Visual Vernacular and Embodied Cognition in Deaf Storytelling

• In Event: Issues of Language, Literacy, and Spatial Understanding in Visually-Based Learning

Abstract

Deaf visual vernacular storytelling has captivated the Deaf audience but is yet to be recognized as a form of oral literacy skills. This qualitative analysis of a Chinese visual vernacular telling of “The Romance of the Three Kingdoms” by Zhang Peng, a Deaf Chinese artist, examines the literary characteristics of the environment, embodied experience, and cultural significance; the communication of description and action within spatial and sequential/temporal contexts; and the relationship between situated cognition, Chinese culture and Chinese Sign Language through unique signs that require cultural knowledge for comprehension. ELAN transcription revealed description and action schemas embedded in time and space, unique gestures describing characters, the Chinese context, and the interactions between events. Literacy implementation and teaching recommendations are provided.

Authors

• Gabrielle A. Jones, University of California - San Diego

• Brittany Kaplan, University of California - San Diego