Understanding the Contribution of Bimodal Bilingualism to Speech Perception during the Preschool Years

In this project, conceived by Dr. Rama Novogrodsky and Prof. Irit Meir* we explore the contribution of early sign language acquisition to speech perception of bilingual bimodal children.

* We note with sorrow the untimely death of Irit Meir, our colleague and dear friend on February 23, 2018.

obituary

Little is known about the relationship between early sign language input and the development of speech perception of spoken language in children who use cochlear implants. Speech perception is the ability to match phonetic strings to meaning in words and sentences. If top-down processing of speech perception is restricted only to the auditory modality, early sign language will not facilitate speech perception. However, if top-down processing effects are cross-modal, one might expect to find that early sign language exposure facilitates speech perception. Our project systematically explores the relationships between spoken and signed language exposure in early childhood and the contribution of both languages in speech perception of deaf children.

In the first stage of the project, we explore the developmental features of Israeli Sign Language (ISL), developing language assessment tools for ISL signing pre-school children. In the second stage of the project, we will explore the contribution of both languages used by deaf signing children (ISL and Hebrew) to their speech perception capacities. The research is supported by the Israeli Science Fund (ISF) grant number 1068/16.

The research team includes Adi Steg, Anne Marie Baer, Natalia Meir, Ora Ohanin, Roni Beit-Halachmi and Tamar Halutzi.

Publications:

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Posters:

• Rozen-Blay, O., Novogrodsky, R. & Degani, T. (April, 2019). Can We Produce Two Languages Simultaneously? The Influence of Simultaneous-Communication on the Spoken Language of Bimodal-Bilinguals. A poster presented at the Semi-Annual Workshop of the Department of Communication Science & Disorders: Continuous Influences - workshop dedicated to the work of Prof. Irit Meir. University of Haifa.
• Maaluf-Zraik, N., Novogrodsky, R. & Meir, I. (April, 2019). The Impact of Diglossia on Narratives Characteristics of School-Age Arabic Speaking Children with Hearing-Impairment Compared with Hearing Peers. A poster presented at the Semi-Annual Workshop of the Department of Communication Science & Disorders: Continuous Influences - workshop dedicated to the work of Prof. Irit Meir. University of Haifa.
• Steg-Dishon, A. & Novogrodsky, R. (November, 2018). The Effect of Sign Language on Symbolic Play in Deaf Bilingual-Bimodal Toddlers. A poster presented at the Sign Language Acquisition and Assessment SLAAC conference. University of Haifa.
• Meir, I., Novogrodsky, R. & Baer, A. M. (June, 2018). Acquisition of Location Classifier Constructions in Israeli Sign Language. A Poster presented at the 3rd International Conference on Sign Language Acquisition (ICSLA). Ko? University, Turkey.
• Novogrodsky, R., Meir, N., Ohanin, O., Morgan, H. E. & Meir. I. (June, 2018). Israeli Sign Language Communicative Development Inventory (ISL-CDI). A poster presented at the 3rd International Conference on Sign Language Acquisition (ICSLA). Ko? University, Turkey.

Articles:

• Novogrodsky, R., Fish, S., & Hoffmeister, R. (2014). The acquisition of synonyms in American Sign Language (ASL): Towards a further understanding of the components of ASL vocabulary knowledge. Sign Language Studies, 14 (2). 225-249.
• Novogrodsky, R., Caldwell-Harris, C., Fish, S., & Hoffmeister, R. (2014). The Development of Antonyms Knowledge in American Sign Language (ASL) and its Relationship to Reading Comprehension in English. Language learning. 749-770.
• Henner, J., Caldwell-Harris, C., Novogrodsky, R., & Hoffmeister, R. (2016). American Sign Language Syntax and Analogical Reasoning Skills are Influenced by Early Acquisition and Age of Entry to Signing Schools for the Deaf. Frontiers in Psychology.
• Novogrodsky, R., Henner, J., Caldwell-Harris, C., & Hoffmeister, R. (2017). The Development of Sensitivity to Grammatical Violations in American Sign Language - Native Signers versus Nonnative. Language Learning. DOI) - 10.1111/lang.12245.
• Novogrodsky, R., Meir, N. & Michael, R. (2018). Morpho-syntactic Abilities of Toddlers with Hearing-impairment and Normal Hearing: Evidence from a Sentence Repetition Task.  International Journal of Language and Communication Disorders.
• Henner, J., Novogrodsky, R., Reis, J., & Hoffmeister, R. (2018). Recent Issues in the Use of Signed Language Assessments for Diagnosis of Language Related Disabilities in Signing Deaf and Hard of Hearing Children. Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education.
• Henner, J., Novogrodsky, R., Caldwell-Harris, C., & Hoffmeister, R. (accepted). The acquisition of language-based analogical reasoning in American Sign Language. Journal of Speech Language and Hearing Research.