Auslan (Version 8.4)

Understand how Auslan works

Introduction

As a native user of Auslan, and as an advocate for the language and for the Deaf community, I am thrilled to see a national curriculum in Auslan come to fruition. For the first time, deaf children will have access to a formal first language learner pathway for acquiring Auslan, acknowledging their status and strengths as visual learners and offering a ‘Deaf gain’ perspective to their lives.

Rationale

The formal study of Auslan contributes to the overall intellectual and social enrichment of both first language (L1) and second language (L2) learners by providing:

opportunities for engagement with the Deaf community and insight into its rich cultural heritage

Aims

The Australian Curriculum: Languages – Auslan aims to develop the knowledge, understanding and skills to enable students to:

communicate in Auslan
understand language, culture and learning and their relationship, and thereby develop an intercultural capability in communication

Learning Auslan

Some linguistic features of Auslan are similar to properties found in spoken languages and others are not. For example, the 26 fingerspelled letters of the Auslan alphabet are based on the 26 letters of English.

Learner diversity and learner pathways

Pathways
There is diversity in the background of learners of Auslan. Learners may be deaf, hard of hearing or hearing, and may be learning Auslan as a first language or as a second language.

Developing teaching and learning

Sequences of learning
The Australian Curriculum: Languages – Auslan has two learning sequences: one from Foundation to Year 10, and another from Year 7 to Year 10 (Year 7 Entry).

PDF documents

Resources and support materials for the Australian Curriculum: Languages – Auslan are available as PDF documents.
Languages - Auslan: Auslan glossing conventions and principles
Languages - Auslan: Auslan Glossary

Glossary

Context Statement

Years F–10 Sequence

The first language learner (L1) pathway is pitched at two of the many types of potential learners in the Auslan cohort:

native signing children from Deaf families who have fluent language models to interact with at home and have been exposed to the language since birth
deaf children from hearing families with parents or older relatives who have learnt to sign and exposed their children early to rich signing models, for example in bilingual preschools.

There is another significant group of children in the L1 pathway: deaf children who arrive in a signing program in their first few years of schooling. These students begin learning Auslan with limited prior experience of any language, and may have additional disabilities that are hidden because of their language delay. The L1 pathway is appropriate for them since they will be using the language for more hours a week than just in the subject, thus making faster progress with language acquisition; and they have no other language to reference, as in the L2 pathway. Teachers working with students with delayed access to Auslan will need to adapt and differentiate the curriculum extensively to scaffold their learning, particularly in their first years of study. Additionally, hearing children from Deaf families who have Auslan as a first language may also be suited to the L1 pathway of learning.

The population of children who will follow the L1 pathway therefore has great variation in Auslan proficiency. Some will have had extensive access to a range of mature language users in early learning programs, in school and at home. Others will have limited quantity and quality of input in Auslan at home and sometimes even in school, and may not have attended an early intervention signing program prior to school. This pathway is primarily pitched at those students with exposure to Auslan prior to Foundation level; delayed language learners will need extra support to participate in the learning experiences outlined in this pathway.

Typically, L1 programs occur with constant involvement from a variety of fluent signers from the community. A key expectation in the L1 pathway is that students will have opportunities to interact with elders and members of the Deaf community.

Years 7–10 (Year 7 Entry) Sequence

The nature of education of deaf students is such that some learners arrive at high school with a very limited knowledge of English, and little, if any, Auslan. These learners may have come from other countries where they have had no access to schooling for deaf children, or from educational programs overseas or in Australia from which they have learnt only rudimentary speech and language, and not had access to quality signed language models. This group of learners, therefore, comprises students who are learning their first language well beyond the age of typical language development.

As a result, this group of learners are very different from the similarly aged cohort from the F–10 sequence, who have had exposure to quality language since birth or early in life, and who approach high school learning with established fluency in Auslan, which enables them to focus much of their Auslan class time on the development of higher-order skills, such as analysis and evaluation. Learners in the L1 pathway, 7–10 sequence begin learning Auslan with limited prior experience of any language. They may have additional disabilities, sometimes hidden, often caused by their language delay. Auslan is nonetheless considered their first or primary language, due to their lack of fluency in any other language. These learners need intensive support and extensive input from rich language models, especially at the initial stages. They are unlikely to reach native-like levels of fluency in any language, but will benefit greatly from the explicit teaching of Auslan as a subject to support their language acquisition and development.

Years 3 and 4

Years 3 and 4 Band Description

The nature of the learners

Learners at this level are developing their cognitive and social capabilities and their communicative repertoire in the language, as well as becoming increasingly aware of their social worlds and their membership of various groups, including the Deaf community. They are more independent and less egocentric, enjoying both competitive and cooperative activities. Learners are able to conceptualise and reason, and have better memory and focus. They benefit from varied, activity-based learning that builds on their interests and capabilities and makes connections with other areas of learning.

