Sign Language Teaching

O bom desenvolvimento da literacia na criança surda é, sem dúvida, como com qualquer outra criança, o objectivo dos seus educadores, pais e professores. Não devemos, por isso, esquecer que o acesso a uma primeira língua é fundamental para o desenvolvimento linguístico e cognitivo da criança surda, criandose assim as condições para o acesso à segunda língua e a muitas outras ao longo da vida. Não tendo acesso completo à língua falada, porque não ouve, a criança surda necessita de uma primeira língua que lhe esteja acessível na totalidade -a língua gestual do seu país, no nosso caso a língua gestual portuguesa. É através da língua gestual que a criança surda vai desenvolver a sua capacidade da linguagem e do pensamento e aceder gradualmente às estruturas da segunda língua -a língua do seu país, no nosso caso a língua portuguesa.

The goal of a recently concluded project in Switzerland was to pioneer an assessment system for lexical signs of Swiss German Sign Language (Deutschschweizerische Gebärdensprache, DSGS) that relies on automatic sign language recognition. The assessment system gives adult L2 learners of DSGS feedback on the correctness of the manual parameters of signing (handshape, hand position, location, and movement) of isolated signs they produce. In its initial version, the system includes automatic feedback for a subset of a DSGS vocabulary size production test consisting of approximately 100 lexical items at CEFR level A1. The paper at hand reports on the process of selecting the items for the test, compiling training data for the SLR system, and linguistically analyzing errors in the resulting video recordings.

A tradução e interpretação de expressões idiomáticas ou provérbios em língua gestual coloca diversas questões de carácter linguístico e cultural que o intérprete deve conhecer e aplicar para que tenha um bom desempenho. Neste trabalho são analisados os diferentes contextos em que este tipo de enunciados pode surgir e as diferentes alternativas de tradução e interpretação pelas quais se pode optar. Serão dados exemplos que permitirão estabelecer, ou não, um paralelo entre expressões idiomáticas e provérbios da língua gestual portuguesa e da língua portuguesa. Finalmente, dar-se-á conta dos resultados de um estudo sobre a existência, ou não, de provérbios na Língua Gestual Portuguesa (LGP) e de que modo as pessoas surdas se relacionam com esta forma de expressão.

All material supplied via JYX is protected by copyright and other intellectual property rights, and duplication or sale of all or part of any of the repository collections is not permitted, except that material may be duplicated by you for your research use or educational purposes in electronic or print form. You must obtain permission for any other use. Electronic or print copies may not be offered, whether for sale or otherwise to anyone who is not an authorised user. Raising the Profile of Sign Language Teachers in Finland De Weerdt, Danny; Salonen, Juhana; Liikamaa, Arttu

This article proposes a pedagogical framework for teaching ASL contexts through a full immersion approach in middle to high school ASL classrooms. Building on years of classroom experience, curriculum development, and outreach instruction, this independently funded study addresses the gap in linguistic and pedagogical literature surrounding ASL contexts, particularly how conceptual accuracy, contextual cues, and meaning selection can be taught systematically. The proposed framework integrates action research, bilingual instructional strategies, and ASL-specific linguistic features into lesson designs that are adaptable to diverse teaching settings. The goal is to empower ASL instructors and interpreter trainers with practical tools to implement context-rich lessons that enhance comprehension, translation accuracy, and expressive fluency.

The goal of a recently concluded project in Switzerland was to pioneer an assessment system for lexical signs of Swiss German Sign Language (Deutschschweizerische Gebärdensprache, DSGS) that relies on automatic sign language recognition. The assessment system gives adult L2 learners of DSGS feedback on the correctness of the manual parameters of signing (handshape, hand position, location, and movement) of isolated signs they produce. In its initial version, the system includes automatic feedback for a subset of a DSGS vocabulary size production test consisting of approximately 100 lexical items at CEFR level A1. The paper at hand reports on the process of selecting the items for the test, compiling training data for the SLR system, and linguistically analyzing errors in the resulting video recordings.

