Wolfgang Mann

Research fellow and part-time lecturer

Qualifications and Positions

• 2008 - present, Research fellow and part-time lecturer, LCS, City University
• 2006 - 2008, Post-doctoral researcher at City at the Deafness Cognition and Language Research Centre (DCAL)
• 2009 Post Graduate Certificate in Learning and Teaching in Higher Education
• 2006, PhD in Special Education, University of California, Berkeley
• 2001, MA in Special Education , San Francisco State University
• 1996, BA in Sign Language Studies, Hamburg University

Research Interests

• Language development and language difficulties in deaf children
• The wider impacts of experiencing a language problem
• Lexical development and semantic representation
• Assessment of language and cognition
• Developmental difficulties
• Interventions to enhance language and social skills

Teaching

• SLM003/SL2003 - Developmental Studies
• SL1003 - Lifespan Course: Developmental Studies

Current Research Projects

• Families with Deaf children project - Studying the origins of Theory of Mind in Deaf toddlers, in collaboration with Professor Gary Morgan & Deafness Cognition & Language Research Centre (DCAL), UCL
• Investigating deaf children's vocabulary strength in British Sign Language (BSL) by means of a web-based form-meaning mapping test, Fellowship project, City University London.
• When the hands move faster than the eye - exploring the speed of information delivered on TV in British Sign Language (BSL), Pump Priming project, City University London.
• Home language environment and spoken English in deaf children with cochlear implants from homes where English is an additional language, in collaboration with Dr. Merle Mahon (UCL), the Ear Institute, and Great Ormond Street Hospital.

Recent Publications

• Mahon, M., Vickers, D., McCarthy, K., Rajput, K., Barker, R, Merrit., R., Szagun, G., & Mann, W. (in press). Cochlear-implanted children from homes where English is an additional language: Findings from a recent audit in one London centre. Cochlear International.
• Mann, W. & Marshall, C. R. (2010). Building an Assessment Use Argument for sign language: the BSL Nonsense Sign Repetition Test. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, 13, 243-258.
• Mann, W., Marshall, C. R., Mason, K. & Morgan, G. (2010). The acquisition of sign language phonology and the interplay between phonology and phonetics. Language Learning and Development, 6, 60-86.
• Mann, W., Marshall, C. R., Mason, K. & Morgan G. (2009). Understanding more about sign language learning: Results from the nonsense-sign repetition project. British Deaf News (March 2009 issue), 16-17.
• Mann, W. (2008). Facing the challenges of appropriately assessing language in deaf children. VDM, Germany.
• Haug, T. & Mann, W. (2008). Developing tests for sign language assessment - a review of common problems and other related issues. Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education, 13(1), 138-147.
• Mann, W. (2007). Examining German Deaf Children's Understanding of Referential Distinction in Written German and German Sign Language (DGS). Educational and Child Psychology, 24(4), 59-76.
• Rathmann, C., Mann, W., & Morgan, G. (2007). Narrative Structure and Narrative Development in Deaf Children. Deafness and Education International, 9(4), 187-196.
• Mann, W., Marshall, C. R. & Morgan, G. (2007). How do deaf children make signs? The nonsense-sign repetition project. Sign Matters (September 2007 issue), 16-17.
• Mann, W. & Prinz, P. (2006). An investigation of the need for sign language assessment in Deaf Education. American Annals of the Deaf, 151(3), 356-370.
   

Recent Conference and Invited Presentations

• Comparing vocabulary development in sign language and spoken language (2010). Biennial Meeting of EARLI SIG 15 Special Educational Needs, Frankfurt, Germany.
• Measuring Deaf Children's Vocabulary Development in British Sign Language (2010). 21st International Congress on Education of the Deaf (ICED), Vancouver, Canada.
• Language Communication & Cognition Conference, 2008, Brighton, The acquisition of sign language phonology in deaf children: relationships with age, receptive language, and fine motor skills.
• British Psychological Society Developmental Section Conference,  2007, University of Plymouth, Assessment of phonological development in deaf children using a non-sign repetition test.
• 15th World Congress of the World Federation of the Deaf,  2007, Madrid, Spain, Variations in performance on a test for German Sign Language between different groups of deaf participants.

Professional Activities

• Reviewer for Deafness & Education International, First Language, Journal of Deaf Studies & Deaf Education
• Member of Consortium of Research in Deaf Education (CRIDE)
• Member of BICI (Bilingual Cochlear Implant), a consortium of researchers, doctors, and speech language therapists with focus on deaf CI children from EAL backgrounds