ABSTRACT LEARNING THE PHONOLOGY OF ASL BY L2 HEARING ADULT LEARNERS. enrollment over the course of the past few years. As more hearing adults seek to

Transcription

1 ABSTRACT LEARNING THE PHONOLOGY OF ASL BY L2 HEARING ADULT LEARNERS ASL has received a large influx in interest with ASL courses seeing higher enrollment over the course of the past few years. As more hearing adults seek to learn ASL, it is beneficial to better understand how these adults learn a manual language and where challenges may occur in language acquisition. This paper explores hearing learners abilities in acquiring the five phonological parameters of signs: handshape, movement, location, palm orientation, and non-manual signals (NMS). This was done by examining ASL 2 (second semester) and ASL 4 (fourth semester) students perception of sign parameters through a minimal pairs task and multiple choice task related to accurate sign production. Additionally, students were asked to produce signs both in isolation and in a sentence. Results indicate that learners are generally able to perceive differences, but struggle to determine when signs are correctly articulated. In perception, learners made the least errors in location and palm orientation alterations, followed by movement and handshape. NMS were more difficult for more advanced students, indicating that this is the last parameter that learners acquire. More advanced students are more accurate in production and perform at the same level of their perceptual accuracy, but they are no more perceptually accurate than less advanced learners. For learners to improve in their perception and production abilities, they may require explicit teaching of parameters and their importance in sign formation. Dina Bailey May 2013

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3 LEARNING THE PHONOLOGY OF ASL BY L2 HEARING ADULT LEARNERS by Dina Bailey A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Linguistics in the College of Arts and Humanities California State University, Fresno May 2013

4 APPROVED For the Department of Linguistics: We, the undersigned, certify that the thesis of the following student meets the required standards of scholarship, format, and style of the university and the student's graduate degree program for the awarding of the master's degree. Dina Bailey Thesis Author Jidong Chen (Chair) Linguistics Chris Golston Linguistics Brian Agbayani Linguistics For the University Graduate Committee: Dean, Division of Graduate Studies

5 AUTHORIZATION FOR REPRODUCTION OF MASTER S THESIS X I grant permission for the reproduction of this thesis in part or in its entirety without further authorization from me, on the condition that the person or agency requesting reproduction absorbs the cost and provides proper acknowledgment of authorship. Permission to reproduce this thesis in part or in its entirety must be obtained from me. Signature of thesis author:

6 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Thank you to the many people who supported and encouraged me in this project: to my advisor, Jidong Chen for going through different versions, helping to straighten out massive amounts of data, your excitement about the topic, and encouraging me to present my research at a conference. To all my committee members, Jidong, Chris Golston, and Brian Agbayani, for all the input, direction, and calm when I was less than calm. Special thanks to Joe Lind and Rosemary Diaz for their roles in video creation and review. Without all of you, this thesis would not have been possible. I also want to thank Patti, the Fresno Deaf Church, and Deaf community for their encouragement and support. Thank you to Jennifer and Jonathan for fielding my questions at random times and places. Thanks to Third Day Fresno for their interest and belief in me, and Joseph and Kathy for their encouragement and good home cooking (and barbeque) when I needed it most. Mom and Dad, thanks for providing a listening ear, and a very sincere thank You to God for giving me the grace to get through it all.

7 TABLE OF CONTENTS Page LIST OF TABLES... vii LIST OF FIGURES... viii CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION... 1 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW Learning a Manual Language as an L Learner Errors in Perception Learner Errors in Production Research Questions CHAPTER 3: PERCEPTION: METHODOLOGY AND RESULTS Participants Experiment 1: Minimal Pair Discrimination Task Experiment 2: Multiple Choice Sign Discrimination Task CHAPTER 4: PRODUCTION: METHODOLOGY AND RESULTS Experiments 3 and 4: Production of Signs in Isolation and in Sentences Results Discussion CHAPTER 5: DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION Acquisition of Phonological Parameters Influence of Proficiency and Exposure on Acquisition Summary Pedagogical Implications Conclusion REFERENCES... 45

8 vi Page APPENDICES APPENDIX A: EXPERIMENT APPENDIX B: EXPERIMENT APPENDIX C: 40 SIGNS USED IN EXPERIMENTS 2, 3, AND

9 LIST OF TABLES Page Table 1 Summary of Areas With 40% or Greater Error Rate Table 2 Target Items With Consistent Errors Among Learners... 32

10 LIST OF FIGURES Page Figure 1. ASL signs for BABY (on the left) and STAND (on the right) Figure 2. Accuracy percentage by parameter in minimal pair perception task Figure 3. Sample signs with different NMS: STUDY with sta NMS (left) and mm NMS (right) Figure 4. Sample signs with different locations: DAD (left) and DEER (right) Figure 5. Correct version of OLYMPICS (left) and high location (right) Figure 6. Accuracy percentage by parameter in multiple choice task Figure 7. Distribution of errors by parameter Figure 8. Incorrectly perceived handshapes from left to right: Bent-B, Flat-O, 1, L, and Open Figure 9. Average number of production errors in isolation Figure 10. Average number of production errors in sentences Figure 11. Correct production of FINISH (left) and incorrect palms down (right) Figure 12. From Left to Right ASL sign for YEAR, A-handshape, S- handshape Figure 13. Correct production of PAY (left) and production with incorrect X handshape for PAY (right)... 37

