Classifier Recognition by Hearing-Impaired Children in Residential & Public Schools

Spring 84 Research Report CLASSIFIER RECOGNITION BY HEARING-IMPAIRED CHILDREN IN RESIDENTIAL & PUBLIC SCHOOLS Barbara Luetke-Stahlman The problem. In American Sign Language (ASL) certain pronoun forms are defined by handshape, usual orientation, and greater freedom of movement than the citation forms of their corresponding verbs (Wilbur 1979). Frishberg (1975) referred to these forms as classifiers because their use reflects classification of their noun referents into perceptual and functional categories. The acquisition of classifiers by hearing-impaired children can illustrate the motor, syntactic, and semantic complexity of ASL (Wilbur op. cit.). Classifiers are therefore useful in determining ASL proficiency in such students. In the present study I used classifier stimuli to verify (1) that hearing-impaired residential students are more proficient users of ASL than are hearing-impaired children enrolled in local, public school programs, and (2) that older such residential students are more proficient in the language than are younger students. Procedure. All 39 subjects tested for classifier recognition are hearing impaired. Twenty-two subjects, age 5 to 16 years, attended a Midwestern residential school for the deaf; 17, age 4 to 15 years, attended public schools. ISSN 0302-1475 @ 1984 by Linstok Press, Inc. SLS 42 Spring 84 Luetke-Stah1man: 40 a general person closed fist, index finger extended upward; e.g. man, woman, child, dog or other animal... b by-legs V-handshape, fingers downward; (person ambulatory) e.g. sitting, walking, standing, (etc.) person c vehicle d plane e stationary-objecttaller -than-wide (movable) f stationary-objecttaller -than-wide (fixed) g flat-object (portable) h flat-object (fixed) i hollow, curved-( object-with-rim thumb upward, index and middle fingers spread and pointed in direction' of movement;a e.g. car, train, boat... thumb, index, and pinkie extended , index finger pointing in the direction of movement; e.g. plane... closed fist, thumb extended at right angle to index finger edge of hand; e.g. bottle, house, refrigerator... arm extended upward from elbow to fingertips; e.g. tree, building, flagpole... flat hand, palm up; e.g. book, paper, mirror, list... flat hand, palm down; e.g. bridge, ground, floor. . . C-handshape, palm held to side [i.e. neither pronated nor supine]; e.g. glass, cup, jar... Figure 1. (From Kantor 1980) Eight classifiers of American Sign Language in developmental order. SLS 42 Luetke-Stahlman: 41 The seven classifiers used in the study were taken from eight that Kantor (1980) ordered developmentally (Figure 1). A deaf consultant signed sentences containing the classifiers. She and other deaf teachers at the residential school consulted on the order of signs in the sentences. She signed each sentence (on videotape) so that a tree was signed as located to her right and a lake on her left. The seven classifiers were systematically incorporated into this arrangement to express a logically ordered ASL sentence. The seven stimuli were presented to each subject in the same sequence. Approximate translations in English are: 1. The girl walked from the tree to the lake. 2. The boat was moved to the lake. 3. A rocket landed by the lake. 4. A bottle was brought to the lake. 5 A flagpole stood by the lake. 6. A book was brought to the lake. 7. A drinking glass was by the lake. After each stimulus sentence was signed to each subject, the author or her assistant halted the video playback and presented the subject with an 8 by 10 inch display of five pictures, one representing what the target classifier represented, and four foils. These pictures were randomly ordered to control for placement effects. Each subject was asked to indicate the picture that best represented the stimulus sentence, and the response was recorded by the proctor. (Before the run, the desired response procedure was modeled for the subject with a taped practice sentence.) Each subject saw each sentence one time and was given up to 10 seconds to respond. The test took about ten minutes per SLS 42 Spring 84 Luetke-Stahlman: 42 subject to administer and tested four relationships.: 1. All public school subjects' knowledge of classifiers was compared to that of all residential school students. 2. Residential school 5-9 year olds were compared to public school...