Tobias Haug
University of Hamburg, Germany
tobias.haug@sign-lang.uni-hamburg.de

Review of Sign Language Tests and Assessment Tools

In my presentation, I will review sign language tests and assessment tools that have been developed overseas and in Europe.

  1. The American Sign Language Proficiency Assessment (ASL-PA; Maller et al., in press ), a test that assesses a broad range of linguistic ASL devices used in deaf children age six to twelve. It can be used as a baseline assessment in educational setting serving the deaf.
  2. The American Sign Language Assessment Instrument (ASLAI; Hoffmeister, 1998 ) is a test that measures particular linguistic ASL components. It consists of production and compre-hension measures that have been designed to be used with deaf children.
  3. The Test of ASL (Strong & Prinz, 1997 ) has been developed in the frame of a larger project investigating the relationship between ASL and English literacy. It measures - similar to the ASLAI - particular linguistic ASL components. It consists of both production and comprehension measures.
  4. The Test Battery for ASL Morphology and Syntax (T. Supalla et al., in press ) has been designed for linguistic research. It measures individual’s knowledge and use of morphological and syntactical structures in ASL.
  5. The Aachen Test of Basic German Sign Language (GSL) Competence (ATG) (Fehrmann et al., 1995a & 1995b ) assesses the basic competence in GSL. It can be used for deaf and hearing individuals, both children and adults. It consists of nine measures, both testing GSL production and comprehension. The ATG tests particular linguistic devices.
  6. The Assessment of British Sign Language (BSL) Development (Herman et al., 1999 ) is a standardized BSL test to be used with deaf children age three to twelve. It consists of both production and comprehension measures.

 

Bibliographic References:

Maller, S. J., Singleton, J. L., Supalla, S. J., & Wix, T. (in press). The Development and Psychometric Prop-erties of the American Sign Language Proficiency Assessment (ASL-PA). (to appear in the fall edition 1999 Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education, Oxford University Press).

Hoffmeister, R. J. (1998) American Sign Language Assessment Instrument (ASLAI). Unpublished Paper, Center for the Study of Communication & the Deaf, Boston University.

Strong, M. & Prinz, P. (1997). A Study of the Relationship between American Sign Language and English Literacy. Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education, 2, pp. 37-46.

Supalla, T., Newport, E., Singleton, J., Supalla, S., Coulter, G., & Metlay, D. (in press). The Test Battery for American Sign Language Morphology and Syntax. San Diego, CA: Dawn Sign Press.

Fehrmann, G., Huber, W., Jäger, L., Sieprath, H., & Werth, I. (1995a). Linguistische Konzeption des Aachener Tests zur Basiskompetenz in Deutscher Gebärdensprache (ATG). Unpublished Report, RWTH-Aachen, Germanistisches Institut & Neurologische Klinik, Projekt DESIRE.

Fehrmann, G., Huber, W., Jäger, L., Sieprath, H., & Werth, I. (1995b). Aufbau des Aachener Tests zur Ba-siskompetenz in Deutscher Gebärdensprache (ATG). Unpublished Report, RWTH-Aachen, Germanis-tisches Institut & Neurologische Klinik, Projekt DESIRE.

Herman, R., Holmes, S., & Woll, B. (1998). Design and Standardization of an Assessment of British Sign Lan-guage Development for use with Deaf Children: Final Report, 1998. Unpublished Report, Department of Language & Communication Science, City University London, UK.