11 CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION This study explores hearing adult acquisition of American Sign Language (ASL) as a second language, focusing on learners phonological knowledge of signs, specifically, sign parameters. This is done by examining their abilities to recognize minimally paired signs and determine correctly articulated signs along with an examination of the learners productions of target signs. My study is the first to examine L2 acquisition of a signed language by hearing adults with empirical data exploring the acquisition of phonological parameters in both perception and production. The majority of the very few prior studies mainly focus on non-signers (e.g., hearing adults with no or very minimal exposure to sign language) rather than learners (Chen Pichler, 2011; Mirus, Rathmann, & Meier, 2001; Ortega & Morgan, 2010). The developmental process has also not been addressed in those studies. My study compares learners of different proficiency levels to address the issues of development. A recent influx in ASL has occurred within the last decade. Between 2006 and 2009, enrollment in ASL courses at colleges and universities increased 16.4%, putting it among the top languages to see growth in enrollment and making it the fourth most studied language in colleges during the fall of 2009 (MLA, 2010). In order to better instruct these new ASL learners, an understanding of how hearing adults learn manual languages is required, necessitating research apart from a strictly pedagogical study (Gass & Selinker, 2000). While ASL has received recognition as a language as a result of work done by Stokoe (1960, 2005) and interest in learning the language has grown, very minimal research has been conducted to discover how hearing learners acquire a manual language,

12 2 with most sign language acquisition study focusing on deaf or hard of hearing children and adolescents in schools and homes (Moores et al. 2008). Ortega and Morgan (2010) clearly state the issue for hearing adult learners of a signed language: Second language learners have an established lexicon that can be used to learn new L2 words; however, hearing adults using a sign language are in a different situation given that the differences in modality do not allow direct phonological transfers of a phonological category in a spoken language to a signed language (p. 70). Because acquiring a language in a different modality brings about vast differences in learning, Chen Pichler (2011) goes as far as referring to these learners as M2, second modality learners, rather than L2 learners (p. 97). When learning a second spoken language, transfer may occur between phonemes, either positively because forms are identical, or negatively because forms are too similar to be perceived by the learner and are instead added to a pre-existing phonemic category (Best, 1995; Chen Pichler, 2011). Most introductory language textbooks begin with an explanation (and CD) of speech sounds in the new language, usually presented in the form of an alphabet. Students then have the opportunity to practice the components that differ from their L1. When it comes to learning a manual language, an ASL textbook, such as Signing Naturally (2008), will mention the five parameters of signs in ASL: handshape (HS), movement, palm orientation, location, and non-manual signals (NMS). Further discussion on what those parameters are comprised of does not take place; therefore, learners are unaware of their make-up, and phonemic components are not practiced. The signed English alphabet is presented, but not in terms of possible ASL handshapes. Additionally, the English alphabet only utilizes 22 of the available ASL handshapes. This gives learners a limited view of

13 3 the structures available within the five parameters, which include at least 36 handshapes, 24 types of movements, 24 locations, 7 palm orientations, and 12 (to 17) NMS (Bridges & Metzger, 1996; Corina, 1990; Valli, Lucas & Mulrooney, 2005). Unlike spoken languages where distinctive features are produced in a linear order (or two at once in the case of tonal languages), ASL distinctive features are produced at the same time to varying degrees of complexity (Stokoe, 1960, 2005; Vogler & Metaxas, 2004). This doesn t make a signed language more difficult to learn than a spoken language, but it does introduce a unique characteristic to sign language acquisition. Each sign carries with it at least three parameters at any given time: handshape, location, and palm orientation. These three parameters are needed to produce a sign as simple as the number FOUR: the 4 HS, location of neutral space, and palm orientation facing back. If any one of these change, the meaning or intent of the sign changes with it. The complexity can grow to where a sign may require all five parameters to be produced at once. In the case of two handed signs, a sign may require the use of two different handshapes, moving in two different ways, to two different locations, with two different palm orientations as in the sign for SCARF. A learner s task is to take in and process all of this information at once. This thesis will begin with a review of past literature in the area of hearing adult s acquisition of sign language (chapter 2). Chapter 3 will introduce the participants and the perceptual experiments, describing the procedures and presenting the results. The next chapter will focus on the production experiments, their procedures and results. The final chapter will discuss the cumulative findings and examine the development of perception and production and how they are related.

14 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW Although little research has been done in the area of L2 sign language acquisition by hearing adults, several studies have been produced in the past decade focusing primarily on one or more of the phonological parameters. These include Mirus et al. (2001) who examine proximal and distal movement in hearing adults, Rosen (2004) who gives an overview production errors in all five parameters of ASL, Ortega and Morgan (2010) who examine sign production accuracy in the areas of handshape, movement, and location, and Chen Pichler (2011) with an examination of handshape errors. Most of these studies have examined non-signers (adults with little to no exposure to sign language rather than L2 learners) with the exception of Rosen (2004) who examined learner productions at the end of a 15-week course. One older study, McIntire and Reilly (1988), examined two levels of L2 learners in the area of NMS. These have laid a good foundation for research in L2 hearing adult acquisition of sign language. 2.1 Learning a Manual Language as an L2 ASL has elements of iconicity in its lexicon, meaning that a sign may be related to the object or action which it represents (Meier, 1987). For example, the sign for BABY is a visual picture of what holding a baby looks like, and the sign for STAND is a visual picture of what standing looks like, as shown in Figure 1. Figure 1. ASL signs for BABY (on the left) and STAND (on the right).

