Published Article / This paper aims to describe the state of South African Sign Language (SASL) at the University of the Free State (UFS). It provides background to the development of SASL, the development of Deaf education, the teaching of sign language and sign language interpreting at the UFS, research and community development. SASL is one of the languages offered at the UFS. The University has been involved with ground-breaking research to implement a training course on all levels of tertiary education. Students can complete a degree in sign language and also do postgraduate studies in sign language and sign language interpreting. This article aims to indicate how teaching of SASLas an official language empowers marginalised culture.

<p>Döva personer i Sverige och världen lever nästan uteslutande i ett hörande majoritetssamhälle och har således på ett eller annat sätt en fortlöpande kontakt med hörande människor i såväl privat- som arbetsliv. De flesta döva i arbetslivet arbetar som enda eller som en av få döva på en hörande arbetsplats och ofta anlitas tolk för möten mellan hörande och döva kollegor. Föreliggande uppsats är en etnografisk studie av tolksituationen på en arbetsplats där en döv samt ett tjugotal hörande kollegor arbetar tillsammans. Med hjälp av fältanteckningar, intervjuer och videofilmning har en bild av tolksituationen genererats. I resultaten visas tecken på att den döva deltagaren till stor del lider av informationsbrist på olika plan. Därtill verkar det finnas en stor kunskapslucka hos de hörande kollegorna gällande teckenspråk och dövas villkor i ett hörande samhälle. Resultatet visar även tendenser till att den döva deltagaren genom det omgivande majoritetsspråkssamhället själv medverkar till sin egen underordning. I den komplexa tolksituationen verkar tolken fungera som en grindvakt. Tolken kan ha en svår och inte alltid definierad roll att översätta och samordna turer mellan hörande och döva och föra samtalet framåt i en gemensam riktning. Det verkar även som att den döva deltagaren och hennes hörande kollegor har olika uppfattning om tolkens roll. Tolkens arbete verkar härigenom kunna försvåras, något som i sin tur skulle kunna påverka relationen mellan den döva deltagaren och hennes hörande kollegor. Resultaten har diskuterats utifrån ett poststrukturalistiskt perspektiv för att visa på samband mellan mikro- och makronivå med kopplingar till språkideologi, språkpolitik, maktrelationer samt teorin om Deafhood.</p> / <p>Deaf people in Sweden and worldwide live with few exceptions in a hearing society, and thereby in one way or another they have connections with hearing people in their private and professional lives. Most Deaf people in working life have no or few Deaf co-workers at hearing workplaces and hence a Sign Language interpreter is often hired to facilitate the communication between deaf and hearing co-workers. This thesis is an ethnographic study of the interpreting situation at a workplace where one Deaf and about 20 hearing co-workers work together. With field notes, interviews and video recording an illustration of the situation has been generated. The results show a tendency that the Deaf participant to a great extent suffers from information loss in several areas. In addition, the hearing co-workers seem to have a gap in knowledge about Sign Language and the conditions of Deaf people. Also, the Deaf participant seems to participate in her own subordination through the surrounding majority society. In the complexity of the interpreting situation, the interpreter seems to serve as a gatekeeper. She also has a challenging and not always easily definable role in translating and coordinating turns between Deaf and hearing participants, thus moving the conversation forwards in a mutual direction. Nevertheless, the Deaf participant and her hearing co-workers often seem to have different views of the responsibilities of the interpreter, something that might make the interpreter’s job even more challenging. This, in turn, can influence the relationship between hearing and Deaf co-workers. The results of the thesis have been discussed from a poststructural perspective to show a connection between the intimate workplace situation and language ideology, language policy, power relations and the theory of Deafhood.</p><p> </p>