Auslan learning and use

Learners in this band engage in a range of activities involving watching and responding to signed texts. They build proficiency through the provision of rich language input from a variety of sources where grammatical forms and language features are purposefully integrated. They develop more elaborate conversational and interactional skills, including initiating and sustaining conversations, reflecting on and responding to others’ contributions, making appropriate responses and adjustments, and engaging in debate and discussion.

Learners at this stage express ideas and feelings related to their personal worlds, give and follow directions, negotiate with and persuade others, paraphrase content of texts, form factual questions to request information, check and clarify understanding and participate in play and shared tasks, including planning and rehearsing presentations or performances.

They watch and create short texts on topics relevant to their interests and enjoyment, such as family, pets, favourite activities or food. They continue to build vocabulary that relates to a wider range of domains, such as areas of the curriculum that involve some specialised language use. The 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.

Contexts of interaction

Learning occurs largely through interaction with peers and the teaching team in the language classroom and the school environment, with some sharing of their learning at home. Additional enrichment and authentication of learning experience is provided through interactions with elders and other signers in the Deaf community. Access to wider communities of Auslan signers and resources also occurs through virtual and digital technology.

Texts and resources

Learners interact with a growing range of live and digital signed texts. They engage primarily with a variety of teacher-generated materials, stories and games, and with materials produced for young signers, such as storytelling apps. They have access to materials produced for signing children from the BANZSL family of languages as a means of broadening their cultural knowledge and awareness of the diversity of language experience.

Features of Auslan use

Learners recognise and apply elements of Auslan grammar, such as marking manner or aspect on verbs. They use increasingly sophisticated means of showing constructed action, and of using space to track a character or location through a text for purposes of cohesion. They develop metalanguage for talking about language, understanding and using terms such as fully- or partly-lexical signs, entity, handling or SASS depicting signs, constructed action, and adverbs and clauses.

Learners talk about differences and similarities they notice between Auslan and English, and also between cultural behaviours and ways of communicating. A balance between language knowledge and language use is established by integrating focused attention to grammar, vocabulary building, and non-verbal and cultural dimensions of language use with communicative and purposeful learning activity.

Learning Auslan in school contributes to the process of making sense of the learners’ worlds, which characterises this stage of development. Students are increasingly aware that various signed languages are used in Deaf communities across the world. As they engage consciously with differences between languages and cultures, they make comparisons and consider differences and possibilities in ways of communicating in different languages. This leads them to explore concepts of identity and difference, to think about cultural and linguistic diversity, and about what it means to speak more than one language in the contemporary world.

Level of support

While learners work more independently at this level, ongoing support is incorporated into tasks, and the process of learning is supported by systematic feedback and review. Form-focused activities, particularly those increasing metalinguistic awareness, build grammatical knowledge and support the development of accuracy and control in Auslan. Opportunities to use this knowledge in meaningful activities build communicative skills, confidence and fluency. Tasks are carefully scaffolded: teachers provide models and examples; introduce language, concepts and resources needed to manage and complete learning activities; make time for experimentation and polishing rehearsed texts; and provide support for self-monitoring and reflection. The language students see is authentic with some modification. Discussion supports learning and develops learners’ conceptual frame for talking about systems of language and culture.

The role of English

Auslan is the principal medium of instruction in L1 pathway classrooms. English plays a complementary role; for example, it is used when translating, creating bilingual/multilingual texts or comparing and contrasting languages. Discussion in Auslan supports learning, develops conceptual frames and builds metalanguage. The process of moving between languages consolidates the already established sense of what it means to be bilingual or multilingual and provides opportunities for reflection on the experience of living interculturally in intersecting language communities. Auslan is learnt in parallel with English literacy and, for some children, spoken English. The learning of Auslan supports and enriches deaf children’s learning of English, and vice versa.

Years 3 and 4 Content Descriptions

Communicating

Socialising

Communicate with each other and with teachers about aspects of their personal worlds, daily routines, preferences and pastimes

[Key concepts: self, routines, preferences, pastimes; Key processes: expressing, describing, comparing, recounting, persuading] (ACLASFC019 - Scootle )

Contribute to class activities and shared learning tasks that involve transacting, planning and problem-solving, using collaborative language

[Key concepts: collaboration, roles, responsibilities, memory; Key processes: negotiating, collaborating, planning, transacting] (ACLASFC020 - Scootle )

Adjusting and responding to language and behaviour for various purposes in the classroom and wider school community, for example by asking and responding to questions, and indicating understanding

[Key concepts: respect, behaviour, protocol, group work; Key processes: clarifying, responding, asking and answering questions, encouraging] (ACLASFC021 - Scootle )

Informing

Collect, classify and paraphrase information from a variety of Auslan texts and sources used in school and in the Deaf community

[Key concepts: information, facts, vocabulary, findings; Key processes: recalling, paraphrasing, interviewing, surveying, recording, presenting] (ACLASFC022 - Scootle )

