Sign'Maths: An Interactive Dictionary in French Sign Language
Camille Nadal, Christophe Collet · 2017 · Proceedings of the 19th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS) · doi:10.1145/3132525.3134804
Summary
Sign'Maths is an online interactive dictionary designed to give deaf students access to mathematical definitions in French Sign Language (LSF). The project emerges from a significant gap in deaf education: while France legally recognized Sign Language as a legitimate educational medium in 2005, the vast majority of pedagogical resources remain in written French. This means deaf students, who use French SL as their primary language, must rely heavily on their ability to read French — their second language — to access educational content across all disciplines. The problem is especially acute in mathematics, where abstract concepts are already difficult to visualize and where there is a notable lack of standardized signs for mathematical terminology. The researchers at IRIT (Université Toulouse 3 – Paul Sabatier) developed Sign'Maths as a web-based tool that explores whether an interface built entirely around Sign Language video can be meaningful and effective for deaf users. The dictionary covers mathematical concepts introduced at the high school and college level, with definitions produced as SL videos by a group of teachers expert in both Sign Language and mathematics. These teachers are also working to create standardized signs for mathematical concepts that currently lack them. The tool presents two interface versions: one using SL videos for all navigation and content access, and another combining graphics with French subtitles where SL translation appears on mouseover. Definition pages can include hypermedia links to prerequisite concepts. A User-Centered Design approach guided the development and testing of both interfaces.
Key findings
Preliminary user testing revealed that participants appreciated the extensive use of Sign Language throughout the interface, validating the core premise that SL can serve as a primary navigation and content-access mechanism for online tools. However, participants also indicated that written French labels remain necessary to support navigation, particularly for a search-by-word function — reflecting the reality that deaf students operate in a bilingual educational environment. Users valued the combination of three information modalities: Sign Language video, written French text, and graphical illustrations of mathematical concepts. The use of visual information such as diagrams alongside signs was seen as particularly beneficial for abstract mathematical concepts. The project also addresses a practical vocabulary gap: the lack of standardized mathematical signs impedes communication between deaf students and teachers, and the collaborative sign-creation process embedded in the project helps fill this gap.
Relevance
This demonstration highlights an underexplored dimension of digital accessibility: designing online learning tools where Sign Language is not merely supplementary but serves as the primary interface language. For accessibility practitioners, the key takeaway is that truly accessible content for deaf users goes beyond captioning and transcription — it requires rethinking how information is structured, navigated, and presented in visual-gestural languages. The finding that users want both SL and written text reinforces the importance of multimodal, bilingual approaches rather than either-or solutions. The project also demonstrates the value of involving domain experts (deaf teachers, SL specialists) in content creation through a User-Centered Design process. While the paper is a short demonstration rather than a full study, it points toward important questions about SL-first interface design and the role of standardized sign vocabulary in STEM education accessibility.
Tags: deaf education · sign language · e-learning · mathematical accessibility · bilingual education · user-centered design · French Sign Language