Studien behandlar och beskriver dels hur tolkar upplever att taltolka hörande personer som använder teckenspråk, dels hur hörande personer som använder teckenspråk upplever att bli taltolkade. Två fokusgrupper fick berätta om sina erfarenheter av denna företeelse; teckenspråkstolkar i en grupp och hörande teckenspråkiga i en annan grupp. Genom kvalitativ innehållsanalys identifierades fem teman med de viktigaste aspekterna i frågan. Dessa teman var: 1. Hörandes val av språk i tolkade sammanhang 2. Strategier för att hantera att bli taltolkad 3. Tolkens språkliga utmaningar 4. Ett gott samarbete är avgörande 5. CEFR – självbedömning är svårt. Genom dessa teman framkom att taltolkning av hörande är ett komplext fenomen som kräver särskild hantering. Ett väl utarbetat samarbete är en stor fördel och underlättar tolkens arbete. Det krävs också god kännedom om anledningen till att hörande ibland väljer att teckna i tolkade sammanhang. Det gör att tolken kan slappna av och koncentrera sig på tolkuppdraget. God insikt hos hörande gällande sin teckenspråkskompetens är också eftersträvansvärt. Vanan av att bli taltolkad underlättar situationen eftersom hörande då utarbetar strategier för att tåla att parallellt med den egna produktionen höra taltolkningen. / This study examines interpreters’ experiences of interpreting hearing signers into spoken language and describes the phenomenon of being the hearing person who signs in these interpreted contexts. Two focus groups were given the chance to share their stories about the situation - one group of sign language interpreters and one group of hearing signers. Through content analysis five themes were identified concerning the most important aspects. 1. Hearing persons’ choice of language in an interpreted situation 2. Strategies to manage being interpreted into spoken language 3. The interpreters’ linguistic challenges 4. Good cooperation is vital 5. CEFR- self-evaluation is hard. These themes revealed that giving voice to hearing signers is a complex phenomenon requiring special management. Well developed cooperation is an advantage and facilitates the interpreters work. Good knowledge about the reasons why hearing signers choose to sign makes it easier for the interpreters to relax and concentrate on the task. Hearing people need to have good understanding of their language proficiency as well as being accustomed to and develop strategies for managing to hear the interpreters voice over.

This study was a program evaluation of an American Sign Language internship program that was established in 2006 at a 4-year private college in the Midwestern United States but had never been evaluated. The purpose of the study was to evaluate the effectiveness of this internship program in preparing students for employment in the field of interpreting. An expertise-oriented program evaluation case study was conducted using the lens of experiential learning theory. Research questions were used to investigate the strengths and weaknesses of the program and the ways in which the policies, objectives, and assignments prepare students to work as interns and later as professional interpreters. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 2 former administrators who helped establish the program, 13 graduates of the program between 2013 and 2015, and 8 of the internship site directors who worked with interns between 2013 and 2015. The interview data were coded and analyzed following Merriam's approach to identify themes, and document review was used to support the themes. Key findings were that the program provided effective training for interns transitioning to professional employment, but students tended to lack self-confidence in their performances Interviewees also indicated that program documents were helpful but difficult to use, and mentors needed guidance in giving constructive feedback. An evaluation report was constructed as a research project deliverable to provide specific recommendations for program enhancement. The study promotes positive social change by providing stakeholders with the evidence-based data needed to implement further growth for the internship program, and to more effectively train interpreters to work with the Deaf community.

