Auslan: Second 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
reflecting on ways that Auslan describes and reflects Deaf culture, comparing this to the relationship between their own hearing/background language and culture
analysing how concepts related to cultural practices are expressed through language, for example, by identifying 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-2h++ reflects the shared 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 elder
identifying culturally significant attitudes and beliefs conveyed through Auslan that relate to history, significant individuals, places or events, for example, frustration with the use of ‘voice’ in front of deaf signers can be traced to the historical oppression of signed languages
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 in 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
exploring ways in which production and affect related to the sign for COCHLEAR IMPLANT have evolved due to shifting values and perceptions within the Deaf community in relation to the implant, noting, for example, the transition from a negative affect to more neutral production of the sign
