Keywords
The SignTeach Keywords are like a Table of Contents: the keywords show you the topics that you can find on this website. With, for each keyword, links to the good examples, the podcasts, and other resources with information about this keyword.
Work in progress!
Assessment
Int. Sign
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Assessment means measuring or testing in some way, what someone has learned. Assessment is important for the learner, because it shows the learner what progress he or she has made. But also: what knowledge or skills he or she still has to work on.
Assessment is important for the teacher, because it says something about the learner, but also about the teacher and his/her teaching skills. And: about the match (or mismatch) between the needs of the learner(s) and the skills of the teacher.
Assessment is important also as 'proof' of what you've learned. You've passed a certain level, a certain test. This means, that you have certain skills, know certain things.
For this, assessment procedures have to be objective and standardized.
Self-assessment means that the learner decides him/herself whether or not he or she has certain skills, and/or at what level. The CEFR was developed as a self-assessment scale for language skills.
Blended learning & ICT
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A ‘blend’ is a mix of two or more things. Blended learning is a mix of traditional classroom learning and on-line e-learning. Learners do part of their learning in a classroom or in face to face meetings with a teacher, and part of their learning at home, using materials (videos, texts, exercises) on the internet.
There are different kinds of ‘blends’. It can be weekly meetings with a teacher and on-line homework during the rest of the week, it can be 1 week of full-time classroom meetings. and on-line self-study the rest of the year. It can be anything in between.
Sometimes on-line learning includes on-line personal contacts with a teacher (email, chat, Skype) and/or with other students, but not always.
Sometimes, 'blended learning' is used to refer to classroom teaching that uses a 'blend' of traditional and new media: pen and paper, whiteboard, computer lab.
CEFR
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CEFR stands for: Common European Framework of Reference for Languages. The CEFR is a general ‘framework’ that can be used to develop language courses, learning materials and language tests.
The central core of the CEFR is a description of 6 levels of competency for language users: from beginner to advanced. Or in CEFR terms: from A1 to C2. For each level, the CEFR describes 'can do' skills: competencies of a language user for listening, speaking (spoken production), conversation (spoken interaction), reading and writing.
The descriptions focus on language skills, that is: on actual language use.
For instance:
- A1 Speaking:
I can use simple phrases and sentences to describe where I live and people I know. - B1 Spoken interaction:
I can deal with most situations likely to arise whilst travelling in an area where the language is spoken.
I can enter unprepared into conversation on topics that are familiar, of personal interest or pertinent to everyday life (e.g. family, hobbies, work, travel and current events)
The advantage: the CEFR can be used for all languages. The A1 level for speaking in French is comparable to the A1 level for speaking in English or Arabic, or any other language. In the EU, the CEFR is used for the development of foreign language curricula, learning materials, vocabulary lists, language tests, and much more.
The ProSign project (see Resources) adapted the CEFR levels, so that they can be used for sign languages.
Children
Podcasts
Text
Teaching sign language to children usually means: teaching the parents and families of the children to sign. The children then learn to sign naturally, by communicating with their parents and relatives.
Storytelling is a very attractive and effective way of teaching sign language to parents and children.
Classifiers
Podcasts
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Classifiers (int. Sign)
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A classifier is a handshape that is associated with a particular meaning. For instance, the 1-handshape can refer to long, thin objects, the 3-handshape to vehicles.
Classifier handschapes can be used to modify the 'library' form of signs, to indicate a more specific meaning. For instance, when you sign GIVE, you can use a classifier to specify what you are giving: something small or big, flat or round, light or heavy.
Communicative Approach (or CLT)
Good Examples
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The communicative approach was developed in the late 1970s, as a reaction to the traditional grammar translation methods of language teaching. The communicative approach is also called: CLT: Communicative Language Teaching.
In the traditional method, learners learned vocabulary and grammar rules, and practised the new language by translating from one language into the other.
The communicative approach, on the other hand, is based on the idea that people learn a language by interacting with other language users. Language is interaction. With a communicative approach, learners do not memorize grammar rules and lists of words, they do not translate from language into the other. Instead, learners are presented with 'real life' situations, where they have to use the new language. They learn by doing, not by memorizing rules.
Classroom activities used in the communicative approach include the following:
- Role-play
- Interviews
- information gap
- Games
- Language exchanges
- Surveys
- Pair-work
- Learning by teaching
For more information, see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communicative_language_teaching
Curriculum
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A curriculum is the roadmap of the journey of a teacher and/or a learner, to the end-goal of a course or training programme. A curriculum can be more or less detailed. The journey can be long or short. A curriculum can be made by the teacher him-/herself, or it can be a standardized curriculum that is used nationally.
