Article 1 PDF

deafness & education international, Vol. 15 No.
3, September, 2013, 149178
Young Deaf Childrens Fingerspelling in

Learning to Read and Write: An
Ethnographic Study in a Signing Setting
Carin Roos
Department of Education, Karlstad University, Karlstad, Sweden
This paper1 presents a study of childrens use of fingerspelling. It is part of a

larger longitudinal ethnographic study of deaf2 children, who were 36 years
old when the study started. They are early signers using Swedish Sign
Language in communication with teachers and peers. The aim of this paper
is to examine the different functions which fingerspelling has as a part of
literacy learning in the early years and later at school. Six main themes are
identified when the children first explore and learn to fingerspell: (i) exploring
handshapes, letters, inventing fingerspelling, and later exploring its use and
learning to fingerspell in literacy practices; (ii) exploring the direction of
writing and fingerspelling; (iii) practising and memorizing words; (iv) decoding words; (v) recalling from memory; and (vi) fingerspelling as a tool for
exploring the relationships; between letters, words, signs, mouth movements,
and voice. These aspects of childrens fingerspelling and their possible implications are addressed, as are some findings regarding how teachers respond
to the childrens attempts at fingerspelling.
keywords fingerspelling, literacy, deaf, Sign Language, ethnography
Introduction
Fingerspelling has been used in deaf education in Sweden for at least as long as education has been provided to deaf people (Andersson & Hammar, 1996). In many
countries it has been used concomitantly with speech, at least for the past century
(Bienvenu, 2003). Deaf adults use fingerspelling as an element of everyday Sign
1
This is one of two papers reporting on the use of fingerspelling by these children. The other is submitted for publication
to Deafness & Education International.
2
For convenience, I use deaf in this paper both in the sense of culturally Deaf and in the sense of audiologically deaf,
but even so in some cases the context demands Deaf, for example in Deaf people and Deaf community.
W. S. Maney & Son Ltd 2013
DOI 10.1179/1557069X13Y.0000000020
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Language conversation: A signer will switch back and forth regularly from signs to
fingerspelling (Mulrooney, 2002: 5). This use is integrated in Sign Language use,
and not merely a way of borrowing words from spoken language (Johnston,
1989; Padden, 1998; Brennan, 2001). Hile (2009) mentions this use as representations of English words, and is also used in abbreviations, initialized signs, and fingerspelled compounds (p. 5). Fingerspelling is a creative way of representing spoken
and written words both as loan signs where some letters in a word are dropped and
remaining handshapes are associated to syllabic nodes (Wilbur, 2011: 1314). Wilbur
writes as well fluent fingerspelling is performed with a phrasal rhythm that
smoothes the transition handshape changes and reduces the prominence of certain
handshapes while increasing the prominence of others (p. 1314).
Moreover, fingerspelling is also used a great deal in Sweden in literacy training for
hearing children, usually from the age of six, when they enter the preschool class3
and are taught to read and write. This means that fingerspelling is known and used
by hearing people, deaf people, and people with other disabilities, in education and
in every day life. Despite this, there is no reported research on these diverse groups in
Sweden (Author, 2010; Bergman, 2012); however, a few studies have been conducted elsewhere (Holmes & Holmes, 1980; Prinz & Prinz, 1981; Reynolds,
1995; Heller et al., 1998; Daniels, 2001; DaFonte & Lloyd, 2007). These studies
show that fingerspelling can benefit all children whether disabled or not.
In Sweden, fingerspelling is a one-handed manual alphabet with one distinct
handshape configuration representing each letter in the Swedish written alphabet
(see the Appendix). Nine of the letters, however, share the same configuration but
differ in hand orientation (L and Z, A, and , O and , and D and M). The
manual alphabet is frequently used by deaf people as part of everyday interaction
to refer to names of people or places, or to talk about concepts known in Swedish
spelling but not in sign translation. Fingerspelled signs, consisting of word loans
from Swedish transformed into the Swedish Sign Language (SSL) as fingerspelled
signs, are also used, such as N-U (now), J-A (yes), and S-N-A-B-B (fast) (Ahlgren
& Bergman, 2006). These are more sign-like and do not necessarily look like fingerspelling. SSL also includes so-called loan signs that have changed from a fingerspelled sequence into a sign that is not perceived as fingerspelling as in HEJ
(hallo), where the first letter H is barely visible, the E not present, while the J is
dominant. It is also used for concepts that are new to the Deaf community,
either fingerspelled letter-by-letter or as signed fingerspelled compounds. This
type of fingerspelling involves signing the first part of the compound and
fingerspelling the last part, and is often used for scientific concepts such as
INTER-S-U-B-J-E-C-T-I-V-I-T-E-T (intersubjectivity). So far there has been no
research in Sweden on the use of fingerspelling in learning to read and write or on
3
Children in Sweden usually first go to an educational care setting, called preschool, at the age of one or two, and at the
age of six they enroll in a preschool class. At the age of seven they begin compulsory school. More information about the
Swedish school system can be found at the website of the National Agency for Education (http://www.skolverket.se/sb/d/
190).
YOUNG DEAF CHILDRENS FINGERSPELLING IN LEARNING TO READ AND WRITE
151
how teachers use it in teaching Swedish. However, Bagga-Gupta (2001) has

described the use of fingerspelling in her study on high school students as part of
their interactions on the meaning of different concepts.
Fingerspelling is often mentioned in research on early literacy development in
young deaf preschool children, but there are few studies investigating its specific
role (Hile, 2009; Paul, 2009; Roos, 2006; Schwartz, 2011). However, we know
that the development of written language and fingerspelling begins very early and
takes place in meaningful situations and contexts involving parents and teachers
(Allman, 2002; Erting et al., 2000, 2006; Roos, 2004, accepted).
There are also studies indicating that fingerspelling may have a mediating role in
early reading and writing (Hoemann, 1972; Puente et al., 2006; HaptonstallNykaza & Schick, 2007) and is of key importance (Puente et al., 2006). In addition,
there is research indicating that deaf children from deaf families tend to begin to fingerspell very early and that this contributes to the fact that they often read at a higher
level than deaf children from hearing families (Musselman, 2000; Leybaert, 2005).
Learning to fingerspell
The acquisition of fingerspelling has been examined by several researchers (e.g.
Akamatsu, 1983, 1985; Blumenthal-Kelly, 1995; Padden, 1996, 2006; Erting
et al., 2000; Padden & Ramsey, 2000; Anderson & Reilly, 2002). These studies
show that fingerspelling occurs very early and around the age of one. Children
develop fingerspelling at the rate of the infant development of the hand (McIntire,
1977; Battison, 1978; Boyes Braem, 2000; Marentette & Mayberry, 2000). This
means that the childs movements are restricted because of its lack of physical development as regards fine-motor control of the hand. Boyes Braem (2000) describes the
development of handshape and the manual alphabet in Sign Language as consisting
of four stages where the development goes from simple to complex handshapes, and
from simple to complex movements.
In addition, research reveals that young childrens fingerspelling use sometimes
consists of clear handshapes and sometimes not. Akamatsu (1983) suggests that children sometimes try to spell a word correctly by focusing only on the single handshape and sometimes only on the movement in an adult-like way of signing. In
both cases, the children want to fingerspell a specific word.
In terms of childrens word-production skills, three developmental stages have
been identified (Mayberry & Waters, 1991; Padden, 2006). In the first stage, children make fingerspelling-like movements to produce whole words, in the second,
they seem to discover that fingerspelled words consist of individual manual
letters, and in the third they again produce words as whole fingerspelled units.
However, deaf children initially use fingerspelled signs and lexicalized fingerspelling,
without discovering the internal segments they are made up of, but later on they are
able to divide the words into single manual letters. Blumenthal-Kelly (1995) found
that even young children often use fingerspelling and that they do so in different
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ways, for example by fingerspelling O-K in the sense of right? or by producing

what she calls sandwich-phrases, where a word is first signed and then immediately
fingerspelled. Parents also use this technique for emphasis. In a longitudinally study
of fingerspelling use, Blumenthal-Kelly showed that deaf parents often support their
childrens attempts to read and write by using fingerspelling in communicative situations, such as when they talk about letters and words, and that they engage in
games involving names, words, and single fingerspelled letters together with their
children. Wilbur (2000) states that deaf children who know American Sign
Language (ASL) are provided with print and spelling and are able to connect fingerspelling segments (handshapes) to printed segments (letters) (p. 88). Furthermore,
Padden (1996) has proposed that when deaf children come up with strategies to
learn the position of manual letters in a fingerspelled word, this can be compared
to when hearing children invent their own spelling.
Learning to use fingerspelling in literacy practices