15 5 Children are also able to start using the language quickly. Both deaf and hearing children generally produce their first sign before a hearing child speaks his first word, and the first 2-3 sign combinations occur before speaking children produce 2-3 word utterances (Meier, 1987; Bonvillian, Orlansky, & Novack, 1983). Brown s (1978) study goes as far to claim that manual languages are easier to acquire than spoken languages due in part to iconicity. However, this idea that sign language is easy to learn is strongly refuted by Kemp (1998), who asserts that ASL can prove to be challenging for learners. He cites social dominance and attitude of hearing learners, L1 to L2 grammar transfer, language shock, culture shock, and motivation as reasons for these challenges, along with the false belief among hearing individuals that sign language is pictures and gestures (Kemp, 1998). Because of this false belief in the simplicity of ASL, learners may prematurely believe they have command of the language and be unaware of their lack in proficiency, to the point of wanting to teach ASL classes after only one or two semesters of exposure to the language (Kemp, 1998). Beyond the attitudes and perceptions of hearing adult learners, a more compelling reason for difficulty in acquisition of ASL by hearing adults is the issue of learning not only a new language, but a new language within a new modality. This necessitates the learning of a new motor skill and using that skill to produce an entirely new phonology with a set of new articulators, none of which overlap with the native phonology (Chen Pichler, 2011; Mirus et al., 2001). For this reason, some have used the term second modality, abbreviated M2 or L2M2, to refer to the unique position that hearing adult learners find themselves in when learning sign language (Chen Pichler, 2011). Learners whose L1 is a signed language, such as German Sign Language (DGS), and are learning a

16 6 second signed language, such as ASL, are simply L2 ASL learners, because in this case both their L1 and L2 are in the same modality. Rosen (2004) studied the production of signs and errors made by first semester ASL hearing adult learners, all of who were graduate students. In the study, Rosen (2004) proposes the Cognitive Phonology Model (CPM) to explain production errors made by L2M2 learners. He defines CPM as a cognitive processing paradigm that involves the psycholinguistic use of the body as a means for perceiving, recalling, producing, and communicating phonologies. For effective production of phonology, individuals need cognitive imposition of linguistic features on their psychomotor skills (p. 36). In other words, learners must learn to apply linguistic components to articulation of movement rather than articulation of sound, and this change in linguistic modality puts extra cognitive load on learners. Two areas of cognitive processing exist in this model: perceptual accuracy and production accuracy. Perceptual accuracy deals with how learners view signs produced by teachers or deaf users of ASL, causing learners to mirror or parallel the signs they have perceived. Mirroring is defined within the areas of location and movement, resulting in the learner s production of the sign in the opposite location (right instead of left) or move in the opposite direction (left to right instead of right to left), creating a mirroring effect of what they have observed (Rosen, 2004). Parallelization refers to palm orientation and occurs when learners produce signs in parallel fashion to what they have observed (Rosen, 2004). In other words, if a learner sees a teacher s palms (palms facing out) during the production of a sign, the learner produces the sign such that they continue to see palms (palms facing in) during sign production. Rosen also mentions that learners may not detect certain sign features, particularly location

17 7 and contact features, causing these features to be omitted or produced incorrectly (Rosen, 2004). Production accuracy or dexterity refers to the anatomical ability to align fingers, hands, and faces. It is a function of cognitive control of the psychomotor processing of linguistic information that shapes the use of the body to produce signs, (Rosen, 2004, p. 37). In these cases, learners have properly perceived the sign, but are unable to correctly form the sign during production. This is a cognitive issue due to the full maturation of the adult learner s body but the mind s immaturity to produce manual phonological articulation. Production dexterity problems lead to substitution of one handshape or non-manual feature for another, displacement of features (overextending one feature over another), switching features, and incomplete production of a feature (Rosen, 2004). In an effort in part to address learner perceptual issues (such as mirroring and paralleling), Berrett (2012) conducted a study to determine if students learn ASL with better accuracy if they are shown videos of sign production from nontraditional camera angles (e.g., from over the shoulder). Based on Rosen s (2004) CPM, which results in mirrored and paralleled production of signs, it would be expected that students shown signs from the signer s perspective would better learn those signs. However, Berrett s initial study showed no statistical improvement for students who were shown signs from different camera angles compared to those who were not (2012). The question then remains: what accounts for the magnitude of errors made by hearing, adult learners? 2.2 Learner Errors in Perception In the area of perception, Rosen (2004) observed errors to varying degrees in the areas of location, movement, palm orientation, and non-manuals.

