Learning South African Sign Language as a First Language – The Results of a Sentence Repetition Task

Previous research on the acquisition of a sign language by deaf and hard of hearing (DHH) children has indicated the importance of factors such as chronological age and age of first exposure to the language, the latter being highly variable in populations of DHH children. The results of an empirical study on the acquisition of South African Sign Language (SASL) using a sentence repetition task are presented, examining the effect of these individual factors. Participants were 40 DHH children (aged 7–9 years) attending two schools for DHH children with an official policy of using SASL, in the Western Cape, South Africa. The results clearly indicate an effect of chronological age, as well as age of acquisition of SASL, on sentence repetition accuracy. In addition, there was a significant difference in the results from the two schools. The results of the study are discussed in the light of the considerable variability in the language learning environment of DHH children in South Africa.