First Language Foundations Lab

Language is like air: most of us don't appreciate how important it is until it's not there. Language helps us reason, learn, remember, solve problems, relate to others, regulate ourselves, and more! To reach their full potential, all DHH children need language: spoken or signed.

Attending this year's ASHA Convention? Keep an eye out for this presentation, by @ASLresearch, Stephanie De Anda, and @naomicaselli! 2225V - Translating Research to Practice in Sign Language Acquisition: New Concepts, New Tools, New Data cdmcd.co/pEW9mk #ASHA2021

Folks in MA, MD, VA, & DC will want to know about this new audiology telepractice, launching soon!

@qi2cheng2 [Disclaimer: speaking as L2 signer!] I think it's an issue of how we gloss the translation and the semantic roles that we ascribe to the verb. I'd assign that verb's highest theta role as "experiencer", not agent. So, passive semantically but not syntactically. Maybe?

Hmmm a question for signers: is this translation correct? I thought passives do not exist in ASL?

@craccess @languagefirst @mmfa Even better response here, from @jaceyhill! nature.com/articles/s4192…

@craccess @languagefirst @mmfa Yes - yet another example of what NOT to do. For suggestions on how to approach this kind of work more appropriately, see arxiv.org/pdf/1908.08597…

I call these “bloopers and stupers” (the latter meaning stupid/ignorant reporting). My list is probably most similar to ⁦@Drlynnjaco1⁩ “pet peeves”... Ive been an avid NPR listener for 50 years And I have a list of, if not all, many times they 1/2 npr.org/2020/07/02/886…

(In the same special issue, see also Rosenburg, @lieberman_amy , @naomicaselli , & Hoffmeister (2020)! frontiersin.org/articles/10.33…)

Existing approaches to measuring input don’t work: we need better methods. So we’re developing some new tools! Stay tuned…

New open-access article: Hall (2020, Frontiers in Psychology) "The Input Matters: Assessing Cumulative Language Input in DHH Individuals and Populations" Manuscript: frontiersin.org/articles/10.33… ASL Summary (w/ English voiceover & captions): youtube.com/watch?v=HWlDoS…

@megandfigueroa Deaf perspectives URGENTLY needed! The “word gap” for hearing gets all the attention but may not exist; very real for Deaf but overlooked.

Okay. So I'm thinking about pitching an academic article about how psychologists and psycholinguists MUST start listening to anthropologists and educators when it comes to the so-called word gap and the idea of "quality input" to a child. What do y'all think?

What an honor to be in @acadeafic's top 3 articles of the past year, and in the company of such great scholars! Congrats to to all!

@kmccready The theory is clear but empirical evidence is still sparse. Lots of "efficacy" data (Deaf families); scant "effectiveness" data (hearing families). What's out there LOOKS bad, mainly b/c researchers have claimed to study "signing" kids who don't actually have access to sign lgs.

@FLF_Lab ??????????????? I thought the science was settled. Deaf kids need SL. Full stop.

Hall & Dills (2020, JDSDE), 1/7: The “crucial question”: what type(s) of linguistic input maximize a DHH child’s chances of mastering at least 1 language by school entry? We still lack good data. Why? In part, because of limitations in “communication mode” as a construct.

@KristinSnoddon Thanks- would be glad to get any further feedback!

@FLF_Lab Looks awesome.

7/7: (7) To create groups (e.g. as predictor variable), use bottom-up classification algorithms that will consider the child’s overall “language access profile”, and identify other child with similar experience across all dimensions. Manuscript: academic.oup.com/jdsde/advance-…

6/7: (4) Distinguish sign languages from manual expressions of spoken languages. (5) Distinguish among various manual strategies for representing spoken languages. (6) Quantify *extent* of access to various types of input, not just presence/absence.