1st
L (F–10) 7-8
Understanding
Role of language and culture
- Elaboration 7
- 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