2nd
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 adults in the Deaf community
- exploring the nature and effect of culture, for example by comparing the
cultural concept of Deaf identity with a medical model of deafness
- analysing and discussing core cultural concepts reflected in Auslan, such as
the collective nature of the Deaf community, respect for elders, the importance
of reciprocity and responsibility, for example, the signing TAP-2h++ reflects
the responsibility to share information and pass on knowledge
- understanding that knowledge about past and present Deaf people and cultural
values are 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 cultural differences between the use of personal names in Auslan
and in their own background language, 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, 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 events in the
Deaf community, such as NWDP, as celebrations of language, history, culture and
identity
- recognising that Auslan signs change over time due to shifting cultural values
and changing experiences, for example, the modification of the sign for
APPRENTICE to refer to TAFE, and shifting values around the sign DEAF^DEAF as
the sign for DEAF (culturally Deaf reference for deaf-mute) and unsuccessful
attempts to reframe this with an audiological focus
- reflecting on the ways that culture is interpreted by others, for example by
identifying how stereotypes about deaf and hearing people influence perceptions
- 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
- observing that concepts may be culture and language specific, for example in
relation to time and space, as in the spatial mapping of timelines in Auslan