Sign Languages Are Languages
Two Deaf friends sit facing each other in a park, sharing news about their week. Their hands move, their expressions change, and their conversation flows. They are using a sign language: a language that people can see instead of hear.
Sign languages are not simply spoken languages put into hand movements. They are complete languages with their own words and grammar. Grammar is the set of patterns that helps people organize ideas and understand how parts of a message fit together. Like spoken languages, sign languages can express questions, jokes, arguments, stories, and complicated ideas.
More than moving hands
A sign can involve the shape of a hand, where it is placed, and how it moves. Changing one of these features may change the meaning. Signers also use their faces and bodies as part of a language. For example, facial expressions can help show what kind of question a person is asking. They are not just decorations added to signs.
Sign languages use the space around a signer in meaningful ways, too. A signer can establish a person or place in one area of space and then refer back to it. This can help make clear who did what in a story. Learning a sign language involves learning these patterns, not just memorizing individual signs.
- expressions:
- Looks on a person's face that can show feelings or meaning.
- features:
- Parts or qualities that help describe something.
- regions:
- Areas within a larger place.
- communities:
- Groups of people who share connections or experiences.
- culture:
- The shared ways of life, experiences, and arts of a group.
- qualified:
- Having the knowledge and skills needed to do a job.
- interpreter:
- A person who helps people using different languages communicate.
One passage, many ways to practice
Reading-skill questions, word work and writing prompts — all built from this text.
Main Idea
Identify the central idea and explain how important details develop it.
Context Clues
Use clues in the passage to work out what words mean. A separate printable Vocabulary worksheet is also available.
Summarize
Select, organize, and restate the most important information without adding opinion.
Purpose
Analyze what the author aims to do and how choices serve audience and purpose.
Structure
Analyze how sections and organizational choices build the text's ideas or effects.
Vocabulary
Practice words from the passage with a printable worksheet.
Writing Prompts
Use the passage as a springboard for short written responses, from personal reflection to evidence-based arguments.
Fix the Sentence
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Preview questions from this passageShowHide
- 1What is the article's main idea, and which detail supports it?
- 2How can changing a sign's hand shape, placement, or movement affect its meaning?
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About this explanatory article passage for Upper Elementary
“Sign Languages Are Languages” is a explanatory article reading passage about Sign languages, written for Upper Elementary. It takes about 4 minutes to read (531 words) and comes with an interactive quiz and a printable worksheet with comprehension questions and an answer key.