Native-English Speakers with Low Literacy Skills Ability to Learn ASL
Amy L. Konopa
TASL 507 Assignment 5: Research Proposal
University of Northern Colorado
November 26, 2017
Low English Literacy Skills and American Sign Language Learning
It is no secret to any individual involved in education that there is a strong corrolation between English literacy skills and socioeconomic factors such as race, ethnicity and income. A multitude of research and data support this mutual relationship between low literacy skills and low-income, minority students as well as between high level literacy skills in high-income, (primarily) White students. With this information, educators must turn their heads to Title I schools. These schools are determined when at least 40% of students receive free or reduced lunch, concluding that at minimum, almost half of the student population lives in a low-income household. Federal funding is then given to assist in meeting educational goals and state academic standards. According to the U.S. Department of Education, the purpose “…is to ensure that all children have a fair, equal, and significant opportunity to obtain a high quality education and reach, at minimum, proficiency on challenging state academic achievement standards and state academic assessments (Title I, n.d.).” If this is the case, what resources are being provided to world language educators to ensure that fair and equal measures are being implimented and assessed to obtain minimum proficiency?
Across the United States, recognition of foreign languages, specifically American Sign Language, is not held to the same academic rigor and standards of core classes, sometimes to the degree of counting for no more than an elective credit. However, ASL educators understand the value and importance of second langauge learning and its global impact. Due to this strong cry for recognition, it is imparitive for educational boards, especially government-funded institutions to research and provide high-quality, ASL classrooms tailored to the unique and individual needs of low-income, low-literacy students. With prior research suggesting a significant 3-5 year literacy gap, is it possible for students who do not posess strong first langauge skills to meet the academic standards expected in state foreign language assessments? Through the use of a quantitative, corrolational study the following question is to be examined: Is there a correlation between low English literacy scores for native-English speakers and low final exam scores of entry level American Sign Language courses for students in Title I schools enrolled to meet foreign language requirements?
Literature review
In order to understand how educators can impliment learning strategies for second language ASL learners, one must first determine the cause of low-literacy skills for native English users. First and foremost, “There is a need to acknowledge that children from poorer families are poorer in terms of school literacy (Kellett, 2009).” Inadequacies of literacy learning opportunities typically stem from the child’s home enviroment. Absence of available books, lack of reading practices and modeling by adults in the household or even the privation of talking about books contribute to these reduced literacy learning habits. These factors are almost non-existant in upper-socio economic groups due to their exclusive access to resources as a result of wealth and power. In conducting research to discover patterns of literacy in U.S. students, Reardon, S.,Valentino, R. A., & Shores, K. A. (2012) explain that Black and Hispanic students tend to enter high school averaging around three years behind their white and Asian peers. Those individuals steming from low-income families average at five years behind those with moderate to high-income households. Most valuably, they go on to state: “These are gaps that no amount of remedial instruction in high school is likely to eliminate (Reardon et al. 2012).”
So what happens when these students with inapt literacy acquisition in their native langauge enroll in an ASL foreign language classroom? Researchers, Frost, R., Siegelman, N., Narkiss, A., & Afek, L. (2013) write: “Indeed, it has been shown that first-language linguistic capacities, such as phonological awareness, syntactic abilities, orthographic knowledge, and vocabulary, generally predict success in second-language acquisition.” Frost et. Al (2013) go on to explain the similarities between the level of literacy achieved in one’s native language and to what extent that ability reflects the acquistion of literacy in a foreign language. Through a corrolational study of native English speakers enrolled in a basic Hebrew course, the process of assimilating the Hebrew writing system was analyzed. Despite markers of learning Hebrew being mostly documented in the domain of visual word recognition due to its Simitic nature, the written system still represents a 2-dimensional langauge and does not take into account the visual recognization of 3-dimensional languages. Extensive research has been conducted regarding successful literacy aquistion in second language learning yet the researchers did not take into account visual-spatial languages, specifically those without a formal writing system.
On the contrary, Pein, M. V., & Altarriba, J. (2011) investigated the ways in which notions of semantics and phonology are acquired by novice adult learners of American Sign Language in corrolation to their understanding of their L1, English.