All material supplied via JYX is protected by copyright and other intellectual property rights, and duplication or sale of all or part of any of the repository collections is not permitted, except that material may be duplicated by you for your research use or educational purposes in electronic or print form. You must obtain permission for any other use. Electronic or print copies may not be offered, whether for sale or otherwise to anyone who is not an authorised user. What is the value of plurilingualism? Moate, Josephine

CEFR is now widely used as the reference in developing English language program curricula in many higher educations worldwide. The framework has not been commonly adopted in the Indonesian context and attracts scholars to investigate. This research revealed how lecturers and students perceive CEFR as the basis for curriculum development for English courses. To gain the data, 8 lecturers and 94 students were purposefully chosen as respondents and were given a questionnaire developed from C1 level CEFR descriptors. Meanwhile, some respondents were interviewed to collect in-depth information about their perceptions. The quantitative data were analyzed by computing the average score and revealed that the students have a positive perception towards CEFR with an average of 3.78. The data from the interview uncovered that both lecturers and students agreed with the CEFR descriptors for four reasons: job requirements, communication tools, community expectations, and the need to support their learning. The findings imply that the stakeholders must specify the curriculum framework in which CEFR adoption can be an option.

Despite this, there is a framework that can be drawn on: the CoE's Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) (Council of Europe, 2001) offers a starting point for considering greater harmonization of teaching and assessment practices in sign language programs (Leeson, 2011). Application of CEFR can also serve as a step toward formalizing the instruction and assessment of sign language proficiency in Europe. The ProSign project (2012-15), funded by the EMCL, marks an historic step towards the identification and ratification of standardized proficiency levels for sign languages across Europe. The CEFR is the standard framework for the teaching, learning and assessment of a spoken language as foreign/second language in Europe (Council of Europe, 2001). By considering the CEFR descriptors vis-à-vis sign languages, the opportunity arises for creating greater awareness around what is taught and why, at what levels and for what purposes, across sign language programs in Europe. CEFR also offers a framework for sign language teachers, something that has not been readily available in the past. Given these issues, the ProSign project has paved the way for development of curriculum and assessment materials.

Neste artigo, temos por objetivo identificar, analisar e descrever metáforas verbo-gestuais e gestos metaforizados veiculados em cinco amostras pertencentes às narrativas contadas na conferência TEDx USP “A ciência brasileira e o sonho de Cassandra”, proferida por Natália Pasternak. A fim de tratarmos sobre a estruturação multimodal da narrativa, utilizamos considerações sobre os níveis narrativos e a marcação de pontos de vista. Além disso, tecemos uma discussão sobre funções comunicativas globais desempenhadas pelos gestos e expressões faciais, focalizando a função expressiva. Baseando-nos em uma adaptação aos dados do Português Brasileiro (PB), das Diretrizes de Identificação de Metáforas nos Gestos (DIM-G), focalizamos, sobretudo, as funções não referenciais desempenhadas pelos gestos. Nos resultados, foi possível identificar metaforizados dos gestos, com a veiculação de tomadas de postura e de  atitudes da falante – no caso, da narradora, no nível narrativo, e da palestrante, n...

This study investigates and discusses the effects of explicit corrective feedback (ECF) on foreign language writing skills. In the process of learning a second language, the ability to write is one of the most important skills for gaining meaningful access to the target language. ECF is an indispensable part of  practising writing while learning a second language. Despite the importance of ECF in language learning, many scholars often neglect the idea by accepting it as a behaviourist technique. The article first focuses on the definition of ECF and then reviews various research in the field. Besides, it discusses the research findings of the writing tasks applied to 43 private middle school students (B1 level) taking 5 subcategories into consideration. The study concludes that the research findings reveal a significant correlation between explicit corrective feedback and improving writing skills.

Este artigo versa sobre o projeto de pesquisa e extensão “SER em tempos de COVID 19” cujos objetivos são: socializar os dados da pesquisa sobre os desafios vivenciados pelas/os discentes do curso de Serviço Social da UnB durante a suspensão das atividades acadêmicas; construir um canal de comunicação entre o departamento, docentes e discentes e; socializar informações da universidade e produções teóricas dos/as docentes do departamento sobre o contexto de pandemia.

