IRES Track II: Translanguaging Science - Assessment of Language Proficiency and Processing Across Languages and Modalities

对于美国的很多孩子来说，掌握一门以上的语言越来越普遍。对于许多儿童来说，这表现为两种或两种以上的口语，但对于那些失聪和听力障碍（DHH）的儿童来说，他们的语言通常是手语和口语，因此在结构上彼此不同。要了解这些单模态（言语-言语）和双模态（符号-言语）双语者的语言习得过程，还有很多工作要做。英语的习得方式很可能受到儿童所知道的其他语言的情态和类型学的影响。一个特别的挑战是确定一个孩子的英语习得是典型的还是非典型的，因为他们的学校和家庭语言环境。研究美国DHH儿童的研究人员通常只研究儿童的一种语言模式，要么是手语（美国手语），要么是口语（英语和/或西班牙语）。这可能会导致低估多语言儿童的语言能力，或者在语言困难出现时无法发现和干预。该奖项的目标是为20名美国研究生提供高级培训，让他们在一个理论框架内以多种方式（手语、口语、书面语）评估多种语言，该框架以多语言儿童为中心，以及他们如何将语言用于不同目的。将特别强调DHH儿童的情况，尽管英语对融入美国劳动力和经济很重要，但对他们来说，英语的习得往往是高度可变的。ASI的目的是通过将译语理论应用于语言评估和处理方法来加强扫盲研究。在2年的时间里，将选出10名美国研究生，以确保表现出科学研究能力的多元化队伍。学生将根据良好的学术地位，顾问和其他教师的推荐，以及明确的研究兴趣陈述，证明从ASI课程中受益的强大潜力来选择。入选的学生将参加由斯德哥尔摩大学主办的为期两周的夏季ASI，由来自美国、英国和瑞典的教师授课。斯德哥尔摩大学是DHH儿童多语和语言习得研究的领先中心。学生将有机会接触到优秀的美国和欧洲教师，并在新的斯德哥尔摩大学脑成像中心获得尖端资源。ASI的两个主要主题是语言评估和语言处理。学生将学习如何使用行为、脑电图和眼动追踪方法来评估语言能力和处理能力。他们还将获得跨语言理论的基础，并在评估使用多种语言的DHH儿童时解决理论和实践问题。该方案还将纳入纵向数据分析方面的高级统计训练，以便提供研究语言发展所需的工具。学生将参加讲座和研究谈话，小型和大型小组活动，并与研究导师进行一对一的互动讨论。在ASI之前，期间和之后，学生将与这些研究导师一起制定博士论文改进拨款提案。这项建议将作为评估学生学习情况的主要手段，并将成为评估学生学习情况的主要短期成果。长期成果包括新的国际合作，理论创新的增加，以及更好地招聘和留住DHH博士研究生。ASI管理人员将与为DHH学生提供积极指导计划的同事密切合作，以确保个性化教育计划的发展，使学生能够最大限度地利用这种学习机会，并为新一代美国研究人员研究多模式和多语言发展的复杂性做好准备。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

For a large number of children in the United States, knowing more than one language is increasingly common. For many children this takes the form of two or more spoken languages, but for those children who are deaf and hard-of-hearing (DHH), their languages are often signed and spoken and therefore structurally different from each other. Much work has yet to be done to understand the process of language acquisition for these unimodal (speech-speech) and bimodal (sign-speech) bilinguals. The way in which English is acquired is likely to be influenced by the modality and typology of the other languages that the child knows. One particular challenge is determining whether a child’s acquisition of English is atypical or typical given their school and home language environment. Researchers studying the United States’ population of DHH children are often equipped to study only one of the child’s language modalities, either signed (ASL) or spoken (English and/or Spanish). This may result in underestimating a multilingual child’s linguistic abilities, or a failure to detect and intervene when language difficulties emerge. The objective of this award is to provide advanced training to 20 U.S. graduate students across two ASIs in the assessment of multiple languages in multiple modalities (signed, spoken, written) within a theoretical framework – translanguaging – that centers multilingual children and how they use their languages for different purposes. There will be a particular emphasis on the situation of DHH children, for whom acquisition of English is often highly variable despite its importance for integration into the U.S. workforce and economy. ​ The purpose of the ASI is to enhance literacy research with the application of translanguaging theory to the methods of language assessment and processing. For two years, 10 U.S. graduate students will be selected to ensure diverse cohorts who have demonstrated an aptitude for scientific research. Students will be selected on the basis of strong academic standing, recommendations from advisors and other faculty, and a clear statement of research interests that demonstrates a strong potential to benefit from the ASI curriculum. Selected students will participate in a two-week summer ASI hosted by Stockholm University, and taught by faculty from the United States, the United Kingdom and Sweden. Stockholm University is a leading center for the study of multilingualism and language acquisition in DHH children. Students will have access to an outstanding US and European faculty, and to cutting edge resources at the new Stockholm University Brain Imaging Center. The two major ASI themes will be language assessment and language processing. Students will learn how to assess language proficiency and processing across modalities using behavioral, EEG and eye tracking methods. They will also receive a grounding in translanguaging theory and address the theoretical and practical issues when assessing DHH children who use multiple languages. The ASIs will also incorporate advanced statistical training in longitudinal data analysis in order to provide the tools needed to study language development. Students will participate in lectures and research talks, small and large group activities, and one-on-one interactive discussions with research mentors. Before, during, and after the ASI, the students will work with those research mentors to develop a Doctoral Dissertation Improvement grant proposal. This proposal will serve as the primary means for assessing student learning and will be the primary short-term outcomes of the ASIs. Longer term outcomes include new international collaborations, an increase in theoretical innovation, and better recruitment and retention of DHH graduate students in doctoral programs. ASI administrators will work closely with colleagues who have active mentoring programs for DHH students to ensure the development of individualized educational plans that will allow students to maximize this learning opportunity and prepare a new generation of U.S, researchers to study the complexities of multimodal and multilingual language development.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.