ASL 101 - American Sign Language I

4 Credits, 4 Contact Hours
4 lecture periods 0 lab periods
Introduction to American Sign Language (ASL). Includes: parameters; syntax; sentence types; facial expressions and body language; pronominalization; nouns and verbs; modals; sign space; time line and time modulations; classifiers; pluralizations; and deaf history and culture. Also includes: fingerspelling numbers; lexicalized fingerspelling; conceptual accuracy; sign modulation; conversational regulators; basic compounds and contractions; and existence of regional dialects/sign and language variations. Because language and culture are inextricably linked, this course will also demonstrate how ASL conveys the values, beliefs, customs, and history of American Deaf culture.

Information: Students will be required to perform an additional 5 lab hours outside of the regular classroom schedule. This lab experience is designed to provide a “signing only” environment for students to practice classroom skills with ASL fluent ASL lab staff; expose students to communication in a Deaf environment; and provide students with real life exposure to the Deaf community. This class is conducted primarily without voice.
Gen-Ed: Meets AGEC - Options and C; Meets CTE - A&H and C.

Course Learning Outcomes

Employ expressive communicative skills in American Sign Language at a beginning level.
Demonstrate receptive communicative skills in American Sign Language at a beginning level.
Observe and describe the cultural, community and historical contexts of the people who use American Sign Language.

Outline:

Parameters
Syntax
Sentence Types
1. S + V + O
2. O, S + V
3. Yes/no questions
4. WH-questions
5. Statements
6. Negation
7. Assertion
8. Topic sentences
Pronominalization
1. Personal
2. Possessive
3. Reflexive
4. Number variants
5. Introduction to comparisons and contrastives
Sign Modulation/Inflection
1. Facial and body expression
2. Sign Tension
3. Sign Movement
  1. Verb directionality
  2. Noun verb pairs
  3. Use of sign space
Specific Mouth Movements/Non-manual Markers
1. Oo
2. Cha
3. Mm
4. Cs
5. Ahh
Time Line and Time Modulations
1. All-____
2. Every-____
3. Number incorporation
4. Seconds
5. Minutes
6. Hours
7. Days
8. Weeks
9. Months
10. Years
Classifiers
1. CL-C and variants
2. CL-3
3. CL-1 and variants
4. CL:LL
5. CL-V and variants
6. CL-B and variants
7. CL-A
8. CL-O
9. CL-5
10. CL- (airplane)
11. Basic clothing and design descriptions
Pluralizations: Mass Quantifiers
1. Many
2. A lot
3. Few
4. Several
Fingerspelling and Numbers
1. Ordinal – 1^st – 9^th
2. Cardinal – 1 – 100
3. Money to $50.
4. Age
5. Dates (day/month/year)
6. Phone numbers
7. Manual alphabet
8. Name
9. Clock time
10. Lexicalized fingerspelling introductory – from SLG 101 handbook
Modals (helping verbs)
1. Must
2. Will
3. Can
4. Not yet
5. Finish
6. Should
7. Can’t
8. Won’t
Basic Compounds and Contractions
Sign Space
1. Directional verbs
2. Basic mapping
3. Direction giving
Conceptual Accuracy (four of the six uses of have)
1. Have
2. Not yet
3. Have to
4. Finish
Deaf History
1. Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet/laurentclerc
2. Establishment of the first school
3. History of American Sign Language
4. Martha’s Vineyard
5. Abbe de l’Epee, Sicard, Jean Masseau
Communication in the Deaf Community
1. Technical changes
2. How to use video relay service, video phone
3. Communication protocols
4. Existence of regional dialects/signs and language variations
Deaf Culture
1. Cultural behaviors
  1. Greeting
  2. Leave taking
  3. Attention getting
2. Introduction to Deaf culture
3. Conversational regulators/turn taking behaviors