Resumo: Neste artigo, temos por objetivo identificar, analisar e descrever metáforas verbo-gestuais e gestos metaforizados veiculados em cinco amostras pertencentes às narrativas contadas na conferência TEDx USP "A ciência brasileira e o sonho de Cassandra", proferida por Natália Pasternak. A fim de tratarmos sobre a estruturação multimodal da narrativa, utilizamos considerações sobre os níveis narrativos e a marcação de pontos de vista. Além disso, tecemos uma discussão sobre funções comunicativas globais desempenhadas pelos gestos e expressões faciais, focalizando a função expressiva. Baseando-nos em uma adaptação aos dados do Português Brasileiro (PB), das Diretrizes de Identificação de Metáforas nos Gestos (DIM-G), focalizamos, sobretudo, as funções não referenciais desempenhadas pelos gestos. Nos resultados, foi possível identificar metaforizados dos gestos, com a veiculação de tomadas de postura e de atitudes da falanteno caso, da narradora, no nível narrativo, e da palestrante, no nível paranarrativo. De maneira mais ampla, as narrativas ilustram, tanto para a comunidade científica, quanto para um público mais amplo, a necessidade de se discutir a ciência no cotidiano.

history of sign linguistics. For an expanded discussion of sign language types, see Reed (2021). Sign language linguistics emerged as a field of study in the mid-20 th century (Stokoe 1960; Tervoort 1953). The field's first turn was dominated by the exploration of sign language grammar, with a key goal of showing equivalence between signed and spoken languages at all levels of linguistic structure (see, e.g., Klima and Bellugi 1979; Kyle and Woll 1985; and Liddell 1980). This work was done with deaf community sign languages such as American Sign Language and British Sign Language. Deaf community sign languages are usually multi-generational, usually associated with education and urban areas, and usually identified with a national territory. They are used primarily by deaf people for communication with other deaf people. Over the following decades, more diverse signing situations became the objects of scientific inquiry, including homesign and village sign languages. Goldin-Meadow (2003) pioneered the study of homesign systems, which are one-generation-old creations of a single deaf individual, with varying levels of input from family and community members. As for village sign languages, these are somewhat rare, being multigenerational languages that arise in relatively geographically bounded communities with a high incidence of hereditary deafness. They have a high proportion of hearing to deaf users. Examples include Kata Kolok

Neste texto analisamos algumas semelhancas e diferencas entre as linguas gestuais e as linguas orais, partindo de algumas investigacoes recentes. Pretendemos mostrar que a Lingua Gestual Portuguesa (LGP) e uma lingua natural em que a combinacao das unidades do sistema (o querema, o gesto e a frase) se realiza articulando processos de linearidade e de simultaneidade, num espaco sintatico com multiplas potencialidades morfossintaticas, textuais e pragmaticas. Analisaremos, principalmente, fenomenos dos planos morfologico e morfossintatico, muito em particular decorrentes dos tipos de verbos e das suas propriedades e funcionamento.

This thesis examines the impact of guided and exploratory language play by interpreters. Interpreters in the current study participated in a pre-survey, engaged in an ASL language play group that engaged in language play through the phone app Marco Polo, reported their experiences in a nine-part reflective journal on their ASL and interpreting skills, and took a post-survey. The timeline of the play group was one week, where participants completed all the components of the study. Chapter one introduces the concept of general play and language play. It provides a definition of terms, which revolve around play and play groups, and states the problem of interpreting programs not providing the tools to play with language. It also provides the theoretical basis of this paper, which is grounded in Vygotsky’s Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD). The curriculum was built on the concept of scaffolding information found in the theory of ZPD. Chapter two provides the literature review defining ...

This article is part of the field of studies of
Applied Linguistics LA and its object of
research is to discuss the self-look of the
English Language professional LI and the
delineation of their identities, in view of the
scenario of post-modern globalization. This
is a case study of a qualitative nature in
which four teachers from an English school
in the city of Gurupi, state of Tocantins,
named P1, P2, P3 and P4, were interviewed.
The general objective is to get to know the
language school professionals and
understand how they deal with their own
identities as English teachers. The
theoretical support for this work was
anchored in theorists such as: Bauman
(2005), Celani (2006), Leffa (2012),
Rajagopalan (2014) among others. The
results showed that the participants have an
intimate relationship of admiration for the
language in addition to demonstrating
social and/or ideological issues that
permeate the identities of these
professionals are topics that are little
discussed and relatively new to them,
therefore, causing a precarious reflection in
its pedagogical pra

Starting in 2011, the adaptation of the Common European Framework of Reference for languages (CEFR) to sign language became a priority for many organisations in Europe. Among these, the State Institute for the Deaf worked on its adaptation for Italian Sign Language within the EU-funded SignLEF project. One year later, the joint effort of few institutions specialised in sign language education gave light to the ProSign project, funded by the European Centre for Modern Language. The findings coming from these and other projects converged towards the development of a companion volume for CEFR, published in 2018, including descriptors for sign language education. In this paper, I present an overview of the growth in the awareness of CEFR for LIS education as well as the political and cultural changes occurred since its adoption in 2011. A unique idea, research project, and design experience made by deaf and hearing professionals with the aim to inform Sign Language education, and to adapt and include it in deaf education and the workplace.

