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- Australian Curriculum Languages
- Auslan - Australian Curriculum
- Auslan - Australia Curriculum
- Auslan Second Language - Foundation to Year 10
- Years 5-6 Auslan Syllabus
- SL 5-6 Content Descriptions - Understanding language and culture
- SL 5-6 Strand - Understanding language and culture
SL 5-6 Strand - Understanding language and culture
Understanding systems of language
apply knowledge of signs, pace and signing space to develop fluency in familiar contexts
identifying body-anchored signs, such as HEAD or HAND, and signs that are not body-anchored, such as HAVE or STOP, and understanding that non-body-anchored signs can be located in space around the signer
- identifying where a signer has established a location in space, for example, through pointing, non-body-anchored signs, verb movement changes, or use of referents
- noticing that in a suite of connected signing, a sign will often be produced differently to the way it is shown in a dictionary
- recognising the different handshapes used by each hand in 2-handed signs
- recognising the use of dominant and non-dominant hands in other Auslan users
- identifying some NMFs in a signed text such as movements of the eyebrows, eyes, nose, mouth, cheeks, shoulders and body
- signing at a constant speed with pauses for emphasis, for example, when recounting an event or giving instructions
- using some patterning in non-lexicalised fingerspelling
applying variations in iconic signs such as BANANA, which can be the iconic shape or the movement of peeling
use knowledge of modelled grammatical structures and formulaic expressions to compose and respond to texts, using appropriate textual conventions
- identifying and using examples of each type of DS in an Auslan text; entity DS, handling DS and size and shape specifiers (SASS) DSs
- experimenting with the use of CAs to represent words, thoughts or actions of a referent, through eye-gaze change, body shift, head orientation change, and matching facial expressions
- using fully-lexical signs that are in the dictionary and have a standard handshape, movement and location to compose signed texts
- understanding that some partly-lexical signs cannot be listed in a dictionary in all forms as they change their form each time they are signed, such as DSs
understanding that sometimes Auslan signers have information about how a verb happens through NMFs not separate signs, for example, WRITE-carelessly, and this is known as manner
using adverbs to modify adjectives using NMFs, for example, REALLY or VERY, whereby changes in mouth patterns and movement of signs can intensify adjectives, for example, RED NMF:EYES-WIDENING , PLEASE NMF:SMILING-HEAD-NODDING, TALL NMF:EYES-WIDENING
expressing timing of verbs such as signing WATCH versus WATCH DS:SLOW-REPEAT, or using lexical signs WATCH AGAIN
- understanding that parts of a sentence can be signed simultaneously in Auslan, making it hard to establish word order
compare some Auslan structures and features with those of English, using some familiar metalanguage
keeping a class poster to record different ways that English words are borrowed in Auslan, for example, the use of fully fingerspelled words, such as FS:NOUN, the fingerspelling of the first letter of corresponding English words, for example, FS:F for father, or abbreviations of English words, for example, state names such as FS:SA, TAS
- building metalanguage to comment on grammar and vocabulary, for example, comparing adverbs used to express emotions in Auslan such as raising an eyebrow to show questioning or lowering the eyebrows to show surprise with equivalent English terms
- recognising that Auslan signs have been influenced by international signed languages, in a similar way to English borrowing words from other languages
- identifying and comparing features of particular types of Auslan and English texts, for example, comparing language that expresses emotion in a narrative text
- analysing samples of types of text noticing choices signers have made in the production of their text, for example, the amount of CAs they use
- comparing the use of gestures across signed and spoken languages and discussing similarities and differences
Understanding the interrelationship of language, culture and identity
recognise that language reflects cultural practices, values and identity, and that this impacts on communication
- recognising that using Auslan impacts on the cultural experiences, perspectives and identity of Deaf and hard of hearing people
- preparing a presentation on the use of Auslan in the wider community, for example, in news broadcasts, live theatre and emergency announcements, the visibility of Auslan-English interpreters and Deaf interpreters
- exploring how different technologies are used by deaf people to support social and community networks including direct or mediated communication through the use of interpreters
- exploring, in Auslan or English, how language and culture are expressed through First Nations Australians’ song, dance or artworks, considering similarities and differences with an aspect of the cultural expressions of the Deaf community
- investigating the signed languages used by deaf and hard of hearing members of First Nations Australians’ communities
- identifying the diversity of the Australian population, including Auslan users who are deaf, deafblind, those who are hard of hearing and hearing people such as a child of deaf adult (CODA) and interpreters
- describing how Auslan has been passed down through generations, including that Auslan is often passed on through schools and social settings rather than from parents, and how it has been recorded, for example, video footage
- recognising that the ownership of Auslan rests with the Deaf community who are the Custodians of the language and that signs evolve naturally
- researching and presenting a biography, profile or pictorial report on people or places significant to the Deaf community, for example, Eugene Salas and the original South Australian Deaf Society/Mission building
identifying sign language use around the world using data from Ethnologue, for example, by identifying and labelling countries on a world map with correct naming of the sign language used, such as France = LSF