Assessment of learning the writing system?

Sun Sep 29 11:51:33 UTC 2002

Hello Stephanie and  List members ,

well - 9 writing systems ??? --

as a teacher I am most interested in a writing system that really works on a
practival level !

Six year old students should be able to read the documents ! 17 year old
students should be able to learn vocabularies or to translate documents of
15 and more pages ...  -  How many writing systems of your number are able
to serve as such an instrument ????

On a higher level my students of 4th grade (10 years old) are asked to
translate sentences and short stories SL-documents written in
GebaerdenSchrift as we call SW here in Germany . German is a very difficult
language and the grammar causes a lot of trouble. Nevertheless - the
combination of GebaerdenSchrift and Mundbildschrift ( a specific writing
system that focuses on the articulation of the German words) is a wonderful
tool to support my friends in their effort to improve their German.

I have to be confident that the written signs, sequences, texts, stories can
be read as accurately as this has been proofed with any other spoken foreign
language.  Due to this aspect I developed a spelling over the last two years
that includes lots of facial expressions. These documents can be read at
high speed!

When I write (on a daily basis ) lots of GebaerdenSchrift-documents  I ask
my students to "translate" these documents - either just reading out loud or
writing down in their exercise books ...

The outcome - the accurate translation of the GebaerdenSchrift - documents
is a wonderfull proof that this system  is perfect !

Since SW is not bound to any culture or SL  it is an interesting question
how well anybody in the world who is an advanced SW - reader should be able
to understand any written document. That is the reason that I love to read
the written documents of others.  Right now there is not too much exchange
in the world
((

You will find on my homepage   www.gebaerdenschrift.de  lots of documents .

My experience is that it is very, very easy to learn to rea
d SW, especially if you are reading a document in that SL which is familiar
to you ! The reason is that you are not in the role of the scribe who has to
make all these decisions .... Learning to write documents on an advanced
level takes time and a lot of feedback !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! and  spelling
discussions  and a lot of support from the ingenious inventor of this
wonderful writing system that really deserves this term.

Stefan ;-)

PS  attached is a document that shows examples - SW is beautiful   and
L.I.F.E
Do not try to "translate" but to perform -- you will understand that most of
these ASL -signs are easy to identify once you understood how to read them !
That is the mystery about SW

----- Original Message -----
From: "Valerie Sutton" <DAC at SIGNWRITING.ORG>
To: <SW-L at ADMIN.HUMBERC.ON.CA>
Sent: Friday, September 27, 2002 8:59 PM
Subject: Re: Assessment of learning the writing system?

