The Fourth International Conference on Sign Language Acquisition

The 4th International Conference on Sign Language Acquisition (ICSLA) will convene virtually; this will be the first time the conference has had a United States host. This triennial conference gathers global experts on sign language acquisition. Studying the acquisition of sign languages greatly enhances our understanding of general language development, relationships between input and proficiency, multilingualism, and the possibilities (and limitations) of the human ability to learn language.

The invited keynote presenters will discuss unique insights from sign language acquisition with respect to three central foci: (1) variable language input, (2) neural plasticity and neurodiversity, and (3) modality (signing, speaking, writing). This research also has the potential for profound impacts on the lives of deaf and hard of hearing children and their families.

To this end, the conference will include professional development activities designed to draw practitioners in aligned fields including sign language teaching, deaf education, early intervention, and speech-language pathology. The goal is to make sign language acquisition research accessible to practitioners, and to inform researchers of the practical needs of people working most closely with deaf children.

Funding from the National Science Foundation will support education and enhance accessibility, diversity, and inclusion at ICSLA by subsidizing costs for students and attendees from underrepresented groups, and by providing for all conference activities to be accessible in English, American Sign Language, and International Sign. Many researchers in this field are themselves deaf or hard-of-hearing.

Four of our six invited keynote presenters are deaf, and there are deaf members of the planning and scientific committees. Deaf students will receive mentoring through these role models. We aim to set an example by doing more than simply providing access to deaf participants, but centering the conference on the experiences and expertise of deaf children, students, educators, and researchers.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.