Sign Language Interpreting Program
Effective
study habits | Study
Hints for ASL Students Introduction
"Learning is
doing. It is an active process in which you must be involved. You do not learn
effectively by sitting on the sidelines; you must be involved and participating
in what you are trying to learn."
Your high school
learning experience took place in a "teaching environment." How much
you learned depended largely on the knowledge and skills of your teacher. Now
you are in college – in a "learning environment." The responsibility
for what you learn is yours, NOT the instructor’s. You are expected to be an
independent learner.
You know you need
to study. You know it is important. But, maybe it has been a while since you
were in classes in high school or college. And very few people have studied a
visual language before. So, while you are committed to doing whatever it takes
to be successful in learning sign language and interpreting, you wish you had a
better idea of exactly what it takes.
This guide was
developed to help you succeed and achieve your goals of language fluency and
interpreting knowledge and skill.
We start with a
basic overview of general tips for effective studying. The second section
focuses on specific activities you can do when studying American Sign Language.
The last section describes activities to help you practice and develop
interpreting skills.
We hope these
hints and suggestions will help you on your learning path. Hints for Effective Study Habits
1.
GOALS: Establish your goals. What is it you want to
do? What is it you want to become? Why is it important to you? Without specific
goals how do you know where you are going or when you get there? The goals you
set will provide meaning and direction to your studies.
One of the
important reasons Tiger Woods has become great is because of the goals he has
set for himself and his dedication and focus on those goals. Check out this website or more
information. http://www.mentalgamecoach.com/articles/WhatMakesTigerTickArticle5_07.html
So, how do you
set effective goals?
a.
Try making short-term, intermediate, and long-term goals. Make goals for
one course. Make goals for one year in school. Make goals for three years in
the future.
b.
State your goals clearly and positively.
c.
Make your goals specific and observable/measurable.
d.
Set a time frame for your goal. This helps you keep moving and working.
e.
Aim high. A challenging goal will be much more rewarding than one that
takes little effort.
f.
Write your goals down. Post them on the refrigerator or bulletin board.
Make them visible.
g.
Compare your goals with the goals the instructor has for the course, and
the goals of the interpreter preparation program. Do these goals match?
Dovetail? Or conflict? If you notice that your goals and the instructor's or
the program's are not the same, make an appointment with the instructor or
program advisor to discuss the differences.
h.
Periodically review your goals. They may have been accomplished, they
may have changed, they may need revision, or they may no longer be necessary.
Rewrite them as necessary.
2.
SCHEDULING: Organize and plan your
study schedule. The expectation in college is that students spend two hours
studying for every hour spent in class. For a class that meets 2.5 hours a week
that means five hours of study per week. Students in the interpreter preparation
program spend eight hours a week in class and can expect to spend AT LEAST
sixteen hours a week outside of class studying.
But we all
lead such hectic lives. Where can you find the time to study? It takes
organizing and planning.
a.
For one week, keep a time inventory. Record everything you do during a
day. Then, look for patterns in how you use your time. Consider your priorities
in your life. Where can you cut
back? Where can you insert a study session? What things are you spending the
most time on? When are you most productive? Are you spending the majority of
your time on the priorities? Are you scheduling the priorities at your most
productive times?
b.
Make a calendar to record events, deadlines, tests and other important
dates coming up during the semester. For the crucial items, go back one and two
weeks before and put warnings on the date. "One week until Mom and Dad’s
anniversary." "Two weeks until the portfolio is due."
c.
Design a study schedule. Then, keep it! Don’t wait for inspiration to
strike – it usually doesn’t. Practice self-discipline. Many times you
will find that once you have gotten into the activity or study, it really is
interesting, challenging, and enjoyable.
d.
Most people work better with shorter, more frequent study periods or with
breaks during longer sessions. Think of it like interpreting, a complex task
requiring alertness, multiple-tasking and processing, and physical strength and
stamina. It is common for assignments over two hours to be shared by a team.
This is because we acknowledge that our effectiveness as interpreters is
compromised after long periods of work. Most teams rotate every twenty to
thirty minutes. This is based on research about the effectiveness of
interpreting over time. The twenty to thirty minute rule might be a good one to
try in your study schedule.
e.
Don’t procrastinate. Do it now! Research has shown that without review,
after two weeks the average student forgets approximately 80% of what was
covered in class. Cramming is not real learning. It is only trying to remember
a large amount of material for a short period of time. You cannot
"cram" for a language or a skill. If you wait until the night before
basketball try-outs to start practicing your free throws, you will not make the
team.
f.
When doing a long-term assignment, plan out the steps and assign them
deadlines. Break it into doable pieces, and complete them according to your
time line.