Puente et al. (2006) found that practising words by means of fingerspelling, in a
similar way to using phonological representations of them, seemed to help children
build inner representations of words. Haptonstall-Nykaza and Schick (2007)
propose that this may not be unlike how hearing children understand and learn to
analyse spoken words as phonemes. They claims that there are strong similarities
in the way hearing children learn words in a seemingly holistic manner and only
later analyse the phonological words into its component phonemes (p. 175).
There are skilled signers who are also skilled readers and can obtain high scores
on phonological-awareness tests regardless of whether they can speak. However,
it is unclear if their phonological ability may in fact be a result rather than a precursor of their literacy abilities (Goldin-Meadow & Mayberry, 2001; Marschark,
2001). Since performance seems to be strongly related to the number of words children have in their lexicon and reading skills correlate with the fast mapping of fingerspelling words, it seems likely that early fingerspelling skills are of great importance.
Regarding findings in classroom practices there are several studies showing that
the way teachers fingerspell is of importance for literacy learning (HaptonstallNykaza & Schick, 2007). In addition, fingerspelling may have the primary function
of providing orthographic representations (Puente et al., 2006) of signs in Sign
Language. Padden (1996) suggests that children may need to be able to analyse fingerspelled signs as morphological units to be able to identify the relationship
between fingerspelled handshapes and individual letters. Padden writes that
about the time that deaf children realize that there are links between ASL and fingerspelling, they also realize that there are rules to the selection of letters and their order
in fingerspelled words// (p. 109).
Haptonstall-Nykaza and Schick (2007) also showed that when teachers fingerspell letter by letter (neutral fingerspelling), they provide less support than when
they bind the letters together in the way deaf people usually do in conversation
153
with each other (as in lexicalized fingerspelling or in fingerspelled sequences). Thus

this suggests to fingerspell a word in a lexicalized manner is thus a better form of
support for learning words than either signing the words or fingerspelling them
letter by letter as in neutral fingerspelling.
Morover, Schleper (2003) argues that deaf children who are encouraged to use fingerspelling are able to learn and identify more words than otherwise. It is important
later on in bilingual programmes in school (Coerts, 1997; Hile, 2009). In addition
Hile (2009) found a strong relationship between learning fingerspelled words,
reading skills and time spent in schools using ASL. She thus stresses the importance
of the use of fingerspelling in school to help children associate print with sign via
fingerspelling as an intermediary bridge.
Padden and Ramsey (2000) found that teachers use a certain technique called
chaining to help children associate print with signs via fingerspelling intermediary
brigde. A teacher using this technique will first fingerspell the word, then point to
the written word and finally sign it:
One teacher, for example, in a lesson about volcanoes, fingerspelled the word
volcano, then pointed to the same word written in chalk on the blackboard,
then used an initialized sign VOLCANO. (Padden & Ramsey, 2000: 181)
Thus, research suggests that adults, both parents and teachers, often use fingerspelling in chaining or sandwich techniques even with young children, including
toddlers. Sandwiching is when the parents or teachers alternate between fingerspelling and signing the word, whereas chaining also includes the written word.
Blumenthal-Kelly (1995) conducted a single-case analysis based on video recordings
of a deaf girl in a deaf family from the age of five weeks, and found that her parents
would occasionally fingerspell to her from the very beginning. When the girl was
22 months old, she could identify all fingerspelled letters and their written representations. At 24 months, she fingerspelled her first word: C-H-P for potato chips
(Blumenthal-Kelly, 1995: 67). In line with this type of research this study examines
the naturalistic use in a bilingual setting from the childrens perspective.
Aim of the study and theoretical framework

The present study is an investigation of early-childhood literacy events, with a focus
on fingerspelling, in a signing and bilingual setting, and from the childs perspective.
The specific aim is to examine the different functions that fingerspelling has in their
literacy learning before and during their first school years.
The study falls within the research field of New Literacy Studies (NLS) (Street,
2003), a paradigm characterized by representing a broader, complex view of literacy
events and childrens literacy learning (Barton, 2007). The acquisition of literacy is
seen as a development starting in the very first weeks after birth and as a process in
which the child constructs its own view of what writing and reading are all about.
It involves a sociocultural approach, taking childrens own constructs as the starting
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point, on their own terms. This paper emphasizes reading and writing used in meaningful daily situations as means of communication and as the basis of literacy skills.
The study also belongs in the field of Early Childhood Literacy (Hall et al., 2003),
where it is suggested that childrens literacy development begins long before
formal instruction starts (Hall et al., 2003) and that, in this process, children are
doing critical cognitive work in literacy development (Neuman & Dickinson,
2001: 3). This study examines how, when, and why children use fingerspelling in
their everyday lives.
The Deaf community in Sweden uses SSL to communicate (Ahlgren & Bergman,
2006; Author, 2007), and consistent with Swedish educational policy SSL is also
used, in preschool and in school, to communicate with deaf children. Schools are
expected to provide an adequate education in both written Swedish and SSL.
According to the national curriculum, a deaf child is expected to attain the same
goals as hearing children in terms of reading and writing ability, regardless of
whether he or she attends a school for deaf pupils or a mainstream school. These
efforts begin in early preschool, with toddlers. Most Swedish children, regardless
of their hearing status, attend educational care settings, called preschool (from the
age of one or two), and then a preschool class (at the age of six) before starting compulsory school at the age of seven. Parents choose their childrens school, meaning
that if a child is deaf or hard-of-hearing, its parents can choose either a mainstream
school, a special unit for children with hearing impairment within a mainstream
school, or a special school for deaf children. The children participating in the
present study have all been placed in a signing educational setting, first in a
special preschool for the deaf and later in a special school for the deaf. Parents
are guided by their childs preferred language, which here is SSL in all cases. It is
used in the childrens preschools and schools as the main language of communication. The parents all use SSL on a daily basis to communicate with their children
in the family setting. The researcher who carried out the study (the author of this
paper) is also fluent in SSL.
Three concepts are used here to distinguish between different ways of fingerspelling words or names. Neutral fingerspelling is when teachers or children fingerspell a
word letter by letter, making a distinct movement for each manual letter. In a fingerspelled sequence every single letter is also visible in the fingerspelling and no letter is
replaced with mouth movements or excluded. However, a fingerspelled sequence is
when a word or a name is fingerspelled in the smooth, assimilated manner that deaf
people usually employ in conversation when the word or name is known to the interlocutors and the focus is more or less on its spelling. The concept is used in this paper
to distinguish it from neutral fingerspelling since the findings of the study indicate
differences between the two. It is also used to distinguish it from Lexicalized fingerspelling, finally, which is when children or adults fingerspell a word or a name using
a combination of manual letters and mouth movements as a sign borrowed into Sign
Language. In the literature, this practice is often called fingerspelled signs or loan
signs as well (Battison, 1978; Wilbur, 2011).
155
The specific aim of the present study is to analyse childrens use of fingerspelling to
answer the following question: What different functions does fingerspelling have in
young deaf childrens process to learning read and write? In addition, this paper will
also discuss a few observations of teacher response to the childrens attempts at
fingerspelling in the situations described, and their possible implications.
Method
This study takes a longitudinal ethnographic approach. To ensure the trustworthiness of the present study, the six criteria specified by Carspecken (1996) were
applied. The first criterion requires using more than one method to collect data.
In the present study, video-recording was the main method but other methods
were also used, see Procedure below. The second criterion is to use a Priority Observation (Carspecken, 1996: 48) scheme, to provide thick descriptions of one individual at a time for a lengthy period decided beforehand. In my study recordings started
early in the morning when the child arrived and ended when the child left in the
afternoon. The camera was switched on and off depending on what the child was
doing. It was only during the first period of observation that the children were videotaped for almost the entire day. The recordings from those first days were used to
identify the critical events in education (Woods, 1996), in this case events where
fingerspelling or talk about fingerspelling and written letters occurred. The third
of Carspeckens (1996) criteria is to perform observations longitudinally. In this
case, observations were spread across a period of two years, meaning that the
data collected cover an age range of three to eight years for the children as a
group. Carspeckens (1996) fourth criterion is to make transcriptions that are as
close to the original speech as possible, not excluding emotions but keeping faith
with the empirical world (Woods, 1996: 37) of the children. One important circumstance in this respect is that the researcher (the author of this paper) is fluent in SSL.
The transcriptions were made in three steps (see Data analysis below for description). Carspeckens fifth criterion is to use peer debriefing continuously in the
research process. Therefore, the video-recordings and texts produced were continuously examined by other researchers and also discussed with teachers who knew the
children well. Finally, the sixth criterion is to let the participants comment on the
data. This was done in an informal way: during data collection I would incidentally
ask parents, teachers, and children about any events that I had questions about.
The six participants

