Tobias Haug Adaptation and Evaluation of a German Sign Language Test Hamburg University Press Video embedded Embedded in this PDF file you will find a video (MP4-formatted) concerning “Examples of the Revised Version of the DGS Receptive Skills Test for Main Study” (see pp. 133–139). In order to start the video, click on the „Play“-icon below. If there are any problems in connection with playing the video, it is recommended to open the PDF file with Acrobat Reader X (http://get.adobe.com/de/reader/, free download). Tobias Haug Adaptation and Evaluation of a German Sign Language Test Tobias Haug Adaptation and Evaluation of a German Sign Language Test A Computer-Based Receptive Skills Test for Deaf Children Ages 4–8 Years Old Hamburg University Press Verlag der Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek Hamburg Carl von Ossietzky Bibliographic information published by the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek (German National Library). The Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the Deutsche Nationalbibliografie; detailed bibliographic data are available on the Internet at http://dnb.d-nb.de. The online version is available online for free on the website of Hamburg University Press (open access). The Deutsche Nationalbibliothek stores this online publication on its Archive Server. The Archive Server is part of the deposit system for long-term availability of digital publications. Available open access in the Internet at: Hamburg University Press – http://hup.sub.uni-hamburg.de PURL: http://hup.sub.uni-hamburg.de/purl/HamburgUP_Haug_Adaption Archive Server of the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek – http://deposit.d-nb.de ISBN 978-3-937816-79-1 (printed version) © 2011 Hamburg University Press, publishing house of the State and University Library Hamburg Carl von Ossietzky, Germany Printing house: Elbe-Werkstätten GmbH, Hamburg, Germany http://www.ew-gmbh.de Cover design: Benjamin Guzinski, Hamburg Acknowledgment First of all, I would like to thank my two academic advisors, Prof. Dr. Rolf Schulmeister from Hamburg University and Prof. Dr. Bencie Woll from University College London, for their guidance, discussions, feedback and continued support via phone, mail, and personal meetings during the dif- ferent stages of my dissertation over the last seven years. Additionally, I would like to thank those people without whose con- tinued support I could not have made it: Rosalind Herman at City Univer- sity London, for her input over the last couple of years and for spending a lot of time discussing the adaptation of the BSL Receptive Skills Test to DGS with me; most importantly, Rosalind Herman, Sallie Holmes, and Bencie Woll, who gave me permission to use the BSL Receptive Skills Test as a template for test adaptation; Dr. Penny Boyes Braem, who provided useful input throughout the process of writing and re-writing my disserta- tion before finally submitting it; and Prof. Dr. Manfred Hintermair from the University of Education in Heidelberg, who gave me encouragement and support via mail, phone, and personal meetings. Furthermore, I want to express my gratitude to the people who helped me adapt the test: my programmer Michael Metzger for his very creative solutions while programming the testing interface for the adapted DGS Receptive Skills Test, as well as Knut Weinmeister from Gebärdenwerk in Hamburg, who was kind enough to function as a DGS model in the test. He did an outstanding job and the children who participated in this study loved him. Georg Eberhard and Jana Schwager from the sign language school Sehen-Verstehen in Heidelberg were very helpful in collecting data and advising me regarding DGS issues in the process of adapting the test to DGS. Margit Hillenmeyer from the GIB (Deaf Institute of Bavaria), Nürn- berg, was very supportive while collecting data in the Pilot 1 stage and provided very useful input and offered suggestions regarding linguistic is- sues. A big “thank you” to Jovita Lengen (formerly GS-Media, Zurich), who was very skilled in changing and revising the original foils from the BSL test to cultural-appropriate foils for the German test version. I also thank Sabine Fries for collecting data, and Beate Krausmann and Sylvia Wolff, Humboldt University of Berlin, for their support and input, as well as co- workers from Hamburg University, Institute for German Sign Language: Stefan Goldschmidt, Thomas Hanke, Torsten Herwig, Thimo Kleyboldt, Gabriele Langer, Christiane Metzger, Tobias Meyer-Jansson, and Siegmund Prillwitz. Most of all, thanks goes to all the Deaf informants, both children and adults, who participated in the pilot or main studies. Thanks goes to all the teachers and children at the participating schools; without them it would never have been possible to conduct