3.
OVERLEARN: Continue past the point
where you can just barely recall or do something. Continue past the point where
you can do that thing without struggling. Continue to the point where you can
do it without thinking about it. Then you know the language lives inside of
you.
4.
STUDY ENVIRONMENT: Control your study
environment. Select a place. Stock it with the necessary materials and
equipment. Make sure there are no distractions or routine interruptions that
could give you an excuse to stop studying.
5.
JOIN STUDY GROUPS: This gives you the
practice and feedback you need to develop better language skills. It also gives
you a broader perspective on the subject, a support system when you need it and
a gentle kick in the behind if you start dragging your feet.
6.
WELLBEING: Maintain your overall
physical and mental health.
Study Hints for Sign Language Students
a.
Do not go straight through the alphabet, or say the letters as you spell.
Practice spelling letter or word combinations: bat, cat, sat, mat, hat, attic.
Many games can be played with fingerspelling rather than spoken or written
words: Boggle, Password, Scattegories, etc.
b.
Make sure that you work with a partner to practice reading
fingerspelling, which is much more challenging than producing the letters
yourself. As you improve, begin fingerspelling within phrases and sentences.
c.
To practice numbers, play bingo or math drill games. Look up phone
numbers in the yellow pages. List birthdates. Fingerspelling and number
comprehension are among the most difficult skills for the sign language
learner. To become proficient you must practice with others routinely.
(Hint: If it is impossible to get together with a partner on a regular
enough basis, consider making recordings for each other. For example,
fingerspell the names of restaurants, movies, streets in Atlanta, the 50 state
capitals, the names of people at the Oscar broadcast, etc. These categories
make it easier to think of items to add to the list, and give the reader
context in which to comprehend the word that is fingerspelled. A study group
could easily make enough recordings to rotate and practice with all semester.
Then, the tapes could be donated to the department for use by future students.)
a.
Watch the recording and note new vocabulary items.
b.
Notice the natural "accent" of ASL. What is the signing space?
What expressions and body movements are used? Try to copy what you see on the
screen. First the expressions and movements, then the signs, then the two in
combination.
c.
Notice the sentence structure. You may want to take notes and see how
the word order in ASL differs and resembles English.
d.
Watch a selection, signing along with it, until you feel familiar and
comfortable with it. Then, record yourself signing the material, and compare
your production to that of the original video.
e.
Look for one specific feature of ASL while viewing a selection. For
example, you might want to find instances where the verb is modified to show
who is acting and what is being acted upon (directionality). Or, find instances
where a classifier is used to describe a thing or an activity. Note use of a
specific classifier (for example, the vehicle classifier) and list how it is
used. Watch the signer's mouth movements and note what movements accompany what
signs, and for what purpose. Select features you have discussed in class.
f.
Retell the story you have watched. Recording it for completeness and
accuracy.
Remember:
you are training your brain to new ways of thinking and your body to new ways
of communicating. It takes time, repetition and concentration. But, you can do
it! And the rewards are tremendous, when you find yourself communicating with a
new friend in a new language.
Many of the hints
previously mentioned apply to interpreting students as well as sign language
students. The following are additional things you can practice.
SOURCE LANGUAGE – ENGLISH: Use audio and video
recordings as source material for practice. Libraries are a good source
for audio and video recordings in English. However, often those are read
from a script or "canned" and they do not simulate the real pace,
register, and grammar of spontaneous spoken English. You may find it more
beneficial to make your own recordings. Talk about things you know. Describe a
personal experience. Retell the lecture you recently heard at work or school.
Summarize the news headlines. Record a staff discussion at work. Or check out the many sources on
the internet. You can exchange
these resources with study partners to get more variety. When you are finished
with them, donate them to the interpreting lab at your school.
SOURCE LANGUAGE – ASL: Finding source materials
in ASL used to be problematic, but these days there are numerous internet
resources. Many Deaf folks have
vlogs (video blogs). There are several
ASL news reporting sites. The SLIP
website has a partial list of URLs. There are commercial producers of ASL videos, including Sign Enhancers,
Dawnsign Press, and Sign Media Incorporated. Harris Communications is a major
resource for all types of deafness and interpreting related products. (www.harriscomm.com ) Also, you can use your videos from
your basic ASL classes. You are
already familiar with the materials, so you can focus on the interpreting
task.
If materials are
not available at your college you might consider buying some together with
study partners. Or, make your own source materials. Get permission to bring
your camcorder to the Deaf softball game, the Silent Dinner, or the Sunday
school. Ask people to tell you about their home, family, health, job, or
school. Share these recordings with others.