All the members of a preschool group were selected as participants for the study.4
At the start of the period of data production, this group consisted of six children,
aged 3;16;9 (i.e. from 3 years and 1 month to 6 years, and 9 months). During
4
Other children are also occasionally mentioned in the text when they participate in the same situations as the children
studied. Those children are also deaf but older or temporary playmates at the preschool or after-school recreation centre.
All names used in this paper are fictitious.
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TABLE 1
PARTICIPANT CHARACTERISTICS
Name, age when
study started
SSL skill
Hearing status
Hearing aids
Parents hearing status
Markus 3;1
Typical
Deaf
None
Both deaf
David 3;4
Slightly delayed
Severe hearing loss
On both ears
Both hearing
Susan 5;9
Typical
Deaf
None
Both severe hearing loss
Mary 6;0
Typical
Severe hearing loss
On both ears
Both hearing
Aaron 6;5
Typical
Severe hearing loss
On both ears
Both hearing
Gus 6;9
Slightly delayed
Deaf
One cochlear implant
Both hearing
the research period, four of them started compulsory school for the deaf. This means
that observations were made in preschool, preschool class, and compulsory school
periods. Because of the small size of the sample, any information about individuals
provided in this paper is kept to a minimum to protect the identities of children and
teachers. Fictitious names are used for all participants and their peers.
The childrens medical records and the teachers assessments alike identify them as
a typical group of young children. They were all assessed at the Medical Centre by a
multidisciplinary team (consisting of a audiologist, special education teacher, psychologist, ear specialist, and a counsellor). All of the children started learning SSL
at an early age (between 1 and 2 years of age). SSL is their first language and
their teachers describe them as fluent signers even though two of the children
(who have hearing parents) have delayed SSL development to some degree. There
are no standardized SSL tests yet, which means that the language in SSL is generally
assessed by the team together with the special education teacher, who is working
with the child using traditional standardized language tests for hearing children
and comparing results with expected age-appropriate Sign Language skills. Literacy
skills are assessed in the same way but also in relation to the goals expressed in the
curriculum and syllabus. The Swedish syllabus for Swedish language as a subject
expects the deaf child to reach the same level of competence as hearing children
do. Four children finished the first grade at school during the research period and
three of them reached the goals set for the first grade (see Skolverket, 2011).
The children are all congenitally deaf. Three of them have a profound hearing loss
with no measurable hearing and the other three have a severe pre-lingual hearing
loss (7090 dB). One has a cochlear implant (CI), which was inserted at a late
stage of the research period, and three have hearing aids. One of the children with
a hearing aid knows a few spoken words and can speak to hearing people who
cannot sign (Table 1).
The preschool and the school

All children in the study attended preschool or preschool class in a Swedish town
when the study started. The preschool building is adjacent to the regional special
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TABLE 2
TEACHER AND ASSISTANT CHARACTERISTICS
Preschool, age 15 years
Teachers
2 hearing: one qualified

preschool teacher and
one graduate of a
special-education
programme
Assistant
Preschool class, age

56 years
Both
fluent
signers
1 deaf: qualified
preschool teacher
Compulsory school, from 7 years
Fluent
signer
2 hearing: both qualified

teachers for the Deaf
One fluent
signer, one
good signer
One deaf assistant,

graduate of
upper-secondary school
Fluent signer
school for the deaf. The preschool has children from one to five years of age while
the preschool class consists of children between five and seven. The children do not
actually start school until the year they reach the age of seven, but while in the preschool class, they attend school several days a week.
The teachers are good or fluent signers. They have worked in this signing setting
for many years with deaf colleagues with whom they interact daily in Sign Language.
In their teacher training they were schooled in Sign Language. To be employed in this
preschool and school they were required to demonstrate Sign Language fluency
(Table 2).
Procedure
The children were observed and video-recorded in their everyday interactions with
other people and in play situations. Semi-structured interviews were carried out with
teachers, parents, and children during data collection. The author, who is also the
researcher, was an observer and did not participate actively in the events studied.
The study was carried out over a period of two years. During this period, samples
of writing by the children were collected, their proficiency in SSL was assessed
and visits were made to their homes. Data were also collected from the local
health authoritys records of the children regarding the early language situation
in their homes, the start of their Sign Language development, and their hearing
status.
The video-recordings were made during six mid-term weeks and each child was in
turn recorded for two whole days to produce a thick description each year. A small
camcorder was used. Recordings started early in the morning when the child arrived
and stopped when the child left in the afternoon. The children were taped whenever
they seemed to show interest in letters or words in any way and whenever they used
fingerspelling, for example while playing, drawing, talking to others, or engaging in
other activities. The researcher made recordings whenever the child looked at, was
standing close to, or talked with someone where text or letters were at hand, used, or
could be used.
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Field notes were made in the evening of each day. They consisted of comments on
what had happened during the day and any new issues that had been raised. In
addition, voice notes were made during recordings (and subsequently transcribed)
to describe what was happening off camera and point out what seemed important
in the situation. These recordings and notes were then examined for episodes
where fingerspelling occurred or was talked about, and all such episodes were subjected to further analysis.
The total data set consists of 48 hours of video recordings, of which approximately half the footage consists of episodes where fingerspelling occurs. There are
fewer recordings of the two youngest boys but the number increases as they grew
older. All six children use fingerspelling in the various ways and functions described
in the selected excerpts in the result section below. The excerpts were selected to give
a good description of the themes found in the data and all children are represented in
the excerpts. However, no statistical analysis was made of whether a child used more
fingerspelling or used it more frequently during any particular age period in their
development. This was beyond the scope of the study but should be done in a
future analysis. One interesting observation, not elaborated on here, is the observation that different material objects, texts, and pictures in the environment stimulate the use and understanding of what fingerspelling and written letters are all
about. Material objects such as mealtime placemats with printed pictures and the
alphabet stimulated all the children to practise words every meal. These placemats
were replaced with new ones without any printed letters during the study period,
something that led to a significant reduction of fingerspelling during meals.
Data analysis
In ethnography the analysis of data is not a distinct stage of the research (Hammersley & Atkinson, 1983: 174) but begins with the specification of what is to be
studied and continues through the whole research process. In this case, the focus
was on the different functions (themes in this analysis) of fingerspelling in deaf childrens learning about letters and words. The first step of the data analysis was therefore to view all the observations and to select all the situations where fingerspelling
occurred, which were done by the researcher. Around half of the approximately 48
hours of recordings of literacy events of different kinds involved situations where
fingerspelling occurred or was talked about. These situations were subjected to
in-depth analysis, then compared and divided into themes. The transcriptions
were made in three steps. First, each recording was viewed several times to identify
critical events involving fingerspelling. Second, the selected events were analysed in
relation to the topic of each sequence, and thematically categorized. Third, the
sequences were transcribed and translated into Swedish using the typical conventions for transcribing signs into written Swedish. The analysis was then performed
in two steps. The first step was inductive in nature and involved looking for
events of importance to understand how and why the children used fingerspelling,
while the second step aimed to find all occurrences of the themes identified in the
159
recordings. These steps were performed repeatedly and guided strategically by the
developing theory (Hammersley & Atkinson, 1983: 174) throughout the whole
study.
There are some limitations to this study that ought to be mentioned. First, the
number of children participating in the study is low. This is often seen in similar
studies as well, because the total population of deaf children in many countries is
small (Brelje, 1999). In Sweden, approximately 50 children with severe hearing
loss or deafness are born each year (Roos, 2009). Another limitation is that the
research field is well-known to the researcher/author, which means that there is a
potential risk of bias. On the other hand, it was also deemed important for the
researcher to know SSL well and hence to be familiar with the setting. To minimize
possible effects of this predicament, the findings have been discussed with other
researchers outside the research field, who have been asked specifically to look for
any biased statements.
Results
The findings of the present study regarding how children use fingerspelling when
learning to read and write can be broken down into six main themes. Since this is
not a linguistic investigation, there is no analysis of how handshapes develop over
time. Instead, the focus is on the childrens daily use of manual letters in various
ways. Fingerspelling is used in play as an identity marker and a sociocultural artefact5 as well as a tool for remembering or decoding written words and sentences.
The latter aspect refers also to the fact that the children experiment with and
discuss not only Swedish words but also English words. The national curriculum
specifies that deaf children should start learning to read and write (but not to
speak) in English in their first year of school, at the age of seven (Swedish Board
of Education, 2011). This is why several excerpts below contain English words fingerspelled using the Swedish manual alphabet.
The examples given below are excerpts from interchanges between the children
and chosen to represent the six themes identified in the data. Table 3 explains
how to read the examples. The examples have been translated into written
English, mainly from SSL (including manual letters) but sometimes from spoken
Swedish words or sounds.
The first theme in the data shows the ways in which the children explored how to
fingerspell. Their focus is not initially on written letters, nor on words but on how
to perform fingerspelling: the movements of hands and fingers, handshapes, and
then, between the age of 3 and 4, handshapes in relation to written letters.
5
The findings on this topic are discussed in another article submitted to be published in Deafness & Education
International.
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TABLE 3
KEY TO THE EPISODES
Representation
Meaning
A-B-C-D
Neutral fingerspelling, where each manual letter is performed distinctly, and one letter at a time
S-E-Q-U-E-N-C-E
Fingerspelled sequence, performed in a smooth assimilated way and including every letter in the
word
LEXICALIZATION
Lexicalized fingerspelling, a (smooth) sequence of manual letters combined with mouth

