This thesis presents an ethnographic action research study of Deaf and hearing parents and infants participating in a family American Sign Language (ASL) literacy program in Ontario. The thesis documents the context for parents and children’s learning of ASL in an environment where resources for supporting early ASL literacy have been scarce. At the time of the study, restrictions were placed on young Deaf and hard of hearing children’s learning of ASL, as the Ontario government’s Infant Hearing Program frequently did not provide ASL services to children who received cochlear implants or auditory-verbal therapy. This operational language policy of Ontario infant hearing screening and early intervention services was maintained despite evidence for the benefits that learning ASL confers on spoken and written language development in Deaf children. In this context, participation in a family ASL literacy program is a means for both supporting emerging ASL literacy in young children and resisting pathologizing Discourses (Gee, 2008) regarding signed language and Deaf identity. Through semi-structured interviews and observations of six individual families or parent-child dyads, the study documents participants’ encounters with gatekeepers who regulate Deaf children and their families’ access to ASL. At the same time, the setting of the ASL Parent-Child Mother Goose Program is presented as a Deaf cultural space and thereby a counter-Discourse to medical Discourses regarding Deaf identity and bilingualism. This space features the Deaf mother participants’ ASL literacy and numeracy practices and improvisations of ASL rhymes and stories to enhance their suitability for young children. The practices of the ASL Parent-Child Mother Goose Program leader also serve to define and support emergent ASL literacy in young children. In addition, a Deaf cultural space inside a broader context of public services to young Deaf children provides a means for the hearing mother participants to facilitate critical inquiry of issues surrounding bilingualism, ASL, and a Deaf identity. Collectively, the findings from this study highlight the benefits of emergent ASL literacy in Deaf children and their families, and provide an evidence-based rationale for Canadian governments and government agencies to better support this development.

This thesis presents an ethnographic action research study of Deaf and hearing parents and infants participating in a family American Sign Language (ASL) literacy program in Ontario. The thesis documents the context for parents and children’s learning of ASL in an environment where resources for supporting early ASL literacy have been scarce. At the time of the study, restrictions were placed on young Deaf and hard of hearing children’s learning of ASL, as the Ontario government’s Infant Hearing Program frequently did not provide ASL services to children who received cochlear implants or auditory-verbal therapy. This operational language policy of Ontario infant hearing screening and early intervention services was maintained despite evidence for the benefits that learning ASL confers on spoken and written language development in Deaf children. In this context, participation in a family ASL literacy program is a means for both supporting emerging ASL literacy in young children and resisting pathologizing Discourses (Gee, 2008) regarding signed language and Deaf identity. Through semi-structured interviews and observations of six individual families or parent-child dyads, the study documents participants’ encounters with gatekeepers who regulate Deaf children and their families’ access to ASL. At the same time, the setting of the ASL Parent-Child Mother Goose Program is presented as a Deaf cultural space and thereby a counter-Discourse to medical Discourses regarding Deaf identity and bilingualism. This space features the Deaf mother participants’ ASL literacy and numeracy practices and improvisations of ASL rhymes and stories to enhance their suitability for young children. The practices of the ASL Parent-Child Mother Goose Program leader also serve to define and support emergent ASL literacy in young children. In addition, a Deaf cultural space inside a broader context of public services to young Deaf children provides a means for the hearing mother participants to facilitate critical inquiry of issues surrounding bilingualism, ASL, and a Deaf identity. Collectively, the findings from this study highlight the benefits of emergent ASL literacy in Deaf children and their families, and provide an evidence-based rationale for Canadian governments and government agencies to better support this development.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Oregon, 2004. / Typescript. Includes vita and abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 142-166). Also available for download via the World Wide Web; free to University of Oregon users.

Not available / text

This study investigated the conceptual blending processes that occurred during American Sign Language (ASL) interpretations. Using the framework of conceptual blending (Fauconnier &Turner, 1996), this study analyzed six ASL interpretations and found two new mental spaces, Narrator Space and Interpreter Space, which are activated during interpretations. Conceptual blending has been used analyzing ASL (Liddell, 1995, 1998, 2000, 2003; Dudis, 2004a, 2004b, 2007) but had not been applied to ASL interpretations until this study. The conceptual blending process of ASL has found several mental spaces that are activated in blends. Real Space (Liddell, 1995) and Event Space (Dudis, 2007) are two mental spaces that blend in ASL; these two spaces were also found in the data of this study. The data also revealed that all six interpreters created Event Space much like Deaf signers. / Access to thesis permanently restricted to Ball State community only / Department of English

Historically, American Sign Language (an aspect of Deaf culture) has been rendered invisible in mainstream hearing society. Today, ASL’s popularity is evidenced in an ethnolinguistic renaissance; more second language learners pursue an interest in ASL than ever before. Nonetheless, Deaf and hearing people alike express concern about ASL’s place in hearing culture. This qualitative study engages ethnographic methods of participant observation and semi-structured interviewing as well as popular media analysis to understand language ideologies (ideas and objectives concerning roles of language in society) hearing and Deaf Signers hold about motivations and practices of other hearing Signers. Although most hearing ASLers identify as apolitical students genuinely seeking to build bridges between disparate communities, I argue that ASLers are most concerned with hearing Signers’ colonization of the language through commoditization and cultural appropriation.

Thesis (M.F.A.)--Rochester Institute of Technology, 2008. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves [122]-124).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 1993. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves [169]-178).

Thesis (M.S.)--The University of North Carolina at Greensboro, 2010. / Directed by Linda Buettner; submitted to the Dept. of Parks and Recreation Management. Title from PDF t.p. (viewed Jul. 16, 2010). Includes bibliographical references (p. 67-73).

Thesis (M.S.)--Rochester Institute of Technology, 2006. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 83-89).