Robert Hoffmeister

Boston University | BU · Deaf Studies

Interview of Robert J. Hoffmeister, Phd for Perspectiva

How Deaf children should be taught to read has long been debated. Severely or profoundly Deaf children, who face challenges in acquiring language from its spoken forms, must learn to read a language they do not speak. We refer to this as learning a language via print. How children can learn language via print is not a topic regularly studied by edu...

Considering Deaf children and adults as bilingual - their first language is a Signed Language (SL) and the second language is learned via print - provides professionals with a paradigm to be used for creating better learning opportunities. In this paper, Greek Sign Language ((G)SL)) [1] as a first language (L1) is the base language we use to presen...

Considerar as crianças e adultos Surdos como bilíngues - sua primeira língua é a Língua de Sinais (SL) e a segunda língua é aprendida via escrita - fornece aos profissionais um paradigma a ser utilizado para criar melhores oportunidades de aprendizagem. Neste artigo, a Língua de Sinais Grega ((G)SL)), como primeira língua (L1), é a língua base que...

The current study contributes empirical data to our understanding of how knowledge of American Sign Language (ASL) syntax aids reading print English for deaf children who are bilingual and bimodal in ASL and English print. The first analysis, a conceptual replication of Hoffmeister ( 2000), showed that performance on the American Sign Language Asse...

Limited studies exist that connect using signed language with mathematics performance in deaf and hard of hearing children. Here we examine 257 participants and compare their results on the NWEA MAP to their results on an assessment of ASL skills. We found that better ASL skills tended to result in better MAP performance. These results are moderate...

Limited studies exist that connect using signed language with mathematics performance of deaf and hard of hearing children. In the present study, the authors examined 257 participants and compared their results on the Northwest Evaluation Association: Measures of Academic Progress (NWEA MAP) to their results on an assessment of American Sign Langua...

Being able to comprehend a language entails not only mastery of its syntax, lexicon, or phonology, but also the ability to use language to construct meaning, draw inferences, and make connections to world knowledge. However, most available assessments of American Sign Language (ASL) focus on mastery of lower level skills, and as a result little is...

Purpose This article examines whether syntactic and vocabulary abilities in American Sign Language (ASL) facilitate 6 categories of language-based analogical reasoning. Method Data for this study were collected from 267 deaf participants, aged 7;6 (years;months) to 18;5. The data were collected from an ongoing study initially funded by the U.S. In...

In recent years, normed signed language assessments have become a useful tool for researchers, practitioners, and advocates. Nevertheless, there are limitations in their application, particularly for the diagnosis of language disorders, and learning disabilities. Here, we discuss some of the available normed, signed language assessments and some of...

The acquisition of classifiers in American Sign Language (ASL) appears to be driven by complex factors. There is no consensus as to when different classifiers are acquired or what the constraints governing their acquisition are. Classifiers seem to be learned independently from the verb frames in which they appear, and, as independent morphemes, th...

Academic English is an essential literacy skill area for success in post-secondary education and in many work environments. Despite its importance, academic English is understudied with deaf and hard of hearing (DHH) students. Nascent research in this area suggests that academic English, alongside American Sign Language (ASL) fluency, may play an i...

Factors influencing native and nonnative signers’ syntactic judgment ability in American Sign Language (ASL) were explored for 421 deaf students aged 7;6–18;5. Predictors for syntactic knowledge were chronological age, age of entering a school for the deaf, gender, and additional learning disabilities. Mixed-effects linear modeling analysis reveale...

For many years, researchers have sought to understand the reading development of deaf and hard of hearing (DHH) students. Guided by prior research on DHH and hearing students, in this study we investigate the hypothesis that for secondary school DHH students enrolled in American Sign Language (ASL)/English bilingual schools for the deaf, academic E...

Limited choices exist for assessing the signed language development of deaf and hard of hearing children. Over the past 30 years, the American Sign Language Assessment Instrument (ASLAI) has been one of the top choices for norm-referenced assessment of deaf and hard of hearing children who use American Sign Language. Signed language assessments can...