Na Guiné-Bissau, eram muitos os surdos sem acesso à língua, à educação e mesmo ao registo da sua identidade. A partir de 2003, os surdos começaram a recorrer à escola de cegos, tendo depressa ultrapassado em muito o número daqueles alunos. Em 2005, a escola de cegos percebeu que não tinha condições para ensinar surdos e pediu ajuda à Associação Portuguesa de Surdos (APS) que, por também não ter capacidade de apoio, ofereceu alguns materiais em LGP. Nesse mesmo ano, com a indicação da APS, deslocaram-se a Bissau uma docente surda, Marta Morgado e uma linguista, Mariana Martins, para avaliar a situação dos surdos. Observou-se que os professores comunicavam com os surdos com base em gestos retirados do Gestuário, que, por serem visualmente estáticos, eram executados com pouco ou nenhum movimento. Por outro lado, as crianças e jovens surdos comunicavam entre si, embora a um nível ainda básico, num sistema visual codificado. Constatou-se que já tinham nomes gestuais e que os gestos nativos utilizados não tinham qualquer influência da LGP. Após uma seleção, pela expressão e domínio daquela comunicação gestual, juntou-se um pequeno grupo de surdos para

Our paper is research in progress that is research investigating the use of games technology to enhance the learning of a physical skill. The Microsoft Kinect is a system designed for gaming with the capability to track the movement of users. Our research explored whether such a system could be used to provide feedback when teaching sign vocabulary. Whilst there are technologies available for teaching sign language, currently none provide feedback on the accuracy of the users' attempts at making signs. In this paper we report how the three-dimensional dsplay capability of the technology can enhance the users' experience. Also, when using tracking to identify errors in physical movements, how and when should feedback be given. A design science approach was undertaken to find a solution to this real world problem. The design and implementation of the solution provides interesting insights into how technology can not only emulate but also improve upon traditional learning of ph...

The utilization of Portuguese Sign Language inserted in bilingual education, appears as the cornerstone to the process of access to the curriculum by students with hearing impairments. The purpose of this study is to identify and analyze some mathematical terms used in the 1st and 2nd cycle of basic education and its correspondence in Portuguese Sign Language. The participants in this study are professionals related to the education of children with hearing impairment, specifically three trainers and three Portuguese Sign Language interpreters, members of schools' groups in the northern region of the country. The Methodology adopted comes from qualitative nature and the gathered data comes from semi-structured interviews made for the participants. These interviews were videotaped in order to provide better communication with trainers who have hearing disabilities, and also for a detailed analysis of gestures used. The conclusions of this study can be summarized as follows: When approached about the planning, preparation and conclusion of work all participants expressed concern over the planning and preparation of the same, showing the difficulties experienced by the absence of appropriate gestures to various curricular areas especially the interpreters. The participants mentioned that most often follow different paths, the trainers of LGP usually work thematically while the interpreters translate the curriculum presented. Regarding the interaction, collaboration with the school community the participants showed up open-minded, however they demonstrate to have just a few moments for a systematic and consistent implementation of this interaction.

Financiado pelo INR, no âmbito Subprograma Para Todos 2011 Em publicação (no prelo) nos Cadernos de Saúde, volume 4 (2011). Resumo. A língua gestual portuguesa (LGP) carece de ferramentas computacionais básicas. Entre as razões para a inexistência desses recursos está o pouco conhecimento que se tem daquela língua, de que não exise ainda uma descrição suficientemente detalhada e sistematizada para poder a partir dela proceder a modelização computacional. No âmbito do desenvolvimento de um avatar (um gestuante artificial) de LGP, temos vindo a descrever sistematicamente o seu sistema fonológico, tendo em vista a construção de um vocabulário computacional que sirva de base à criação de recursos informáticos úteis. Neste artigo, fornecemos alguns elementos para uma primeira descrição fonológica da LGP tendo em vista a sua modelização computacional. É feita a identificação dos parâmetros contrastivos (com recurso a pares mínimos) para a descrição da LGP, de entre as categorias fonológicas apontadas pelo modelo hand-tier. Além destas, é indicada e descrita como categoria a expressão facial, não tida em conta como distintiva naquele modelo, mas essencial para a LGP, tanto por permitir distinguir pares mínimos (o que indicia valor categorial relevante), mas por ser fundamental para uma descrição que conduza a um modelo de representação computacional suficientemente completo para permitir inteligibilidade e validação por parte dos utilizadores finais, a comunidade surda portuguesa.