movements, e.g. HAM in BSL
SIGN
A single sign
A B C D
Holding each letter out for a moment before performing the next one
Pausing
sound[F-I-N-G-E-R-S-P-E-L-L
Simultaneous sounding out and fingerspelling
signs translated
SSL translated into Swedish in the situations and represented in this paper in English
BOLD B-O-L-D
English words performed using Swedish fingerspelling
(nod)
Linguistic comments
((comments))
Authors comments
Theme I: Exploring handshapes, letters, and inventing fingerspelling

Some observations involving manual-alphabet-like movements were found in the
data. Such movements were performed only by the two youngest children when
they were between the ages of 3;1 and 4;6. None of the older children was observed
doing this at any time during the two-year study. There is an established term for
this: pretend fingerspelling (Padden, 1996). However, my analysis of the observations has shown that such manual-alphabet-like movements can be broken
down into three types: pre-fingerspelling, play-fingerspelling, and invented fingerspelling. They are summarized here but described more in detail in another article
(Roos, submitted for publication in Deafness & Education International, on the
use of fingerspelling from a socio-cultural point of view).
In pre-fingerspelling, the child uses movements that look like the fingerspelling of
a whole word or a name, resembling the lexicalized fingerspelling or fingerspelled
sequences of adults where one letter segues smoothly into the next. The focus of
the childs interest is on performing the act of fingerspelling rather than fingerspelling actual words.
In play-fingerspelling, the child uses correct handshapes to represent different
manual letters but without any meaning, i.e. nonsense words. The focus of the
child is on producing correct handshapes. The actual words are nonsense words
invented by the child and lack conventional meaning even though they may refer
to something in their play. Pre-fingerspelling and play-fingerspelling were sometimes
observed concurrently in the same child.
In invented fingerspelling, the child produces some correct manual letters but
replaces others with pre-fingerspelling-like movements. Typically, the first and the
last letters of a word or name will be correctly fingerspelled. This corresponds to
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the phenomenon of invented spelling in hearing childrens literacy development,

which was described by Read (1971) and involves arranging letters into words
using phonetic similarities between parts of words and names of letters (e.g. CU
for see you) or using only consonants in a word. Children thus invent their own
spelling. In this paper, the expression invented fingerspelling applies to how a
child invents fingerspellt words by using manual letters similar to but different
from those included in the target sequence. The focus of the child is on performing
the act of lexicalized fingerspelling or fingerspelled sequences of words or names.
The children sometimes fingerspell words in a way that resembles lexicalized
fingerspelling or a fingerspelled sequence, but often only using a correct initial
and sometimes also final handshape. The reason for this might be that in order
to learn how to fingerspell in the way older children and adults do, they need to
practise consciously and learn how the various alternative forms of handshapes
interact.
One example of invented fingerspelling involves David at the age of 4;5. Even at
the age of 3;4 he showed that he knew the different handshapes of the alphabet.
He is standing in front of the weekly schedule, pinned to the wall. He is fingerspelling his way from one day to the next, from left to right, using various conventional
manual letters. Some of the manual letters are correct and others are not. The way he
moves his hand gives the impression that he knows the spelling and is performing a
lexicalized-fingerspelling sequence. In fact, he seems to be inventing the spelling of
the words.
Exploring handshapes in relation to letters

Many of the children seem to find some letters of the written alphabet confusingly
similar, for example d and b, L and J, j and i, and l and I. One example is when
David (3;11) is looking at his name, which a teacher has written on a drawing. He
keeps his hand at the same level as the written letters (which are upper-case:
DAVID) while fingerspelling the name one letter at a time, moving his hand for
each letter and nodding after each letter. When he has fingerspellt the last letter, he
gives out a happy cry and makes a big smile. What he has produced is the following:
D-A nod nod V-L-D nod nod nod. The I in his name has been replaced with an L.
He seems to be confused as regards the lower-case l, or the upper-case I, in relation
to the upper-case L. It should also be pointed out that the manual I is the little finger

and the manual L is the forefinger pointing up
in SSL, and
pointing up
these may also look alike to a child. In this particular case, it is important to know
that David repeatedly has shown that he knows his name, both in writing and fingerspelled, which means that this action probably involves the exploration of handshapes.
There are several later observations of David (aged 4;8 and 4;11) trying out the differences between upper-case I and upper-case L on the one hand and the manual letters on
the other. He seems to be practising the different situations in which I, i or L, l are used.
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Adults difficulties understanding small fingers

