ERIC Number: EJ805704
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2007
Pages: 29
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1551-3696
EISSN: N/A
The Digital Playground: Kindergarten Children Learning Sign Language through Multimedia
Ellis, Kirsten; Blashki, Kathy
AACE Journal, v15 n3 p225-253 2007
The article discusses a study of 4-5 year old children's use of technology to assist and enhance the acquisition of a play lexicon within a formal educational setting. The new language system to be learned was Auslan, a signed/nonverbal language. A purpose specific software program was developed by the authors, "Auslan Kids," in order to test and evaluate the efficacy of multimedia in learning language particularized by visual representation. Of particular interest to the authors was the influence of characters and interaction styles on learning outcomes. Kindergarten children managed to learn Australian Sign Language vocabulary from the multimedia software package. Children that interacted with the software either by making the signs or by making selections with the mouse learned more signs that those who were passive and only watched. Children showed a slight preference for learning from a female over a superhero or puppet. (Contains 30 figures.)
Descriptors: Sign Language, Deafness, Computer Uses in Education, Foreign Countries, Computer Software, Educational Technology, Kindergarten, Computer Assisted Instruction, Visual Stimuli, Interaction, Language Skills, Language Acquisition, Educational Games, Vocabulary Development
Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education. P.O. Box 1545, Chesapeake, VA 23327-1545. Tel: 757-366-5606; Fax: 703-997-8760; e-mail: info@aace.org; Web site: http://www.aace.org/pubs/aacej
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Elementary Secondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Australia
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A