The nature of the learners

The transition to secondary schooling involves social and academic demands that coincide with a period of maturational and physical change. Learners are adjusting to a new school culture with sharper divisions between curriculum areas. Learners in this pathway have had little or no experience with Auslan, but are learning it with the expectation that it will be their primary language in the future. They have a range of experience with other signed or spoken languages, or a home gesture system, but may not be fluent in any standard language, and may have associated cognitive challenges. A multilevel and differentiated approach to teaching and task design responding to this diversity of prior experience is necessary, including using as much visual support as possible.

Auslan is learnt in parallel with English literacy. Learners in this sequence and pathway have little experience of English and are learning English literacy simultaneously to Auslan. As they have no access to spoken English, this poses particular challenges. The learning of Auslan supports and enriches deaf students’ learning of English.

Auslan learning and use

Rich language input characterises the first stages of learning. Learners engage in a range of activities designed to immerse them in language scaffolded to their level of linguistic and cognitive development. They build vocabulary for thinking and talking about school and home, routines and social worlds. They interact in structured routines and activities with their peers, family members and as many fluent signing adults as possible. They are supported to use Auslan for different language functions, such as asking and responding to questions, expressing wishes, responding to directions, and taking turns in games and simple shared learning activities. Learners may initially need time to watch Auslan without pressure to respond, until they feel comfortable with the situation and context. When they produce Auslan, they use well-known phrases to participate in familiar routines and structured conversations. Over this band, they continue to develop confidence in communicating about the here and now, and gradually begin to talk about the past or future and non-present entities or events.

Contexts of interaction

Learners at this level are given as much opportunity as possible to interact with their peers, the teaching team and members of the Deaf community for additional enrichment and authentication of their language learning. Information and communication technology (ICT) resources provide extra access to Auslan and to the cultural experience of deafness. A key expectation in the L1 pathway is that students will have opportunities to interact with a variety of native or near-native signing models. The familiarity and routine dimension of the classroom context provide scaffolding and opportunities for language practice and experimentation. Language development and use are incorporated into structured collaborative and interactive learning experiences, games and activities.

Texts and resources

Learners engage with a variety of signed texts, live and recorded. They watch the teacher signing, share ideas and join in activities, stories and conversational exchanges. They become familiar with ways of recording Auslan, either through film, photos of signs, line drawings of signs or simple symbols. An important source of texts is the Deaf community and older members of it.

Features of Auslan use

Learners in Years 7–8 can identify the handshape movement and location of signs. Depending on their access to home-sign systems, they make use of varying levels of handling or SASS depicting signs, gradually learning the conventions of Auslan. They learn to use entity depicting signs to discuss movement and location, decreasing their signing space to the conventional area. Learners at this stage use simple clause structures, modifying some verbs for present referents, and begin to understand and ask basic questions.

Level of support

The early stage of language learning is supported by extensive use of concrete materials and resources, gestures and body language. If the student has existing idiosyncratic gestures or home signs the teacher can access, these are used to scaffold their learning of Auslan. Learning is also supported through the provision of experiences that are challenging but achievable with appropriate scaffolding and support. This involves modelling, monitoring and moderating by the teacher; provision of multiple and varied sources of input; opportunities for revisiting, recycling and reviewing; and continuous cueing, feedback, response and encouragement. Use of recounting and retelling assists in establishing early language skills based on real-life experiences. The teacher provides implicit and explicit modelling and scaffolding in relation to meaningful language use in a range of contexts.

The role of English

Auslan is the language of all classroom interactions, routines and activities. Because these students do not have any English, they cannot make comparisons between English and Auslan. Research work in English is not an option for these learners. The students’ learning is focused primarily on developing Auslan capabilities as intensively as possible with a view to progressing to a state of communicative competence as soon as possible.

The nature of the learners

This stage of learning coincides with social, physical and cognitive changes associated with adolescence. Learners at this level are developing their cognitive and social capabilities and their communicative repertoire in the language, although it is likely they are still impacted by their late access to language and possibly by other challenges. As their language develops, so does their ability to conceptualise and reason, and their memory and focus improves. They are more independent and less egocentric, enjoying both competitive and cooperative activities. Learners at this level benefit from varied, activity-based learning that builds on their interests and capabilities and makes connections with other areas of learning. The curriculum ensures that learning experiences and activities are flexible enough to cater for learner variables, while being appropriate for learners' general cognitive and social levels.