One of the younger boys (Markus), who has deaf siblings and deaf parents, knew
fingerspelling and used it on a daily basis from the first day of observation, when
the two youngest boys (Markus and David) were 3;1 and 3;4. He inspired David
as well. However, the teachersthe deaf and hearing alikeseemed not to notice
the two youngest boys early attempts at fingerspelling, probably because they
were not aware that the boys were actually doing this. One example is when
Markus is fingerspelling his name to a teacher, saying:
I know M-A-R-K-U-S! ((actually performing this as; whole handAtwo
movement with an O-handshapeU-handshape but holding the hand horizontallyS))
The teacher does not seem to understand that the boy is fingerspelling. It is not
that the teacher does not look at him or does not understand other things that he
signs. In fact, it seems that the teacher does not understand the fingerspelled
sequence, presumably because she does not interpret it as meaningful fingerspelling.
Later that day, the same teacher asks him if he knows his name. He suddenly seems
unsure of himself and signs, Difficult!. There are several explanations for the teachers difficulty to understand him. First, the child tries to show that he knows
how to fingerspell his name in an adult way, as a fingerspelled sequence rather
than one letter at a time, and he makes other movements in-between the manual
letters. Second, he performs the manual letters somewhat clumsily, consistent with
his level of fine-motor development (Boyes Braem, 2000), meaning that he has difficulties above all with letters demanding more complex fine-motor control (in this
case: R and K). Third, from the way he acts it seems that he is expecting the teachers
to understand him and so signs very quickly. He looks up at the adult and seems to
be puzzled when she does not understand. At home, in his deaf family, he is used to
being understood at all times. He is the fourth deaf child in the family and the other
family members know his way of signing well. Fourth, he often repeats the same
letter several times within a word. And fifth, he turns his hand in the wrong way
when fingerspelling. In this case there are thus five possible reasons why the
teacher did not understand Markus.
Learn to use fingerspelling in literacy practices

In the following themes IIIV the children explore how to use fingerspelling in different
situations in relation to print. Their main interest is fingerspelling compared with
writing, followed by a growing interest in collecting words, practising them, trying
out printed words, memorizing them, and recalling them from memory, while exploring the connection between mouth movements, voice, print, signs, and fingerspelling.
Theme II: Exploring the direction of writing and fingerspelling
Before the age of seven, the children observed do not seem to have a fixed direction
in which they fingerspell, and nor do they seem to consider this important. This
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would not seem to be a fine-motor control issue, since they have no problem changing
directions or shaping the hand. This may correspond with a phenomenon seen in
writing where children generally flip letters or words. It may be a stage in their development of correct fingerspelling and therefore should not be seen as errors but as a
creative part of grasping how to fingerspell. One example of this is when David
(3;4) has been watching Gus (an older child) writing a note with characters in a
row and then did the same himself. What David has written are flourishes in a row,
similar to Os. The teacher asks him to read what he has written, and he fingerspells
A-A-A-Anot O-O-O-O, which is closer to what he has actually written. He spells
with his left hand but moves from left to right in the written row of Os (he is one
of two children in the group who is left-handed). However, as a left-handed signer,
he should fingerspell words from right to left, which is a result of the use of the
dominant hand (see Harris, 1989). This is also the correct direction if a word has
two identical letters after each other, like spell, and in some Swedish manual letters
where the handshape includes a special movement, such as , which is formed like
an A but is also performed with a horizontal movement to distinguish it from A.
There are also cases of children changing the direction of fingerspelling back and
forth. For instance, Mary, who is left-handed, did so during a period when she was
around 6 years old, probably because she had not yet established hand dominance.
Another interesting example is when Aaron (6;5) is sitting next to the teacher
cooperating with her to learn some new words. He spells them primarily from
right to left, but while practising alone, he also uses other directions several times.
It seems that when he is unsure of the word he changes both his hand and direction.
Later on, when he is showing a teacher that he has learned a word, he spells it
correctly with his right hand from left to right.
Theme III: Practising and memorizing words
All the children use the manual alphabet to memorize and practise words. Often they
do this in interaction with other children or adults. According to a note from her
parents to the school, Susan (5;9) practises any word she lays her eyes on, wherever
it may be: on packaging, in magazines, on billboards, etc. The observations record
that when she wants to show others that she knows a certain word, she nods for each
letter she fingerspells, keeping her eyes closed or looking away from the text. Aaron
(6;10) does the same and is often seen standing alone, absorbed in his own world of
letters and practising on his own, for example sounding out words silently to
himself with fingerspelling. When he and the other children in the study do this,
they use small movements and tend to have a hand or both hands in their laps or
their arms hanging down. They do not look at the hand. This activity, which
resembles whispering, may also be a manual kind of private speech. Further, the
older children who engage more in reading have also been observed to read in
this way, whispering words as if they were sounding them out.
During lessons observed in the preschool, names or words are often discussed.
The children then spell to themselvesin a sense, whispering. They focus entirely
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on their own efforts to memorize. Mary and Susan often practise words with their
hands in their laps while Gus and Markus hands hang down. David prefers to fingerspell together with adults; he rarely does so to himself when alone. Aaron holds
out his hand. All the children close their eyes while fingerspelling a word to show
that they really know it by heart. Older children say in interviews that they close
their eyes to help them concentrate, but the younger ones say they do so to prove
that they know the word by heart and can fingerspell it fluently.
Consolidating a name or a word
In fingerspelling in the adult SSL community, words and names are often performed
with assimilation of the vowels, which are not performed by the hand but replaced
by mouth movements that represent them. Even the children in the study spell the
name Tom as T-M, with their mouth forming an O. This seems to be an unreflected
behaviour.
However, when a word or a name is being consolidated in a child as a series of
letters, it appears that for some time the child will take care to fingerspell the
entire word or name letter by letter. Gus (7;8) has previously fingerspelled Toms
name T-M (neutral fingerspelling). Now he suddenly begins to spell it T-O-M (fingerspelled sequence). He does so every time for a few weeks, but then he reverts to
using only T and M, but now with his mouth O-shaped: TOM (lexicalized
fingerspelling).
We know that Markus (4;2) knows his name and its correct spelling because he
fingerspelled his name when he did not find it on a painting and asked his
teacher, Where is my name, M-A-R-K-U-S?. In another situation later that day,
Markus is looking at his name written on a book and fingerspells it nine times in
a row, as if he is practising it. Here he seems to be working on spelling his name
in a fluent, assimilated way so that one handshape smoothly changes into the
next in a fingerspelled sequence. It is reasonable to assume that he is not focusing
on the spelling as such, since he already knows it, but rather on the performance
of the sequence. This phenomenon can also be seen in other childrens use of fingerspelled names, but never when they are using fingerspelling to practise the spelling of
words. When practising words, the childrens focus seems to be on the position and
order of the letters, i.e. spelling as such, rather than on the fingerspelled sequence as
a whole and its effective use in a communicative situation. Conversely, what interests
them when they are practising names is the lexicalization of the fingerspelled
sequence.
Keeping things in mind
The manual alphabet can also be a tool to make it easier to keep words in working
memory while writing them down. When Mary (7;0) is filling in words in a workbook she is, so to speak, holding the remaining letters in her right hand while she
is writing. She first looks at the word in the book, fingerspells the whole word
with her left hand (since she is left-handed), starts writing the word in the book
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with her left hand while fingerspelling the first letter again with her right hand. She
freezes the movement, so to speak, holding each letter until she has written it down.
Then she performs the next manual letter and writes this letter in the book. She continues in this way letter by letter. At no time while writing does she look at her right
hand. This procedure thus appears to be a kinaesthetic check and a tool for memorizing words.
Teachers usage may complicate matters
On many occasions, the teachers use a way of fingerspelling that is intended to help
the children but may instead make things more difficult for them. This happens with
both deaf and hearing teachers. When the children ask the teacher about the spelling
of a word or about the Swedish equivalent of a concept they know but want to
write or practise, the teacher will often respond by fingerspelling the word repeatedly without a break. For example, Aaron (6;10) asks for the word for the
colour orange by performing the sign for it. The teacher then fingerspells:
O-R-A-N-G-E-O-R-A-N-G-E. Aaron can see the word in his textbook, but he
does not seem to recognize it from the teachers fingerspelling because he then
asks whether the teacher fingerspelled the word black. The teacher seems
unaware of how she spelled the word and appears not to realize why Aaron did
not understand her fingerspelling. It can therefore be assumed that the way she fingerspells a word, repeating it without a pause, is an unreflected habit and she is
unaware of the confusion it might cause. When asked to reflect on this at a later
time, the teacher confirmed this assumption.
The opposite way of responding to a childs question about the spelling of a word
is the following example. A child is sitting with a pen in hand or at the computer and
is about to write a word that he or she is uncertain of. The child then asks about the
spelling and begins to write as soon as the teacher has fingerspelled the first letter.
This is illustrated when Susan (6;9) and a teacher are discussing in SSL why
people should learn to read and write. Susan suddenly says that she wants to
write a letter to her grandmother and asks for the Swedish word for longing (SW.
lngtar).
Susan: Longing
Teacher: (nods) You want to write that you are longing for someone.
Susan: How?
Teacher: How to write longing?
Susan: (nods)
Teacher: L
Susan: ((looks down immediately))
Teacher: Wait! L-O-N-G-I-N-G.
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Susan: L?
Teacher: (nods)
Susan: ((writes L)) O?
Teacher: (nods)
Susan: ((writes O)) L-O?
Teacher: L-O-N-G You! ((said when Susan has already started writing an N))
(The teacher starts signing with her hands in front of Susans face) Look!
L-O-N-G-I-N-G.
Susan: ((looks up and nods, then writes NG, then looks up again))
Teacher: Yes, and at the end? L-O-N-G-I-N-G
Susan: ((looks down and writes NG, missing the I))
Susan memorizes L-O but then asks for further support. Each time she looks only
at two more letters. In this way, the word is fragmented, and it seems reasonable to
assume that the child never actually grasps the entire word. She never has to spell the
word as a whole. There are many examples in the observations when the children are
literally offered only one letter at a time. Conversely, there are very few situations in
the data where a teacher practises a word together with the child before the child
writes it down, and no situation at all where a teacher asks a child to memorize a
word after it has been written down. However children seem to find it easier to
recall a word if it is fingerspelled as a whole unit and the child tries the word out
by fingerspelling it from the beginning several times. This is not, however, taken
into account by the teachers. They prefer to present words in neutral fingerspelling,
carefully performing one letter at a time. When asked about this in an interview, the
teachers expressed doubt that the children would be better able to understand words
if they were fingerspelled as whole sequences. However, when children themselves
practise words together they discuss the spelling of a word as whole units. In one
such situation, Mary (6;5) wants to learn the names of colors and gets help from
Peter, who is in her group in the after-school center; and in another situation she
and Aaron help each other to remember the Swedish names of the days of the
week. During mealtime placemats with printed pictures and words stimulated all
the children to practise words every meal. When they help each other to learn the
words they always fingerspell them as whole units. Even the youngest, 34 year
olds, try to spell words as whole words, even though they usually do not get it
right. It thus seems to be easier to learn words as whole units compared with
situations when teacher spell words letter by letter or two or three letters at a time.
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Theme IV: Decoding words

