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GeorgetownX: Sign Language Science: Factors Contributing to Natural Learning

This course promotes a better understanding of the factors that may affect how people learn signed language.

Sign Language Science: Factors Contributing to Natural Learning
4 weeks
3–5 hours per week
Self-paced
Progress at your own speed
Free
Optional upgrade available

There is one session available:

After a course session ends, it will be archivedOpens in a new tab.
Starts Mar 28
Ends Dec 31

About this course

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In this course, we will look at how multiple, varying factors can account for language-learning patterns. Age, for example, is a key factor that predicts fluency. Another topic of particular importance to signed languages is the mind. Knowing that spoken language primarily activates the left hemisphere, in this course we will explore how signed languages also primarily activate the left hemisphere.

At a glance

  • Language: English
  • Video Transcript: English
  • Associated programs:
  • Associated skills:Sign Languages

What you'll learn

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  • Distinguish between continuous variation and discrete componentiality in sign innovation
  • Define the term "linguistic typology"
  • Describe the potential reasons for typological differences within ASL morphology according to observational and neuro-linguistic research on the morphological continuum.
  • Stages and milestones in natural sign language acquisition
  • Compare sign language pedagogies for L1 and L2 learning
  • Identify the characteristic features of grammar that occur in both home sign and mature community sign languages

This course is part of American Sign Language Science Professional Certificate Program

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Expert instruction
4 skill-building courses
Self-paced
Progress at your own speed
4 months
3 - 5 hours per week

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