Comparing Deaf Writing....

[Valerie Sutton]

SignWriting List
May 31, 2002

Ilke in Germany wrote:
>As for my dissertation, i´m right now trying to analyse 720 Texts from deaf,
>hard-of-hearing and hearing students in 3rd, 6th and 9th grade to compare
>their writing style. We are still a bit backwards in Germany so that no one
>really paid much attention to how these students write. I am still searching
>for a good idea how to compare the contents, though, because i can see that
>there are a couple of texts that are just ingenious, but the formal usage of
>German is still pretty bad. Does anyone have an idea how to compare 700
>texts contentwise?

Hello Ilke and Everyone!
I hope others will be able to give you support on this question. 
There must be a way. I know Cecilia Flood, who is writing her 
dissertation about SignWriting in the public schools in Albuquerque, 
New Mexico, has video clips of the deaf children reading and writing. 
I believe Cecilia is then comparing those videos or at least 
analyzing them...but that incorporates their signing too...not just 
their writing...

If all of your texts are written on paper in the German spoken 
language, Ilke, then one issue to look at is this: How are the native 
signers writing? And is their writing different than those who are 
not skilled signers? Their grammar may change in written German, 
depending on whether they are native signers or not...

What may seem like bad German grammar, may actually be excellent 
grammar for DGS...which of course, shows why writing with SignWriting 
would be more direct, and probably easier, for the students...
-- 
Val ;-)



Valerie Sutton
Sutton at SignWriting.org

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