11/21/2024 3:08:09 AM	ASL 1 Course Outline as of Fall 2025	Changed Course
CATALOG INFORMATION
Discipline and Nbr:  ASL 1	Title:  ELEM AMER SIGN LANG PT 1
Full Title:  Elementary American Sign Language - Part 1
Last Reviewed:1/25/2021

Units		Course Hours per Week			Nbr of Weeks	Course Hours Total
Maximum	4.00	Lecture Scheduled	4.00		17.5 max.	Lecture Scheduled	70.00
Minimum	4.00	Lab Scheduled	0		6 min.	Lab Scheduled	0
		Contact DHR	0			Contact DHR	0
		Contact Total	4.00			Contact Total	70.00
		Non-contact DHR	0			Non-contact DHR Total	0

Total Out of Class Hours:  140.00

Total Student Learning Hours: 210.00

Title 5 Category:  AA Degree Applicable
Grading:  Grade or P/NP
Repeatability:  00 - Two Repeats if Grade was D, F, NC, or NP
Also Listed As: 
Formerly:  ASL 1A

Catalog Description:

Introduction to elementary American Sign Language, focusing on both receptive and expressive skills, ASL literature, and Deaf culture and community.

Prerequisites/Corequisites:

Recommended Preparation:
Eligibility for ENGL C1000 or equivalent or appropriate placement based on AB705 mandates

Limits on Enrollment:

Schedule of Classes Information
Description:

Introduction to elementary American Sign Language, focusing on both receptive and expressive skills, ASL literature, and Deaf culture and community.

(Grade or P/NP)
Prerequisites:
Recommended:Eligibility for ENGL C1000 or equivalent or appropriate placement based on AB705 mandates
Limits on Enrollment:
Transfer Credit:CSU;UC.
Repeatability:00 - Two Repeats if Grade was D, F, NC, or NP

ARTICULATION, MAJOR, and CERTIFICATION INFORMATION

Associate Degree:		Effective:	Fall 1991	Inactive:
Area:	E	Humanities
CSU GE:	Transfer Area			Effective:	Inactive:
	C2	Humanities		Fall 1991
IGETC:	Transfer Area			Effective:	Inactive:
	6A	Language Other Than English		Fall 1997
	6A	Language Other Than English		Fall 1996	Fall 1997
CSU Transfer:	Transferable	Effective:	Fall 1991	Inactive:
UC Transfer:	Transferable	Effective:	Fall 1991	Inactive:
C-ID:

Certificate/Major Applicable: Both Certificate and Major Applicable

COURSE CONTENT

Student Learning Outcomes:
At the conclusion of this course, the student should be able to:

1. Intitate and respond to simple and brief conversations in ASL using statements, questions, and behaviors that are appropriate among ASL signers.

2. Use and comprehend basic vocabulary for a variety of everyday topics and activities, including the manual alphabet and numbers.

3. Use simple grammatical structures such as directional verbs, indexing, contrastive structure, subject-predicate order, with attention to ASL paramenters and non-manual markers.

4. Discuss features of the culture and history of Deaf people and ASL, including sociolingustic and intersectional variations in the Deaf experiences.

 

Objectives:

At the conclusion of this course, the student should be able to:

1.   Demonstrate understanding of signing and fingerspelling with accuracy.

2.   Compose short comprehensible sentences with communicative purposes, displaying minimum surface- level errors in ASL parameter usage.

3.   Generate questions and requests using simple grammatical structures involving subjects and predicates.

4.   Respond to other signers, using common ASL vocabulary and metalinguistic feedback related to everyday topics.

5.   Use greetings, interactions, and conversational techniques in a culturally appropriate manner.

6.   Correctly interpret or evaluate content from authentic ASL texts.

7.   Use basic grammatical structures involving subjects and predicates.

8.   Use fingerspelling to express names, lexicalized signs and loan words.

9.   Develop, organize, and sign short narratives.

10. Describe social, cultural, historical, political, sociolinguistic, and intersctional aspects of Deaf and signing communities in the USA.

