Preparation Manual

Domain I—American Sign Language

Competency 001—The teacher demonstrates knowledge of general language acquisition, communication processes, historical and current research on American Sign Language and signed languages used by Deaf communities in other countries.

1. Which of the following terms best applies when a language user knows the governing rules of ASL, including features such as syntax, grammar and discourse markers?

1. Language competence
2. Language performance
3. Language interference
4. Language characteristic

AnswerEnter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded

Option A is correct because language competence is the ability to speak, read, write and understand another language. Option B is incorrect because language performance identifies the actual spoken ability of a speaker measured when conversing, including syntax and phonetic errors. Option C is incorrect because language interference is the effect of the learner’s first language on his or her production of the second language being learned. Option D is incorrect because a language characteristic is an identifying feature of a language, without regard to the language user’s knowledge of the characteristic.

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2. Which of the following terms best identifies a linguistic feature that allows the components of a language to be separated into categories?

1. Passives
2. Paraphrases
3. Parameters
4. Phonemes

AnswerEnter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded

Option C is correct because the parameters of ASL include non-manual signals, handshapes, palm orientation, location and movement, which allow the language to be separated into categories for specialized studies. Option A is incorrect because passive terms are words within a language that distinguish the relationship between the subject and the verb. Option B is incorrect because paraphrases are two sentences that have the same meaning. Option D is incorrect because words can be broken down into parts, but phonemes are just a single unit.

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3. Which of the following is most likely to prevent a person from acquiring a first language?

1. An isolated setting
2. A multicultural setting
3. A residential setting
4. A mainstreamed setting

AnswerEnter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded

Option A is correct because an isolated setting would limit a person’s exposure to language, varied communication and resources in a manner that could prevent the person from appropriately acquiring a first language naturally. Option B is incorrect because the cultural setting, whether monocultural or multicultural in nature, does not necessarily affect language acquisition. Option C is incorrect because a person would learn positively at a school for the Deaf. Option D is incorrect because many mainstream settings offer interpreters and appropriate support for students to acquire a first language.

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4. During the 1960s, which of the following individuals proved that American Sign Language is a complete and sophisticated language system?

1. Thomas Gallaudet
2. Ken Mikos
3. William Stokoe
4. Laurent Clerc

AnswerEnter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded

Option C is correct because William C. Stokoe proved that American Sign Language meets the full criteria of linguistics (phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics and pragmatics) necessary to be classified as a fully developed language. Option A is incorrect because Thomas Gallaudet is more appropriately credited with establishing the American School for the Deaf (ASD). Option B is incorrect because Ken Mikos wrote curriculum materials and presented ASL-related workshops in the late 1980s and 1990s. Option D is incorrect because Laurent Clerc is recognized as the first Deaf educator in the United States.

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Competency 002—The teacher demonstrates knowledge of language as a means of transmitting culture and demonstrates knowledge of theories of second-language learning.

5. Which of the following terms refers to the stage in second-language acquisition where a student reaches a plateau and internalizes errors?

1. Fossilization
2. Foreigner talk
3. Interlanguage
4. Interference

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Option A is correct because fossilization refers to the point in the learning of a secondary language at which the student has more and more difficulty furthering his or her fluency in the language. Option B is incorrect because foreigner talk is a form of language used when a native signer communicates or addresses a nonnative signer. Option C is incorrect because interlanguage refers to language produced by a learner of a second language that often has grammatical features not found in either the native or secondary language. Option D is incorrect because interference occurs when the signer’s two languages intersect, thereby resulting in linguistic intrusions from the first language.

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Competency 003—The teacher demonstrates knowledge of effective methods for teaching American Sign Language, its history and its evolution to modern usage.

6. ASL teacher training emphasizes curriculum development, teaching methodology and

1. performance-based assessments.
2. behavior-management techniques.
3. parent-community involvement.
4. teacher-student rapport.

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Option A is correct because developing performance-based assessments is emphasized during ASL teacher training. Options B, C and D are incorrect because behavior-management techniques, parent-community involvement and teacher-student rapport are addressed in ASL teacher training but are not emphasized.

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7. When students are learning ASL, which of the following is the most appropriate skill set for ASL teachers to evaluate?

1. Receptive and expressive skills
2. Total communication skills
3. Oral and effective written skills
4. Rational metacognitive skills

AnswerEnter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded

Option A is correct because assessing receptive (comprehension) skill and expressive (conversation) skills can be effectively used to evaluate students’ mastery of ASL in a classroom setting. Option B is incorrect because total communication skills consist of speaking and signing at the same time, which does not allow students to properly acquire ASL linguistic structures. Option C is incorrect because oral and effective written skills are not part of the ASL setting. Option D is incorrect because metacognitive skills are thinking skills rather than language skills acquired when learning ASL.

