Based on the observation that deaf adolescents experience great difficulty in understanding the functions and purposes of active and passive constructions in German language classes, the idea arose to develop deaf-didactic teaching material to explain these grammatical phenomena. It is assumed that, starting from the understanding of the first language—namely sign language—and through corresponding deaf-didactic instruction, the active-passive constructions of spoken and written German can be learned much more easily and comprehensibly.

Since the existence of passive constructions in sign languages is still a matter of debate among linguists, an initial attempt was made to investigate them in Austrian and German Sign Language (ÖGS and DGS). This resulted in a transnational exploratory study in which the team of authors analyzed sign language videos from native signers in Austria (Vienna) and Germany (Aachen).

According to the authors, (at least) three forms of passive constructions exist in ÖGS and DGS. The following explanations and presentations are intended to stimulate further discussion on this topic within the field of sign language linguistics. Part I of this two-part series first outlines the theoretical deaf-didactic framework and the current state of research on passive constructions, followed by the contents and methods of the study, as well as the empirical results and their discussion.