1st
L (Yr 7 Entry) 9-10
Understanding
Role of language and culture
- Elaboration 7
- appreciating distinctions between Deaf cultures and other cultural
minorities, such as the fact that most deaf people are born to hearing parents
and acquire Deaf culture in addition to the culture of their families of origin
from peers and other Auslan users in school or as adults in the Deaf community
- exploring ways in which language choices reflect attitudes towards certain
topics, such as oralism or cochlear implants, identifying examples of sign
choices that reflect particular attitudes or views
- understanding that knowledge about past and present Deaf people and about Deaf
cultural values is embodied in and transmitted through Auslan, for example, ways
of producing the sign for SIGN embody cultural meaning, regarding distinctions
made and values placed on fluent or awkward signing
- identifying differences between the use of personal names in Auslan and in
other languages, for example, Auslan signers not using a person’s name sign when
addressing them directly, in contrast to the practice in many spoken languages
- considering cultural explanations for conversational strategies used by Auslan
signers to avoid conflict and to maintain privacy, such as changing signing
space and style, and using indirect language such as signing lower or under the
table, or fingerspelling instead of signing overtly
- appreciating the cultural value and importance of festivals and other events
in the Deaf community, such as NWDP, as celebrations of language, history,
culture and identity
- reflecting on the ways that culture is interpreted by others, for example by
identifying how stereotypes about deaf and hearing people influence perceptions
among members of either community
- understanding that ‘sound’ is accessed differently in Deaf culture, that the
meaning and importance of sound in deaf people’s lives is usually not the same
as in hearing people’s experience