Course Descriptions

BMBL1001 Introduction to Sign Language and Bimodal Bilingualism (Course Outline)
This course introduces the history of sign language research and how the findings gradually transform our understanding of sign language in human cognition, as well as human interaction in different sociolinguistic contexts. Key concepts to be introduced include sign language and gesture, natural sign language versus manually coded spoken language, sign language and spoken language grammars, deafness and sign language, sign language acquisition, unimodal bilingualism and bimodal bilingualism.

BMBL2001 Sign Linguistics I: Phonetics and Phonology
This course presents an overview of the major research findings related to phonetics and phonology in sign language in the past few decades. Topics to be covered include the transcription systems for the formational parameters of individual signs, perceptual and physiological systems underlying the production of signs, markedness in sign language phonology, phonological processes that result in historical changes and lexical variations, as well as different theoretical frameworks that have been put forward to account for the major parameters and syllable structures in sign language phonology.

BMBL2002 Sign Linguistics II: Morphology, Syntax and Semantics (Course Outline)
This course provides an overview of the major linguistic issues related to morphology, syntax and semantics in sign linguistics, with particular focus on how sign languages resemble and differ from spoken languages in these grammatical aspects. Areas to be covered include word class and word formation strategies, agreement, tense, aspect and modality, classifier constructions, word order and sentence types, negation, constructed actions, metaphors, use of space, lexical semantics and information structure.

BMBL3001 Sign Language in Education (Course Outline)
This course explores the impact of sign linguistics research on the shaping of new directions in education, in particular, the issue of language in education and the benefits of sign language in educating students with diverse abilities. Factors to be covered include society’s perception about minority languages in bilingual education, attitudes towards and use of oral, written as well as the various modes of signing in different educational settings, code choice, code switching and code blending in bimodal bilingual communication, as well as effects of sign language on children’s literacy, cognitive and sociopsychological development.

BMBL3002 Sign Interpreting
This course aims to provide a first introduction to sign interpreting to students with no prior training of the subject. Different modes of interpreting (e.g. sight translation, consecutive interpreting, simultaneous interpreting) and different models of sign language interpreting will be discussed. Discourses commonly found in local sign interpretation will be introduced (e.g. health, education, legal, social work, business and government, etc.). As an international development, the roles of Deaf interpreters to serve a broader purpose of communication are highlighted. Students are expected to be able to compare the development of local sign interpreting to that of Mainland China, Macau, and other countries.

BMBL4001 Language Acquisition of Deaf Children
This course examines how deaf children acquire sign and spoken languages in either a monolingual or a bimodal bilingual fashion. In the Hong Kong context, emphasis is on how deaf children acquire the sound segments, tones, as well as grammar of Cantonese and Mandarin Chinese on the one hand, and the acquisition of Hong Kong Sign Language in the areas of sign phonology, morphology, word order, and classifier constructions on the other. Acquisition studies of other sign languages as reported in the literature will also be covered, to support the premise that the processes of language acquisition as revealed by deaf children are universal.

BMBL4101 Research Project I
Students prepare for a research project that tackles an issue in sign linguistics. Depending on the nature of research, the phenomenon can be investigated either individually or in pairs, and, in the latter situation, students need to seek permission from the research supervisor and generate their own report for assessment. Assessment of this course is based on a concrete research report, inclusive of identification of a topic, justifications for choosing the topic especially how it potentially addresses theoretical issues in sign linguistics, or resolves certain social problems and creates an impact in society, a detailed summary of previous literature, a list of research questions and hypotheses, research design and methodology, and, if possible, some preliminary data description.

BMBL4102 Research Project II
This course is a continuation of Research Project I. Students are expected to produce a detailed research report based on the topic identified for Research Project I. The research report should be a substantial expansion of the piece of work compiled for Research Project I, added to it at this stage of report writing are data presentation and description with sufficient details, a critical analysis and interpretation of data, insightful discussions with strong argumentation, as well as some suggested solutions to the problem. There should be a section detailing the social impact of the research especially how the findings can be translated into certain practices leading to advancement in the social conditions of sign language and the population of deaf people.

BMBL4201 Service Learning I (Course Outline)
This course requires students to serve as a volunteer worker in an organization that involves use and promotion of sign language or bimodal bilingualism, and to gain the experiences and know-how they might need in their future career. Such an organization may be a social enterprise, a service provider, an NGO or any organization that supports sign language users as their service consumers or staff members. The organization must have a close relationship with the Deaf community. Students are required to justify why their professional interest can be further enlightened by the service-learning experiences. There will be a service-learning supervisor to guide students in the preparation of the service-learning programme.

BMBL4202 Service Learning II
This course expects students to render at least 90 hours of voluntary service to an organization that uses and promotes sign language and bimodal bilingualism. Such an organization may be a social enterprise, a service provider, an NGO or any organization that supports sign language users as their service consumers or staff members. The organization must have a close relationship with the Deaf community. Students wishing to identify an organization on their own for their voluntary service must seek approval from the service learning supervisor beforehand. The programme may offer a certain number of service learning slots each year but interviews are necessary. There will be a service-learning supervisor to guide students in the preparation of the service-learning programme and a manager from the organization to support their involvement during the service learning period. Students are expected to share their experiences with their classmates at the end of the course.