Topics and Scope

I. Course Orientation

    A. Accessing and using course materials

         1. classroom

         2. campus

         3. community

         4. online resources

    B. Production of ASL texts (videos)

    C. Introduction of ASL conventions

         1. eye contact

         2. voices off

         3. attention-getting

         4. turn-taking

    D. Introduction to commands and requests

II. Vocabulary Development

     A. People

         1. identitiy

         2. nationalities

         3. hearing/deaf family members

         4. roles

         5. agent markers

         6. ages

    B. Places

         1. housing

         2. work

         3. classroom

         4. school

         5. community features

         6. cities

         7. states

         8. geography

    C. Descriptions

         1. clothing

         2. physical appearance

         3. sizes

         4. distances

         5. colors

         6. shapes

         7. opinions

         8. feelings

    D. Numbers and time

         1. cardinal 1-100

         2. ordinal 1-20th

         3. days

         4. weeks

         5. months

         6. years

         7. seasons

         8. durations

    E. Activities

         1. leisure

         2. sports

         3. hobbies

    F. Greetings

         1. salutations

         2. valedictions

         3. introducing one another

    G. Negations

         1. lack of

         2. refusal

         3. disagreement

         4. dislike

         5. don't want

    H. Miscellaneous

         1. food

         2. drink

         3. holidays

         4. popular culture

         5. current trends

         6. technology

III. Grammatical Development

     A. Parameters

         1. handshape

         2. location

         3. movement

         4. palm orientation

         5. non-manual markers

    B. Classifiers

         1. descriptive

         2. locative

         3. instrumental

         4. semantic

         5. entity

    C. Non-manual markers

         1. facial expressions

         2. body shifting

         3. mouth morphemes

    D. Basic sentence

         1. subject-predicate structure

         2. topicalization

         3. personal pronouns

         4. possessive pronouns

         5. sequencing

    E. Verb modification

         1. directionality

         2. noun-verb

         3. spatial agreement

    F. Comparisons

         1. constrastive structure

         2. listing/ranking

    G. Questions

         1. yes/no

         2. wh-q

         3. rhetorical

         4. strategies for asking about signs

IV. Composition

    A. Short narratives (autobiographical)

    B. Retelling stories

         1. folktale

         2. humor

V. Cultural Skills

    A. Communicating with others

         1. backchanneling

         2. clarification

         3. asking for new signs

    B. Etiquette and behavioral norms

         1. signing environments

         2. attention-getting

         3. interruptions

         4. pointing in public

         5. social conventions

    C. Traditions and heritage

         1. folklore

         2. storytelling

         3. poetry

         4. visual vernacular

         5. humor

         6. history

              a. notable events

              b. places

              c. persons

         7. current issues and trends

         8. cultural activities

         9. sociolinguistic and intersectional topics

Assignments:

1. Reading on sign language grammar, techniques, and cultural topics from textbook, print, or digital materials (average 10-15 pages per week)

2. Video viewings from DVD or online collections (1-3 hours per week)

3. Memorization of sign vocabulary and grammatical modifications (average 50-75 signs per week)

4. Receptive practice exercises (3-7 per week)

5. Expressive practice exercises, such as vocabulary recitations, solo monologues, paired or group dialogues; presentations; role-playing (2-5 per week)

6. Expressive video or live performance projects (2-4 projects per semester)

7. Written responses (6-8 per semester)

8. Quizzes, tests, final exam

Methods of Evaluation/Basis of Grade.

Writing: Assessment tools that demonstrate writing skill and/or require students to select, organize and explain ideas in writing.		Writing 10 - 20%
Written responses, exercises
Problem solving: Assessment tools, other than exams, that demonstrate competence in computational or non-computational problem solving skills.		Problem Solving 0 - 0%
None
Skill Demonstrations: All skill-based and physical demonstrations used for assessment purposes including skill performance exams.		Skill Demonstrations 40 - 50%
Expressive practice exercises, expressive projects, receptive exercises
Exams: All forms of formal testing, other than skill performance exams.		Exams 20 - 30%
Quizzes, tests, final exam
Other: Includes any assessment tools that do not logically fit into the above categories.		Other Category 10 - 30%
Video recordings

Representative Textbooks and Materials:

True+Way American Sign Language (online)

 

My ASL Book: A Communicative Approach for Learning a Visual Language. Bangs, Donald. Kendall Hunt Publishing. 2012 (classic)

 

ASL at work (print and DVD). Newell, William and Sanders, Cynthia and Holcomb, Barbara. DawnSignPress. 2010 (classic)

 

Signing Naturally: Student Workbook, Units 1-6 (book and DVDs). Smith, Cheri and Lentz, Ella and Milos, Ken. DawnSign Press. 2008 (classic)

 

MasterASL! Level One Student Textbook (print and DVD). Zinza, Jason. Sign Media, Inc. 2006. (classic)

 

Instructor prepared materials

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