Auslan: Second 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 look at the link between signs and their referents in terms of iconicity
Elaborations
realising that meaning is communicated through the use of signs, pictures, written or spoken words or miming
identifying a sign's handshape and its orientation, for example, COCKATOO (hs:5, palm left) and SOCCER (hs:fist)
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)
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)
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 NMFs can also be an element of a sign and can show emotional states such as a happy expression, or grammatical information, for example, a frown to mark a negative, and identifying examples of NMFs in a text
noticing that in a stretch of connected signing a sign will often be produced differently to the way it is shown in a dictionary
distinguishing between single, double and two-handed signs, and identifying which hand is dominant and which is non-dominant in two-handed signs
noticing that in signed languages meaning can be expressed through whole signs or through fingerspelling
comparing iconic signs that provide visual images of referents, such as DRINK, ELEPHANT with English words that map to the sound images of the referents, such as animal noises, or words for sounds such as bang or woof woof
identifying signs with different levels of iconicity, for example, those that are fully transparent, translucent or arbitrary
experimenting with different methods of capturing signed languages, such as: a class-invented script, drawing pictures, videoing, English glosses or ASL-phabet
