Flashcards on CEFR: Language Proficiency and Assessment
CEFR: Language Proficiency & Assessment - Student Guide
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Multilingualism and Interculturality - Sign Languages and Competencies
310 cards
Card 1
Question: Why are many CEFR descriptors applicable to sign languages without modifications to their communicative function?
Answer: Because sign languages fulfill the same communicative functions as spoken languages; therefore, many descriptors are modality-neutral.
Card 2
Question: What specific competence distinguishes sign languages from spoken languages?
Answer: Diagrammatic competence: the use of space to establish and refer to people, places, and objects through spatial mapping.
Card 3
Question: Besides manual movements, what non-manual elements are relevant in sign languages?
Answer: Non-manual elements such as facial expression, body orientation, head movement, and constructed action, which complement and modify meaning.
Card 4
Question: How are syntax, semantics, morphology, and phonology related in sign languages?
Answer: Sign languages have their own distinct syntax, semantics, morphology, and phonology, which vary among sign languages but share characteristics such as
Card 5
Question: What is fingerspelling, and what is its function in interaction with spoken languages?
Answer: Fingerspelling involves spelling out words or names using hand configurations equivalent to letters; it is used for unknown terms, proper nouns, and a
Card 6
Question: What can happen to fingerspelled elements over time within a sign language?
Answer: They can become lexicalized and phonologized, meaning they transition from being spelled out to becoming established signs.
Card 7
Question: What types of competences do the scales for "signing competences" in the CEFR cover?
Answer: They cover linguistic, pragmatic, and sociolinguistic competences, with receptive and productive descriptors in seven pairs (two linguistic, one socio
Card 8
Question: What manual and non-manual knowledge do the operational scales for linguistic competence in signing include?
Answer: Knowledge of basic forms, parts of speech, meanings of manual signs, variants and registers; sign roots; a subset of hand configurations; and non-manu
Card 9
Question: How are the combinations of manual and non-manual elements described in sign creation?
Answer: It is emphasized that the specific combination of manual and non-manual elements is language-specific and that none 'emerges' in isolation; it is nece
Card 10
Question: What role do idiomatic signs, frozen forms, and formulaic chunks play in signing competence?
Answer: They are part of the lexical and productive repertoire; users must recognize and integrate them into production and comprehension, along with morpho-p