18 8 Handshape errors were not recorded in this category. Location errors included mirrorization, making additional contact (e.g., tapping twice instead of once), or omitting contact points (no tap instead of one tap). Mirrorization also results in perceptual movement type errors, while parallelization results in palm orientation errors. The most noted nonmanual error of perception was complete omission of the required non-manual feature (Rosen, 2004). All of these errors can be explained by the CPM. The mind s maturity falls behind the body s maturity in the area of movement and articulation for the purposes of communication. Additionally, the learner does not imagine sign production from the signer s perspective, and instead produces the sign based on what they have observed from their own perspective (Rosen, 2004). A limited number of experiments have been conducted with non-signers to examine their ability to perceive and/or produce signs, generally by way of asking the participant to copy a sign they observe when produced by a native signer (Chen Pichler, 2011; Ortega & Morgan, 2010). However, it may not be clear if the production errors are due to gaps in the participants perception of the signs or challenges in their motor skills when producing signs. 2.3 Learner Errors in Production For L1 learners, certain handshapes have been found to be more or less marked or unmarked, and have been categorized into a handshape markedness hierarchy, often based on the anatomy of the hand, reflects the order of acquisition for sign language handshapes for L1 learners (Boyes-Braem, 1990). In this hierarchy, A is the maximally unmarked handshape, with handshapes S, L, baby-o, G/1, 5 and C in Stage I. Stage II is comprised of B, F, and O followed by I, Y, D, P, E, V, H, and W in Stage III, and finally 8, 7, X, R, T, M, and N in

19 9 Stage IV (Boyes-Braem, 1990; Chen Pichler, 2011). While this hierarchy has been observed among L1 learners, little is known about how handshape markedness applies to L2 adult learners, and opinions differ on the matter. Rosen (2004) down-plays the role of markedness of handshape in L2 acquisition, reasoning that adults have fully developed motor skills and cognitive capabilities. However, Chen Pichler (2011) disagrees, stating that when adults learn a new motor skill, such as playing a sport, a musical instrument, or learning to sign, practice is required and the beginning stages of performance are awkward. Mirus et al. (2001) hypothesize that adults learning a sign language for the first time face the challenge of learning a new motor skill, similar to the problems adults would encounter in trying to write with their non-dominant hand, utilizing movement from the wrist joint more than from finger joints (Chen Pichler, 2011). This proximalization of movement, articulating movement from a joint closer to the torso than the prescribed articulatory joint, has been observed among infants and children learning ASL, for example, producing HORSE by moving the wrist rather than moving the finger knuckles or producing BLACK by moving the shoulder rather than rotating the forearm (Meier, Mauk, Mirus, & Conlin, 1998; Meier, 2005). Proximalization errors have also been observed among hearing non-signers and early signers. Non-signers were observed to replace wrist movement with movement from either the elbow or shoulder in signs like GALLAUDET (Mirus et al., 2001). For learners who had completed one semester of ASL, similar errors continued to surface in signs like MACHINE with movement articulated only from the elbows rather than utilizing the wrist joint (Rosen, 2004). A detailed account of production errors made by beginning learners is presented by Rosen (2004), using the CPM to predict and explain each error. The

20 10 sign production of these students was observed at the end of a 15-week course, and the errors were made during the production of a single sign, rather than production within a sentence. He divides these errors into two categories: dexterity-based errors and perceptually-based errors, keeping in line with CPM. In the area of dexterity, errors were observed to varying degrees in all areas of sign production: handshape, location, movement, palm orientation, and non-manual signals. The area of handshape produced the greatest number of error types. These errors included handshape formation that was incomplete, substitution of one handshape for another in one or two-handed signs, inversion of handshapes in two-handshape sequences, and over-extension of handshape in two-handshape signs. Location errors involved hand arrangement in relation to each other or to the body. Movement errors included incomplete movements, switched directionality of movement, and displacement of movement (e.g., articulating movement at the elbows rather than the wrists). Palm orientation errors of dexterity involve switching palm orientation (e.g., in to out or up to down ) or twisting the forearm which results in a different orientation. The final error of dexterity, errors in non-manual signals, consisted of switching features (eyebrows up instead of down) or substituting features (stiff lips instead of puffed cheeks) (Rosen, 2004). 2.4 Research Questions Rosen (2004) briefly mentions that one perceptual issue, apart from paralleling and mirroring, may be learners inability to perceive every segment within a sign. It is then possible that learners simply don t recognize or assimilate the various phonological aspects of signs when they are produced, resulting in partial lexical knowledge of the sign. If this is the case, additional

21 11 errors in location, movement, and orientation could be attributed to perceptual errors, as well as errors in handshape also resulting from perceptual errors. In order to explore the possibility of perceptual errors in greater depth, this study seeks to answer the following research questions: i.) What phonological parameters do hearing L2 adult learners experience most difficulty with in perception and production? ii.) How do overall proficiency and exposure to ASL influence the acquisition of the major phonological parameters? It is expected that handshape and NMS will be the most difficult. It is also predicted that ASL 4 students will perform at a higher level and make fewer errors in all areas compared to ASL 2, as a result of the extra year of instruction and exposure ASL 4 students have received.