abstract: This dissertation examines the first impressions that occur between Deaf consumers and American Sign Language (ASL)/English interpreters prior to a healthcare appointment. Negative first impressions can lead to a disconnect or loss of trust between Deaf consumers and interpreters and increase the risk for Deaf consumers to receive inadequate healthcare. The recognition of this risk led to an action research study to look at barriers to successful interactions between ASL/English interpreters and Deaf consumers. The mixed methods research design and associated research questions discovered factors and perceptions that contributed to the disconnect and subsequently informed a 10-week intervention with a small group of ASL/English interpreters and Deaf consumers. The factors that influence connection are system related and a lack of a standardized approach to using name badges, missing or incorrect appointment details, and an inconsistent protocol for interpreter behavior when a healthcare provider leaves the room. The intervention allowed the interpreter participants to generate solutions to mitigate these barriers to connection and apply them during the 10 weeks. Deaf consumer feedback was gathered during the intervention period and was used to modify the generated solutions. The generated solutions included re-design of an interpreter referral agency’s name badge, using small talk as a way to learn information about the nature of the healthcare appointment and proactively discuss procedures when a healthcare provider leaves the exam room. These solutions resulted in a positive influence for both interpreters and Deaf consumers and an increase of trust and connection. The findings of this study show new approaches that create a connection between interpreters and Deaf consumers and may lead to more satisfactory healthcare interactions for Deaf consumers. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Leadership and Innovation 2019

Man lär så länge man lever sägs det, och även lärare på utbildningen för teckenspråkstolkar på Stockholms universitet säger att avslutad utbildning inte är likställt med att vara färdiglärd. För att undersöka om det går att se fortsatt utveckling har jag i denna uppsats jämfört tre studenter, från kandidatprogrammet i teckenspråk och tolkning, som går sista terminen och tre erfarna tolkar, som i snitt har en erfarenhet på 12,5 år, i deras produktion av konstruerat agerande (CA) och konstruerad dialog (CD) när de tolkar en barnbok. Resultatet visar att det inte fanns någon större skillnad mellan grupperna när det kommer till produktion av CA och CD, men en generalisering går inte att göra då resultatet inte går att applicera på hela yrkeskåren eftersom deltagargrupperna är så pass små. Det gick därmed inte att med hjälp av mitt resultat att dra några slutsatser kring hur en fortsatt utveckling sker efter att man har avslutat sin utbildning och har erfarenhet av att jobba som tolk. / They say that learning never stops. The teachers at the sign language interpreter program at Stockholm university say that having completed the program is not the same as being fully learned. In this study I have compared three students, from the bachelor’s program in sign language and interpreting, who are attending the last semester, as well as three experienced interpreters, with an average of 12,5 years of experience, in their production of constructed action (CA) and constructed dialogue (CD) when interpreting a children’s book. The results show no difference between the groups when looking at the production of CA and CD. Thus, since the participant groups are small, a generalization that applies to the whole field of interpreters cannot be made. This also resulted in that I could not make any assumptions about how any progress is made after one has finished their education and has some experience working as an interpreter.

Enligt Kammarkollegiet visar auktorisation i teckenspråkstolkning på tolkens gedigna kunskaper och färdigheter, samt tolkens lämplighet för tolkyrket. Auktorisation för teckenspråkstolkar har erbjudits i Sverige sedan 1 juli 2003. Idag saknas information kring auktorisationens betydelse för teckenspråkspråkstolkens yrkesverksamhet. Den här forskningen syftar till att utifrån teckenspråkstolkars perspektiv belysa deras inställning till auktorisation och dess betydelse för yrkeslivet, samt undersöka om en relation kan bindas till tolkens arbetsplats om tolken har en auktorisation eller inte. Studien bygger på en digital enkät till yrkesverksamma teckenspråkstolkar om deras inställning till auktorisation för teckenspråkstolkar. Majoriteten av de auktoriserade tolkarna ansåg att auktorisation har liten till ingen betydelse för deras yrkesliv. Nästan hälften av de auktoriserade tolkarna uttryckte att deras arbetsgivare önskat att anställda ska auktorisera sig. Vidare angav drygt en tredjedel av de icke-auktoriserade tolkarna att deras arbetsgivare samt de själva inte upplevt något behov av auktorisation i yrkeslivet. Studien visar också på att det fanns en relation mellan tolkens arbetsplats och om tolken har en auktorisation eller ej. Forskningen visar på en del meningsskiljaktigheter kring auktorisationens betydelse för teckenspråkstolkens yrkesverksamhet beroende på om tolken är auktoriserad eller icke-auktoriserad. / Authorization in sign language interpreting demonstrates the interpreter's knowledge and skills, as well as their suitability for the interpreting profession according to Kammarkollegiet. Authorization for sign language interpreters has existed in Sweden since July 1, 2003. There is a lack of information about the meaningfulness of authorization. This study aims to highlight, from the perspective of sign language interpreters, their attitude towards authorization and its importance for their careers. It also examines whether the interpreter’s workplace has an impact on them being authorized or not. The study is based on a digital survey of professional sign language interpreters and their attitudes towards authorization for sign language interpreters. Most of the responding authorized interpreters thought that authorization has little or no importance in their careers. Almost half of the authorized interpreters expressed that their employer wanted employees to authorize themselves. Furthermore, just over a third of the non-authorized interpreters indicated that neither their employers nor they themselves had experienced a need for authorization within their profession. The study also shows that there is a statistically significant difference in the interpreters' workplace depending on whether the interpreter has an authorization or not. The study shows that there are differing opinions regarding the importance of authorization for sign language interpreters and their careers, depending on whether the interpreter is authorized or not.

