Auslan: Second Language 7-10

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Auslan: Second Language 7-10

7-8 Syllabus

Years 7 and 8 Band Description

The nature of the learners

Learners are beginning their study of Auslan and typically have had little prior exposure to the language or to the Deaf community. Many will have learnt an additional language in primary school, and some have proficiency in different home languages, and consequently bring existing language learning strategies and intercultural awareness to the new experience of learning Auslan.

Skills in analysing, comparing and reflecting on language and culture in both English and Auslan are mutually supportive. 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. They may need encouragement to take risks in learning a new language at this stage of social development; and to consider how the experience impacts on the sense of ‘norms’ associated with their first language and culture.

Auslan learning and use

Learners are encouraged to watch and sign Auslan in a range of interactions with the teacher and with each other. They use the language for interactions and transactions, for practising language forms, for developing cultural knowledge and for intercultural exchange. Rich and varied language input characterises this first level of learning, supported by the use of gestures, vocal and facial expression and concrete materials. Learners respond with a mix of Auslan and conventional and unconventional gestures and fingerspelling, as they use all available resources to make meaning and to express themselves.

Learners in this band engage in a range of activities in Auslan and share ideas about the language. They use well-known phrases in Auslan to participate in classroom routines, presentations and structured conversations with their teacher and their peers.

They build vocabulary for thinking and talking about school and personal topics. 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. Learners follow instructions, watch stories and participate in creating short texts on topics relevant to their interests and enjoyment, such as family, friends, favourite activities or food. They recount experiences, interact with visitors, follow directions, negotiate roles in a group and retell important information.

As they adjust language use to suit different purposes, contexts and situations, learners notice how culture shapes language. They work collaboratively and independently. They focus on the different systems that structure language use, such as sign modification, clause and text structure, and vocabulary, and reflect on their experience as Auslan learners and users. They gradually build a vocabulary and grammatical base that allows them to compose and present different kinds of simple texts.

Contexts of interaction

The Auslan classroom and interactions with deaf peers or adults in their school or local environment are the primary contexts for language and culture experiences. Learners also have some access to the wider Deaf community and to various resources through virtual and digital technology. 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 work with a range of published texts designed for language learning, such as videos or websites, as well as teacher-generated materials. Authentic texts from different sources provide opportunities for discussion and analysis of the relationship between communication and culture. Learners become familiar with ways of recording Auslan, through either film, photos of signs, line drawings of signs or simple symbols.

Features of Auslan use

Learners in Years 7 and 8 are able to produce all handshapes, movements and locations of single signs. They can independently produce simple positive and negative statements with some time marking, and use plain verbs, indicating verbs modified for present referents and simple and familiar depicting verbs. They describe familiar objects, animals or people using lexical adjectives and some SASS depicting signs. They depict the movement of people, animals and means of transport, using an appropriate classifier handshape in a depicting sign. They explore the expression of emotions through NMFs, and begin to use NMFs for grammatical purposes in modelled language. They use simple constructed action and handling depicting signs to show the characteristics and actions of an animal or a person. They learn that verbs can be modified spatially to express relationships with participants, and that space is used meaningfully in Auslan.

As learners learn to adjust their language to suit different purposes and situations, they begin to understand how culture shapes language use. They compare how they feel when they use different languages and how they view different languages and people who use them. This introduction to the meta dimension of intercultural learning develops the ability to ‘decentre’, to consider different perspectives and ways of being and to become aware of themselves as communicators and cultural participants.

Level of support

Learning at this level is supported by rich and varied language input and by the provision of experiences that are challenging but achievable. Support includes scaffolding, modelling and monitoring; frequent revision; and explicit instruction, description, and comparison of Auslan and English. Teachers model language use and examples of texts, and provide feedback and review student work to support the interactive process of learning. Learning experiences incorporate implicit and explicit form-focused language learning activities and examples of texts and tasks. Learners are given support and opportunities to practise using dictionaries, especially Signbank, and to access word charts, vocabulary lists and examples when translating and creating texts. Support is also provided through visual and tactile materials, such as pictures, objects and charts, and through the use of conventional gestures. Learners rely on modelled language and scaffolded tasks to create their own texts, for example, choosing signs to complete sentences or using pictures to sequence a story that has been told to them.

The role of English

Learners are encouraged to use Auslan whenever possible, with the teacher providing rich and supported language input. Auslan is used for classroom routines and language learning tasks and may be used as the language of instruction for learning content of other learning areas. The language of response varies according to task demands, with Auslan used primarily for communicating in structured and supported tasks.

