data-driven instruction: how to assess students' sign language skills
TRANSCRIPT
Data-driven Instruction: How do Assess Students’ Sign Language Skills?
Jennifer Beal-Alvarez, Ph.D.Rebecca Bean, BSKenyah Wolfe, BS
Support received from
The College of Education and Human Services at Valdosta State University
Data-driven Instruction +
Evidence-based Practices
Guiding Questions
How do we measure students’ sign language skills?
How do we use these data to direct our instruction?
Pu
rpo
seOverview of Assessments
Practice with Assessments
How to use the data
Pu
rpo
seOverview of Assessments
Practice with Assessments
How to use the data
You are the Accountable Expert
• You are responsible for increasing students’ academic achievement
• You need data to show that students are improving or that they are not
• You need evidence to support why you are doing what you are doing
• TKES (pay for performance)
• School staff are unfamiliar with
ASL assessments
Sign Language Assessments
• Why do we assess?
• How do we assess?
Sign language assessments
• Very few available for teachers
• Frequently checklists
• Not specific to areas of ASL
Sign Language Assessments
Receptive Skills
ASL Receptive Skills Test
Expressive Skills
Picture/story book and SRFR
American Sign Language ReceptiveTest (ASLRST)
• 42 signed clips on computer
• Student points to one of 4 pictures
• Assessor circles one of 4 numbers
• About 10 minutes for administration
• Simultaneous data coding
• Charlotte Enns
(University of Manitoba)
What does this mean?
ASL Receptive Skills Test
Example
9 Grammatical Categories
Number-distribution
Negation
Noun-verbSpatial verbs-
location
Spatial verbs-action
SASS classifiers
Handle classifiers
Role-shift
Conditionals
Scoring Sheet
Scoring 9 Categories
NarrativeNatural and authentic discourse form
Justice, Bowles, Pence, & Gosse, 2010
Telling of a true or fictional story with temporal sequence
Engel, 1995; Justice et al., 2010
Used with signing deaf children Beal-Alvarez & Easterbrooks, 2013; Kaderavek & Pakulski, 2007; Morgan, 2006; Padden & Ramsey, 1998; Strong & Prinz, 1997
Used with signing deaf adults Aarons & Morgan, 2003; Beal-Alvarez & Easterbrooks, 2013; Lucas, Bayley, & Valli, 2003; Morgan, 2006
Elicited with a series of pictures that depict a story and wordless picture storybooks
Aarons & Morgan, 2003; Hoffmeister, 1999; Beal-Alvarez & Easterbrooks, 2013; Justice et al., 2010; Morgan, 2006; Strong & Prinz, 1997; Taub & Galvan, 2001
Assessment of Expressive Language
Signed Reading Fluency Rubric (SRFR)
• Susan Easterbrooks
(Georgia State University)
• Sandy Huston (Atlanta Area School for the Deaf; Georgia State University)
Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education (2008)
Signed Reading Fluency Rubric
8 indicators generated as characteristics of fluent signing by deaf adults who were fluent signers themselves (Lupton, 1998)
5 levels of proficiency (not observed, emerging, beginning, developing, mature/fluent)
13 indicators
Designed for rendering text fluently in sign language (ASL or English-like)
Indicator Fluency Envelope
Speed Accurate speed of signing in the story
Facial Expression Facial expression matches the disposition of the characters and the mood
of the story
Body Movement Body movements represent those of characters and locations in the story
Sign Space Sign space is appropriate; not too small or large
Sign Movement Signs are produced in steady, relaxed manner that promotes story
visualization
Fingerspelling Fingerspelling is intelligible, accurate, and appropriately used
Visual Grammar
Use of Space Space is logically set up and accurately referred to during the story
Role Taking Interactions and relationships among characters are accurately set up in
space and demonstrated
Eye Gaze Eye gaze accurately represents characters, places, and objects in story
Negation Headshake and/or body language are used to indicate negation in story
Directionality Sign movement accurately represents direction of action in story
Use of Classifiers Classifiers are used appropriately for motion events and visual
characteristics
Pronominalization Does the student establish (i.e., name and indicate a spatial location) and
refer to (i.e., point to) pronouns in space to show the characters and
actions in the story?
Why use the SRFR?
No standard/available measure of narrative ASL skills
Less skilled signers can recognize and evaluate the use of common signed reading fluency aspects
13 indicators frequently exhibited within narratives
Completed the iterative process of assessment development
Published and readily available
Has high internal consistency
Quick turn-around to direct instruction for individual students
Signed Reading Fluency Rubric
High internal consistency
• Cronbach’s Alpha = 0.86
Spearman’s rho correlations
• 0.975 for fluency envelope
• 0.745 for visual grammar
Picture book
No text
Only L1 ASL
Assessment of L1
Story book
Printed text
L2 (printed English) to L1
(ASL)
Assessment of L2 to L1
Focus of assessment: Language or literacy?
Pu
rpo
seOverview of Assessments
Practice with Assessments
How to use the data
Process
Take ASL-RST whole group
Transfer answers
Score and discuss
Render book in ASL (video-
record)
Evaluate with SRFR
Discuss
START
FINISH
ASL-RST To-do
Watch ASL-RST as group
Write 1-4 on paper for each item
Transfer items to score sheet
Score overall
Score by grammatical categories
SRFR To-doGet a partner
Partner A renders story in ASL/sign
language
Partner B videos
Discuss and evaluate
Partner B renders story in ASL/sign
language
Partner A videos
Discuss and evaluate
Pu
rpo
seOverview of Assessments
Practice with Assessments
How to use the data
Discussion
How can you use the ASL-RST to guide your
instruction?
How can you use the SRFR to guide your
instruction?
