Development of proficiency in ASL. Includes instruction in semantic and grammatical accuracy and appropriate discourse strategies in a variety of communication contexts. Lab exercises are designed to enhance physical and cognitive skills necessary for ASL/English interpreting (3-2-3) This is a 3-credit hour course with 2 lecture hours each week and 3 laboratory or activity hours each week. Course requires significant time outside of class. 

Prerequisites: C or better in SLNG 2302, American Sign Language IV

Required Texts/Materials:

1. Assigned readings/videos & lecture videos [No cost]
2. Blackboard, http://www.austincc.edu/blackboard [No cost]

Student Learning Outcomes: The course maintains the following objectives, based upon ACTFL’s National Standards for Foreign Language Learning:

1. Communication: 

• Retell stories using advanced ASL vocabulary and syntax.
• Demonstrate advanced comprehensive and expressive ASL skills.
• Expand ASL phrases, depiction, semantics, and pragmatics. 
• Demonstrate expressive and receptive competence for narratives, stories, and so forth within a conversational format when describing and identifying people, places, locations, objects, and describing accidents. 
• Express doubt, emotion, and desires.
• Discuss various cultural, literary, and contemporary social issues.
• Debate a variety of sensitive topics.
• Ask relevant questions about a given topic.
• Decode the meaning of sentences and express signs with conceptual accuracy that reflects the intended meaning.
• Able to respond and discuss various topics when prompted without rehearsing.

1. Cultures: Gain knowledge and understanding of Deaf cultures

Short films, video clips, vlogs, videos online, literary and cultural readings from the Deaf community will aid the student in this goal. 

1. Communities: Participate in a community of language learners and in a multilingual world

Through group and classwork, a sense of community will be developed as students practice their communicative skills, thereby preparing themselves to use ASL throughout their lives. As a group, students will explore their own notion of community as this compares to this concept in the Deaf community.

1. Comparisons: Make informed comparisons between English and ASL and themselves and others

Via video work and in-class discussions, students will be encouraged to make comparisons between their own known reality and the Deaf community. Students will reflect on how the structure of ASL compares to the structure of English and other languages they know.

1. Connections: The ability to connect this course to other courses and self to others

The different themes explored in each unit will inform students in such a way that they can make connections between their own cultural traditions and those of some members of the Deaf community, with particular emphasis on developing ideas through expressive activities.

Course Outline

Module 1: Linguistics 101

• Why Linguistics? What Makes a Language a Language? 
• Gesture vs Signs
• Linguistics and the Components of Language
• ASL Grammar
• ASL Techniques
• ASL Compounds
• Time Sequenced Ordering & Causes and Effect Sequencing (chronology)

Module 2: Depiction

• Depicting verbs
• Partitioning
• Noun First then Adjective
• Surrogates, Personification & Anthropomorphism application
• References & POV application
• Dimensions
• Handshapes
• Proportion (Scale of Blending)
• Blend Features
• 3-sec Rule
• Onomatopoeia application
• Cinematic Special Effects

Module 3: Semantics

• What is Semantics and why is it important? 
• Conceptual Accuracy
• ASL Signs with multiple meanings
• English with multiple meanings

Module 4: Pragmatics

• What is Pragmatics and Why is it Important? 
• Language Variations in Sign Language
• Word/Sign meaning evolution
• ASL Phrases
• Abbreviations
• Only in the Deaf Community