The article analyzes the sociopolitical evolution that the role of sign language interpreter has registered in recent decades, in the international context and in Portugal. The participation and empowerment movements of the deaf community and associations, in the defense and guarantee of rights, are highlighted. Despite the public recognition of the functions performed by these professionals, the regulation of the signing interpreting job in Portugal is not yet a reality. The recent visibility of this professional class is analyzed, following the pandemic context, with the prospect of new paths for the dignification of the profession and, in this way, for the continuity of the mission of guaranteeing the rights of the deaf community. These conditions and circumstances, transversal to other nations, will certainly inspire international paths to support social progress.

The situation facing European countries after World War II provided the social and political context in which the Council of Europe began its deliberations on language and culture, deliberations that eventually led (in 2001) to the release of the current version of The Common European Framework of Reference for Languages: Learning, teaching, assessment (CEFR). Since then, the influence of the CEFR has increased steadily both within and outside of Europe. Following an introduction to the research and the rationale for it (Chapter 1), an outline of the CEFR and the political and social context out of which it emerged (Chapter 2) and a critical review of selected critiques of the CEFR (Chapter 3), this thesis reports on a questionnaire-based survey of responses to the CEFR of a sample of language teachers (Chapter 4) and an analysis of the impact of the CEFR in the area of curriculum design in two different contexts (Chapters 5 and 6), ending with and an overview of the research findings (Chapter 7).

RESUMO: O artigo analisa um conjunto de políticas linguísticas de educação de surdos para mostrar como saberes sobre a surdez se articulam a normativas de comportamentos linguísticos dos surdos e operam na constituição de formas possíveis de ser surdo na contemporaneidade. A análise utiliza, como um exemplo destacado, documentos legais que regulamentam a educação de surdos em Portugal. Nesses documentos, percebem-se recorrências discursivas que permitem pensar a produção de formas universais possíveis de ser surdo governáveis principalmente pelo uso da língua, seja ela de sinais, seja oral. Essas formas de ser podem ser pensadas para além de um território geográfico, uma vez que se inspiram em saberes e tendências internacionais da educação de surdos.

Deaf people across Europe struggle to have equal access to written information as the main language of instruction in school is the spoken language. The "Deaf Learning" project (2015-1-PL01-KA204-016) aims at improving the above-mentioned situation by developing a face-to-face course supported by a Moodle course according to the needs of young deaf adults. Within the project, the partners developed a framework for lessons ranging from A1 to B2 (on the basis of the Common European Framework for Languages, CEFR) to improve reading and writing skills in the respective national languages. The teaching materials for level A1 consist of 30 lessons in pdf printable version, and 6 Moodle lessons. To make the course suitable for the very heterogeneous group of deaf learners, the structure of the lessons was designed so that teachers can adapt it to the needs of the deaf students. The Moodle lessons are kept simple and visual; they include sign language videos, images, and H5P interactive contents. The teaching materials have been tested in Italy for the main target group (17 participants aged 16-25 years) and in Austria for all other interested parties (3 participants aged over 30 years) through face-to-face lessons. The participants' feedback was incorporated into the materials.

We argue that LARA, a new web platform that supports easy conversion of text into an online multimedia form designed to support non-native readers, is a good match to the task of creating high-quality resources useful for languages in the revivalistics spectrum. We illustrate with initial case studies in three widely different endangered/revival languages: Irish (Gaelic); Icelandic Sign Language (ÍTM); and Barngarla, a reclaimed Australian Aboriginal language. The exposition is presented from a language community perspective. Links are given to examples of LARA resources constructed for each language.

O uso dos gestos comunicativos durante o período prélinguístico são fundamentais para o desenvolvimento de competências comunicativas e linguísticas. Este estudo analisou as características dos gestos e das funções comunicativas veiculadas por crianças portuguesas dos 8 aos 18 meses de idade, registados durante a interação com os pais. Os resultados indicam um aumento de complexidade no uso dos tipos de gestos e funções comunicativas ao longo das faixas etárias. Salienta-se que, embora a frequência dos atos comunicativos aumente nas crianças mais velhas, se observa a diminuição do uso do gesto decorrente da emergência do uso da palavra.

