American Sign Language Level 5

Curriculum Guideline

Effective Date:
Course
Discontinued
No
Course Code
MODL 2161
Descriptive
American Sign Language Level 5
Department
Modern Languages
Faculty
Language, Literature & Performing Arts
Credits
3.00
Start Date
End Term
202220
PLAR
No
Semester Length
15 Weeks
Max Class Size
22
Contact Hours

Seminar: 4 hours per week

Method(s) Of Instruction
Seminar
Learning Activities

Class activities may include: lecture and language lab, demonstration/modelling, dialogue and small group conversational practice, course readings/videos, among others.

Course Description
Intermediate-level ASL. Students continue to build ASL vocabulary for communicating more complex concepts using appropriate grammatical structures. Emphasis is on the use of directionality, placement and three-dimensional space in conjunction with role-shifting and the refinement of expressive and receptive skills. Through dialogue and sharing of narratives, students continue to learn from examples of Deaf people’s lives and culture.
Course Content

The content includes sentence structures, vocabulary and narrative techniques needed for:

  • Locating things around the house or other location
  • Complaining, making suggestions and requests
  • Exchanging personal information and life events
  • ASL adjectives for size, shape, colour, etc
  • Verb inflections for temporal aspect 
  • Creating traditional ASL handshape stories
  • Expansion of knowledge of ASL numbering systems

Introduction to key themes in Deaf education:

  • Impact of the 1880 Milan Congress
  • Influence of Alexander Graham Bell 
  • Ongoing lack of opportunities for Deaf people to be educated in sign language 

 

Learning Outcomes

Upon successful completion of this course, the student will be able to 

  • Demonstrate intermediate conversational ASL skill to do the following:
    • Describe and identify objects/subjects in the immediate surroundings or at another location
    • Use a variety of ASL adjectives including those for size, shape and distance
    • Engage in dialogue about complaints, suggestions and requests
    • Narrate briefly about life events (personal or general events)
    • Use ASL cardinal numbers from 1 to 1,000
    • Use ASL number forms to discuss clock time 
  • Demonstrate the use of appropriate register in ASL when exchanging personal information and discussing life events
  • Demonstrate appropriate use of Deaf cultural norms of directness 
  • Perform a simple 1-10 or A-Z handshape story/poem
  • Explain the basic struggle for Deaf people’s educational rights 
Means of Assessment

This course will conform to the Douglas College Evaluation Policy regarding the number and weighting of evaluations. Typical means of evaluation may include a combination of:

  • Quizzes to evaluate factual knowledge of ASL & Deaf culture
  • Quizzes to evaluate receptive ASL skills
  • Demonstration of expressive ASL skills
  • Assigned dialogues and interaction
  • Attendance and participation

Sample grade breakdown for this course might be as follows:

Video assignment 1: 20%

Video assignment 2: 20%

Mid-term exam 1: 20%

Mid-term exam 2: 20%

Final exam: 20% 

Total: 100%

No single assignment will be worth more than 20%.

Textbook Materials

The instructor might choose an ASL textbook such as: 

Smith, Cheri. (2008). Signing Naturally 2. Student Workbook. San Diego, CA: DawnSignPress.

Prerequisites

MODL 1262 or Assessment

Equivalencies


No equivalent courses.