Developing teaching and learning

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). The curriculum is written in a series of bands, as follows: Foundation – Year 2, Years 3–4, Years 5–6, Years 7–8 and Years 9–10. Given the limited but growing research and pedagogical support for the teaching and learning of Auslan, there may be local flexibility in curriculum implementation, depending on suitability of learner pathway and entry point in the sequence.

Strands and sub-strands

The content of the Australian Curriculum: Languages is organised through two interrelated strands, which realise the four aims of learning Auslan. The two strands are:

• Communicating: using language for communicative purposes in interpreting, creating and exchanging meaning
• Understanding: analysing language and culture as resources for interpreting and creating meaning.

The strands reflect three important aspects of language learning:

1. communication
2. analysis of aspects of language and culture
3. reflection, which involves
1. reflection on the experience of communicating
2. reflection on comparative dimensions of the languages available in students’ repertoires, for example, the first language in relation to the second language, and the self in relation to others.

A set of sub-strands has been identified within each strand to reflect dimensions of language use and the related content to be taught and learnt. The strands and sub-strands do not operate in isolation but are integrated in relation to language use for different purposes in different contexts. The relative contribution of each sub-strand differs for described languages, pathways and bands of learning.

Table 1 gives a brief description of each of the strands and sub-strands for Auslan.

The sub-strands are further differentiated according to a set of ‘threads’ that support the internal organisation of content in each sub-strand. These threads (shown in Table 2) are designed to capture: range and variety in the scope of learning; and a means for expressing the progression of content across the learning sequences.

Table 2: Strands, sub-strands and threads for Auslan across the learner pathways

Text types

Text types include signed or spoken texts, written texts (in English), digital texts and multimodal texts. They are central to curriculum development, as all work in language learning can be seen as textual work. The selection of quality Auslan texts produced by native or native-like proficient signers is important: texts define and reflect past and present and linguistic and cultural identity, making the people and experiences of a particular culture distinctive; they also provide the opportunity for developing intercultural understanding.

Band descriptions

The band descriptions give a general description of language learning that is typical at particular year levels along the F–10 continuum. They have been developed to correspond to learning in the following bands: Foundation – Year 2, Years 3–4, Years 5–6, Years 7–8 and Years 9–10. Each band description includes discussion of:

• nature of the learner
• Auslan learning and use
• contexts of interaction
• texts and resources
• features of Auslan use
• level of support
• the role of English.

Developing teaching and learning programs

In developing teaching and learning programs, the two strands – Communicating and Understanding – are integrated to ensure holistic learning in order to attend to active language use and the development of related knowledge, understandings and reflective capabilities. The set of strands and sub-strands capture a range of dimensions of language use. As such, they are designed to capture the range and variety of content to be experienced and learnt by students. The teaching team will design teaching and learning programs by drawing on the content descriptions from a number of sub-strands and integrating these to create meaningful learning experiences for their particular learners. The emphases across the strands and sub-strands may vary for different bands and pathways and for different contexts. Since the content descriptions indicate the nature and scope of the learning over several year spans, the teaching team will make decisions about what aspects of the content descriptions will be taught in what year of their program. Programs can then be used to inform the development of short-term programs year by year (for example, one term/several weeks). Taken together, band descriptions, content descriptions, content elaborations and achievement standards provide an overall sense of ‘level’ or expectations about language teaching and learning at a given moment in time and over time. In the development of programs, they give a sense of the level of complexity at which student learning can be pitched. In relation to assessment, they provide a reference point for making judgements about students’ progress in learning. The teaching team will make decisions about pedagogies that best meet the learning needs of their particular students and the context of their particular program.

Development and implementation protocol

Engagement and appropriate consultation with the local Deaf community in an ethical, respectful and sustainable manner is the cornerstone of respectful Auslan program development and key to a successful Auslan teaching program. Deaf people are the custodians of their language. Consultation with native or native-like and proficient users of Auslan who have ownership of the language is strongly recommended as a special consideration for Auslan programs, to ensure the language is taught in a contextually and culturally correct manner. Teaching Auslan without due consideration of/ liaison with the Deaf community may result in linguistic and cultural appropriation and the disenfranchisement of deaf people.

Issues to consider

• the presence of deaf students within the school environment, for whom the provision of an L1 or L2 Auslan program would be of academic, social, emotional and vocational benefit
• the proportion of Deaf teachers, mentors, language models and Deaf community members in the region, and available access to them
• the availability of skilled and appropriate personnel for teaching Auslan, such as qualified Auslan instructors/language teachers, and the capacity to team teach in deaf/hearing teams as needed in a culturally sensitive manner
• the possibility of excursions to Deaf community events and the development of ongoing relationships with community members (such as Deaf seniors) to support pedagogy and to build and perpetuate mutual understanding and connections for the benefit of students and the community
• the three-dimensional visual-spatial nature of Auslan means that it is ideally taught in a face-to-face context. ICT will play an important role in providing access to a variety of signers and signed texts, however, particularly for rural and remote learners
• the range of cross-cultural considerations that need to be addressed when working in and teaching Auslan in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. The teaching team should consult the local community about particular topics, local context and relevant cultural considerations, so that offence and embarrassment can be avoided
• the importance of promoting further research of Auslan and the development, collection and digitisation of quality texts, teaching materials, resources and assessment and reporting tools for teaching purposes
• the need for investment in the professional development of suitable Auslan teachers to meet future anticipated interest and demand in Auslan programs in schools; and for recognition of the fact that the success of Auslan programs depends on the fundamental premise that suitably skilled and qualified teachers, including native or native-like proficient users of Auslan, have key roles in their development and implementation
• schools enrolling deaf and hard of hearing students on the same site may wish to consider offering both L1 and L2 Auslan pathways or a blend of the two as needed. Authentic opportunities for deaf, hard of hearing and hearing peers to engage with each other, either face to face or via technology, allows L2 students to practise language in a real-world context. Such practice benefits for hearing students transfer to deaf students by broadening their peer network, increasing communication across the school and over several year levels for the deaf students, and potentially have social, emotional, cultural, psychological, academic and vocational benefits for all students in the program.

For more specific guidance and to connect with the Deaf community, contact the national peak body representing the needs and interests of Auslan users, Deaf Australia, or the relevant state association.

As a native signer, sharing my language with students is a gift I give willingly, knowing with language comes greater understanding, acceptance and respect. Students learn to appreciate my community and culture because they engage directly with me, a Deaf teacher, which is incredibly powerful in the learning experience. I believe my own deaf children will grow up in a much more tolerant and accessible society because of Auslan in schools.

—Josie Hodgetts, Deaf parent of deaf children, Auslan teacher