English is used as a medium of instruction and for explanation and discussion, or in areas from the Understanding strand. This allows learners to talk about differences and similarities they notice between Auslan and their first language(s) and culture(s), to ask questions about language and culture, to consider how they feel when they see or use Auslan and how they view different languages and the people who speak them. This introduction to the meta dimension of intercultural learning develops the ability to consider different perspectives and ways of being. English may also be used to research cultural issues where the source text is not available in Auslan.

Communicating

Socialising

Interact with peers and teachers to exchange information about self, family, friends and interests and to express feelings and preferences

[Key concepts: self, family, friends, interests, preferences, feelings; Key processes: interacting, describing, comparing, stating, explaining]
(ACLASFC217)

Collaborate with peers to plan and conduct shared events or activities such as presentations, demonstrations or transactions

[Key concepts: participation, collaboration, negotiation; Key processes: participating, organising, reviewing, transacting]
(ACLASFC218)

Communicate appropriately and clearly with the teaching team and peers using appropriate Auslan protocols for classroom interaction

[Key concepts: protocol, attention, instruction; Key processes: responding, gaining attention, back-channelling, agreeing/disagreeing]
(ACLASFC219)

Informing

Identify gist and some points of factual information from a range of signed texts about familiar topics and use the information in new ways

[Key concepts: information, data, summary, procedure; Key processes: gathering information, summarising, sequencing, identifying]
(ACLASFC220)

Present and explain factual information about a range of topics of interest

[Key concepts: routine, report, explanation, procedure; Key processes: describing, reporting, signing, instructing]
(ACLASFC221)

Creating

Engage with different types of creative texts, identifying and discussing ideas, characters, events and personal responses

[Key concepts: imagination, play, character, performance, visual text, representation; Key processes: viewing, responding, participating, comparing, shadowing, mimicking]
(ACLASFC222)

Express imaginative ideas and visual thinking through the use of familiar modelled signs, mime, gestures, drawing and visual supports, with a focus on emotions, appearance and actions

[Key concepts: game, animation, creativity, emotion; Key processes: depicting, collaborating, creating, re-enacting, reinterpreting]
(ACLASFC223)

Translating

Translate and interpret short texts from Auslan to English and vice versa, noticing which concepts translate easily and which do not

[Key concepts: equivalence, meaning, interpretation, translation; Key processes: translating, interpreting, identifying, comparing, paraphrasing, summarising]
(ACLASFC224)

Create bilingual texts and learning resources to use in the classroom

[Key concepts: translation, meaning, transcription, bilingualism; Key processes: translating, captioning, recording, creating]
(ACLASFC225)

Identity

Demonstrate understanding of the nature of identity in relation to themselves, the Deaf community and the wider hearing community

[Key concepts: identity, community, similarity, difference; Key processes: comparing, identifying, viewing, exploring, discussing, surveying, analysing]
(ACLASFC226)

Reflecting

Reflect on ways in which Auslan and associated communicative and cultural behaviours are similar to or different from their own language(s) and forms of cultural expression

[Key concepts: language, culture, similarity, difference, communication; Key processes: describing, discussing, examining, reflecting, noticing]
(ACLASFC227)

Understanding

Systems of language

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

[Key concepts: handshape, orientation, movement, location, hand dominance, iconicity; Key processes: identifying, noticing, recognising, comparing, understanding]
(ACLASFU228)

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

[Key concepts: handshape, orientation, movement, location, hand dominance, iconicity; Key processes: identifying, noticing, recognising, comparing, understanding]
(ACLASFU229)

Recognise and use elements of clause structure, such as noun groups/phrases or verb groups/phrases and using conjunctions to join clauses

[Key concepts: sign class, noun and verb groups, conjunctions, clauses, sign order; Key processes: recognising, observing, distinguishing, understanding]
(ACLASFU230)

Recognise similarities and differences in language features of different types of texts and in Auslan and English texts of a similar type, and notice how texts build cohesion

[Key concepts: text, textual features, referent tracking; Key processes: recognising, identifying, analysing]
(ACLASFU231)

Language variation and change

Explore different dimensions of variation in the structure, development and use of Auslan, including how it has been influenced by English and other signed languages

[Key concepts: language variation, influence, word-borrowing, change; Key processes: exploring, identifying, classifying, describing]
(ACLASFU232)

Language awareness

Develop awareness of the sociocultural context, nature and status of Auslan and of the Deaf community in multilingual Australia