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8. To most effectively expose students to Deaf culture, a teacher should have students

1. participate in language labs during class.
2. attend events in the local Deaf community.
3. observe students who are hearing impaired and are mainstreamed.
4. attend a lecture about an individual’s experiences in the Deaf community.

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Option B is correct because attending Deaf events would allow students to have a first-hand experience and observe the cultural norms. Option A is incorrect because attending language labs does not sufficiently expose students to language and culture. Option C is incorrect because hearing impaired students are often mainstreamed in public schools, which limits the student’s exposure to ASL or the Deaf culture. Option D is incorrect because each Deaf speaker is an individual with varied backgrounds, so the individual can only present their own experience of the Deaf culture. In addition, students will not receive a first-hand experience with the culture.

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9. ASL primarily evolved from which of the following sign languages?

1. German Sign Language (GSL)
2. Spanish Sign Language (SSL)
3. French Sign Language (FSL)
4. British Sign Language (BSL)

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Option C is correct because many modern ASL sign roots came from Old French Sign Language. Laurent Clerc was French and became the first deaf teacher in the country when he migrated to the United States. He used sign language as a method of teaching deaf children, some of whom used Old American Sign Language. When Old French Sign Language and Old American Sign Language combined, they resulted in modern ASL. Option A is incorrect because there is no documented evidence of Old German Sign Language in the etymology of ASL. Option B is incorrect because a few documents state that the one-hand alphabet hand shapes are the only feature that possibly derived from Spanish Sign Language, specifically used by monks. Option D is incorrect because most of the British Sign Language (BSL) words/signs have no similarity to modern ASL signs.

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10. Which of the following best identifies common learning styles?

1. Visual, auditory, kinesthetic and tactile
2. Extrinsic and intrinsic motivation
3. Readiness, primacy, recency and intensity
4. Behaviorism and constructivism

AnswerEnter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded

Option A is correct because visual, auditory, kinesthetic and tactile are the four basic categories of learning styles used by teachers to identify the modality that each of their students’ uses to learn best. Option B is incorrect because extrinsic and intrinsic motivation refer to the underlying reasons students desire to do a task or activity. Option C is incorrect because readiness, primacy, recency and intensity are principles of learning, not learning styles. Option D is incorrect because behaviorism and constructivism are two learning theories, not learning styles.

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Competency 004—The teacher demonstrates knowledge of the linguistic and grammatical features of American Sign Language and knowledge of comparative and contrastive characteristics of American Sign Language and English.

11. Which of the following best describes the placement of the object at the beginning of an ASL sentence?

1. Subject-object agreement
2. Subject-verb agreement
3. Topic-comment structure
4. Contrastive structure

AnswerEnter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded

Option C is correct because topicalization and topic-comment structure is common in ASL. The object, or topic, is moved to the beginning of the sentence to announce the content of the sentence. Option A is incorrect because subject-object agreement refers to an appropriate identification and/or inclusion of a subject of the sentence. Option B is incorrect because subject-verb agreement refers to the appropriate use of a verb to identify the desired subject of the sentence. Option D is incorrect because contrastive structure occurs when signing takes place on both sides of the body using the shoulder-shift.

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12. Which of the following is the linguistics term for the process of making an affirmative sentence into its opposite?

1. Negation
2. Contradiction
3. Metathesis
4. Reversal

AnswerEnter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded

Option A is correct because the insertion of a negation in a sentence with either a non-manual sign or a lexical item changes the meaning of the sentence in such a way that the affirmative sentence becomes negative. Option B is incorrect because contradiction is an unresolved dissonance; it does not change the meaning of the sentence altogether. Option C is incorrect because metathesis is a morphological process connected with transposing words, signs or phonemes but does not change the meaning of a sentence. Option D is incorrect because a reversal converts a sentence back to a previous meaning; however, the term does not apply if information is changed only once.

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13. The signs ALL-NIGHT-LONG and ALL-DAY-LONG best indicate which of the following?

1. Habitual time
2. Duration of time
3. Derivational morphemes
4. Inflectional fixed morphemes

AnswerEnter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded

Option B is correct because the duration of time describes how long something occurs. The duration of time signs use specific movement and non-manual signals. Option A is incorrect because habitual time is represented by a change in a sign’s movement to show that something occurs as part of a series. The following are some additional examples: EVERY-TUESDAY, EVERY DAY, ANNUALLY/EVERY-YEAR. Option C is incorrect because derivational morphology creates new signs. The meaning of the sign has only been modified, not completely changed. An example of derivational morphology would be noun-verb pairs. Option D is incorrect because ALL-DAY-LONG is one sign. An inflectional morpheme modifies a word’s tense, aspect, etc. It would require the addition of another sign, which is not indicated in this example.

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14. Which of the following best describes a phrase where signers raise their eyebrows, tilt their heads, pause briefly and structure sentences to sign terms such as IF or SUPPOSE?