22 CHAPTER 3: PERCEPTION: METHODOLOGY AND RESULTS The perception portion of this study aims to examine learner perceptual abilities related to the phonological parameters of ASL signs. Two perception tasks were designed. The first is a minimal pair discrimination task, designed to ascertain how learners perceive a change in only one sign parameter. The second perception task is a multiple choice sign discrimination task, designed to ascertain learners abilities to choose the correct sign form among multiple productions. 3.1 Participants Participants in this study are ten second semester ASL (ASL 2) students and ten fourth semester ASL (ASL 4) students from local colleges. Signed consent was obtained from all participants. An optional, video release form was also offered for the purposes of further study and use of snapshots in this paper. All participants filled out a survey to collect background information on their exposure to other spoken languages, sign language, participation in the Deaf community, and knowledge of ASL parameters. Students received classroom instruction either two or three class periods per week for a total of 3 hours per week. Participants ranged in age from Three participants were male and the rest were female. Most were mono-lingual English speakers, all with some exposure to a second language in high school. Three were bilinguals and one acquired French as a second language. ASL 2 students reported going to Deaf events or socializing in the Deaf community infrequently generally only twice per semester, the number of times required per class. ASL 4 students attended events and socialized in the Deaf community anywhere from twice a semester to at least weekly. The ASL 4 curriculum required students to participate in 15

23 13 hours of service at a Deaf organization, but their use of ASL in these settings could vary widely. Attempts were made to assure that all learners performed at the same level in their respective classes, and all participants indicated that they anticipated receiving an A or B grade in their class; however, one ASL 4 learner was excluded from the production results due to very poor performance. The learners participated in all four experiments which were conducted in one day. Students were met with individually or in pairs, but the researcher did not remain in the room as the participants completed the tasks in order to avoid negative affective influence created by her presence. Experiments 1 and 2 investigated learner performance in sign perception tasks and Experiments 3 and 4 investigated learner performance in sign production tasks. Forty signs were chosen to be used in Experiments 2, 3, and 4. Most students were able to finish all four experiments in an hour, although some took longer if they spent more time on the production tasks. The researcher verified with the participants that they knew all the signs. If a participant could not recall a sign, they were shown the sign one time only before beginning any of the experiments. Once the experiments began, they were not shown any signs. This was done because this research is focused on learners attention to and acquisition of ASL phonology, rather than examining their lexical knowledge. The method of asking nonsigners to copy signs after viewing the signs as produced by a native signer has been used in the past to examine the articulation of a manual phonological system among hearing adults who have no experience in signing (Chen Pichler, 2011; Ortega & Morgan, 2010). The production experiments were administered before the perception experiments in order to avoid influencing learner production, either positively or

24 14 negatively as a result of viewing the signs during the perception tasks; however, the perception portion of this study was designed first and the production added later in order to analyze learner production performance against their receptive performance. Additionally, Experiment 1 (Minimal Pair Discrimination) was actually administered last so that students would not infer my intentions in the study. Because the study is based on analyzing learner perception of signs, perception results are presented initially, beginning with the simplest task (minimal pairs), followed by the production results. 3.2 Experiment 1: Minimal Pair Discrimination Task The purpose of the minimal pair task was to assess the learners abilities to differentiate between minimally paired signs in each of the five parameters of ASL Experiment 1 Stimuli The minimal pairs differed in one of five parameters: handshape, movement, location, orientation, and non-manual signals (NMS). Each parameter consisted of five trials. In addition, 10 control sign pairs with no change to any parameters were recorded and included. The total number of test trials was 35. The minimal pairs may be actual signs (which may or may not have been known by the learners), or one sign may be paired with an incorrect production of a sign. For example, the signs for DAD and DEER were paired because they differ slightly only in the area of location. The sign ESTABLISH which is produced with the non-dominant hand palm orientation down was paired with the palm orientation changed to face up. A native ASL signer was video recorded while producing the various signs. Each sign video was

25 15 approximately three seconds in length. This task was approximately 5:48 minutes in length Experiment 1 Procedure The paired videos were assembled randomly into a PowerPoint presentation and viewed by learners on a 15 laptop at a distance of approximately three feet. A one second pause was inserted between each sign and a three second pause between each pairing. Additionally, three different orders of presentations were created to avoid a possible effect of order on learners judgments of signs. Each presentation started with two sets of paired signs for a warm up. After the warm up, the researcher paused the video to verify that the participants understood the directions before continuing with the test. The participants were asked to complete a judgment survey that included the following questions on paper: Are these signs the same? with options of Same or Different and circled Same or Different for each pair (see Appendix A) Experiment 1 Data Analysis The test results were compiled for each student as either correct or incorrect. Results were compiled as percentage by parameter and total percentage out of 35 possible correct responses Experiment 1 Results Participants in the ASL 2 group were able to correctly determine if two signs were the same or not nearly 76.86% of the time. The ASL 4 group was accurate nearly 80.86% of the time. Both groups performed best in palm

