Review of Sign Language Assessment Instruments

This article reviews and discusses existing sign language assessment instruments and those that are still under development. There are three groupings of sign language assessments: (1) instruments to assess and monitor the process of sign language acquisition in deaf children, (2) assessments for educational purposes, and (3) instruments for linguistic research. These will be discussed individually with regard to a range of issues, such as target age group, linguistic content of the assessment instrument, background of the instrument and development, usability and availability, and strengths and weaknesses. The article concludes with an evaluation of the reviewed instruments.