Döva personer i Sverige och världen lever nästan uteslutande i ett hörande majoritetssamhälle och har således på ett eller annat sätt en fortlöpande kontakt med hörande människor i såväl privat- som arbetsliv. De flesta döva i arbetslivet arbetar som enda eller som en av få döva på en hörande arbetsplats och ofta anlitas tolk för möten mellan hörande och döva kollegor. Föreliggande uppsats är en etnografisk studie av tolksituationen på en arbetsplats där en döv samt ett tjugotal hörande kollegor arbetar tillsammans. Med hjälp av fältanteckningar, intervjuer och videofilmning har en bild av tolksituationen genererats. I resultaten visas tecken på att den döva deltagaren till stor del lider av informationsbrist på olika plan. Därtill verkar det finnas en stor kunskapslucka hos de hörande kollegorna gällande teckenspråk och dövas villkor i ett hörande samhälle. Resultatet visar även tendenser till att den döva deltagaren genom det omgivande majoritetsspråkssamhället själv medverkar till sin egen underordning. I den komplexa tolksituationen verkar tolken fungera som en grindvakt. Tolken kan ha en svår och inte alltid definierad roll att översätta och samordna turer mellan hörande och döva och föra samtalet framåt i en gemensam riktning. Det verkar även som att den döva deltagaren och hennes hörande kollegor har olika uppfattning om tolkens roll. Tolkens arbete verkar härigenom kunna försvåras, något som i sin tur skulle kunna påverka relationen mellan den döva deltagaren och hennes hörande kollegor. Resultaten har diskuterats utifrån ett poststrukturalistiskt perspektiv för att visa på samband mellan mikro- och makronivå med kopplingar till språkideologi, språkpolitik, maktrelationer samt teorin om Deafhood. / Deaf people in Sweden and worldwide live with few exceptions in a hearing society, and thereby in one way or another they have connections with hearing people in their private and professional lives. Most Deaf people in working life have no or few Deaf co-workers at hearing workplaces and hence a Sign Language interpreter is often hired to facilitate the communication between deaf and hearing co-workers. This thesis is an ethnographic study of the interpreting situation at a workplace where one Deaf and about 20 hearing co-workers work together. With field notes, interviews and video recording an illustration of the situation has been generated. The results show a tendency that the Deaf participant to a great extent suffers from information loss in several areas. In addition, the hearing co-workers seem to have a gap in knowledge about Sign Language and the conditions of Deaf people. Also, the Deaf participant seems to participate in her own subordination through the surrounding majority society. In the complexity of the interpreting situation, the interpreter seems to serve as a gatekeeper. She also has a challenging and not always easily definable role in translating and coordinating turns between Deaf and hearing participants, thus moving the conversation forwards in a mutual direction. Nevertheless, the Deaf participant and her hearing co-workers often seem to have different views of the responsibilities of the interpreter, something that might make the interpreter’s job even more challenging. This, in turn, can influence the relationship between hearing and Deaf co-workers. The results of the thesis have been discussed from a poststructural perspective to show a connection between the intimate workplace situation and language ideology, language policy, power relations and the theory of Deafhood.