26 orientation and handshape. NMS was most difficult for ASL 2 and location for ASL 4 (see Figure 2). There was a slight overall gain of 4% from ASL 2 to ASL Figure 2. Accuracy percentage by parameter in minimal pair perception task Students were most accurate when the signs were the same (no change was made in the production) or when the minimal pairs involved a change in either palm orientation or handshape. They were less accurate in the other three parameters, particularly location and NMS where accuracy went as low as 52% among ASL 2 students. Students did improve between ASL 2 and ASL 4 in most areas. The greatest areas of improvement were seen in NMS with a 12% gain and movement with a 10% gain Experiment 1 Discussion Same sign production, palm orientation, and handshape were the easiest areas for participants to perceive accurately. NMS and location were the hardest for learners to accurately perceive differences. It was anticipated that students would struggle with NMS, as these are known to be problematic for learners (McIntire & Reilly, 1988). Among the observed errors, a pattern emerged. If a

27 17 sign occurred close to the face, learners were more likely to perceive a difference in the NMS. This was the case with FULL-OF-FOOD vs FED-UP or FINALLY vs FINALLY with no NMS. However, if the sign was produced further from the face, learners were more likely to miss any change in the NMS. This may be due to learners placing greater focus on the hands and movement in order to determine handshape and movement, giving less attention to the face. When signs were produced close to the face, learners were better able to see hands, movement, and facial expressions at once. The least amount of accuracy occurred when the sign was produced away from the face and two different NMS were used (rather than one production with an NMS contrasted with no NMS in production) (Figure 3). Figure 3. Sample signs with different NMS: STUDY with sta NMS (left) and mm NMS (right) One surprising result is that learners performed better in handshape than in location, and that learners did poorly in the area of location in general. Part of this may have to do with the pairing of handshapes and locations, as only five pairs were chosen within each parameter. Learners made errors half the time when signs were produced in different locations yet in close proximity to each

28 18 other on the face, as in the signs DEER and DAD or BIRD produced on the mouth and nose (Figure 4). Figure 4. Sample signs with different locations: DAD (left) and DEER (right) Surprisingly, a stark change in location for the sign OLYMPICS resulted in a high error rate among participants (Figure 5). Figure 5. Correct version of OLYMPICS (left) and high location (right) Although it is uncertain if learners noticed the difference in the sign pairs BIRD or the DEER / DAD pairing, it s difficult to imagine that the learners did not see the different location in the OLYMPICS pairing. Best (1995) states that, Perceptual learning entails discovering the critically distinctive features, the most telling differences among objects and events that are of importance to the perceiver. Information that does not serve this purpose tends not to be picked

29 19 up (p. 184). The same phenomenon is observed in this case for manual languages. The implication is that hearing adults place a low level of importance on location as playing a distinctive role in contributing to lexical meaning. On the other hand, the tendency of learners to correctly identify change in handshape implies that they do place importance on the handshape parameter for lexical meaning. Additionally, these results indicate that learners lexical knowledge and perceived lexical knowledge played a role in their performance in a highly contrastive task and influenced their judgment as to whether or not something was the same or different. 3.3 Experiment 2: Multiple Choice Sign Discrimination Task The purpose of the multiple choice sign discrimination task was to examine learners sensitivity to the five parameters through the use of correctly and incorrectly articulated signs Experiment 2 Stimuli For this experiment, 40 signs were chosen from ASL 1 and 2 coursework and from ASL University online, developed for ASL 1 and 2 students (Smith, Lentz, & Mikos, 2008; Vicars, 2012). These signs were reviewed with a local ASL 2 instructor to assure that ASL 2 students would have been exposed to the signs. Within the 40 signs, 15 incorrect productions were recorded for each of the five parameters, for a total of 75 incorrect productions out of 120 total productions (45 of which were correct). For example, the target lexical item CLASS was presented to the participants. They watched three different articulations of the sign and indicated which sign was acceptable for CLASS. In some instances, more than one articulation was correct, for example, if the sign had two widely

30 20 accepted productions (RUN and DOCTOR) or if the sign was directional (THROW and TAKE). The same native ASL user from Experiment 1 was used to record the videos in Experiment 2. Sign productions were approximately 3 seconds in length. This task was approximately 11:18 minutes in length Experiment 2 Procedure The grouped videos were assembled randomly into a PowerPoint presentation and viewed by learners on a 15 laptop at a distance of approximately three feet. A two second pause was inserted between each articulation and a four second pause between each lexical item. Additionally, three different orders of presentations were created to avoid a possible effect of order on learners judgments of signs. The presentation started with two sets of grouped signs for a warm up. After the warm up, the researcher paused the video to verify that the participants understood the directions before continuing with the task. Participants evaluated the acceptability of three signs for a single meaning. They were given a sheet of paper with the English translation of a sign and lettered options A, B, or C (see Appendix B). Participants circled which letter(s) on the video they thought to be the correct sign(s) for the lexical item Experiment 2 Data Analysis The responses were evaluated in two ways. The first evaluation was overall percentage, indicating the percentage of target items where the learner made no errors. The second evaluation was accuracy percentage by parameter. Error analysis was also conducted to show the distribution of parameter errors, and errors of missing the correct target sign.