Pein & Altarriba (2011) explain:
Neurobiological research in ASL has confirmed that visual-spatial langauge processing is essentially the same as oral-aural language processing (Emmorey, 2002; Emmorey et al., 2003; Horwitz et. al., 2003). The overall similarities in processing between ASL and spoken English suggest that novice ASL bilinguals may represent the new signs in the L2 via the same mechanism that functions for bilinguals learning a second spoken language (p. 206).
However, the participants in this study were adult learners whose self-rating of English proficiency averaged 9.3 on a 10-point scale. With this information, it is still unclear if and to what degree native English-speakers deficit in L1 literacy skills will struggle in learning ASL as their L2. A major gap in the literature is still apparant for these corrolations between the effects of literacy for spoken and signed languages.
In an attempt to rule out the notion that acquisition of a spoken language differs from that of a signed language, supporting evidence was found suggesting the vitality of any langauge regardless of modality requires a strong foundation in the L1 in order to show minimum proficiency in the L2. In a study of the relationship between ASL and English literacy in Deaf children, statistically signifcant data shows higher level performance of English literacy skills when students have well developed ASL skills compared to those in which ASL skills are lacking. Regardless of the limitations such as parental communication involvement, strong affirmation, “…indicates the importance of consistent linguistic input (regardless of language type) on various academic and cognitive outcomes (Strong, M., & Prinz, P. M., 1997).” Furthermore, interpretations of these findings suggest that English literacy skills may also effect ASL ability. The acquistion of English is a skill that may potentially enhance the learners acquistion of ASL. If this is the case, the same for the reverse can be assumed as well and continues to support the need for a thorough understanding of basic language functions to promote academic success in second langauge learning.
Proposed Research
Past research relating to English literacy skills has focused on the relationships between first language proficiency and second language acquistion of spoken languages, but has left out how those literacy skills may apply to signed languages. The intention of this proposed research study is to determine if students in Title I schools, with low or insufficient literacy skills in their native English language, do not perform up to the academic standards required to pass American Sign Language courses. If results do suggest that there is a relationship between low literacy and ASL second language proficency, what can we as educators do to provide additional support and remediation in an attempt to bridge the gap? Are students provided a fair chance for success or already set up for failure when the curriculum does not align with the cognitive and literary abilties of majority students in Title I schools? With this information, teachers may choose to revise their lesson plans and attempt to challenge the state or district standards set for their classrooms. Furthermore, to what degree should literacy skills be inforced in a classroom where the target language does not contain an established writing system?
Participants
Participants for this study should be full-time students in a Title I school enrolled in an entry level (I or equivilant) American Sign Language course in Northeast Florida. Due to Florida state foreign language graduation requirements, students may range from but should not exceed 14-18 years of age. Two major requirements must be met for student data to be utlized in the study: (1) participants must be native-English language users and do not speak any other languages (2) participants must be first time second language learners and not have participated in any other foreign languages in the past, whether for recreational, personal or academic purposes. Enforcing these restrictions will ensure that no student has a higher advantage due to previous experience or exposure to second language acquistion. It should also be noted that although specific regard to gender is not taken into account for this study, research suggests that male students perform lower than females in the foreign language classroom. It is the authors belief that lack of performance derives from external factors such as interest and motivation and is not effected by their English literacy skills. Importantly, the sample size should consist of, at minimum, 30 or more participants to increase the validity of the statistical finding (Waters, 2017).
Procedure
Eligible students will be required to take home a permission slip stating the purpose of the research study and what information researchers will be privy to including: race, household income, gender, age, and all available test scores. It will be clearly stated that students personal information such as name, address, phone number and date of birth will not be retrieved, recorded or shared for any purpose. Only students who return a parent/guardian signed permission slip will be used in the study as most students will be under the age of 18 and require parent/guardian consent. For ethical purposes, students who are or will be 18 prior to the end of the year will still require parental consent.