the test. In the difficult stage of statistical analysis, Jürg Schwarz and Esther Meier, University of Zurich, provided guidance and were very patient dis- cussing statistical issues with me over the past year. Thanks also goes to Wolfgang Mann from City University London, who was very helpful in discussing parts of my dissertation. Chloe Marshall from City University London did a wonderful job of proofreading my dissertation; not only did she take a look at my L2-English, she also provided very useful comments and suggestions in the final stage. I also would like to thank my employer, the University of Applied Sciences for Special Needs Education (HfH) in Zurich, for providing financial sup- port to publish my dissertation at Hamburg University Press. Last but not least, I can never express enough thanks to all those who have helped me with this work over the last few years; it is unfortunately not possible to mention them all here. Table of Contents List of Tables ....................................................................................................................................15 List of Figures ...................................................................................................................................17 Abbreviations of Sign Languages ...............................................................................................19 Conventions for Glosses ...............................................................................................................20 1. Introduction …......................................................................................................... 23 1.1 Background 23 1.1.1 Deaf People as Bilinguals 23 1.1.2 Current Bilingual Deaf Education in Germany 25 1.1.3 Two General Approaches for Constructing Sign Language Tests 26 1.2 Statement of the Problem 27 1.2.1 Need for a Sign Language Test of DGS 27 1.2.2 Focus on Issues in Test Development 28 1.2.3 Test Adaptation 28 1.3 Test Adaptation Approach Used in this Study 29 1.3.1 Justification 29 1.3.2 Research Questions Concerning the DGS Test 30 1.3.3 Methodological and Theoretical Questions and Issues 31 1.4 Scope of the Dissertation 31 2. Literature Review ................................................................................................... 33 2.1 Issues in Language Testing 33 2.1.1 Basic Concepts in Language Testing 33 2.1.2 The Goals of Language Testing in Children 35 2.1.3 Language Testing Methods for Children 36 2.1.4 Test Content 39 2.1.5 Expressive and Receptive Language Skills 39 2.1.6 Test Items 40 2.1.7 Pilot Study and Main Study 41 2.1.8 The Rating Method and the Tester 41 2.1.9 Testing Environment 42 2.1.10 Psychometric Issues in Test Development 43 8Table of Contents 2.1.10.1 Reliability 43 2.1.10.2 Validity 44 2.1.10.3 Standardization 45 2.1.11 Use of New Technologies 45 2.1.12 Diversity in Language Testing 46 2.2 Models for Transferring Tests across Cultures and Languages 47 2.3 Test Adaptation 49 2.3.1 Adaptation of Spoken Language Tests 50 2.3.2 Adaptation of Sign Language Tests 52 2.4 Review of Sign Language Tests 53 2.4.1 Instruments for Linguistic Research 54 2.4.2 Instruments for Educational Purposes 54 2.4.3 Instruments for Evaluating Sign Language Acquisition 55 2.4.4 Tests for German Sign Language 56 2.4.5 The British Sign Language Receptive Skills Test 57 2.4.5.1 Testing Procedure of the BSL Receptive Skills Test 60 2.4.5.2 Psychometrics of the BSL Receptive Skills Test 60 2.5 Sign Language Acquisition 61 2.5.1 Comparison of Linguistic Structures: Cross-Linguistic Differences and Sign Language Acquisition 66 2.5.1.1 Verb Agreement in DGS and Cross-Linguistic Differences 69 2.5.1.2 Acquisition of Verb Agreement 70 2.5.1.3 Acquisition of Verb Agreement in DGS 71 2.5.1.4 Complex AB Verb Constructions 72 2.5.1.5 Acquisition of Complex AB Verb Constructions 73 2.5.1.6 Classifier Constructions in DGS and Cross-Linguistic Differences 75 2.5.1.7 Acquisition of Classifier Constructions 77 2.5.1.8 Number and Distribution in DGS and Cross-Linguistic Differences 87 2.5.1.9 Acquisition of Number and Distribution 90 2.5.1.10 Negation in DGS and Cross-Linguistic Differences 92 2.5.1.11 Acquisition of Negation 96 2.5.1.12 Evidence for Other Structures Acquired in DGS 99 2.5.2 Summary of Cross-Linguistic Differences and Sign Language Acquisition 99 2.5.3 The Role of Input on Sign Language Acquisition 100 Table of Contents 9 2.6 Sign Language Acquisition and Test Adaptation 103 2.6.1 Reasons for Test Adaptation 104 2.6.2 Sign Language Acquisition Studies as the Basis for Test Adaptation 104 2.6.3 Cross-Linguistic Differences and Similarities 108 2.6.4 Building Hypotheses 109 2.6.5 The Different Approaches Taken by the BSL Test and the Adapted DGS Test 111 2.7 Summary and Implications for the Present