Conveying information about aspects of school, culture and community, using knowledge of the intended audience to modify content

[Key concepts: school, cultural events, games; Key processes: conveying information, explaining, planning, rehearsing] (ACLASFC023 - Scootle )

Creating

Engage with imaginative texts such as stories, games, poems or cartoons, to demonstrate comprehension and express enjoyment

[ Key concepts: story, emotion, expression, humour; Key processes: identifying, expressing emotion, re-enacting, experimenting, shadowing] (ACLASFC024 - Scootle )

Create or adapt imaginative texts and expressive performances that feature favourite characters, amusing experiences or special effects

[Key concepts: emotion, humour, performance, character; Key processes: creating, performing, adapting, dancing] (ACLASFC025 - Scootle )

Translating

Translate high-frequency signs/words and expressions in simple texts such as repeated lines in a story or captions, noticing similarities, differences and instances of equivalence

[Key concepts: literal, difference, meaning, equivalence; Key processes: comparing, matching, identifying, translating] (ACLASFC026 - Scootle )

Create bilingual versions of different types of texts, such as captioned recordings of Auslan phrases or classroom resources such as posters and digital displays

[Key concepts: bilingualism, meaning; Key processes: creating, identifying, categorising] (ACLASFC027 - Scootle )

Identity

Consider how individual and community relationships combine to create family and social networks, influence social behaviours and contribute to a sense of belonging and identity

[Key concepts: identity, relationship, belonging, place, behaviour, ways of interacting; Key processes: exploring, sharing, describing explaining] (ACLASFC028 - Scootle )

Reflecting

Describe some ways in which Auslan and associated communicative behaviours are similar to or different from wider community spoken languages and forms of cultural expression

[Key concepts: language, culture, values, similarity, difference, communication; Key processes: noticing, comparing, describing, explaining, questioning, reflecting] (ACLASFC029 - Scootle )

Years 3 and 4 Achievement Standards

Achievement Standard

By the end of Year 4, students communicate with each other, the teaching team and others about aspects of their personal worlds, daily routines, preferences and pastimes at school and in the Deaf community. They show aspectual marking on verbs to indicate frequency when communicating about daily routines, for example pro3 tap-shoulder-_repeatedly, and use modifications to show manner when describing actions and activities. They initiate and maintain interaction by using discourse markers such as fillers, checking and clarifying their understanding. They contribute to class activities and shared learning tasks that involve transacting, planning and problem-solving, for example, by giving and following directions, LIBRARY IN DS: turn-right AUSLAN DICTIONARY DS: fat-book SHELF++ THAT. PLEASE BRING-_me, expressing preferences, asking for clarification and using persuasive language PLEASE POPCORN GIVE-_me++ BEG? They use appropriate cultural protocols in different situations, for example, to gain the attention of a group, such as flashing lights, waving, multiple tapping or foot stomping in some contexts, waiting for eye contact or pauses in signing and walking between signers without interrupting them. They paraphrase information from a variety of Auslan texts and sources used in school and in the Deaf community. They recall specific points of information and recount main points in correct sequence EVERY MONDAY POSS1 CLASS LIST-BUOY-1 READING LIST-BUOY-2 MATHS LIST-BUOY-3 SWIMMING. They plan, rehearse and deliver short presentations about topics such as cultural activities or events in the Deaf community, with the support of materials such as photos, props, timelines or maps. They take into account the purpose and intended audience of a text. They view imaginative texts such as stories, poems and theatre performances, identifying how signers represent their own or others’ actions through constructed action (CA). They create simple imaginative texts of their own, using CA to represent their own or other people’s actions, thoughts, feelings or attitudes. They create signed class translations, for example, of repeated lines in familiar children’s stories, and simple bilingual texts for the classroom or school community, such as posters or bilingual picture dictionaries. Students identify places that are important to the Deaf community and describe how such places evoke a sense of belonging and pride. They recognise that the single most unifying factor of the community is the use of Auslan; and they describe ways in which Auslan and associated communicative and cultural behaviours are similar to or different from wider community spoken languages and forms of cultural expression.

Students demonstrate how the formational elements of handshapes and their orientation, movement, location and non-manual features can be arranged in signs, identifying, for example, whether a sign is body anchored or not, or is single, double or two-handed. They know the functions of different pointing signs, such as pronouns, determiners or locatives; and can identify examples of signers using a location to refer to a previous referent. They use metalanguage to talk about Auslan, using terms such as constructed action, depicting signs, indicating verbs, non-manual features, pointing signs and clauses. They recognise variation in how Auslan is used, for example by recognising regional dialects and differences in signing space. They identify different ways that Deaf community members communicate with each other and with members of the wider hearing community, for example, face to face, via technology, social media and interpreters. They know that culture is closely related to language and to identity and that it involves visible and invisible elements.