Filip Verstraete has been involved in advocacy work for Deaf people in Flanders, Belgium, since he was a young adult. Belgium has three official spoken languages (Dutch, French, and German), and is divided into three communities. Moreover, the signed languages used in the Dutch speaking community (Flemish Sign Language or VGT) and the one in the French speaking part (la Langue des Signes Francophone-Belge or LSFB) are also recognised by the regional parliaments. The Flemish Community exercises authority in the Flemish-speaking region, whereas the French community exercise authority in the French and German speaking regions. The Flemish and French communities both have authority in the bilingual Brussels-Capital area. Filip's work has included giving lectures and presentations, lobbying at the highest level, and generally raising awareness of the rights of Deaf people in Flanders. Filip was recently appointed Director of FEVLADO: the Federation of Flemish Associations of the Deaf. In this interview, Filip shares his experiences in working with interpreters in healthcare settings, his views on remote interpreting services in Flanders, and recommendations for interpreter educators, students and practising sign language interpreters. The interview follows a presentation by Filip at a medical interpreting congress organised by the University of Leuven in December 2014.

Este artigo versa sobre o projeto de pesquisa e extensão “SER em tempos de COVID 19” cujos objetivos são: socializar os dados da pesquisa sobre os desafios vivenciados pelas/os discentes do curso de Serviço Social da UnB durante a suspensão das atividades acadêmicas; construir um canal de comunicação entre o departamento, docentes e discentes e; socializar informações da universidade e produções teóricas dos/as docentes do departamento sobre o contexto de pandemia.

Resumo A língua gestual portuguesa (LGP) é uma língua estruturada e natural, devendo, por isso, ser a escolhida no processo de ensino-aprendizagem das crianças surdas portuguesas. No entanto, há a necessidade de expandir o seu conhecimento, sobretudo sobre as etapas de desenvolvimento e aquisição, dando especial atenção à consciência querológica ‒ estudo da apropriação e o processo de construção desta competência pela criança/sujeito. Apesar da necessidade de maior aprofundamento dessa temática, as evidências apontam que o seu desenvolvimento assume um papel importante no processo de aquisição da linguagem. Neste sentido, atendendo à escassez de informação científica sobre a temática, este artigo, em formato de revisão de literatura, propõe-se a abordar a aquisição da LGP, através da descrição detalhada dos seus estágios, bem como dos diferentes contextos de aquisição. A consciência querológica é, então, abordada no âmbito da sua aquisição, parâmetros e lacunas ‒ conceituais e metod...

A LGP na construção da cidadania: uma face do cosmopolitismo Aristóteles confere a primordialidade ao sentido da visão, mas defendeu ser a audição o sentido mais importante no que diz respeito ao desenvolvimento do intelecto. Sabemos que a transmissão de uma cultura foi essencialmente oral, daí a primazia do sentido da visão, não destituindo os cegos de capacidades cognitivas, mas colocando-os ao mesmo nível. O que não acontece com os surdos. (in Martins, 2006:49).

A educação para a diversidade e cidadania continua a ser redefinida à luz de diferentes paradigmas educacionais emergentes. Entendemo-las como faces do multilinguismo e multiculturalismo e como espaços de cosmopolitismo emancipatório. Reflectiremos ...

