Auslan: Second Language Learner F–10 Sequence / Levels 5 and 6 / Understanding / Role of language and culture
Content description
Reflect on how communities’ ways of using languages are shaped by, reflect and strengthen cultural values and beliefs and how these may be differently interpreted by users of other languages
Elaborations
explaining the role of Auslan and Deaf culture in maintaining, reflecting and strengthening the Deaf community and its networks and significant places
understanding that knowledge about past and present Deaf people and cultural experience and values is embodied in and transmitted through Auslan, for example ways of producing the sign for SIGN reflect cultural values placed on fluency
identifying the cultural importance of elements of communication such as the use of signing space and proxemics by Auslan users, particularly in relation to a person passing between two signers, or to the positioning of communication partners
identifying cultural differences in the use of personal names in Auslan and their own background language, such as the fact that Auslan signers do not use a person’s name sign when addressing them directly as do users of many spoken languages
recognising that different types of expressive and imaginative performance in Auslan carry cultural as well as linguistic information, for example, a film or theatrical performance that represents typical miscommunication experiences between deaf and hearing people
reflecting on the ways culture is interpreted by others, for example by identifying how stereotypes about deaf and hearing people influence perceptions
understanding that ‘sound’ is accessed differently in Deaf culture, that the meaning and importance of sound in deaf people’s lives is not the same as in hearing people’s experience
