Sign Language Trivia 4 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: What is the 'oralist' approach to deaf education?
- Teaching deaf students through storytelling and narratives
- Educating deaf students using only spoken language and lip-reading, without sign language (Correct answer)
- Using oral histories to teach ASL grammar rules
- A method that combines speech therapy with sign language
Correct answer: Educating deaf students using only spoken language and lip-reading, without sign language
Oralism is an educational philosophy that teaches deaf students to communicate exclusively through spoken language and lip-reading, discouraging or prohibiting the use of sign language.
Question 2: Which landmark 1880 conference voted to ban sign language in schools for the deaf?
- The Paris Convention on Deaf Education
- The Second International Congress on Education of the Deaf in Milan (Correct answer)
- The World Federation of the Deaf Summit
- The American Deaf Education Reform Conference
Correct answer: The Second International Congress on Education of the Deaf in Milan
The 1880 Milan Congress was an international conference where hearing educators voted to adopt oral-only methods and effectively ban sign language from deaf schools for nearly a century.
Question 3: What is 'tactile ASL' primarily used for?
- Teaching sign language to young children through touch-based games
- A form of ASL used by deaf-blind individuals who feel the signer's hands (Correct answer)
- A therapy technique for people with motor impairments affecting signing
- Signing underwater where visual communication is difficult
Correct answer: A form of ASL used by deaf-blind individuals who feel the signer's hands
Tactile ASL is a modification of ASL used by deaf-blind individuals, where the receiver places their hands over the signer's hands to feel the signs as they are produced.
Question 4: What does 'spatial grammar' mean in the context of ASL?
- Grammar rules that determine how far apart signers should stand
- The use of three-dimensional space to convey grammatical information such as subjects and objects (Correct answer)
- A method of organizing sign vocabulary by location on the body
- The study of how sign languages vary by geographic region
Correct answer: The use of three-dimensional space to convey grammatical information such as subjects and objects
Spatial grammar in ASL uses the three-dimensional signing space to establish referents, show relationships, and convey grammatical information like verb agreement without word order alone.
Question 5: What is 'Black ASL' (BASL)?
- A secret sign language code developed by Black deaf communities
- A dialect of ASL that developed in racially segregated Black deaf schools with distinct vocabulary and style (Correct answer)
- ASL signs performed with darker or more intense facial expressions
- A simplified form of ASL used in urban Black communities
Correct answer: A dialect of ASL that developed in racially segregated Black deaf schools with distinct vocabulary and style
Black ASL is a dialect that developed separately due to the racial segregation of deaf schools, and it features distinct vocabulary, more two-handed signs, and a larger signing space than mainstream ASL.
Question 6: What term describes when a signer takes on the role, perspective, and physical attributes of a character they are describing?
- Sign mirroring
- Constructed action (character perspective)
- Role shifting (Correct answer)
- Narrative embodiment
Correct answer: Role shifting
Role shifting is an ASL technique where the signer shifts their body, gaze, and posture to take on the perspective and voice of a character in a story or conversation.
Question 7: What is the World Federation of the Deaf (WFD)?
- An organization that standardizes sign languages worldwide
- An international non-governmental organization representing national associations of deaf people (Correct answer)
- A governing body that certifies sign language interpreters globally
- A research institution that studies the linguistics of sign languages
Correct answer: An international non-governmental organization representing national associations of deaf people
The WFD, founded in 1951, is an international NGO that advocates for the human rights of deaf people worldwide and represents national associations from over 130 countries.
Sign Language Trivia 4
What is the 'oralist' approach to deaf education?