31 Experiment 2 Results Performance on the minimal pair task did not predict performance on the multiple choice task, but rather, different parameters surfaced both as being easier and more challenging for learners. The mean percentage of correct response was 63.75% for ASL 2 learners and 67.5% for ASL 4 learners (about 13% below Experiment 1), with a gain of about 4% for ASL 4 learners. All learners in both groups did well in the areas of location and palm orientation, with at least 90% accuracy in each. Performance from most accurate to least accurate was as follows (the symbol > is used to indicate easier acquisition on the left end than on the right): ASL 2: Location > Palm Orientation > NMS > Handshape > Movement. ASL 4: Location > Palm Orientation > Handshape > Movement > NMS. The most improvement for ASL 4 learners was in handshape and movement; however, they declined in NMS. The accuracy percentage is reported by parameter in Figure 6. Figure 6. Accuracy percentage by parameter in multiple choice task Improvement was seen between ASL 2 and ASL 4 in all parameters, except for NMS where there was an increase in the number of errors made by

32 22 learners. The greatest area of improvement occurred within the handshape and movement parameters. ASL 4 learners performed at 10% greater accuracy than ASL 2 learners in the area of handshape and were also over 15% more accurate in movement. For movement, this was a reduction of errors by nearly 50%. The distribution of errors also changed between ASL 2 and ASL 4, which can be seen in Figure 7. Figure 7. Distribution of errors by parameter Palm orientation and location remained static between both groups and accounted for less than 20% of total errors. However, movement saw a reduction in overall error percentage while NMS made up a larger percentage of errors for ASL 4 students compared to ASL 2 students Experiment 2 Discussion Learners in both groups were fairly accurate, with over 70% accuracy in almost every parameter. They were most accurate in the areas of location and palm orientation. While palm orientation was a strong area for both groups in Experiment 1, accuracy in location was much lower in Experiment 1 compared to Experiment 2. This discrepancy is likely due to learners reliance upon lexical

33 23 knowledge to determine if a location was same or not in Experiment 1 (discussed in section 3.2.5), while in Experiment 2 learners were instructed to choose the correct articulation. Movement and NMS continued to present somewhat of a problem. In Experiment 1, handshape was one of the most accurate areas, but in Experiment 2 it was one of the least accurate. While learners may be able to see a handshape change between two video clips, their memories are foggier in terms of recalling the correct handshape (seen at some point in the past). Some perceptual errors surfaced consistently (40% or more error rate) by at least one group. The summary of these data can be seen in Table 1. Table 1 Summary of Areas With 40% or Greater Error Rate Handshape Errors ASL 2 ASL 4 A / S 60% 50% Flat-O / Bent-B 60% 20% 1 / X 50% 40% 1 / Open-8 40% 40% 1 / L 40% 0% S-to-S / S-to-5 40% 30% NMS Errors Puffed Cheeks (UGLY) 40% 60% TH (STILL) 40% 50% CS (NEED & FAST) 15% 50% Movement Errors Backward (Circular) 50% 20% Incorrect Tapping 40% 20% Continuous (deleted stopping 90% 30% point) Palm Orientation Err Front (not down) with 50% 30% movement and contact Location Errors None over 40%

34 24 In this study, location errors were sparse and learners did not consistently make errors in any one area. Palm orientation only had one problem area for learners, and only ASL 2 learners made the error (palms facing front rather than down). This indicates that location and then palm orientation are the first to be acquired by hearing adults. ASL 2 students made consistent errors in three areas of movement, but those errors largely disappeared by ASL 4, indicating that movement is next in order of acquisition. (It may be worth noting that other errors were made, but they were not consistent. One or two learners may have consistently made errors in movement, making the overall accuracy appear lower for learners, particularly for the ASL 2 group. This indicates that certain learners may have greater difficulties in acquiring movement, but it is not the typical case for all learners.) ASL 2 students also consistently mistook an incorrect handshape for the correct handshape in more areas than any of the other parameters (some problem handshapes are shown in Figure 8). By ASL 4, learners consistently made errors in only half as many handshape areas. Figure 8. Incorrectly perceived handshapes from left to right: Bent-B, Flat- O, 1, L, and Open-8 Within the NMS parameter, the error rate increased between ASL 2 and ASL 4. Although handshape may initially surface as the parameter with the greatest difficulty in acquisition for first year learners, these perceptual errors begin to dissipate by the second year of language exposure, and NMS becomes the most challenging parameter for learners. Based on these results, the order of

35 25 acquisition for hearing adult learners is location, palm orientation, movement, handshape, and finally NMS.

36 CHAPTER 4: PRODUCTION: METHODOLOGY AND RESULTS The production portion of this study aims to examine learner production accuracy and errors in relation to their perceptual accuracy in Experiments 1 and 2. Two production tasks were designed. The first is an isolated production task to observe how learners produce signs with as little interference (e.g., interference from attending to ASL grammar when trying to form a sentence) as possible. The second production is a sentence production task, in order to examine how sign performance changes when learners must attend to the formation of surrounding signs and ASL grammar. 4.1 Experiments 3 and 4: Production of Signs in Isolation and in Sentences The purpose of this experiment was to catalog isolated production of signs without the interference of surrounded signs in a sentence or consideration of ASL grammar. The same participants in Experiments 1 and 2 participated in Experiments 3 and Stimuli and Procedure The 40 target signs in Experiment 2 were used in Experiments 3 and 4 (see Appendix C). Experiment 3 required the participants to sign the target sign in isolation. For Experiment 4, the target signs were put into a sentence. Sentences were created using ASL 1 and ASL 2 vocabulary. Most sentences were simple statements such as, My dad likes trains, or She doesn t like elevators. A few sentences were slightly more complicated, such as, The average cost of a TV is $300. A few interrogatives were used as well, for example, Where is the soda machine, and Do you run in the morning?

