American Sign Language

ASL provides no educational benefits.

• TRUE

• FALSE

British Sign Language and American Sign Language are

• essentially the same, but with minor differences

• very different

• identical

• different, but mutually intelligible

Answer explanation

American Sign Language (ASL), also used in much of Canada, is heavily influenced by French Sign Language.

British Sign Language (BSL) is similar to Australian Sign Language.

Fingerspelling (spelling out words letter by letter) is a useful skill, but is a poor substitute for a knowledge of sign language because:

• it is slower to communicate letter by letter

• fingerspelling does not include grammar rules

• it is very difficult to communicate emotion through fingerspelling alone

• all of these

  
  

Answer explanation

Sign language uses hand movements, facial expressions, and body language to communicate. Fingerspelling is not a language of its own and does not have grammatical structures and syntaxes.

Sign languages are not 'simple' and can convey complex ideas as effectively as spoken languages.

• True

• False

Answer explanation

Poetry is written in sign languages, and jokes are told all the time!

According to the second paragraph,

• one sign language can have different signs for the same idea.

• the vocabulary of sign language is more important than the grammar.

• babies need grammar lessons to use a sign language correctly.

• sign languages have fewer rules than spoken languages.

What does the acronym ASL stand for?

• A Sign Language

• Adaptive Signing Linguistics

• American Simple Language

• American Sign Language

How did caregivers help to reinforce the signs they were teaching Koko? Check 3.

• Human caregivers spoke the words as the signed them.

• Human caregivers signed to each other.

• Human caregivers would sign to Koko whenever possible.

• Human caregivers used flash cards to help Koko remember signs.

What is the primary purpose of American Sign Language (ASL)?

• To provide a visual means of communication for the deaf and hard of hearing

• To serve as a universal sign language for all countries

• To replace spoken English in the United States

• To act as a secret code among its users

Which of the following is a characteristic of American Sign Language?

• It uses the same grammar as English

• It is a written language

• It has its own unique grammar and syntax

• It is only used in the United States

In American Sign Language, facial expressions are used to:

• Convey grammatical information

• Indicate the end of a sentence

• Show politeness

• Replace hand signs