Encoding by Japanese with hearing impairments : Japanese words, pictures, and sign language

The purpose of the present study was to examine the representational subsystems of people who are deaf. People who are deaf coded a mixed list of arbitrary signs, iconic signs, and pictures, and copied Japanese words. Based on their proficiency in Sign Language and Japanese, participants were divided into 4 groups: those with high proficiency in both Sign Language and Japanese (GG group), those with high proficiency in Sign Language, but low proficiency in Japanese (GP group), those with low proficiency in Sign Language, but high proficiency in Japanese (PG group), and those with poor proficiency in both Sign Language and Japanese (PP group). The results were as follows : The average item-recall scores in the group with high proficiency in both Sign Language and Japanese were best for arbitrary signs and iconic signs, intermediate for translation, and worst for Copying. The group with high proficiency in Sign Language but low proficiency in Japanese had higher scores on arbitrary signs, iconic: signs, and translation than oil copying. Those with low proficiency in Sign Language but high proficiency in Japanese had higher scores on translation than oil arbitrary sign, iconic sign, or copying. Participants who had poor proficiency in both Sign Language and Japanese had higher scores oil translation than on arbitrary signs, iconic signs, or copying.