Auslan learning and use

Learners in this band engage in a range of activities that involve watching and responding to a variety of signed texts. They build proficiency through the provision of rich language input from a range of sources where grammatical forms and language features are purposefully integrated. Learners build more elaborated conversational and interactional skills, including initiating and sustaining conversations, reflecting on and responding to others’ contributions, making appropriate responses and adjustments, and engaging in debate and discussion. The language they see and sign is authentic with some modification. They follow instructions, exchange simple information and express ideas and feelings related to their personal worlds. They negotiate interactions and activities and participate in shared tasks and games.

Shared learning activities develop social, cognitive and language skills and provide a context for purposeful language experience and experimentation. Individual and group presentation and performance skills are developed through researching and organising information, structuring and resourcing presentation of content, and selecting appropriate language to engage a particular audience. Learners use ICT to support their learning in increasingly independent and intentional ways, exchanging resources and information with each other and with young people of the same age in other signing communities. They access a variety of media resources, maintain vlogs and other web pages, and participate in social networks. They view and create texts on topics relevant to their interests and enjoyment and continue to build vocabulary that relates to a wider range of domains, such as areas of the curriculum that involve some specialised language use. The language used in routine activities is re-used and reinforced from lesson to lesson in different situations, making connections between what has been learnt and what is to be learnt.

Contexts of interaction

Learners interact in Auslan with each other, their teaching team, members of their families who can sign and members of the Deaf community. They have access to Deaf visitors and cultural resources in wider contexts and communities through the use of ICT and through the media. Language development and use are incorporated into collaborative and interactive learning experiences, games and activities.

Texts and resources

Learners work with a broad range of live and digital signed texts designed for learning Auslan in school and for wider authentic use in the Deaf community. They also engage with resources prepared by their teacher, including games, performances, presentations and language exercises. They may have additional access to BANZSL resources created for the Australian, New Zealand or British Deaf communities, such as children’s television programs, websites, music or video clips. In addition, they work with texts from other signed languages that make extensive use of the ‘visual vernacular’. Learners may also have access to community facilities and functions. The Deaf community is the most important resource for learning as it is the origin of most of the texts and communicative situations that learners engage with.

Features of Auslan use

Learners at this level increasingly use conventional Auslan: lexical signs or depicting signs with conventional classifier handshapes, and rely less on their idiosyncratic systems. They learn to modify some indicating verbs for non-present referents and use constructed action to represent themselves or others in recounts. They use a range of NMFs to distinguish questions from statements or negatives, and use more cohesion when signing texts. A balance between language knowledge and language use is established by integrating focused attention to grammar, vocabulary building, and non-verbal and cultural dimensions of language use with communicative and purposeful learning activity. Learners are increasingly aware that various signed languages are used in Deaf communities across the world. As they engage consciously with differences between languages and cultures, they make comparisons and consider differences and possibilities in ways of communicating in different languages. They build metalanguage to talk about aspects of language such as nouns, verbs and constructed action.

Level of support

While learners work more independently at this level, ongoing support is incorporated into task activity and the process of learning is supported by systematic feedback and review. Form-focused activities build students’ grammatical knowledge and support the development of accuracy and control in Auslan. Opportunities to use this knowledge in meaningful activities build communicative skills, confidence and fluency. Tasks are carefully scaffolded: teachers provide models and examples; introduce language, concepts and resources needed to manage and complete learning activities; make time for experimentation and for polishing rehearsed texts; and provide support for self-monitoring and reflection. Discussion supports learning and develops students’ conceptual frame for talking about systems of language and culture. Learners are encouraged to engage more with resources such as websites, dictionaries, translating tools and other materials designed to enrich their receptive and productive language use.

The role of English

Auslan is the language of all classroom interactions, routines and activities. As these learners are in the unique position of not having acquired a first language until very late in life, time spent developing their Auslan must be maximised. While these learners are simultaneously developing English literacy skills, use of English is limited to the translating thread and to small amounts of research with source texts in simple English.