Measuring Receptive ASL Skills in Novice Signers and Nonsigners.

Area of Science:

• Linguistics
• Psycholinguistics
• Deaf Studies

Background:

• Standardized tests are crucial for assessing language acquisition.
• Assessing receptive skills in American Sign Language (ASL) is vital for understanding language learning.
• Novice signers may rely on non-linguistic cues like iconicity when taking ASL tests.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the utility of the ASL Comprehension Test (ASL-CT) and the ASL Receptive Skills Test (ASL-RST) in hearing novice signers.
• To identify test items that can be solved using iconicity or test-taking strategies by individuals with no ASL knowledge.
• To determine if removing such items enhances the correlation between test scores and ASL learning experience.

Main Methods:

• Administered the ASL-CT and ASL-RST to hearing adults with no prior ASL knowledge.
• Administered the same tests to hearing adults with varying levels of ASL experience (measured in semesters of instruction).
• Analyzed test items for iconicity and potential deduction by non-signers.
• Calculated the correlation between test scores and ASL experience, both with and without potentially decipherable items.

Main Results:

• The correlation between test scores and ASL experience was stronger for the ASL-CT than the ASL-RST in novice hearing signers.
• Removing items solvable through iconicity or test-taking skills did not substantially improve the correlation for either test.
• The observed correlations were weaker than previously reported in other populations.

Conclusions:

• Both ASL-CT and ASL-RST show limited utility for accurately measuring ASL proficiency in novice hearing signers when relying solely on linguistic comprehension.
• Iconicity and test-taking strategies may confound results, particularly in early stages of language acquisition.
• Further refinement of ASL assessment tools is needed to better capture true receptive skills, especially in non-native signers.