The children use the manual alphabet to try to discover what a word means. Gus
(7;8) sometimes fingerspells words he sees in texts whose meaning he does not
know. In a sense, he tastes unknown words using the manual alphabet and seems
to try to understand what they mean while he is reading them. Then he turns to
the teacher and says:
Gus: D-O-G ((SW. H-U-N-D)). I do not know.
The teacher explains to him, and he fingerspells it again: H-U-N-D. Then he produces the sign DOG. This procedure has much in common with how hearing children may first sound out a word letter by letter and then say it as a whole.
Learning to decode written words into fingerspelled wholes

However, when trying to find out the meaning of written words, the children also
use other strategies then only asking the teacher of the meaning of words. Mary
6;7 as an example often uses several strategies in the same episode. One such
instance is when Mary is sitting together with a teacher reading. She looks at the
word scissors (sax in Swedish) in the text, looks up at the teacher, who pronounces
the word without signing or sounding it out. Mary looks at her mouth and immediately responds by signing SCISSORS. She understands the word by lip-reading. The
next word is axe (SW. yxa). Mary now fingerspells the word several times, with
pauses and a blank face as if thinking, and then signs AX (the two words in
Swedish are equally difficult; sax and yxa). In decoding the word friends she uses
three strategies at the same time. She decodes the word by trying it out shaping
her lips for each letter, fingerspelling at the same time, and finally signing while
looking at the word. She does not sound the word out loud but silently with
mouth movements.
Theme V: recalling from memory
The children in the study use fingerspelling to recall words from memory. They try
out fingerspelled words by performing movements where one handshape is
smoothly followed by another, providing experience of the word in a kinesthetic
sense. It also seems as if they think aloud with the help of the manual alphabet
when they want to recall a word. In one situation, Mary (6;2) tries to find out the
spelling of the word kiwi. She fingerspells to herself several times in different
ways and then concludes (wrongly): No, I think it must be spelled K-I-W-I-A. On
another occasion she wants to write the word horse (SW. hst) but is unsure of
the spelling. She tries out various hand movements and manual letters to feel her
way to the correct spelling and then asks the teacher if the spelling H--S-T is
right, fingerspelling it letter by letter. In another situation, Susan (6;10) is trying
to write the name Torsten and writes correctly Torst but then stops and fingerspells
the name from the beginning several times before she adds en. In these situations, it
seems that the children spontaneously use fingerspelled sequences where one letter
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smoothly segues into the next. The only time that the children perform the letters one
by one in neutral fingerspelling is when asking the teacher.
The children often turn to their playmates to discuss the spelling of a word. In one
situation, Mary (6;5) wants to learn the names of colours and gets help from Peter,
who is in her group in the after-school centre; and in another lesson she and Aaron
help each other to remember the Swedish names of the days of the week. Sometimes
the children discuss English and Swedish words and compare them. The conversation below takes place when Mary is 7;1 (here the signed words have been translated
into English while the fingerspelled words have been retained in Swedish):
Peter: K-Y-S K-Y-S K-Y-S-S. ((SW. kyss means kiss)) You! K-Y-S-S. Its secret
and its disgusting and ugly. K-Y-S-S what is it? K-I-S-S ((SW. kiss means
pee)).
Mary: That is pee. In English it means kissing ((SW. kyssas)).
Peter: P-B-I-S-S That is poo ((SW. bajs)).
Theme VI: Understanding relationships
The use of fingerspelling seems to enhance the understanding of the relationship
between handshapes and letters and words, but also the relationship with other
aspects such as mouth movements and voice. This occurs when children spontaneously use fingerspelling in their everyday lives at preschool or school.
Learning about relationships between letters, words, and signs

