Teaching and Learning Signed Languages International Perspectives and Practices

This international collection of research from the field of signed language teaching fills a gap in the applied linguistics literature. While signed language teaching has rapidly established an accepted place in the academic domain of second language teaching, pedagogy has widely been shaped by conventional practices, available teaching curricula, and findings from descriptive linguistic research. In general, developments in curricula, teaching approaches, and assessment have been relatively unmediated by applied, empirical research on learning and teaching. Teaching and Learning Signed Languages contributes to expanding an emerging research literature on contemporary practices and issues in the teaching and learning of signed languages. 11 chapters by authors in Europe, Asia-Pacific and North America address the following themes:

Training of signed language teachers 
Contexts for signed language teaching and learning
Application of digital tools at the research-teaching nexus
Learner perspectives 
Effects of first and second languages and modality in signed language instruction
Formative assessment

David McKee is Director of the Deaf Studies Research Unit in the School of Linguistics and Applied Language Studies at Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand. David has taught sign language and Deaf Studies since the 1970s in USA and in New Zealand, and trained Deaf sign language teachers in New Zealand and the Asia-Pacific region.

Russell S. Rosen is Lecturer in Teaching of American Sign Language. She has published research articles in Deaf Studies, ASL Teaching, and Disability Studies, presented papers in national and international conferences, and is a board member at several educational and social institutions.

Rachel McKee is Programme Director of Deaf at Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand. She has co-founded programs in sign language interpreting and Deaf Studies, including sign language teaching, and is qualified as an NZSL and ASL interpreter. Research publications span description and use of NZSL, and interpreting.

PART I: DEVELOPMENT AND IMPACTS OF SIGN LANGUAGE TEACHING
1. Swedish Sign Language as a Second Language; Anna-Lena Nilsson and Krister Schönström
2. Developing the Deaf World; David McKee and James Woodward
3. Educating the Trainers of British Sign Language Tutors; Gary A. Quinn and Graham H. Turner
PART II: INNOVATIONS IN USING DIGITAL TOOLS IN TEACHING AND LEARNING
4. Using Corpus-Based Research to Inform the Teaching of Auslan (Australian Sign Language) as a Second Language; Donovan Cresdee and Trevor Johnston
5. Elca – An E-learning Unit for Acquiring Constructed Action; Renate Fischer and Anke Müller
6. Transcription as a Tool for Increasing Metalinguistic Awareness in Learners of German Sign Language as a Second Language; Thomas Kaul, Reiner Griebel and Emily Kaufman
PART III: LEARNERS AND CONTEXTS FOR LEARNING
7. Native Language, Target Language and the Teaching and Learning of American Sign Language Vocabulary Russell S. Rosen, Mary Delouise, Amanda Boyle and Kerry Daley
8. Hearing Parents as Plurilingual Learners of ASL; Kristin Snoddon
9. Learner Autonomy in New Zealand Sign Language Interpreting Students; Lynette Pivac
10. Teaching British Sign Language as a Second Language to Deaf Sign Language Users; Jens Hessmann and Liesbeth Pyfers
PART IV: ASSESSMENT
11. Formative Assessment for Student Progress and Program Improvement in L2 Sign Language Programs; David H. Smith And Jeffrey E. Davis