[Key concepts: communication, accessibility, transmission; Key processes: identifying, investigating, discussing, understanding]
(ACLASFU233)

Role of language and culture

Explore connections between language, identity and cultural practices, values and beliefs and the expression of these connections in Auslan

[Key concepts: language, culture, identity, difference, transmission; Key processes: recognising, appreciating, exploring, understanding, identifying]
(ACLASFU234)

Achievement standard

By the end of Year 8, students use Auslan to share information, experiences, interests, thoughts and feelings about their personal and immediate worlds. They use modelled constructions, ask for repetition or clarification, such as please slow sign, and use strategies such as fingerspelling to replace unknown signs to support continued interaction. They use lexical signs, gestures and affective non-manual features (NMFs) to indicate understanding, interest or lack of interest, for example, AGREE YES or PRO1 AGREE or PRO1 KNOW WHAT MEAN, BUT…. They ask and respond to familiar questions and directions and distinguish between statements and questions using grammatical NMFs. Students use familiar language to collaboratively plan and conduct shared events or activities, such as presentations, demonstrations or transactions, for example, PRO2 TYPE PRO1 WRITE. They describe people, animals and objects using lexical adjectives and familiar SASS depicting signs and appropriate classifier handshapes, for example, POSS1 MATH TEACHER TALL DS:long-wavy-hair or SCHOOL UNIFORM HAVE DS:long-thin-tie. They compare routines, interests and leisure activities, using signs for timing and frequency, simple depicting verbs for showing location, and appropriate sequencing. They use culturally appropriate protocols when communicating, such as maintaining eye contact, responding to and gaining attention by waving or tapping a shoulder or table, flashing lights, back-channelling and voice-off. Students locate specific information in a range of signed texts, such as weather reports, public announcements and presentations by visitors, using visual and contextual clues to help make meaning. They summarise and retell key points of information in correct sequence using list buoys. They plan, rehearse and deliver short presentations, taking into account context, purpose and audience and using familiar signs and visual supports, such as photos and props, and cohesive and sequencing devices. Students view and respond to short imaginative and expressive texts, such as short stories, poems and Deaf performances, for example by identifying and discussing ideas, characters and events. They create their own simple imaginative texts and retell wordless animations using familiar signs, gestures, modelled clause structures, high-frequency signs, modifying NMFs and lexical signs to indicate manner. They translate and interpret short texts using Signbank, and give examples of how languages do not always translate directly. They createbilingual texts and resources for the classroom, for example, glossaries and captions for their own and each other’s short stories. They explain the importance of facial expression, eye gaze and other NMFs in a visual-gestural language and culture, and reflect on their own cultural identity and ways of communicating in light of their experience of learning Auslan.

Students know that Auslan is a legitimate language, different from mime and gestures used in spoken languages, and that eye contact is necessary for effective communication. They know that meaning is communicated visually through the use of signs, NMFs and gestures and can be expressed through whole signs or fingerspelling. They identify and describe the handshapes, movements and locations of signs. They distinguish between entity, handling or SASS depicting signs by looking at what the handshape and movement represent in each type and know that spatial relationships are typically expressed with entity DSs. They know that signs can be displaced in space for a range of purposes, such as to show locations or show the participants in a verb. They know that signing involves telling, depicting or enacting. They identify iconic signs and discuss how these match their referent, such as HOUSE, TREE, DRINK. They know that the function of constructed action is to represent the words, thoughts or actions of themselves or others. They use metalanguage to talk about Auslan, for example using terms such as depicting signs, indicating verbs, non-manual features, handshapes, pointing signs and clauses. Students recognise variation in the use of Auslan, such as regional dialects and differences in signing space. They understand different ways that English words are borrowed into Auslan and how these become lexicalised. They explore the influence on Auslan of other signed languages, such as BSL, ISL and ASL, as well as English over different periods of time and in different domains of languageuse, and consider reasons for these influences. They identify different ways that Deaf communitymembers communicate with each other and with members of the wider hearing community, describing how different forms of digital communication such as social media, SMS/texting and NRS have improved accessibility for the Deaf community and contribute to the vitality of the language. Students recognise that Auslan has been transmitted across generations and describe ways it has been documented and recorded. They reflect on ways that culture is differently interpreted by others, for example by identifying how stereotypes about deaf and hearing people influence perceptions; and they understand that the most unifying factor of the Deaf community is the use of Auslan.