Susan and Esther are playing outdoors. The teacher points at the first three letters of
the text on Susans sweater (which has her name Susan on it). In Swedish, this means
the sound of a slight breeze, S-U-S, she says (the Swedish word sus means the sound
of a slight breeze in English, Authors Comment). Both girls laugh and fingerspell
S-U-S several times and then the sign for SLIGHT BREEZE, which is also part of
Susans personal sign name. Suddenly Susan stops and instead signs SUSAN, her
own sign, with a somewhat puzzled expression. The name SUSAN is performed
with one hand while the sign for SLIGHT BREEZE is signed with two hands.
Both girls look at the sweater again, laugh looking at each other and nod. It
seems as if they have suddenly realized something new: they have learned a new
word and found a new dimension in Susans name.
Heated discussions sometimes occur between the children about how to write
words, often involving the teachers. In one situation, Aaron (7;6) is discussing the
English word cool, which he finds interesting since it is used among teenagers,
who tend to fingerspell COOL at hip level. A teacher explains to them that this
word is written with an L, not a Z. The children think she is wrong and say that
Ibrahim, an older classmate whom they admire, knows more than her. The
teacher also seems unaware that fingerspelling C-O-O-L near the hip makes the
Swedish handshape for L ( with upright forefinger) look very similar to a Z
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with horizontal forefinger), and therefore the two are easily confused. Indeed,
the children seem to perceive the word as C-O-O-Z. The starting point of their discussion is the English word, spelled with Swedish manual alphabet, and its possible
meaning, and then they moved on to how the word is written.
Certain words are fingerspelled words borrowed into SSL from Swedish and
transformed into fingerspelled signs. These types of signs are the so-called lexicalized
or loan signs. It is clear from the data that the children seldom perceive such fingerspelled signs as consisting of manual letters, but only perceive them as ordinary
signs. There are a few exceptions, however, for example when Aaron (6;5) suddenly
stops, then signs out with an astonished expression on his face, while practising the
spelling of cinnamon (SW. kanel), Thats that brown stuff you sprinkle!. He has
used this fingerspelled sign many times when using cinnamon at meals or while
baking or cooking, but he never seems to have thought of the movement involved
as fingerspelling. In this situation he seems suddenly to realize this fact.
Exploring the relationship between letters, mouth movements, and voice
The use of the manual alphabet also seems to stimulate the children to discover that
letters represent certain sounds and mouth movements. This appears to be true even of
those children who rarely or never use their voices spontaneously in communication
with others. Deaf signing children in Sweden who are in a signing group in school
often begin to receive speech therapy at the age of six or seven, and so did the children
in this study. This means that any use of the voice before this age seems to arise spontaneously and to be influenced by the use of Sign Language. An example is when
Susan (6:2) is practising the word pie (SW. paj). She closes her eyes and fingerspells
P-A-J many times while at the same time correctly sounding the word.
Susan and Markus rarely use their voices. In fact, this happens only when they are
fingerspelling words, as if they connect voice, hand, and mouth. Mary, Aaron, and
David, by contrast, use their voices often. They are also the three children who use
hearing aids, and their voices are more distinct and clear when they are fingerspelling
words. Mary is the only one who uses her voice and sounds words out just like a
hearing person. Gus is the only one who usually does not use his voice when fingerspelling despite the fact that he has a CI, but there are situations when even he does
use sounds. Such a situation is reported below. Gus is playing with the other children
and then suddenly starts doing what the others are doing, namely fingerspelling and
sounding out loud. In this situation, all three have correct pronunciation.
Mary (6;2) and Susan (5;11) are jumping up and down shouting mooo, sounding it out, and at the same time fingerspelling M-O (holding the O for just as
long as they sound it out). Gus (6;10) is sitting on a chair smiling at them. After
a while he jumps up and starts running around just like the girls.
Mary: The dog says mooo[M-O, mooo[M-O, mooo|M-O.
Susan: The dog, yes, it says M-O.
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Mary: You! Its a blue dog, not a real one. It cant say V-O-F. It says M-O.
Gus joins them in jumping up and down shouting mooo, mooo while fingerspelling M-O, M-O. This goes on for at least 10 minutes.
Discussion
Six main themes of the use of fingerspelling in relation to literacy have been identified in this study. Taken together, these themes show the different aspects of childrens use of fingerspelling in learning to read and write. This can be summarized
as in Table 4.
The various aspects of fingerspelling develop concurrently, as described in Table 4,
and are not characteristic of a specific age. There are only a few aspects that are performed only by the youngest children in the study (such as experimenting with the
direction of fingerspelled sequences and linking written letters to manual letters).
The youngest children practise how to pronounce the manual alphabet correctly,
in terms of the individual letters, the direction of movement in fingerspelling, and in
the production of words and names in lexicalized fingerspelling and in fingerspelled
sequences. They do this in three ways that I have referred to in this paper as preTABLE 4
CONCURRENT USE IDENTIFIED IN THE DATA REGARDING THE USE OF FINGERSPELLING
Age
Theme
,4 years
Parallel use of fingerspelling

Exploring handshapes, letters, and inventing fingerspelling:
Invented fingerspelling
Exploring handshapes in fingerspelling
Exploring handshapes in relation to letters
Learning to use fingerspelling
II
in literacy practices
48 years
Exploring the direction of writing and fingerspelling:

Experimenting with the direction of fingerspelled sequences
III
Practising and memorizing words:

Consolidating names
Consolidating words
Keeping in mind
IV
Decoding words:
Learning to decode words into single manual letters from fingerspelled wholes
Learning to decode written words into fingerspelled wholes
Recalling from memory:

Recall words from memory
VI
Understanding relationships:
Learn the relationships between letters, words, and signs
Exploring relationships between letters, mouth movements, and voice
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fingerspelling, play-fingerspelling, and invented fingerspelling. Padden (1996) uses

the more general concept of pretend fingerspelling in the sense of using fingerspelling
in play without necessarily connecting this to written language or to fingerspelled
signs in Sign Language. In the present study, however, it was found that early fingerspelling can be broken down into several categories. The findings actually suggest
that the children use and elaborate on fingerspelling in several distinguishable
ways before they fully master it. This is further elaborated in another article (regarding pre- and play-fingerspelling see Roos, accepted). Invented fingerspelling involves
producing correct manual letters at the beginning and sometimes at the end of words
with only pre-fingerspelling-like movements in between.
The data in this study show that children from the age of 3 already use, discuss,
and learn words and names using fingerspelling, which is in line with previous
research (Blumenthal-Kelly, 1995; Padden, 1996; Erting et al., 2000), which
additionally have found that parents use fingerspelling very early in the childs life
(Blumenthal-Kelly, 1995). Moreover, the present study shows that children who
are engaged in literacy learning spontaneously use the manual alphabet, and that
between the age of 3 and 4 they may start to explore and understand the relationship
between written and fingerspelled words.
One finding that deserves special attention is the difference between how children
perceive and discuss words and names. It is quite rare for the children in the study to
realise that fingerspelled words are composed of individual handshapes and thus of
letters in the alphabet. Names, by contrast, are more frequently analysed in this way
by the children and are very often discussed by them. It may be that teachers, in their
conversations with children, draw attention to names and their relationship with the
alphabet in an entirely different way compared to words. Another possible explanation is that the teachers seem more likely to underestimate than to overestimate
the childrens ability to learn, understand, or use the manual alphabet. Among
their peers, the children use fingerspelling in a sophisticated way. However, teachers
seem not to be present very often in such play situations and it may be that they do
not know what the children are really capable of. This entails an educational situation where teachers actually deprive the children of opportunities to learn more.
The children find themselves in a rich linguistic environment where they have
great opportunities, which, however, are not fully taken advantage of by their teachers. This may be an explanatory factor of deaf childrens difficulties in school
(Marschark & Spencer, 2003; Leybaert, 2005; Luckner et al., 2005/2006) and supports the research showing that teachers working with children who have special
needs tend to underestimate their pupils (Campbell et al., 2003; Hurwitz et al.,
2007; Roos, 2004; Rubie-Davies, 2010).
The data show that children use fingerspelling spontaneously to establish the
order of letters in Swedish words, to practise Swedish words, and to memorize
names or recall words from memory. A particularly important finding in this
respect is that the children appear to use fingerspelling as a kinaesthetic memorization technique for words by holding or freezing a fingerspelled word in their hand
172
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while writing it down. They also seem to try to recall the pronunciation of a word or
a name by fingerspelling it, thus appealing to their kinaesthetic memory of the word,
which in a sense rests in their hands, fingers, and arm muscles. Such kinaesthetic
recall of words occurs both when a child wants to recall a previously memorized
word from memory and when a child is decoding a word found in a text and
trying to determine whether he or she has previously learned it or is otherwise
able to recognize it.
The specific role of fingerspelling in literacy learning, and the importance of that
role have been discussed (Erting et al., 2000; Daniels, 2001; Emmorey & Petrich,
2012). Another common issue is whether fingerspelling may be a way of helping
children access phonology in some way. An interesting finding in this study concerns
the childrens way of trying words out in relation to mouth movements and the fact
that children who otherwise never use their voices will often spontaneously sound
words out and move their lips when fingerspelling. Emmorey and Petrich (2012)
pose the question whether fingerspelling accompanied by mouthing might help
provide a (previously unrecognised) phonological link to print for young deaf
reader (p. 202), which seems to be the case in this group of children. Before the
age of seven, the children in this study had never had speech lessons. This indicates
that we can conclude that this phenomenon emerges spontaneously, probably influenced by the childrens use of Sign Language and the manual alphabet. In addition,
the children sometimes whisper in fingerspelling while trying words out, which can
be compared to hearing children sounding words out quietly to themselves.
I propose that, when deaf signing children use kinaesthetic recall, sound out
words and move their lips to decode, recall, or hold a word in working memory,
they are expressing and giving us examples of their growing development of phonological awareness. Myer (2007) discusses this issuewhether deaf children can use
fingerspelling as an adequate substitute for the phonological processing strategies
that hearing children employ (p. 427)but concludes that they cannot. The data
from this study, however, suggest that fingerspelling may play such a role. The children in the present study actually show the ability to develop such strategies spontaneously as part of their literacy learning. An example is when Mary shows her
ability to lipread at the age of 6;7, and when she fingerspells while moving her
lips for each letter at a time. Another example is when Susan (6;2) spontaneously
is sounding the word pie out with her voice while fingerspelling it.
Teachers fingerspelling seems to be important. Haptonstall-Nykaza and Schick
(2007) found that it is better for teachers to use lexicalized rather than neutral fingerspelling when supporting children in their literacy learning. In the present study it is
also apparent that when teachers break words down into smaller units and fingerspell only a few letters at a time, this does not seem to help children to learn, remember, or recall words better. It seem to be more effective to let the children practise
words using lexicalized fingerspelling or fingerspelled sequences. In line with what
Emmorey and Petrich (2012) suggest, this can be explained by their findings that
deaf readers performed better when fingerspelled words were segmented at the
173
phonological syllable boundary (p. 194). It is reasonable to assume that it is not

