Abstract
Background
• A revamp of the Hong Kong Sign Language (HKSL) curriculum and its multimedia resources has been underway recently in response to the newly developed Common European Framework of Reference for Languages – Sign Language.
• The Hong Kong Sign Language Corpus (http://www.cslds.org/hkslcorpus/browsearchive.jsp), constructed under an earlier GRF project to support sign linguistics research, consists of hours of video recordings of naturalistic signed monologues and dialogues in HKSL, with English glosses.
• With some modifications, the corpus is a helpful resource to support the teaching and learning of HKSL, particularly in maximizing students’ exposure to use of language in contexts beyond the textbook and to the different signing styles of Deaf sign language users.
Objectives
1. Extracting naturalistic HKSL samples to demonstrate how the target grammar and vocabulary items are used to convey a communicative intent. The samples will support the grammar and vocabulary learning of all 24 units of the HKSL curriculum from Level I to Level VI
2. Developing text-based teaching materials to supplement the video-based naturalistic grammar and vocabulary samples
3. Incorporating the naturalistic HKSL samples and text-based teaching materials into the grammar section of the eLearning platform, to enhance comprehension of the existing grammatical explanations based on teacher-constructed examples, and to expose students to lexical variation in vocabulary learning
4. Establishing an item bank reflecting the linguistic properties of HKSL and from which samples for teaching and learning and for assessment are generated
How to achieve the goals
Due to time constraint, the current project will focus on processing the data to support teaching and learning. The item bank mentioned above shall contain samples for later use, especially in the development of language assessment items. For supporting teaching and learning, the team will:
1. Extract 72 signed utterances from the video recordings of the corpus which contain the relevant grammar items and associated vocabulary included in the 6 levels of HKSL;
2. Extract 72 signed episodes showing the contexts in which the signed utterances containing certain vocabulary and the grammar items occur;
3. Develop 24 sets of text-based materials to supplement the corpus-based naturalistic samples;
4. Incorporate the above into the grammar section of all 24 units on the eLearning platform;
5. Discuss with language instructors to identify an effective strategy to incorporate the materials to enhance teaching and learning;
6. Conduct 2 rounds of questionnaire survey to obtain learners’ feedback on the use of naturalistic signed language samples in teaching.
Brief write-up
Project objectives
The project aims to extract naturalistic Hong Kong Sign Language (HKSL) samples to demonstrate how the target grammar and vocabulary items are used to convey a communicative intent, covering all 24 units of the HKSL curriculum from Level I to Level VI. It also develops text-based teaching materials to supplement the video-based naturalistic grammar samples. The project incorporates the videos and texts into the grammar section of the e-learning platform, to enrich the existing grammar explanations and teacher-constructed examples.
Activities, process and outcomes
- Extract naturalist HKSL samples from the Hong Kong Sign Language Corpus (http://www.cslds.org/hkslcorpus/browsearchive.jsp)
- Prepare and produce signed episodes and text-based materials to accompany the extracted samples
- Incorporate relevant materials into the grammar section of respective units on HKSL learning materials hosted in the e-learning platform (http://www.cslds.org/hksl_book/)
- Discuss with language instructors to identify an effective strategy to incorporate the materials to enhance teaching and learning
- Conduct one round of questionnaire survey with a small group of current and former students of the HKSL courses to obtain learners’ feedback on the use of naturalistic signed language samples in teaching.
Deliverables and evaluation
Participants who participated in the questionnaire surveys strongly agree or agree that the three project objectives have been achieved. 156 naturalistic HKSL samples supplemented with written Chinese and English explanations. 24 sets of the naturalistic HKSL samples demonstrating how specific grammars are adopted to realize communicative intent. This project generated the first sets of naturalistic HKSL data for supporting vocabulary and grammar teaching to fill a gap in HKSL teaching that has been relying on language samples created to achieve specific pedagogical objectives.
Dissemination, diffusion, impact and sharing of good practices
A non-government organization, SLCO Community Resources that offers various sign language courses for the community and schools has been contacted in arranging a sharing session for the project team to present the outcomes of the project. The outcomes of this project will also be reported by the HKSL teaching team in an invited talk at the Special Forum: Sign Language and Linguistics in Chinese Context of the 28th Annual Conference of The International Association of Chinese Linguistics held at CUHK in May 2022.
Impact on teaching and learning
This project will enhance the quality of teaching and learning for students of Hong Kong Sign Language I to VI. The corpus, originally constructed to support sign linguistic research, contains signed conversations between pairs of native to near-native Deaf signers. It has been adopted by the project to support teaching and learning. The naturalistic samples extracted from the corpus will supplement explicit grammar teaching and expose students to language usage beyond the teacher-constructed signing demonstrations. In questionnaires and focus group interviews of previous projects, students expressed the need to learn how to use the language naturally in conversations and to view the sign language produced by other Deaf signers. Both students and teachers would benefit from the new materials. When the teachers try out the materials in class, an impact will be created on their teaching practice.