37 27 For Experiment 3, learners were given a list of individual signs in English. They were asked to sign the list of signs and then stop the video camera. At the conclusion of Experiment 3, the participants were then given the list of sentences to sign in front of the camera for Experiment 4. They were instructed to use ASL grammar to the best of their knowledge and to fingerspell any signs they could not remember. To avoid a possible effect of order of the signs in the lists, three different orders of the Experiment 3 and Experiment 4 lists were created and randomly assigned to the learners. The signing process was recorded using either an imac video camera or a Zoom Q3 Handy Video Recorder mounted on a tripod for both Experiments 3 and 4. Experiment 3 took approximately 2 to 5 minutes, and Experiment 4 took approximately 8 to 15 minutes to complete, depending on the learner Experiment 3 Data Analysis The accuracy of the learners production of signs was analyzed in terms of the five parameters by the researcher with the help of a fluent, native ASL signer. The fluent ASL user reviewed the video for anything that was overlooked and additional errors. I acknowledge that there is a degree of variation among signs, and while we don t intend to place one production over another, certain productions may have been marked incorrect according to acceptability in California, as these are the productions seen by learners. Some learners had a tendency to mouth the words as they signed, making it difficult to observe NMS in some cases, such as FINISH which has the NMS of fish. In these cases, if the mouthing was not more pronounced than it was on other words, it was tallied as omission of the NMS.

38 4.2 Results The following sections will briefly outline the results of learner 28 performance in Experiments 3 and 4. One ASL 4 participant was excluded from these results due to unusually low performance Experiment 3: Isolated Production Results The ASL 2 group had a mean sign production accuracy of 47.5%. The ASL 4 group performed much better than the ASL 2 group, with a mean sign production accuracy of 65.28%. Both groups performed the best in NMS, palm orientation, and location. ASL 2 learners omitted or missed the sign (e.g., signing BUY instead of PAY) six times more often than ASL 4 students. ASL 2 learners made the most errors in handshape, then movement; however, ASL 4 learners reduced the number of handshape errors by half and made the most errors in movement. Although ASL 4 learners produced on average six more signs than ASL 2 learners, they still made fewer overall errors than ASL 2 learners (Figure 9). The production performance from most accurate (fewest errors) to least accurate (most errors) is as follows: ASL2: Location>Palm Orientation=>NMS>Movement>Handshape ASL4: Location>Palm Orientation>NMS>Handshape>Movement Experiment 4: Sentence Production Results The mean correct sign production percentage of target items for the ASL 2 group was approximately 44.75%. The ASL 4 group s percentage accuracy was near 61.67%. These results are slightly below sign production performance in Experiment 3, but they parallel the results of Experiment 3.

39 29 Figure 9. Average number of production errors in isolation As in isolation, both groups performed the best in palm orientation, location, and NMS. ASL 2 learners omitted or missed the sign nearly three times more often than ASL 4 students. As in isolation, ASL 2 learners make the most errors in handshape followed by movement. ASL 4 students reduced the number of handshape errors by half and made the most errors in movement. ASL 4 students produced more signs and reduced the number of errors in production (Figure 10). The production performance from most accurate (fewest errors) to least accurate (most errors) is as follows ASL 2: NMS>Location>Palm Orientation>Movement>Handshape ASL 4: Location>NMS>Palm Orientation>Handshape>Movement Figure 10. Average number of production errors in sentences

40 4.3 Discussion Little difference was seen in the accuracy of signs produced in isolation 30 compared to their production within a sentence for either group. The production results from Experiments 3 and 4 strongly paralleled one another in which parameters saw the most to fewest errors, with the exception of NMS which produced slightly fewer errors in sentences (compare Figures 9 & 10). Accuracy in perception (as seen in Experiment 2) did appear to have an influence on performance in production. Excluding NMS for a moment, location then palm orientation were the most accurate in both perception and production. Movement was the least accurate for both groups in perception and for ASL 4 in production. Handshape was the least accurate parameter for ASL 2 learners. The improvement in handshape production among ASL 4 learners could be due to improved dexterity and fine motor skills, allowing learners to better align their fingers for handshape formation. While ASL 4 learners did improve some in movement production, they did not improve as much as they did in handshape production. The reason for this is unclear and is a point for further research. It is, however, worth noting that the main movement error in production, backward movement in the sign PARENTS, was not one of the movement error trials in perception. The change in accuracy from perception to production for NMS could seem odd initially, but this is largely due to the data set. Experiment 2 was highly controlled, with at most 15 possible errors in each parameter. Although the same target signs were use, this was not the case for production. In perception, NMS were put on signs that do not use an NMS lexically. Only seven signs required an NMS in their lexical forms. While in perception learners