FY 2008 Annual Report of Achievements - Gallaudet University

The major themes presented by the parents were adjusting to their children’s needs,
childhood interpreting, relationship with their family of origin, their children’s bilingualism and
biculturalism, the need for parenting resources, interactions with hearing individuals, flexibility in
communication methods, and parental positive coping strategies. Overall, these parents presented as
effective parents who focused on developing strong relationships with their children and viewed
them through a bicultural and bilingual perspective.
Funding source: GRI Small Grant
FY 2007-2008 product(s):
Lawson, A.M. (2008). Exploring the experiences of culturally deaf parents who are raising hearing children. Gallaudet University,
Washington, DC.
Gesture and ASL Acquisition
Status: Ongoing Begin date: April 1, 2001 End date: No set date
Principal Investigator(s):
Galvan, Dennis – Psychology
Piñar, Pilar – Foreign Languages, Literatures, and Cultures
Mather, Susan – Linguistics
Emmorey, Karen – San Diego State University, School of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences
Holzrichter, Amanda – Foreign Languages, Literatures, and Cultures
Description:
In the first phase of this project, the researchers investigated whether pre-existing,
communicative gestural behavior serves as a bootstrapping mechanism for acquiring the
grammaticalized gestural elements of ASL (e.g., spatially modulated verbs and pronouns, role shift,
grammatical facial expressions) among adult hearing learners. More specifically, the goal was to
investigate whether the quality of co-speech gesture can serve as a diagnostic to predict ASL aptitude.
In the second phase of the project, the researchers are tracking the development of certain
space-related variables among beginning and intermediate hearing and deaf adult learners. To do
this, the researchers are collecting videotaped data from hearing and deaf learners. Subjects watch
several cartoon vignettes then retell the stories in ASL to another subject. The investigators have
developed a coding system to analyze the subjects’ use of role-shift, classifiers, and location within
ASL discourse.
Funding source: GRI Priority Fund
FY 2007-2008 product(s):
Piñar, P., Galvan, D., & Mather, S. (2007, November). Gesture and mental imagery in ASL L-2 acquisition. Paper presentation
at the 32nd Boston University Conference on Language Development, Boston.
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