A description of ASL features in writing

• Six categories of language transfer were identified in deaf adolescent writing.
• The most prevalent category was the use of lexical ASL features.
• The most common syntactical category was adjectives.
• Both lexical and syntactical ASL features responded similarly to instruction.

Similar to second language students who embed features of their primary languages in the writing of their second languages, deaf and hard of hearing (d/hh) writers utilize features of American Sign Language (ASL) in their writing of English. The purpose of this study is to identify categories of language transfer, provide the prevalence of these transfer tendencies in the writings of 29 d/hh adolescents and describe whether language features are equally or differently responsive to instruction. Findings indicate six categories of language transfer in order of prevalence: unique glossing & substitution, adjectives, plurality & adverbs, topicalization, and conjunctions. ASL features, of both lexical and syntactical nature, appear to respond similarly to instruction.