Research Article

Conversational Regulators in American Sign Language Students

Volume: 6 Number: 2 January 6, 2025
TR EN

Conversational Regulators in American Sign Language Students

Abstract

Language proficiency can be framed as grammatical, sociolinguistic and strategic competency. Historically, the grammatical strategies of hearing students who study American Sign Language (ASL) have been emphasized. To address this gap, a Discourse Completion Task was designed to look at a little explored area, conversational regulators, in 14 hearing students who had taken ASL 1 (one semester) as compared to 14 hearing students who reported taking no ASL classes. Participants watched and responded to 11 videotaped contexts in ASL. The findings indicate that the ASL1 students had learned various ASL conversational regulators, such as frowns (* p = .00) and hand waving (the HEY sign in ASL) (* p= .00). They followed Deaf culture norms for not talking and gesturing at the same time (* p = .00). They also demonstrated reduced use of miming compared to the non-ASL students (* p = .00). The findings are discussed within the context of existing literature, and recommendations are offered for future research and practice.

Keywords

Supporting Institution

Funding was provided by the University of North Carolina, Greensboro Undergraduate Research and Creativity Award.

Ethical Statement

The investigator declares no conflicts of interest regarding the study design or outcomes. All participants provided informed consent, and their data was securely stored, de-identified, and treated with strict confidentiality. Ethics approval for this study was granted by the University of North Carolina Greensboro Human Research Ethics Committee (19=0391). Participants were consented prior to their participation in the study.

Thanks

Funding for this project was provided by the University of North Carolina Greensboro, Undergraduate Research and Creativity Award.

References

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  3. American Sign Language Teachers Association (ASLTA). (n.d.). ASL Standards. https://aslta.org/asl-standards/
  4. Ashton, G., Cagle, K., Kurz, K. B., Newell, W., Peterson, R., & Zinza, J. E. (2013). Standards for learning American Sign Language. American Sign Language Teachers Association. https://shorturl.at/R3WqK
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  6. Baker-Shenk, C. & Cokely, D. (1980). American Sign Language: A teacher's resource text on grammar and culture. Clerc Books, Gallaudet University Press.
  7. Beal, J. (2020). University American Sign Language (ASL) second language learners: Receptive and expressive ASL performance. Journal of Interpretation, 28(1), Article 1.
  8. Beal, J. S., Scheetz, N. A., Trussell, J. W., McAllister, A., & Listman, J. (2018). University American Sign Language learners: Longitudinal self- and faculty evaluation ratings. Journal of Interpretation 26(1), 1–27.

Details

Primary Language

English

Subjects

Impaired Hearing Education

Journal Section

Research Article

Publication Date

January 6, 2025

Submission Date

October 29, 2024

Acceptance Date

December 31, 2024

Published in Issue

Year 2024 Volume: 6 Number: 2

APA
Mcdermid, C., & Lipps, J. (2025). Conversational Regulators in American Sign Language Students. Turkish Journal of Special Education Research and Practice, 6(2), 1-22. https://doi.org/10.37233/TRSPED.2024.0149
AMA
1.Mcdermid C, Lipps J. Conversational Regulators in American Sign Language Students. TRSPED. 2025;6(2):1-22. doi:10.37233/TRSPED.2024.0149
Chicago
Mcdermid, Campbell, and Jacob Lipps. 2025. “Conversational Regulators in American Sign Language Students”. Turkish Journal of Special Education Research and Practice 6 (2): 1-22. https://doi.org/10.37233/TRSPED.2024.0149.
EndNote
Mcdermid C, Lipps J (January 1, 2025) Conversational Regulators in American Sign Language Students. Turkish Journal of Special Education Research and Practice 6 2 1–22.
IEEE
[1]C. Mcdermid and J. Lipps, “Conversational Regulators in American Sign Language Students”, TRSPED, vol. 6, no. 2, pp. 1–22, Jan. 2025, doi: 10.37233/TRSPED.2024.0149.
ISNAD
Mcdermid, Campbell - Lipps, Jacob. “Conversational Regulators in American Sign Language Students”. Turkish Journal of Special Education Research and Practice 6/2 (January 1, 2025): 1-22. https://doi.org/10.37233/TRSPED.2024.0149.
JAMA
1.Mcdermid C, Lipps J. Conversational Regulators in American Sign Language Students. TRSPED. 2025;6:1–22.
MLA
Mcdermid, Campbell, and Jacob Lipps. “Conversational Regulators in American Sign Language Students”. Turkish Journal of Special Education Research and Practice, vol. 6, no. 2, Jan. 2025, pp. 1-22, doi:10.37233/TRSPED.2024.0149.
Vancouver
1.Campbell Mcdermid, Jacob Lipps. Conversational Regulators in American Sign Language Students. TRSPED. 2025 Jan. 1;6(2):1-22. doi:10.37233/TRSPED.2024.0149