Morgado and Brito study predicative sentences in Portuguese Sign Language (LGP) with adjectives and locatives; the data collected, either in provoked productions of four Deaf informants, or through the collection in the Spread the Sign dictionary, allowed them to conclude that there is null copula with adjectives, with individual predicates and with stage-level predicates, as opposed to locative predicates, which are produced with a sign for the verb, followed or preceded by a locative index and, in several constructions, accompanied by the mouthing /lala/. This finding justified, by the authors, a comparative analysis between null copula oral languages and other sign languages, in particular ASL, Brazilian Sign Language (LIBRAS), Spanish Sign Language (LSE) and Finnish Sign Language (FinSL). Word order, as we have already said, is also an aspect to be explored regarding sign languages, with some researchers claiming that sign languages have greater flexibility in word/phrase order than oral languages, but, on the other hand, there are linguists who, comparing different sign languages, advocate in favour of dominant patterns of order. Mariana Martins, Hope Morgan and Victoria Nyst studied word order and argument structure in Guinea-Bissau Sign Language (LGG), an emerging sign language, therefore not yet fully stabilized. Data were obtained from an elicitation task by 12 Deaf signing women, from the observation of videos that captured transitive events. The analysis allowed the authors to realize that the verb arguments are indexed in space, but the directionality of the verbs does not always consider the location of the arguments. The sentence has the verb in the final position, but there may be differences related to the arguments' animacy features: the SOV pattern appears when the subject is non-human and the OSV pattern appears with two human arguments, which allows finding similarities with other emerging sign languages, namely the sign languages that appear in villages (village SL). One of the questions always raised about the lexicon of sign languages is to know to what extent the used signs are iconic, trying to approximate the shape of objects, or whether they are arbitrary, with an increasingly distant relationship from that shape. Rosana Constâncio and Jorge Bidarra, based on several examples from LIBRAS discuss this issue, considering that, in sign languages, and from a functional perspective, iconicity cannot be considered an antagonistic phenomenon of arbitrariness, since, if certain parts of signs can be iconic, other parts are not. Thus, the authors consider that the two dimensions characterize LIBRAS, just like any other natural language. Ana Mineiro also discusses this issue from the analysis of how the syntactic space,-the space where the signs of a sign language are produced-, is modified in an emerging language, the Sign Language of São Tomé and Príncipe (LGSTP). The study allowed to observe how, from a wide space regarding the use of the whole body and the production of signs away from the signer, signs are getting closer to the trunk and that decreases in terms of the occupied space area, in a process which the author considers to be universal, neurolinguistically motivated, in search of linguistic economy and less energy in the articulation of the sign and in the use of space. Marta Morgado and Victoria Nyst also study two village sign languages, one used in Adamorobe (AsaSL), Ghana, and the other in Bouakako (LaSiBo), Ivory Coast. The first language exists for several generations and currently has thirty speakers. The

A Pátria dos Surdos procura identificar e descrever o caminho mais apropriado – na família, na escola e na sociedade – para este grupo minoritário, com especial enfoque na sua educação e formação. Para atingir este objetivo fomos ao encontro de comunidades e de pessoas surdas, observando-as no seu meio natural e apresentando-as através de narrativas que permitem retratar e descrever os seus modos de vida e os seus percursos escolares e profissionais. Relativamente às comunidades, o foco foi posto nas línguas gestuais como elo de ligação e de inclusão; relativamente às pessoas surdas, procuramos ver os níveis académicos e as carreiras profissionais atingidos antes e depois da emergência das línguas gestuais. Os resultados mostram que os surdos não educados nas línguas gestuais raramente vão além do ensino primário, enquanto os educados nas línguas gestuais chegam com facilidade ao ensino superior, obtêm títulos académicos ao mais alto nível e entram em carreiras e profissões de alto ...

Nas últimas décadas, cresceu a consciência do papel da escrita para a construção do conhecimento nas diversas disciplinas. A justificação para a valorização da presença alargada da escrita no currículo encontra-se no facto de, por meio do processo que põe ...

The purpose of this study was to examine and highlight the perceptions of interpersonal relationships and learning experiences between sign language teachers and English-speaking learners with special interest given to socio-political groups and ethnolinguistics.

Data was collected from sign language teachers, learners and Deaf community stakeholders, on an international scale. The methodology for this research was Social Interactionism, with a mixed-method of data collection including questionnaires, interviews, a Facebook forum and the Barrett-Lenard Relationship Inventory.

Analysis highlighted that a sign language teacher’s cultural background and English knowledge impact on learner experience and thus sign language acquisition. This was highlighted in frequent miscommunication and misunderstandings. Teachers who demonstrated an awareness of English ethnolinguistics were those seen to achieve better results.

For analytical purposes in this thesis, the group ‘Ddeaf’ (pronounced ‘mid-d deaf’) is considered as a group of bi-lingual and bi-cultural individuals. Results suggests that the knowledge these SL teachers possess provides a smooth learning experience for hearing SL learners. From this, supportive ideas and strategies may be formed with the intention of improving sign language teacher-learner relationships, cross-culture understandings and ultimately SL acquisition thus resulting in freer flowing sign language dialogues between native and second language users.

SIGN-HUB is a European project involving collaborators from seven countries funded within the Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation program. The scope of the project is both socio-cultural and linguistic, as its aim is to document and preserve the culture, the history, and the languages of European Deaf communities. After a brief description of the various components of the project, we focus on the documentation of the life stories of Deaf people and the creation of a digital sign language archive.