Interkantonale Hochschule für Heilpädagogik
Development & Evaluation of a Sentence Repetition Test for Swiss German Sign Language (DSGS) Tobias Haug, Christa Notter, Simone Girard, & Mireille Audeoud University of Applied Sciences of Special Needs Education Zurich (HfH), Switzerland
1. Context
3. Methods
4. Data and results
• Approximately 5.000 Deaf signers live in German Switzerland. They use Swiss German Sign Language (Deutschschweizer Gebärdensprache, DSGS). Only a few of t hem have acquired DSGS as a first language, as approx. 90-95% of all Deaf
• The SRT for DSGS (Fig. 1) is based on SRTs for American, German, British, Swedish, and Italian Sign Languages, which have been developed for adults and children, respectively. The sentences of the DSGS version contain
For the main study, 50 Deaf children and adolescents (6;;4-18;;6 years old) were tested. The preliminary results of a sub-sample of 15 Deaf children (6;;11-14;;4 years old;; Fig. 3) indicate a slight trend that older children perform better than younger
children come from hearing families (Mitchell & Karchmer, 2004). It is therefore very important that professionals have a
linguistic structures such as agreement verbs, classifier constructions, constructed action, and negation. A panel of
children on the SRT, irrespective of the hearing status of t he parents (Fig. 4). T he results will inform a revision of the current
test instrument available in order to, among other things, assess the sign language development of these children. At the present time, there still exists no test for DSGS. • We report on an ongoing research project that aims at to develop a sentence repetition test (SRT) for DSGS targeting (a) deaf children 6-12 years old and (b) adults.
experts consisting of Deaf sign language instructors experienced in working with Deaf children provided feedback at the different stages of test development before the test was piloted. We conducted three different pilots: (1) on the usability of the test with native signing children (N=3;; 8;;9- 11;;5 years old), (2) Deaf adults (N=3), and (3) judging the level of difficulty of the sentences by Deaf adults (N=5). The results of all three pilots formed the basis to (1) reduce the number of sentences (from 76 to 40), (2) make some changes to the testing protocol, and (3) re-record some
version of the DSGS SRT.
sentences. • In parallel, we conducted a study with four raters with three different scoring instruments. The raters analysed the data of five children. The scoring instruments operated with different scales: (a) Scale (1/0);; (b) Scale (2/1/0);; and (c) a very detailed scale, which operated with different categories. The results provided the basis for the development of a new computer-based instrument which has been piloted successfully (Fig. 2).
Conclusion and outlook We have presented descriptive results of a sub-sample (N=15) of the tested children, which show a slight age effect. All data (including the data from the adults) will be analysed in more details shortly. The chosen methods provide a good basis for the establishment of reliability and validity. The test will later be integrated into a multi-lingual onl ine portal for sign language tests.
Fig.1: Example from the Sentence Repetition Test for DSGS
2. Research questions Research question 1 Does the SRT for DSGS provide evidence for sound psychometeric properties (reliability, validity)?
Research question 2 Fig. 2: Interface of the computer-based instrument to analyse the data of the SRT Age of Grade level children
Parents‘ hearing Use of DSGS status at home
6;;11
Elementary school hearing
7;;2
Elementary school hearing
7;;3
Elementary school Deaf
7;;6
Elementary school hearing
We would like to thank our colleagues from Germany, Italy, Sweden, UK, and the United States for sharing their version of
8;;0
Elementary school hearing
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Middle school
hearing
a SRT, the schools for the Deaf in German Switzerland, and the Deaf experts, testers and raters.
9;;8
Middle school
hearing
Yes
9;;10
Middle school
Deaf
Yes
This project has been funded by the: HfH and EU Lifelong Learning Programme
9;;10
Middle school
hearing
12;;1
Middle school
hearing
13;;3
High school
hard-of-hearing / hearing
13;;3
High school
hearing
Acknowledgements
Yes Yes
500 400 300 200 100 0 6;;11
7;;2
7;;3
7;;6
8;;0
9;;0
9;;8
9;;10 9;;10 12;;1 13;;3 13;;3 13;;3 13;;8 14;;4
Chronological a ge of c hildren ( N=15)
Fig. 4: Descriptively, there is a slight trend for older children to Yes
13;;3
High school
hearing
Contact
13;;8
High school
hearing
Tobias Haug
[email protected] www.hfh.ch/forschung
14;;4
High school
hearing
Fig. 3: Background information of the sub-sample of the children (N=15) whose data were analyzed
Raw score and chronological age of Deaf children
Raw s core ( max. 5 21)
What are the relationships between the Deaf children‘s raw scores and other variables (chronological age, age of sign language exposure, parental hearing status, gender)?
produce higher scores than younger children. The graph provides additional information on the children‘s grade level: (a) elementary (Basisstufe), (b) middle school (Mittelstufe), and (c) high school (Oberstufe)