Failing to acquire language in early childhood because of language deprivation is a rare and exceptional event, except in one population. Deaf children who grow up without access to indirect language through listening, speech-reading, or sign language experience language deprivation. Studies of Deaf adults have revealed that late acquisition of sig...

The development of valid and reliable assessment tools to measure the acquisition of natural signed languages is of practical as well as theoretical significance. This chapter describes a selection of tests that are currently available or under development to assess several signed languages (American Sign Language, British Sign Language, German Sig...

In this paper, we introduce the American Sign Language STEM Concept Learning Resource (ASL CLeaR), an educational application demo. The ASL CLeaR addresses a need for quality ASL STEM resources by featuring expertly presented STEM content in ASL, and employing an ASL-based search function and a visuocentric search interface. This paper discusses th...

A receptive, multiple-choice test of ASL synonyms was administered to Deaf children in order to determine both their vocabulary development and the metalinguistic skills necessary for them to identify synonyms. A total of 572 Deaf children who were 4;0-18;0 years of age were tested: 449 Deaf children of hearing parents (DCHP) and 123 Deaf children...

It is unknown if the developmental path of antonym knowledge in deaf children increases continuously with age and correlates with reading comprehension, as it does in hearing children. In the current study we tested 564 students aged 4–18 on a receptive multiple-choice American Sign Language (ASL) antonym test. A subgroup of 138 students aged 7–18...

Semantic and phonological knowledge of native signers of American Sign Language (ASL) in a synonym task

This chapter presents an historical account of the progress in the development of measures for assessing first language abilities in American Sign Language (ASL). In the past sign language assessment efforts were limited as they were largely based on the translation of extant measures developed for assessing English abilities. In the past two decad...

Theory-of-mind (ToM) abilities were studied in 176 deaf children aged 3 years 11 months to 8 years 3 months who use either American Sign Language (ASL) or oral English, with hearing parents or deaf parents. A battery of tasks tapping understanding of false belief and knowledge state and language skills, ASL or English, was given to each child. Ther...

Name signs have existed in Greek Deaf culture since antiquity. However, little is known about Greek Sign Language (GSL) and the Greek Deaf community. Based on interviews with 200 people, the phonological characteristics of Greek name signs are described, as well as the frequency of occurrence of specific name signs and the influence of spoken Greek...

First languages are assumed to be learned in the home. Since 90 to 97 percent of Deaf children are born to hearing parents who do not know American Sigh Language (ASL), their first exposure to ASL will be in the school setting. Deaf children will spend approximately 50 percent of their waking hours with teachers, who are their main language models....

Special education is involved in a large scale attempt to 'educate' regular classroom teachers in addition to teachers traditionally served by special education. This paper examines the information presented in special education text books to determine how issues surrounding deaf persons are presented. Chapters addressing the Deaf in 13 special edu...

[This book is intended] for professionals and students in such fields as audiology; speech-language pathology; medicine; education; school, rehabilitation and mental health counseling; psychology; interpreting; ASL and deaf studies; and for anyone with a deaf person in his or her life. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)

The question of whether cognitive development precedes language acquisition in infants is a continuing theoretical discussion. Clearly, cognitive development is a complex interrelationship of mental processes and strategies that relate the development of internal mechanisms to external stimuli. This interrelationship then permits new knowledge to b...

Code switching is a complex and pervasive part of the everyday communication of deaf individuals. Seven deaf subjects who acquired a signed language at different times in their lives were asked to relate a signed story under different listener conditions. Listeners were deaf and hearing persons who also learned to sign at different ages. These sign...

Advances in knowledge regarding the structure of American Sign Language have caused current researchers to refocus questions about how deaf children acquire a visual language. Deaf children are acquiring the same linguistic principles as hearing children; yet their model is in a visual-spatial mode rather than a spoken-auditory mode (Klima and Bell...

Thesis--University of Minnesota. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 155-160).

Robert J. Hoffmeister is Research Fellow and Co-Investigator in the Research, Development, and Demonstration Center in Education of Handicapped Children (Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455). He is pursuing doctoral studies in the Department of Psycho-educational Studies at the University of Minnesota. Donald F. Moores is Director of the Minnesota Center,...

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