only the accompanying mouthing mentioned before that plays an important role,
but also the way the fingerspelling is performed in relation to mouthing, which in
turn may originate in the constraints of working memory processes. This study
however only describes what children do rather than testing it, which could be
done in future research.
The present study shows that the children learn the direction of fingerspelling in
much the same way as children experiment with writing from left to right and from
right to left (Adams, 1994), thus a manifestation of the same phenomenon, possibly
governed by the same underlying factors. In addition, some of the children in the
present study tend to alternate the direction of fingerspelling while memorizing a
word, but never once they have learned it, which suggests that directional changes
might be a mnemonic technique.
In invented fingerspelling, the child uses the correct manual letters for parts of a
word or a name but replaces other parts with a movement similar to prefingerspelling or play-fingerspelling. The most common case is that the first and
last letters are correctly fingerspelled. Invented spelling in hearing childrens literacy development is described by Read (1971) as a way for children to invent
their own spelling by arranging letters into words using phonetic similarities
between parts of words and names of letters. In the present paper, invented fingerspelling is used to describe how a child invents fingerspelled words using manual
letters similar to but different from those included in the target sequence. In conventional lexicalized fingerspelled words, the first and the last letters are visible
for a fraction of a second longer than the other letters. Those are the letters that
are used in invented fingerspelling, while the letters in between are replaced by
movements that look very much like correct movements in a fingerspelled
sequence.
Research into literacy has changed our view on what reading and writing is all
about for young children. There has been a trend for recent research to focus on
the child as doing something different from what adults and older children do
when using and elaborating script (Street, 2003). What children are claimed to do
is to develop and create their own literacy in interaction with others who know
more (Vygotsky, 1978). Several researchers have therefore suggested that the term
early-childhood literacy would better describe the childs behaviour: not as something unfinished orworseas something undeveloped, but as an ongoing development which has its own intrinsic value (Gillen & Hall, 2003). We can describe the
youngest childrens use of the manual alphabet in much the same way, in line with
research carried out under the paradigm of Early Childhood Literacy (Hall et al.,
2003), emphasizing the child as an active learner doing critical cognitive work
[] from birth to six (Teale & Sulzby, 1986: xviii).
To conclude, it seems that the children spontaneously use fingerspelling every day,
in many different ways for different purposes. It is also clear that this is an ability
174
CARIN ROOS
that is underestimated by their teachers and that it could be used much more in
literacy teaching.
Limitations of the study and suggestions for further research

The development of the handshapes for the manual letters is not analysed in detail in
this study. This may be a lost opportunity but, given that the aim of the present study
is not linguistic but educational and that its objective is to identify different functions
of childrens use of fingerspelling, this had to be excluded from this particular paper.
No study of handshape development has yet been reported in Sweden (Roos, 2010).
Moreover, there is also a great need for further in-depth investigation of how children, especially the very young, use fingerspelling in relation to the themes identified
in this study. We need a better understanding of how teachers could more appropriately respond to fingerspelling attempts and use them in their work. In addition,
there is a need for a better understanding of the impact that fingerspelling use
exerts on hearing children and on children with CIs or other hearing aids: it could
be assumed that fingerspelling might have a mediating function in relation to both
speech development and literacy learning. In addition, we need research investigating how teachers should perform fingerspelling that is consistent with the findings indicating the relationship between mouthing, phonological awareness, and
good literacy skills.
Acknowledgements
The author wishes to thank all participants in this research project and her colleagues at the Department of Education of the University of Gothenburg. Thanks
to Johan Segerbck and Elisabeth Wenn for proof-reading the text and improving
my English.
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178
CARIN ROOS
Appendix: The Swedish Manual Alphabet

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deafness & education international, Vol. 15 No.

3, September, 2013, 149178

Young Deaf Childrens Fingerspelling in

This paper1 presents a study of childrens use of fingerspelling. It is part of a

W. S. Maney & Son Ltd 2013

YOUNG DEAF CHILDRENS FINGERSPELLING IN LEARNING TO READ AND WRITE

how teachers use it in teaching Swedish. However, Bagga-Gupta (2001) has

ways, for example by fingerspelling O-K in the sense of right? or by producing

Learning to use fingerspelling in literacy practices

YOUNG DEAF CHILDRENS FINGERSPELLING IN LEARNING TO READ AND WRITE

with each other (as in lexicalized fingerspelling or in fingerspelled sequences). Thus

Aim of the study and theoretical framework

YOUNG DEAF CHILDRENS FINGERSPELLING IN LEARNING TO READ AND WRITE

The six participants

Parents hearing status

Severe hearing loss

Both severe hearing loss

Severe hearing loss

Severe hearing loss

One cochlear implant

The preschool and the school

YOUNG DEAF CHILDRENS FINGERSPELLING IN LEARNING TO READ AND WRITE

2 hearing: one qualified

Preschool class, age

Compulsory school, from 7 years

2 hearing: both qualified

One deaf assistant,

YOUNG DEAF CHILDRENS FINGERSPELLING IN LEARNING TO READ AND WRITE

Lexicalized fingerspelling, a (smooth) sequence of manual letters combined with mouth

Simultaneous sounding out and fingerspelling

English words performed using Swedish fingerspelling

Theme I: Exploring handshapes, letters, and inventing fingerspelling

YOUNG DEAF CHILDRENS FINGERSPELLING IN LEARNING TO READ AND WRITE

the phenomenon of invented spelling in hearing childrens literacy development,

Exploring handshapes in relation to letters

Adults difficulties understanding small fingers

Learn to use fingerspelling in literacy practices

YOUNG DEAF CHILDRENS FINGERSPELLING IN LEARNING TO READ AND WRITE

YOUNG DEAF CHILDRENS FINGERSPELLING IN LEARNING TO READ AND WRITE

YOUNG DEAF CHILDRENS FINGERSPELLING IN LEARNING TO READ AND WRITE

Theme IV: Decoding words

Learning to decode written words into fingerspelled wholes

Learning about relationships between letters, words, and signs

YOUNG DEAF CHILDRENS FINGERSPELLING IN LEARNING TO READ AND WRITE

Parallel use of fingerspelling

Learning to use fingerspelling

Exploring the direction of writing and fingerspelling:

Practising and memorizing words:

Recalling from memory:

YOUNG DEAF CHILDRENS FINGERSPELLING IN LEARNING TO READ AND WRITE

fingerspelling, play-fingerspelling, and invented fingerspelling. Padden (1996) uses

YOUNG DEAF CHILDRENS FINGERSPELLING IN LEARNING TO READ AND WRITE

phonological syllable boundary (p. 194). It is reasonable to assume that it is not

Limitations of the study and suggestions for further research

YOUNG DEAF CHILDRENS FINGERSPELLING IN LEARNING TO READ AND WRITE

YOUNG DEAF CHILDRENS FINGERSPELLING IN LEARNING TO READ AND WRITE

Appendix: The Swedish Manual Alphabet

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