9-10 Syllabus

Years 9 and 10 Band Description

The nature of the learners

Learners enter this band with prior experience of Auslan. They bring a range of existing capabilities, strategies and knowledge that can be applied to new learning. This stage of learning coincides with social, physical and cognitive changes associated with adolescence. Increased cognitive maturity enables learners to work more deductively with language and culture systems, to apply more intentional learning strategies and to reflect productively on their learning. Motivation and engagement with language learning and use are influenced by peer-group dynamics, personal interests and values, and issues related to self-concept. The role of language is central to this process and is reflected in the degree to which learners define themselves as members of language communities, how they position themselves in relation to peer groups, and choices they make in relation to linguistic and social practices. These processes are fluid and context responsive and impact on learners’ engagement with both Auslan and English language learning. Learners at this level are increasingly aware of the world beyond their own and are engaging with youth, social and environmental issues. They are considering their future pathways and choices, including how Auslan could be part of these. They require continued guidance in learning Auslan, but are increasingly independent and capable of analysis and reflection, including in relation to Auslan and to intercultural experience.

Auslan learning and use

Learners use Auslan to compare and contrast, to sign instructions, problem-solve, make announcements, persuade, and recount experiences in increasing detail. They engage with a range of Auslan texts, and express feelings and emotions creatively in the language. They participate individually and in groups in tasks and learning experiences, explaining or justifying positions, elaborating opinions, and giving and receiving multistep instructions. They create their own signed narratives, and summarise and critically examine viewed texts.

Learners are extending their grammatical knowledge, such as understanding how language structures and features are used intentionally in texts. They use more elaborate sentence structures, including conjoining clauses, and increasingly build cohesion in their texts by setting up and maintaining referents in signing space. Learners explore metaphorical iconicity and begin to use constructed action to represent multiple characters in narratives. They are increasingly aware of connections between language and culture, comparing them to experiences in their own language(s) and culture(s). They are learning to reflect on their own language and culture and on how identity impacts on intercultural experience.

Contexts of interaction

Learners interact with teachers, peers and members of the Deaf community, in real life or via online technologies. They also encounter Auslan in the wider community, such as in the media, at film festivals or community events or via guest speakers.

Texts and resources

Learners engage with a range of increasingly complex live and digital signed texts designed for in-school learning of Auslan. They also work with different types of authentic texts created for deaf people, such as websites, which provide opportunities to extend understanding of language and culture. Texts come from a range of domains or genres, such as oral histories, community announcements, vlogs and stories; and they serve a variety of purposes, such as informative, transactional, communicative, imaginative and expressive. Learners also access texts from other signed languages that make extensive use of the ‘visual vernacular’. The Deaf community is the most important resource for learning, as it is the origin of most of the texts and communicative situations engaged with by learners.

Features of Auslan use

Learners at this stage are increasingly aware of differences between Auslan and English. They are expanding their knowledge of vocabulary and sentence construction. With support, they use constructed action to show participants in a text, modify indicating verbs for non-present referents with increasing accuracy across a text, and use more complex entity depicting signs. They are learning to use NMFs to mark manner on verbs or to express negation. They use appropriate strategies to initiate and sustain conversations, and use more elaborate sentence structures, such as embedding clauses. Learners create richer texts, switching between viewer and diagrammatic space to show different perspectives of the same event. They also develop metalanguage for describing aspects of Auslan and how it is structured. They consider connections between language and culture and make comparisons with their own language(s) and culture(s). They consider language variation, for example by experiencing other dialects in the BANZSL family. They develop understanding of the nature of translation and interpretation, noticing the relationship between language, texts and culture. A balance is maintained between activities that focus on language forms and structures and those that involve communicative tasks, performances and experiences. Task characteristics and conditions are more complex and challenging; they involve collaborative as well as independent language planning and performance, and development and strategic use of language and cultural resources.

Level of support

While learners are increasingly less reliant on the teacher for support during communicative interactions, continued support, such as provision of rich language input and modelled language use, is needed to consolidate and sustain language development. The teacher provides implicit and explicit modelling and scaffolding in relation to meaningful language use in a range of contexts, situations and learning experiences, and explicit instruction and explanation in relation to complex structures, grammatical functions and abstract concepts and vocabulary. Provision of opportunities to discuss, clarify, rehearse and apply knowledge is critical in consolidating understanding and skills and in developing autonomy. Learners are encouraged to self-monitor, for example, by keeping records of feedback, through peer support and self-review. They are increasingly aware of and responsible for their own learning, working independently to address their needs, for example by accessing technologies to memorise, learn and expand their language repertoire. They continue to use Signbank, graphic organisers, modelled texts, dictionaries and teacher feedback to interpret and create texts, and may keep records of their learning through means such as a video journal or folio to reflect on their language learning and intercultural experience.

