Auslan: First Language Learner 7–10 Sequence / Levels 7 and 8 / Understanding / Systems of language
Content description
Identify and describe all elements of sign production, including handshape and its orientation, movement, location and non-manual features and understand that signs can look like what they represent
Elaborations
realising that meaning is communicated through the use of signs, pictures, written or spoken words or miming
identifying the handshape of a sign, for example, COCKATOO (hs:5, palm left) and SOCCER (hs:fist, palm towards signer) and identifying signs of a particular handshape
identifying and demonstrating signs with a change in handshape, for example FIND or BEST
identifying and demonstrating signs with a change in orientation, for example CAN-NOT or HOW
noticing the path movement of a particular sign and identifying signs associated with the major types of path movements, for example, THROUGH (forwards) or FULL (down to up)
describing how the movement changes between groups of related numbers, for example, 5, 15, 50, 5th)
noticing the five major locations of signs on the body or in space, and identifying signs associated with each, such as SEE (head/face), SAY (mouth/chin), WHY (chest), TALK (hand) and ONE (signing space)
understanding that NMFs are important in sign language for showing feelings of the signer or others
identifying single, double and two-handed signs, and recognising which hand is dominant (the pen hand) and which is non-dominant (paper) within two-handed signs
thinking of body-anchored signs, such as HEAD or WHY, and signs that are not body anchored, such as HAVE or STOP, and recognising that non-body anchored signs can be located in space around the signer
understanding that signs can be organised by handshape, for example in Johnston’s Auslan dictionaries or localised handshape dictionaries in schools, and that this is useful if an English word for a sign is not known
recognising that some signs are iconic, that is, provide a visual image of a referent, for example, HOUSE, TREE, DRINK, ELEPHANT, and that some are not, such as SISTER, WHY, SIMPLE
experimenting with different methods of capturing the signed language, such as: a class-invented script, drawing pictures, videoing, English glosses or ASL-phabet
