Interactive Sign: Turn-Taking, Repair and Register
What this domain tests
Interactive sign assesses conversation skills: initiating, responding, maintaining and repairing meaning with another signer. You need turn-taking signals (eye gaze, hand raise, holding a sign, nodding), backchannelling (head nods, eyebrow flashes, brief signs showing you follow), and clarification strategies (asking for repetition, rephrasing, fingerspelling a term, confirming understanding).
Understand register and politeness: sign size, speed and facial expression shift between formal and casual settings; directness varies. Question forms matter - yes/no questions typically use raised eyebrows and a forward head tilt, while wh-questions use lowered brows. Negation is shown with a headshake and negative signs, sometimes non-manually alone. Cultural norms include gaining attention appropriately (waving, tapping a shoulder, or light flicking of lights in a group setting) and maintaining eye contact, which signals attention rather than rudeness.
Traps
- Treating a head nod as full agreement when it may only signal "I'm following you".
- Answering a wh-question as if it were yes/no because the non-manual marker was missed.
- Ignoring a clarification request and continuing, compounding misunderstanding.
- Overlapping a turn without a recognised overlap signal.
- Using an overly casual register in a formal interaction, or vice versa.
- Looking away while the other person signs, which reads as disengagement.
Rule of thumb
Use the confirm-repair loop: restate what you understood, invite correction, then respond. If you are unsure, ask a specific question ("do you mean the person on your left?") rather than a vague "again?" - specificity shows comprehension and speeds repair.
Worked example
A signer asks a wh-question with lowered brows. You respond by first restating the key referent with a questioning brow raise ("the meeting on Tuesday?"), receive a nod, then answer. If you had misread the question type, the restatement surfaces the error before you give a wrong answer.