The role of English

Learners and teachers use Auslan as the primary medium of interaction in language-oriented and an increasing number of content-oriented learning experiences. English provides a basis for linguistic and cultural comparison. English is also the medium for expressing experiences, abstract ideas and personal views at a level beyond learners’ level of Auslan, for example when justifying a position on a social issue or exploring linguistic and cultural practices. English may be used with Auslan to conduct research, for example when investigating a social issue or cultural practice if a source text in Auslan cannot be found. It is also used in translating and in communicating bilingually. Learners are supported to reflect on the different roles that English and Auslan play in their academic work and in their conceptual development.

Communicating

Socialising

Socialise and exchange views on selected issues using different communication strategies, language structures and techniques

[Key concepts: issues, debate, discussion, interaction; Key processes: explaining, debating, justifying, code-switching]
(ACLASFC235)

Engage in various collaborative tasks that involve making decisions, solving problems and evaluating progress

[Key concepts: responsibility, evaluation, discussion; Key processes: problem-solving, planning, evaluating, managing]
(ACLASFC236)

Interact appropriately with the teaching team, peers and members of the Deaf community, adjusting language when necessary and demonstrating understanding of appropriate protocols in and out of the classroom

[Key concepts: protocol, behaviour, communication; Key processes: demonstrating, gaining attention, back-channelling, clarifying]
(ACLASFC237)

Informing

Engage with a range of signed texts to locate and evaluate information, infer or interpret meaning and to present key points in new forms

[Key concepts: information, data collection, issues; Key processes: interviewing, observing, rephrasing, summarising]
(ACLASFC238)

Preparing and presenting information on different issues, events, people, procedures or experiences, using signed descriptions and visual prompts to inform, report, promote, explain or invite action

[Key concepts: biography, commentary, procedure, action; Key processes: presenting, describing, explaining, researching, composing, inviting action]
(ACLASFC239)

Creating

Respond to different types of creative texts that involve the expression of feelings or experiences, comparing their responses to different elements and making connections with their own experience

[Key concepts: Deaf experience, expression, cultural values, effect, emotion; Key processes: analysing, evaluating, profiling]
(ACLASFC240)

Create and present entertaining individual or collaborative texts that reflect imagined people, places or experiences and draw from elements of their own life experience

[Key concepts: improvisation, stimulus, performance, humour, tension, interpretation; Key processes: improvising, performing, role-playing, creating, interpreting]
(ACLASFC241)

Translating

Translate and interpret different types of familiar texts and consider the effectiveness of examples of different translations, considering the role of culture when transferring meaning from one language to another

[Key concepts: equivalence, translation, meaning, interpretation, ethics, culture; Key processes: translating, interpreting, comparing, researching, exploring, developing]
(ACLASFC242)

Create, develop and resource bilingual texts for use in the wider school community

[Key concepts: bilingualism, translation, meaning, representation, information; Key processes: translating, composing, comparing, creating, developing]
(ACLASFC243)

Identity

Recognise that the concept of identity is complex, dynamic and diverse, and consider how students learn more about their own identity through the exploration of other languages and cultures

[Key concepts: identity, perception, representation, difference; Key processes: investigating, comparing, evaluating, creating, analysing]
(ACLASFC244)

Reflecting

Reflect on the experience of learning and using Auslan and how the experience is influenced by their own languages and cultures, and consider how intercultural communication involves shared responsibility for making meaning

[Key concepts: intercultural communication, perspective, making meaning, inclusion, exclusion, audism, insider, outsider; Key processes: analysing, explaining, reflecting, considering]
(ACLASFC245)

Understanding

Systems of language

Explore various types of non-manual features and the types of iconicity in signs, and gain confidence in using software to transcribe signs

[Key concepts: transcription, iconicity, metaphor; Key processes: identifying, recognising, distinguishing, describing, glossing]
(ACLASFU246)

Understand that signs can include different information including a gestural overlay, and identify how signers establish spatial locations, types of depicting signs and ways of showing constructed action

[Key concepts: spatial location, grammatical use of space, constructed action, depicting signs; Key processes: noticing, identifying, recognising, comparing, contrasting, distinguishing]
(ACLASFU247)

Understand and control additional elements of Auslan grammar, such as the use of non-manual features for topicalisation, negation or conditional forms, and develop awareness of how signers use constructed action and depicting signs in composite utterances

