Presentation Title: New Directions: ASL Assessment Tools & ASL Assessment Portal Language of presentation ASL and English Presentation Summary: The development and availability of assessment tools measuring sign language skills is of theoretical as well as practical significance. This presentation describes two ASL tests and outlines the development of a web-­‐based ASL assessment portal that brings together multiple ASL assessment tools for use in research and education. Presentation Proposal: There is an increasing demand for the assessment of sign languages in educational and research situations. In comparison to the availability of spoken language assessments, there are relatively few sign language assessment resources available (see reviews in Haug, 2005; and Singleton & Supalla, 2005). In education situations, formal methods of sign language assessment are one key aspect of language teaching that is missing from bilingual language programs. Yet, such assessments are fundamental to the provision of an equitable education for bilingual Deaf children (Enns & Herman, 2011). Not only does valid assessment form a crucial aspect in effective language teaching and planning (McQuarrie & Abbott, 2010); the ability to successfully monitor students’ language and academic progress can play a powerful role in the legitimization and public acceptance of bilingual programs. In research situations, the lack of appropriate assessment tools can be equally damaging, confounding results and producing biased, inaccurate conclusions (see discussion in McQuarrie & Parrila, 2009). In consequence, there is a growing recognition of the necessity of developing or adapting assessment tools and procedures to match the cultural and linguistic needs of Deaf learners (Mann & Prinz, 2006). This presentation has two goals: 1) to discuss the development and administration of two ASL assessment tools: The ASL Receptive Skills Test (ASL-­‐RST) and the ASL Phonological Awareness Test (ASL-­‐PAT) and 2) to outline progress on the development of a web-­‐based ASL assessment portal that can be utilized by educators, linguists, and ASL researchers to support and monitor ASL acquisition and development. • The ASL Receptive Skills Test (ASL-­‐RST) includes a vocabulary check of 20 words, three practice items, and a total of 42 test items. Eight grammatical categories are assessed through these items, including negation, number/distribution, noun/verb distinction, spatial verbs (location and movement), size/shape specifiers, handling classifiers, role shift, and conditionals. Normative testing with over 200 children between the ages of 3 to 13 years was completed in April 2012 and it is anticipated that a standardized version of the test will be available for this presentation. • The ASL Phonological Awareness Test (ASL-­‐PAT) is a computer-­‐delivered test designed to measure knowledge of the sublexical properties of sign formation such as handshape (H), location (L), and movement (M)] in young deaf children (ages 4-­‐8). The ASL-­‐PAT measures the ability to identify phonological similarity relations in signs under three comparison conditions [i.e., signs with three, two or one shared parameters). Each of the 49 test item consists of a video-­‐signed cue, and three pictures representing the target/match and two distracter items. At present, the test is being piloted in programs serving Deaf children across North America. Background on the test’s development, the standardization process, and the psychometric measures that have been gathered so far will be outlined. • ASL Assessment Portal: Expansion of the ASL-­‐PAT web-­‐based interface to support additional ASL test formats is underway. This ASL assessment portal works towards the goal of bringing multiple ASL assessment tools together to assist in more widespread accessibility to ASL assessments used in research and education. References Enns, C. J. & Herman, R. C. (2011). Adapting the Assessing British Sign Language Development: Receptive Skills Test into American Sign Language. Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education, 16 (3), 362-­‐374. doi: 10.1093/deafed/enr004 Haug, T. (2005). Review of sign language assessment instruments. Sign Language & Linguistics, 8, 61-­‐98. Mann, W., & Prinz, P. M. (2006). An Investigation of the Need for Sign Language Assessment in Deaf Education. American Annals of the Deaf, 151 (3), 356 -­‐370. McQuarrie, L., & Abbott, M. (2010). Reading in bilingual Deaf children: What does ASL phonology have to do with it? Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Canadian Association of Applied Linguistics, Montreal, QC. McQuarrie, L., & Parrila, R. K. (2009). Deaf children’s awareness of phonological structure: Rethinking the ‘functional-­‐equivalence’ hypothesis. Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education. 14(2): 137-­‐154. Singleton, J. L., & Supalla, S. J. (2005). Assessing children’s proficiency in natural signed languages. In M. Marschark & P. Spencer (Eds.), The Oxford handbook of deaf studies, language, and education (pp. 289-­‐302). Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.