Innovation in Language Learning

One of the greatest limits when learning a Sign Language (SL) is the lack of physical environments where learners can go to exercise the language and improve learning. The increase in the use of the Internet for communication among signers and the number of video-blogs in SL make “authentic contents” available for the large public. In a 60 hours class for hearing students of a faculty in translation and interpreting, all approaching SL for the first time, I used "authentic" videos along with didactic videos as input for SL culture and language learning. I found that the use of a variety of video inputs provide a “breaking point” to students’ perspective on the topic, also motivating them to go for their own research of language samples on the Web. Although virtual environments cannot substitute the use of the language in face-to-face settings, this experience proved that the Internet can indeed be an environment for SL learning, especially for beginners. At the end of the course, students were capable to understand videos equivalent to a CEFR A2 level of competence, while production varies according to the number of students participating to the class. In this presentation I will provide a few cues that I've used to select authentic SL videos in an educational perspective to provide both insights into the Deaf culture but also linguistic features that can help students on their way to the acquisition of this new language.

Keywords: Sign language, Virtual environments for language learning, Authentic Input, Deaf Culture, CEFR for Sign Language;