All students within K-12 Title I public schools are enrolled in Achieve3000® , an online blended learning programs servicing almost 3 million students worldwide with differentiated solutions designed specfically for Florida. Achieve3000® (2017) proclaims to be the leading literacy platform based on decades of scientific research in which their content ensures students will accelerate reading levels so that every student can participate in grade-level instruction Every student in the public school database has an Achieve3000® username and password that carries over throught each grade level. Students are required to complete literacy specific tasks and assessments within their language art, reading and English courses on a regular basis. Therefore, Achieve3000® literacy data is the most up-to-date and lucrative information available to assess students’ English literacy skills. This data may be obtained by any Florida public school teacher, school or district leader that has registered through Achieve3000® and has the necessary information for each student participant. Therefore, this research should be conducted by an employee of the Florida Department of Education or coordinated with the help and support of such employee. Within the data, students average scores on submitted assignments should consist of an 83% or higher. Taking into consideration that students are able to take assessments multiple times, first time scores will be calculated only. Therefore, any student with a 82% or below on their first attempt will be categorized as low profiency in English literacy skills.
Currently, the district End-of-Course exam in Northeast Florida for American Sign Language is a paper-based 40 question multiple choice test. Although this test would provide the quickest data for ASL students, even including results and differientials between their baseline scores (the same test given at the beginning of the course and at the end) and growth scores between the two exams, it is the professional opinion of the author that this test does not test ASL receptive and expressive proficiency due to the paper-based nature of testing a 3-dimensional language. In this nature, only knowledge of ASL grammar and culture-related topics can be assessed. Therefore, the author attempts to seek the professional expertise of local Deaf community members to collaborate with current ASL teachers in Northeast Florida and create a final exam that tests all four ASL standards set by the Florida Department of Education: Interpersonal, Interpretive, Presentational and Culture (detailed descriptions of these standards can be viewed at CPALMS.org). This test should contain at least 45 questions consisting of word and sentence recognition, understanding of proper ASL sentence structure, cultural norms and historical facts of ASL as well as a 5-7 minute presentational segment to assess students expressive abilities. Tests will be scored on a 100 point scale with a high-moderate proficiency minimum of 70%. 69% or lower will be considered low proficiency in the target language.
A quantitative, correlational study will be conducted to determine if there is a positive correlation between 2 variables: Students Achieve3000® literacy scores and their final scores on the culmulative ASL assessment. Using Excel, the number or participants, Achieve3000® literacy scores and final exam scores will be set up in three columns and run a correlational code by clicking “Formulas” on the toolbar, “More Functions”, “Statistical”, then “Pearson” (Waters, 2017). The statistical results will then be computed into a skatterplot to determine if there is any significant positive correlation (+1/-1) between the two variables.
Conclusion
If Reardon et al. (2012) are correct in their assumption that no amount of remedial instruction is likely to eliminate the major gaps in English literacy proficiency for low-income, minority high school students, what next steps should be taken to provide these students with fair and equal rights to a quality education? Moreover, as sign language educators, what measures should we take to ensure students are being rigorously tested in line with their cognitive and literary abilities? Our current state academic standards do not take these potential limitations into consideration when requiring specific passing rates for standardized foreign language exams. According to Wamba (2010): “When schools integrate the cultural capital of middle- and upper middle-class children…they ultimately end up excluding children from low-income families, preventing these children from acquiring important tools and lifelong skills that can close the achievement gap….” With a significant amount of evidence pointing to the exclusion or rejection of best practices for low income families, and when majority of these students from low-income families attend Title I schools, it becomes the ethical duty of the educators to make certain students are being impartially challanged and assessed to their fullest capacity. Uniquely, this capacity does not represent the capacity of majority, upper-class students and therefore expectations should be adjusted accordingly.
Limitations to the Study
It is vital to understand that a correlation study does not mean causation. Therefore, limitations to the study include recognition that the results may represent a positive, negative or no relationship between the variables but can not imply that one variable is liable for the results of the second variable. Other limitations include the small sample size and even smaller area of sample conduction, Title I schools in Northeast Florida. It is impossible to know if the results derived from this study would be applicable to Title I schools in other areas of the state and/or nationwide. This study aims to find a correlation between test results and therefore does not account for motivation, gender, age differences or free-will of participants taking ASL as their high school foreign language requirement. Despite these limitations, the data will be the first of its kind to provide information regarding relationships between low-literacy native English users and their second language learning abilities in American Sign Language.