Auslan: First Language Learner F–10 Sequence / Levels 7 and 8 / Understanding / Role of language and culture
Content description
Reflect on how language use is influenced by communities’ world views and sense of identity and on how language and culture influence each other
Elaborations
exploring the nature of culture and how it is related to ways of thinking and using language, for example by comparing the cultural concept of Deaf identity with a medical model of deafness
exploring ways in which language choices, such as sign choices, reflect attitudes towards certain topics, for example, oralism
analysing how concepts related to cultural practices are expressed through language, for example, by identifying particular elements of naming systems, such as the use of pointing, NMFs and name signs, as in the case of number name signs of older deaf people who attended the Victorian School for Deaf Children
identifying and discussing core cultural concepts reflected in Auslan such as the collective nature of the Deaf community, the importance of respect for elders and of reciprocity and responsibility, for example, how signing TAP-MANY, TAP-2H++ reflects understanding of responsibility to share information and pass on knowledge, or greater use of the ‘flat hand’ rather than the ‘point hand’ and use of full titles in acknowledgements and forms of address when introducing an esteemed Deaf elder
investigating how Auslan users interact with their social and physical environment, for example, locating other signers, gravitating to spaces that are visually accessible
identifying culturally significant attitudes and beliefs conveyed through Auslan that relate to history, significant individuals, places or events, for example, attitudes to spoken language that reflect the history of suppression of signed languages, as in the use of signs that reference tensions between oral and signing deaf people or between hearing and deaf people, such as the sign for communication breakdown which infers lack of awareness or understanding of cultural values, beliefs and language on the part of the other party
comparing elements of communication in different contexts and exchanges that are culturally specific, such as back-channelling, the use of silence or eye contact, head nodding to indicate understanding rather than agreement, and the implications of such cultural variability in contexts such as courts of law
observing that concepts may be culture and language specific, for example, in relation to time and space, as in the spatial mapping for timelines in Auslan
understanding how developing sign language literatures which recount significant journeys and events associated with the beginnings of Deaf education and the development of Deaf communities not only map history but also embody values and mores of Deaf cultures, for example, accounts of the Gallaudet and Clerc reciprocal relationship, or the US Civil War deaf soldiers’ story as told by Ben Bahan
exploring ways in which the production and affect related to the sign for COCHLEAR-IMPLANT have evolved over time due to shifting values and perceptions of the Deaf community in relation to the implant, noting, for example, the transition from a negative affect to more neutral production of the sign
researching examples of deaf leaders who have established organisations or services which met the cultural needs of their community, for example, Dorothy Shaw and Deaf Action Books, Nola Colefax and the Australian Theatre of the Deaf