ABSTRACT Context: Communication is a primary human need and language is the medium for this. Most people have the ability to listen and speak and they use different languages like Swedish, Urdu and English etc. to communicate. Hearing impaired people use signs to communicate. Pakistan Sign Language (PSL) is the preferred language of the deaf in Pakistan. Currently, human PSL interpreters are required to facilitate communication between the deaf and hearing; they are not always available, which means that communication among the deaf and other people may be impaired or nonexistent. In this situation, a system with voice recognition as an input and PSL as an output will be highly helpful. Objectives: As part of this thesis, we explore challenges faced by deaf people in everyday life while interacting with unimpaired. We investigate state of art work done in this area. This study explores speech recognition and Machine translation techniques to devise a generic and automated system that converts English speech to PSL. A prototype of the proposed solution is developed and validated. Methods: Three step investigation is done as part of thesis work. First, to understand problem itself, interviews were conducted with the domain experts. Secondly, from literature review, it is investigated whether any similar or related work has already been done, state of the art technologies like Machine translation, speech recognition engines and Natural language processing etc. have been analyzed. Thirdly, prototype is developed whose validation data is obtained from domain experts and is validated by ourselves as well as from domain experts. Results: It is found that there is a big communication gap between deaf and unimpaired in Pakistan. This is mainly due to the lack of an automated system that can convert Audio speech to PSL and vice versa. After investigating state of the art work including solutions in other countries specific to their languages, it is found that no system exists that is generic and automated. We found that there is already work started for PSL to English Speech conversion but not the other way around. As part of this thesis, we discovered that a generic and automated system can be devised using speech recognition and Machine translation techniques. Conclusion: Deaf people in Pakistan lack a lot of opportunities mainly due to communication gap between deaf and unimpaired. We establish that there should be a generic and automated system that can convert English speech to PSL and vice versa. As part of this, we worked for such a system that can convert English speech to PSL. Moreover, Speech recognition, Machine translation and Natural language processing techniques can be core ingredients for such a generic and automated system. Using user centric approach, the prototype of the system is validated iteratively from domain experts. / This research has investigated a computer based solution to facilitate communication among deaf people and unimpaired. Investigation was performed using literature review and visits to institutes to gain a deeper knowledge about sign language and specifically how is it used in Pakistan context. Secondly, challenges faced by deaf people to interact with unimpaired are analyzed by interviews with domain experts (instructors of deaf institutes) and by directly observing deaf in everyday life situations. We conclude that deaf people rely on sign language for communication with unimpaired people. Deaf people in Pakistan use PSL for communication, English is taught as secondary language all over Pakistan in all educational institutes, deaf people are taught by instructors that not only need to know the domain expertise of the area that they are teaching like Math, History and Science etc. but they also need to know PSL very well in order to teach the deaf. It becomes very difficult for deaf institutes to get instructors that know both. Whenever deaf people need to communicate with unimpaired people in any situation, they either need to hire a translator or request the unimpaired people to write everything for them. Translators are very difficult to get all the time and they are very expensive as well. Moreover, using writing by unimpaired becomes very slow process and not all unimpaired people want to do this. We observed this phenomena ourselves as instructors of the institutes provided us the opportunity to work with deaf people to understand their feelings and challenges in everyday life. In this way, we used to go with deaf people in shopping malls, banks, post offices etc. and with their permission, we observed their interaction. We have concluded that sometimes their interaction with normal people becomes very slow and embarrassing. Based on above findings, we concluded that there is definitely a need for an automated system that can facilitate communication between deaf and unimpaired people. These factors lead