Now that you have
sufficient source material from a variety of situations, here are some ways to
practice.
1.
Shadow the recording. Copy what the speaker is doing. Make sure that you
include not only the signs/words, but also the affect, tone, non-manual
markers, and intonation. You might want to record yourself doing this, and play
it back to see how accurate and complete your rendition is.
2.
Create a concept map or outline of the source material. Identify the main ideas and the
supporting details. Or, draw a
cartoon strip of the source.
3.
Summarize and rephrase recordings. Listen to (watch) a section of the recording.
Then, turn it off, and re-tell it in the same language. Your summary should
contain all the main points. See how many of the details you can also remember.
Can you rephrase it and give an equivalent message?
4.
Simultaneous rephrasing. When you can comfortably do the above, you are
ready to do the exercise without stopping the recording. Do NOT repeat the same words you
see/hear, but rephrase them. Work on giving yourself a long enough time lag to
hear or watch an entire thought or phrase before producing your version. NOTE:
In this exercise you are NOT interpreting. You are working with only one
language. However, you are working on some of the mental processing skills
necessary to interpret.
5.
Practice translation of short stories and speeches. Listen to/watch a recording.
Get the main points and relevant details. Absorb the speaker’s delivery style
and register. Make notes to organize yourself. Then, try to retell the story or
speech in the target language. For English to ASL interpreting, read a news
article and then retell it to a friend. Listen to a self-help recording and
tell it. For ASL to English interpreting use videos for source materials.
6.
Practice consecutive interpreting. Using your recordings, listen
to/watch thirty to sixty seconds of tape. Turn off the machine at a natural
pausing place. Then sign/voice the information in the target language. Continue
on through the tape.
7.
Practice simultaneous interpreting. Use you materials again, but interpret
while they are playing. Develop a processing time that allows you to see/hear
the entire phrase or thought before giving the interpretation.
8.
Role-play with study partners. Set up mock interpreting situations: a
doctor’s office, a phone call, a job interview, or any conversation. Practice
the skills of interpreting and the proper etiquette for getting clarification
when necessary. Practice both consecutive and simultaneous interpreting. When
possible, ask a deaf person to practice with you.
9.
Record yourself. We all hate those cameras rolling! But how else can you
monitor your own performance? With spoken language, you can hear the message
coming out of your mouth. But, in a visual language, you cannot see yourself
signing, so you cannot give yourself feedback. On video you can notice signs
produced incorrectly, portions of the message omitted or skewed, and mannerisms
which detract from intelligibility. If you are really brave, you can swap recordings
with partners for feedback, or ask a qualified interpreter to comment on your
interpretation.
Jean
Kelly, an interpreter educator, suggests the following: Ask a partner to
critique the work. The critique sheet has three columns:
1. • = You did this, and it was great
2. Ö = You did this, but I would have done this
3. s = You did this, I don’t think it is right, but I don’t know the
answer, let’s talk.
11.
Back-translate. Video yourself doing an English to ASL interpretation.
Wait a week for the source material to fade from your mind a bit. Then, watch
your interpretation (without sound) and voice what you see. Where is the
original interpretation confusing? How can it be made clearer? Watch the recording
again with the volume turned up, and note what parts of the work are accurate
and which are skewed or missing.
12.
Check up on your voicing. Record the video screen (rather than yourself)
as it is showing the source material. Render the target language from off
screen. Your voice should come through on the audio track. Play back just the
audio and assess if it sounds natural, grammatically correct and articulate.
Where did you stumble? Then, playback both audio and visual and analyze the
work for accuracy.
13.
Practice "covert" interpreting. We often find ourselves in
situations where one or more people are speaking and we are watching/listening.
You can mentally practice interpreting without lifting a finger or opening your
mouth. Visualize how you would interpret each thought. Make a note of concepts
you did not know how to interpret. Later, pose the question to your partners or
your instructor.
These
are just a few of the techniques students have used to improve and refine their
signing and interpreting skills. By planning your study time and following your
plan, you will make great strides toward achieving your goal of proficiency in
the exciting language of ASL. Good luck!
Bibliography
The College
Success Book: Whole student approach to academic excellence. Groccia, James E.
Glenbridge Publishing Ltd., Lakewood, CO 80232. 1992
Learn to be the Master
Student. Rooney, Robert and Lipume, Anthony. Mayble Publishing Company, Inc.
Silver Spring, MD. 1992
Reed, William. Study
Skills: The Key to Student Success; Kendall/Hunt Publishing Company, Dubuque,
IA. 1996
Apps, Jerold. Study Skills
for Adults Returning to School. McGraw-Hill, New York, NY, 1982
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