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This article aims to identify common errors made by hearing students learning South African Sign Language (SASL) and enhance the understanding of language acquisition in this context. The research-ers formulated three hypotheses, attributing errors to vocabulary gaps, misunderstandings due to improper signing, and the dual impact of spoken and signed languages on learning SASL. The study's theoretical framework integrates information processing theory, the monitor model, and transfer theory in language acquisition, empha-sizing the role of the first language.
Using a quantitative research paradigm, the study involved ten fourth-year students in an SASL learner class, using video recordings for data collection. The researchers foliowed strict ethical guide-lines. Data analysis revealed forty-seven deviations among seventy-one signs, categorized into five groups, focusing on error patterns rather than individual signs. The investigation sheds light on SASL as a second language with a visual modality (L2M2), emphasizing the impact of mistakes and using signs in conveying meaning. In particular, the study highlights issues such as incorrect phonological parameters, sign replacements, wrong signs/versions, pointing, and improvised signs.
Educationally the study is valuable for L2M2 educators, offering insight into students' challenges and emphasizing specific problem areas. The findings contribute significantly to understanding the complexity of SASL acquisition, helping educators refme teaching strategies to improve learning outcomes.
Marga Stander is a senior lecturer at the Sol Plaatje University in Kimberly, teaching Afrikaans, English and South African Sign Language. She is also a research associate at the University of the Free State, Bloemfontein, South Africa. Hazel Sivell is a South African Sign Language interpreter at the University of the Free State in Bloemfontein with experience in teaching second language second modality sign language first-year students at the Sol Plaatje University, Kimberley Northern Cape.
The formal recognition of South African Sign Language (SASL) as an instructional subject within schools for the Deaf in 2018, as stipulated by Umalusi (2018), has opened a spectrum of opportunities, including pedagogy, scholarship, and inquiry. This landmark development has caused an increase in the enrolment of hearing learners, particularly those enrolled in educational programs at the university level, who show a pronounced interest in acquir-ing proficiency in SASL as a secondary linguistic domain (Bell 2021; Lillo-Martin and Henner 2020). The interest in studying SASL will increase even more...