to the subsequent objective of this research. The main objective of this thesis is to identify a generic and an automated system without any human intervention that converts English speech into PSL as a solution to bridge the communication gap between deaf and unimpaired. It is identified that existing work done related to this problem area doesn’t fulfill our objective. Current solutions are either very specific to a domain, e.g. post office or need human intervention i.e. not automatic. It is identified that none of the existing systems can be extended towards our desired solution. We explored state of the art techniques like Machine translation, Speech recognition and NLP. We have utilized these in our proposed solution. Prototype of the proposed solution is developed whose functional and non functional validation is performed. Since none of existing work exactly matches to our problem statement, therefore, we have not compared the validation of our prototype to any existing system. We have validated prototype with respect to our problem domain. Moreover, this is validated iteratively from the domain experts, i.e. experts of PSL and the English to PSL human translators. We found this user centric approach very useful to help better understand the problem at the ground level, keeping our work user focused and then realization of user satisfaction level throughout the process. This work has opened a new world of opportunities where deaf can communicate with others who do not have PSL knowledge. Having this system, if it is further developed from a prototype to a functioning system; deaf institutes will have wider scope of choosing best instructors for a given domain that may not have PSL expertise. Deaf people will have more opportunities to interact with other members of the society at every level as communication is the basic pillar for this. The automatic speech to sign language is an attractive prospect; the impending applications are exhilarating and worthwhile. In the field of Human Computer Interface (HCI) we hope that our thesis will be an important addition to the ongoing research. / Ahmed Abdul Haseeb & Asim ilyas, Contact no. 00923215126749 House No. 310, Street No. 4 Rawal town Islamabad, Pakistan Postal Code 44000

I denna undersökning intervjuades en skolledare, två tolkar, en lärare och två fokusgrupper med elever om sin syn på tolkning inom specialskolan. Data från de semistrukturerade intervjuerna analyserades enligt en kvalitativ innehållsanalys där liknande svar samlas i temagrupper. Tre teman valdes ut till resultat och dessa är: 1. Information om tolkning 2. Tolken som samordnare 3. Tolkens roll. Information om tolkning handlar om vilken information eleverna får och behöver ha för att tolkningen ska fungera. Tolken som samordnare utgår från Wadensjös (1998) syn på samordning som en reglering av det tolkade samtalet som tolken måste sköta. Tolkens roll undersöktes med främst Metzgers (1999) fundering kring huruvida tolken kan vara neutral. Resultatet pekar på att skolledare och lärare anser att eleverna får mycket information om tolkning, men det tycker inte eleverna själva. Tolkarna anser att mer information behövs för en förståelse för tolkprocessen. Tolkens roll, som neutral och samordnande, är tydlig för tolkar och elever, men inte när det är en lärare som tolkar. Tolkning inom specialskolan är något naturligt som sker ofta och som upplevs fungera till största delen väl när det är tolkar som utför uppdragen. / In this study, a principal, two interpreters, one teacher and two focus groups with students were interviewed about their views on interpretation in Swedish Schools for the Deaf. Data from semi-structured interviews were analyzed according to a qualitative content analysis where similar responses are organized into themes. Three themes were chosen for results: 1. Information concerning the interpretation 2. The interpreter as a coordinator 3. The interpreter's role. Information about interpretation is what kind of information the students receive in order for interpretation to work. By coordination the study assumes Wadensjö's (1998) view of coordination as a regulation of the interpreted conversation. The interpreter's role is examined primarily according to Metzger’s (1999) reflection of whether the interpreter can be neutral. The results indicate that the principal and the teacher believe students receive a lot of information about interpretation, but the students claim not to be given information. The interpreters also believe that more information is necessary for an understanding of the interpretation process. The interpreter's role as neutral and as a coordinator is clear to both interpreters and students, but not when a teacher is interpreting. Interpreting in Schools for the Deaf is something natural that occurs frequently and experienced to work well for the most part when interpreters are translating.