Cognition and L2 British Sign Language Acquisition by Chris Stone in collaboration with David Vinson, UCL

Abstract: Although signed language interpreters have been trained within a university setting from many years, to date is little has been understood of the underlying cognitive and linguistic skills required for L2 sign language acquisition and sign language interpreting. This presentation will report on a longitudinal aptitude study following the learning trajectory of undergraduate students within Deaf studies and interpreting programs identifying the factors that are relevant for sign language learning and relevant for sign language interpreting. A battery of tasks was administered to the undergraduates, which can broadly be split into five areas:

General language skills -- Modern Language Aptitude Task (MLAT) administered semester one (five sub-tests)

General intelligence -- digit span and matrix reasoning administered semesters one and six

L1 language skills -- English reading age administered semesters one and six

L2 language skills -- BSL grammatically judgement task (BSLGJT) administered semesters one, three, five, six

Cognitive tasks -- connections A (psychomotor) and B (psychomotor and cognitive control), patterns (perceptual processing) administered semesters three, five, six