[Key concepts: clause types, conjunctions, composite utterances; Key processes: recognising, observing, distinguishing, understanding]
(ACLASFU248)

Explore the relationship between particular text types, audience, purpose and context and analyse language features used by signers to create cohesion and achieve the purpose of the text

[Key concepts: audience, purpose, coherence; Key processes: noticing, analysing]
(ACLASFU249)

Language variation and change

Understand that Auslan has evolved and developed through different periods of influence and cultural and societal change

[Key concepts: language variation, standardisation, change, language borrowing, adaptation; Key processes: researching, interviewing, comparing, identifying, analysing, discussing]
(ACLASFU250)

Language awareness

Understand the range of factors that influence the profile, diversity and distribution of Auslan use in the wider Australian society, and consider the concept of Auslan vitality in comparison with other spoken and signed languages used around the world

[Key concepts: influence, diversity, language vitality, language documentation; Key processes: researching, investigating, exploring, describing, analysing]
(ACLASFU251)

Role of language and culture

Understand that Auslan and Deaf culture are interrelated, that they shape and are shaped by each other, that their relationship changes over time and across contexts, and that they may be differently interpreted by users of other languages

[Key concepts: knowledge, value, transmission, reciprocity, responsibility, stereotype; Key processes: appreciating, discussing, reflecting, exploring, analysing, understanding, identifying, recognising, considering]
(ACLASFU252)

Achievement standard

By the end of Year 10, students interact with peers, teachers and others using Auslan to communicate about personal interests and broader issues relating to the Deaf community. They participate in class discussions, explaining and clarifying positions, asking follow-up questions, using non-manual features for topicalisation or negation and responding to each other’s comments, for example IF DS:place-person DEAF TEACHER MEANS DEAF HEARING STUDENT EQUAL-all. They initiate and sustain interactions; ask for repetition, clarification or confirmation; use more elaborate sentence structures, such as embedding clauses; and use discourse markers such as SURPRISE, INCREDIBLE, WOW or UM. They engage in different processes of collaborative learning, including planning, negotiating and problem-solving, using familiar and some spontaneous language. They follow protocols when interacting with each other or with interpreters or Deaf visitors to the classroom, for example by interrupting conversations appropriately, waiting for eye gaze or for the signer to finish, or by providing context for a new participant joining a conversation. Students locate, interpret and analyse information from a variety of signed texts, such as announcements, news reports and vlogs, using context and knowledge of depicting conventions to work out unfamiliar meaning. They demonstrate understanding by paraphrasing, summarising and explaining main ideas, key themes or sequences of events. They interpret different types of creative and imaginative texts, such as Deaf performances or different expressive art forms, describing and comparing their responses. They plan, draft and present informative and imaginative texts, linking and sequencing ideas using conjunctions such as BUT or IF… THEN… as well as joining clauses with NMFs to build cohesion and to extend clauses. With support, they use constructed action (CA) to portray characters in a narrative, modify indicating verbs for non-present referents with increasing accuracy across a text, for example PRO1 ASK-her and use more complex entity depicting signs, for example DS(point):man-walks-slowly. They translate and interpret texts and create bilingual texts and resources to use in the wider school community, comparing different interpretations and making decisions in relation to dealing with instances of non-equivalence. Students explain culturally appropriate and ethical behaviour for interpreting and translating texts, and consider potential consequences of inaccurate interpreting. They reflect on how their own ways of communicating may be interpreted when interacting with deaf people, and modify elements of their behaviour such as the use of eye contact, facial expression or body language as appropriate.

Students identify and describe instances of CA in signed texts and explain how signers use CA and depicting signs in composite utterances. They identify and classify non-manual features in signed texts and describe their function. They know that signs can be iconic in a number of ways, and identify iconic signs that represent a whole object or part of an object. They distinguish between viewer and diagrammatic space, including whether viewer space refers to referents that are present or non-present. Students investigate and analyse the nature of variation in the use of Auslan, explaining influences such as geographical location, social groupings and history, educational experience, age of learners, family background and degree of contact with Signed English or other languages. They make comparisons between the ecologies of Auslan and signed languages in other countries, in relation to issues such as language policies and rights, advocacy, reform and language vitality. They identify factors that help to maintain and strengthen the use of Auslan, such as intergenerational contact and bilingual school programs. Students know that Auslan plays an important role in the expression and maintenance of Deaf culture and in assuring the rights of every deaf person.



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