> SignWriting List
> September 27, 2002
>
> Thank you, Stephanie, for this message...my answer is below:
>
> ----------------
>
> >Dear Valerie Sutton (?),
> >
> >     I am currently a graduate student at the University of Connecticut,
> >working on the acquisition of ASL.  Like many researchers of ASL, it is
> >quite frustrating to try to transcribe the ASL on the videotapes in a
> >written form.
> >     For a post-doc, I am thinking of working with Chuck Perfetti,
> >dealing with writing systems for ASL.  I have started my literature
> >search, and have found at least nine writing systems for signed
> >languages.  I am in the process now of trying to learn more about them.
> >One of my biggest questions, one that I hope you might be able to answer
> >for me, is do you have a way of assessing how well your signwriting
> >users are actually writing and reading this system?  Other questions
> >include: do you have a way of assessing what your users have trouble
> >with?  And do you have a way that you have assessed the signwriting
> >system itself, as to capturing this spatial language, complete with
> >non-manuals?
> >     I would greatly appreciate any information you could share with me.
> >
> >Yours,
> >Stephanie Berk
>
> ----------------------
>
> Hi Stephanie -
> Because thousands of people are using SignWriting now, in 27
> countries, and because I have been working on a deadline for our new
> SignBank 2002 database, I am posting your message to the SignWriting
> List. Perhaps others on the List can respond to your questions. This
> is a big subject. First, we have two large web sites with literally
> thousands of web pages...documentation of teachers and students using
> SignWriting. For example, a Ph.D dissertation is being defended this
> Fall that is a study on how Deaf children learn and use SignWriting
> in Albuquerque, New Mexico...Teachers in several countries, such as
> Nicaragua and Germany, report that children are reading SignWriting
> fluently...and some testing has been done in a school for the deaf in
> Saudi Arabia...so to start, I would suggest that you join the
> SignWriting List, and to also visit some of these web pages:
>
> SignWriting Linguistic Forum
> ....linguistic issues about SignWriting...
> http://www.SignWriting.org/forums/linguistics/linguistics.html
>
> ....includes....
>
> 1. TERMINOLOGY IN THE MAKING
> Physics Terminology in Norwegian Sign Language by Ingvild Roald
> http://www.SignWriting.org/forums/linguistics/ling032.html
>
> ---------
>
> 2. A LINGUISTIC COMPARISON: TWO NOTATION SYSTEMS FOR SIGNED LANGUAGES
> Stokoe Notation & Sutton SignWriting
> by Joe Martin, Western Washington University
> http://www.SignWriting.org/forums/linguistics/ling008.html
>
> ---------
>
> 3. WRITING THE SAME SIGNS IN DIFFERENT TRANSCRIPTION SYSTEMS
> http://www.SignWriting.org/forums/linguistics/ling001.html
>
> HAMNOSYS
> Susanne Bentele, Universitaet Hamburg, Germany
>
> STOKOE NOTATION
> Joe Martin, Western Washington University
>
> SIGNWRITING
> Valerie Sutton, Deaf Action Committee For SignWriting
>
> ----------
>
> 4. SIGNWRITING AND AMERICAN SIGN LANGUAGE
> http://www.SignWriting.org/forums/research/sw203.html
>
> Paper written for a course in ASL Linguistics by Bill Collins
> Delaware Technical and Community College
>
>
>
>
> WHO USES SIGNWRITING?
>
> Who Uses SignWriting? Directory
> http://www.SignWriting.org/about/who/who.html
>
> SignWriting In Brazil
> http://www.SignWriting.org/brazil/brazil.html
>
> SignWriting In Canada
> http://www.SignWriting.org/canada/canada.html
>
> SignWriting In Denmark
> http://www.SignWriting.org/denmark/denmark.html
>
> SignWriting In France
> http://www.SignWriting.org/france/france.html
>
> SignWriting In Germany
> http://www.SignWriting.org/germany/germany.html
>
> SignWriting In Ireland
> http://www.SignWriting.org/ireland/ireland.html
>
> SignWriting In Italy
> http://www.SignWriting.org/italy/italy.html
>
> SignWriting In Mexico
> http://www.SignWriting.org/mexico/mexico.html
>
> SignWriting In Nicaragua
> http://www.SignWriting.org/nicaragua/nicaragua.html
>
> SignWriting In Norway
> http://www.SignWriting.org/norway/norway.html
>
> SignWriting In Peru
> http://www.SignWriting.org/peru/peru.html
>
> SignWriting In South Africa
> http://www.SignWriting.org/africa/africa.html
>
> SignWriting In Spain
> http://www.SignWriting.org/spain/spain.html
>
> SignWriting In the UK
> http://www.SignWriting.org/uk/uk.html
>
> SignWriting In the USA
> http://www.SignWriting.org/usa/usa.html
>
>
>
>
>
> --
> Val ;-)
>
> Valerie Sutton
> Sutton at SignWriting.org
>
> SignWritingSite
> http://www.SignWriting.org
> Read & Write Sign Languages
>
> SignBankSite
> http://www.SignBank.org
> Sign Language Dictionaries
>
> DanceWritingSite
> http://www.DanceWriting.org
> Read & Write Dance
>
> MovementWritingSite
> http://www.MovementWriting.org
> Read & Write Movement & Gesture
>
> Deaf Action Committee for SignWriting
> Center For Sutton Movement Writing
> an educational nonprofit organization
> Box 517, La Jolla, CA, 92038-0517, USA
> tel: 858-456-0098....fax: 858-456-0020
>
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