sign Language in Mixed Reality

This paper presents a holistic system to scale up the teaching and learning of vocabulary words of American Sign Language (ASL). The system leverages the most recent mixed-reality technology to allow the user to perceive her own hands in an immersive learning environment with first- and third-person views for motion demonstration and practice. Precise motion sensing is used to record and evaluate motion, providing real-time feedback tailored to the specific learner. As part of this evaluation, learner motions are matched to features derived from the Hamburg Notation System (HNS) developed by sign-language linguists. We develop a prototype to evaluate the efficacy of mixed-reality-based interactive motion teaching. Results with 60 participants show a statistically significant improvement in learning ASL signs when using our system, in comparison to traditional desktop-based, non-interactive learning. We expect this approach to ultimately allow teaching and guided practice of thousands of signs.

American sign language recognition and training method with recurrent neural network

Though American sign language (ASL) has gained recognition from the American society, few ASL applications have been developed with educational purposes. Those designed with real-time sign recognition systems are also lacking. Leap motion controller facilitates the real-time and accurate recognition of ASL signs. It allows an opportunity for designing a learning application with a real-time sign recognition system that seeks to improve the effectiveness of ASL learning. The project proposes an ASL learning application prototype. The application would be a whack-a-mole game with a real-time sign recognition system embedded. Since both static and dynamic signs (J, Z) exist in ASL alphabets, Long-Short Term Memory Recurrent Neural Network with k-Nearest-Neighbour method is adopted as the classification method is based on handling of sequences of input. Characteristics such as sphere radius, angles between fingers and distance between finger positions are extracted as input for the classification model. The model is trained with 2600 samples, 100 samples taken for each alphabet. The experimental results revealed that the recognition rate for 26 ASL alphabets yields an average of 99.44% accuracy rate and 91.82% in 5-fold cross-validation with the use of leap motion controller.

Language and Reading Comprehension Abilities of Elementary School-Aged Deaf Children.

Bilingual education programs for deaf children have long asserted that American Sign Language (ASL) is a better language of instruction English-like signing because ASL is a natural language. However, English-like signing may be a useful bridge to reading English. In the present study, we tested 32 deaf children between third and sixth grade to assess their capacity to use ASL or English-like signing in nine different languages and reading tasks. Our results found that there was no significant difference in the deaf children's ability to comprehend narratives in ASL compared to when they are told in English-like signing. Additionally, language abilities in ASL and English-like signing were strongly related to each other and to reading. Reading was also strongly related to fingerspelling. Our results suggest that there may be a role in literacy instruction for English-like signing as a supplement to ASL in deaf bilingual schools.