1. A rhetorical question
2. A conditional phrase
3. Topic-comment
4. Question marker

AnswerEnter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded

Option B is correct because conditional phrases are if-then statements and are not used to request more information. The non-manual signs described in the question are used for conditional statements. Option A is incorrect because the signers do not ask for information with rhetorical questions; they are setting up a situation to deliver information they already know. Option C is incorrect because topicalization is a common ASL sentence structure in which the object appears at the beginning of a sentence to announce the topic of a sentence. It does not require the use of an if-then statement. Option D is incorrect because assimilation is a process applicable to all languages. It occurs naturally when the body adapts the sign or sound to make it more efficient in relation to the previous or following movement or sound.

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15. The practice of changing from one language to another is best known as

1. interference.
2. code switching.
3. lexical borrowing.
4. maintained bilingualism.

AnswerEnter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded

Option B is correct because the term "code switching" refers to a bilingual person who uses one language and then switches to another language for a word or phrase. Option A is incorrect because the term "interference" refers to a bilingual person's use of parts of one language, in error, while communicating in another language. Option C is incorrect because the term "lexical borrowing" refers to the borrowing of a lexical item — a word or a sign — from one language and incorporating it into another language system. Option D is incorrect because the term "maintained bilingualism" refers to the use of two languages in the same location. They may both stay, or one of them may gradually disappear.

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Competency 005—The teacher demonstrates knowledge of sociological theories, especially as related to the American Deaf culture and community.

16. Which of the following ASL words is the best example of regional variation?

1. POPULAR
2. BICYCLE
3. PAPER
4. BIRTHDAY

AnswerEnter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded

Option D is correct because the sign for BIRTHDAY is different depending upon the region where you live. Options A, B and C are incorrect because the signs for POPULAR, BICYCLE and PAPER are the same regardless of the region.

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17. Which of the following is a characteristic best aligned with the cultural values of collectivism?

1. Competitiveness
2. Loyalty
3. Self-expressiveness
4. Independence

AnswerEnter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded

Option B is correct because being loyal to the group is one of several characteristics of collectivism. Options A, C and D are incorrect because competitiveness, self-expression and independence are examples of individualist values.

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18. Which of the following is a well-known alternate name for the Deaf world?

1. Earth
2. ASL World
3. Eyeth
4. Gallaudet University

AnswerEnter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded

Option C is correct because traditional Deaf folklore refers to a place called Eyeth where everyone can sign, an allusion to the Deaf world. Options A, B and C are incorrect because Earth, ASL World and Gallaudet University are not terms used for the Deaf world.

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Competency 006—The teacher demonstrates knowledge of American Deaf culture and its evolution, including the social, political, educational and audiological aspects of Deaf culture, as well as federal and state legislation regarding the education and civil rights of individuals who are deaf.

19. Which of the following best describes a change that resulted from the Milan Convention of 1880?

1. Mandating that educational institutions hire deaf leaders
2. Eliminating the requirement that business establishments hire deaf individuals
3. Encouraging linguistic scholars to study sign language acquisition
4. Restricting the use of sign language during instruction in schools

AnswerEnter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded

Option D is correct because the Milan Convention convened to ban sign language and to promote the Oralism movement. Options A, B and C are incorrect because the Milan Convention was not called to promote deaf leadership in educational institutions, to prevent deaf individuals from being hired or to promote the study of sign language acquisition.

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20. Within the Deaf culture, if two signers are conversing with each other and blocking a third person’s path, the third person should

1. ask them to pause their conversation and obtain permission to pass through their signing space.
2. wait until they stop signing before passing through their signing space.
3. bend down very low to avoid passing through their signing space.
4. walk through without hesitation or permission to pass through their signing space.

AnswerEnter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded

Option D is correct because walking through their signing space without hesitation is the proper behavioral norm in Deaf culture, which contrasts with the hearing culture. It is appropriate for teachers to practice this behavioral rule in the classroom with students. Options A, B and C are incorrect because each describes a behavior that is considered rude and distracting in the Deaf culture.

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21. Which of the following was the main purpose of the Deaf President Now (DPN) movement?

1. Improving the quality of deaf interpreting services
2. Emphasizing sign language research
3. Assuring that deaf people are in decision-making positions
4. Admitting more hearing students at a college

AnswerEnter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded

Option C is correct because the DPN movement originated at Gallaudet University, a historically Deaf college. The college was led by hearing presidents and a board of trustees comprised of mostly hearing people for over 100 years. The DPN protesters believed that the lack of a Deaf president perpetuated the misconceptions that a non-hearing person was not competent enough to administer a university and that non-hearing people were not capable of controlling their own fates. Options A, B and D are incorrect because these concerns were not aspects of the DPN protests.

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