Usually a curriculum will include information about:
- The starting point of the learners and/or the entry requirements;
- The objectives: the learning outcomes;
- The units and lessons in the course: the learning activities, learning content, and the order and organization of learning activities;
- The materials: books, videos, equipment;
- Testing and evaluation: tools and procedures that the teacher –and/or the learners themselves – can use to determine whether the objectives are being met. Are learners learning? Is the teaching effective?
Deaf Culture
Podcasts
- Teaching Deaf Culture within a Sign Language curriculum (Int. Sign)
- Getting in touch with the Deaf Community (Int. Sign)
- The importance and tips how to meet the Deaf Community for learning sign language (Int. Sign)
- Using performative texts in teaching (Int. Sign)
- A storybook from a Deaf perspective: the creative process behind it (Int. Sign)
Resources
- YouTube: search for Deaf Culture, or similar terms in your own sign language. Also: Deaf History, Deaf Poets.
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Deaf Culture is a combination of many things: beliefs, sign language, education, history. Deaf Culture is international - Deaf people will recognize and feel at home with each other across the world, even before they start to sign. But it is also national, and even local or associated with a specific school for the deaf.
Deaf culture is recognized under Article 30, Paragraph 4 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which states that "Persons with disabilities shall be entitled, on an equal basis with others, to recognition and support of their specific cultural and linguistic identity, including sign languages and deaf culture."
Dialogue
Distance learning, e-learning
Eye contact
Feedback, correction
Games
Humour
Iconicity
Text
A classifier is a handshape that is associated with a particular meaning. For instance, the 1-handshape can refer to long, thin objects, the 3-handshape to vehicles.
Classifier handschapes can be used to modify the 'library' form of signs, to indicate a more specific meaning. For instance, when you sign GIVE, you can use a classifier to specify what you are giving: something small or big, flat or round, light or heavy.
Indexing
Lexicon
Metalinguistics
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Linguistics is the scientific study of
- the form of language: the building blocks and building rules,
- the meaning of language: how words, sentences and texts relate to things and thoughts, and
- the use of language: how situation, location, the relationship between speakers, and the intentions of speakers can affect language form and language meaning.
Metalinguistics, or metalinguistic awareness is a combination of the Greek word ‘meta’ and ‘linguistics’. ‘Meta’ means ‘about’. It means that someone can take a step back and look and think about language, and the differences between languages.
Metalinguistic awareness is important for sign language teachers, because it helps them to explain and demonstrate signs, sign language grammar, and sign language use. For instance:
- how handshape or movement can relate to the meaning of a sign,
- how signs can be modified to express size or intensity,
- how you can show that something is in the past or in the future,
- how signing to friends is different from signing to a teacher or parent, etc.
Metalinguistic awareness is often a side effect of learning a new language: by studying a new language, learners become aware of the form, rules and use of their first language and how these are different from the form, rules and use of the new language.
Non-manual features
Parents, families
Pronouns
Receptive skills
Register
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"Register" is the level or style of your language use: lexicon, syntax, pragmatics.
Register is dependent on the situation, the topic of a conversation, and your communication partner(s).
Register is important for teachers: they must take the language level of the students into account.
It is important for learners: they must be aware of the differences between formal and informal signing; between street signs, home signs, regional dialects and 'standard' signs.
Role taking, role shift, constructed action
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Role Shifting is an important aspect of sign language grammar. A signer uses role shifting to assume the role of various characters in his story. For instance:
- to differentiates between characters in a story or message;
- to allow the narrator to “speak” from a character’s perspective;
- to places a quoted phrase or passage in the context of a visual interaction;
- to eliminate the need for redundant “He said.../She said…” dialogue.
Storytelling
Teacher Skills
Podcasts
- Intro and explanation of teacher skills (Int. Sign)
- Raising the profile of Sign Language teachers (Int. Sign)
- Qualification Status of Teachers of BSL (Int. Sign)
- Giving Feedback (Int. Sign)
- Intervision: colleagues mentor and coach each other (Int. Sign)
- How I make teaching materials (Int. Sign)
- Psychology of Learning (Int.Sign
- Working as a self-employed teacher / free-lancer (Int. Sign)
Text
Teacher skills, or teacher competences, or teacher competencies: different words, but the same meaning. Teacher skills describe what a teacher must know, and must be able to do. If you search the web, you will find different lists of 'teacher skills'. In the SignTeach project, we discussed what skills are important for sign language teachers. You can watch partners explain the skills that we decided on, on this website: https://www.signteach.eu/index.php/teacherskills-video
Check under 'podcasts' to find videos explaining specific teacher skills.