An analysis of how metalinguistic terms are realised in British sign language in the context of teaching English to deaf learners

ABSTRACT

To date, there has been no investigation into how metalinguistic terms, pertaining to English language teaching, are expressed in British Sign Language (BSL). This preliminary study explored how these terms are realised in BSL with the relevant professional community. The investigation was underpinned by translanguaging as a theoretical framework and positioned as practitioner research. It was a collaborative enquiry and structured in two phases. The first involved an initial round of interviews and a targeted elicitation task using an English word list of 87 metalinguistic terms. How participants expressed the terms in BSL were recorded and analysed using ELAN, a multi-media annotation software. These articulations were recreated by two deaf presenters for the purposes of anonymously sharing the data with the participants for the second phase of the study that sought their reflections. The data evidenced considerable linguistic variation and motivation regarding articulation. Variants evidenced strong visually motivated form-meaning mapping (iconicity and transparency), while a minority were more arbitrary in nature. Some demonstrated borrowing from English, through fingerspelling, loan translations and mouthing. Others provided evidence of semantic change (broadening) by using signs from other contexts or by using multiple signs that served as an explanation of the meaning. Quite a number evidenced multiple features and motivations. The study concludes there is a lack of consensus and a dearth of established signs for terms referred to in the English language classroom. It is proposed that further research and collaboration are needed with the goal of developing a glossary of signs.

KEYWORDS:

• British sign language
• metalanguage
• sign language research
• deaf education

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Consent statement

This investigation was undertaken as part of my doctorate with the Institute of Education. I confirm that I have gained the consent of all participants in the study and nobody has been referred to personally in the article. The study was reviewed and passed by University College London’s ethics committee.

Notes

1 Participants and others outside the study were invited to be part of a collaborative enquiry group: Teaching English to Sign Language Users (TESLU). It is a Google Classroom and is open to anyone who might be affiliated to contexts where English is taught to deaf learners. The elicited data, recreated by deaf presenters, is available to view. For a link or to join TESLU, please contact the author.

2 The BSL SignBank is a lexical database designed by UCL for research purposes and also serves as an online dictionary.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Russell Aldersson

Russell Aldersson teaches English to deaf adults at the City Literary Institute and works with deaf undergraduate and postgraduate students as a specialist support tutor. He also works as a freelance sign language interpreter.