Advanced American Sign Language for Interpreters (INTR 3150)

This advanced ASL course for students in the second year of the interpreting program supports their preparedness for their final term of practicum placements. Students will expand their ASL vocabulary and hone their proficiency in applying ASL’s visual-spatial techniques to make clear visual sense. Emphasis will be on developing versatility and range in order to participate in contextualized discourse that respects the needs and goals of specific ASL users in specific situations, considering parameters such as setting, topic, register, and user demographics.
Course code: INTR 3150
Credits: 3.0
Length: 60.0 hours
Course outline: view https://www.vcc.ca/vccphp/courseoutline?subject=INTR&number=3150

Prerequisites

ASLD 2310.
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Additional Information

  • Course content will be guided by research, empirical knowledge, professional standards and best practice.

    Enhancing effective use of space:
    - Setting up referents with clarity and consistency
    - Expanding use of bigger signing space in all 3 dimensions
    - Fully employing directionality of verbs and movements
    - Versatility in using all types of classifiers
    - Constructed dialogue and constructed action
    - Visual Vernacular and cinematic narrative techniques
    -Spatial depiction of timelines and other abstract concepts

    Enhancing expressive use of the face:
    - Appropriate syntactical and sentence type markers (e.g. with eyebrow movements)
    - Versatile range of adverbial functions (e.g. with mouth morphemes)
    - Emotional affective components
    - Depictions of characterization and personification
    - Appropriate shifts in eye gaze location, direction and movement Dialogue skills:
    - Understanding and using reciprocal signals in conversation
    - Using closure and context to aid comprehension
    - Discerning when and what type of clarification is needed
    - Appropriate interruption and turn-taking techniques
    - Recognizing and adapting to differences/similarities between self and others that impact co-construction of meaning

    Expanding ASL vocabulary on specific topics:
    - Health – individual/family/society, physical/mental/emotional health
    - Education – typical academic subject areas in the arts and sciences
    - Finances – continuing to increase versatility in ASL number depictions
    - Systems - talking about abstract structurs of organizations, workplaces, agendas
    - Government – levels, departments, functions, processes

    Increasing adaptability to diverse ASL users:
    - Language use across the ASL-Contact-English continuum
    - Variations due to age and language development
    - Variations due to intersectional identities, cultural backgrounds
    - Variations due to specific settings and situational goals

PLAR is assessed through: Simulation or actual presentation of a candidate's abilities, which may be live, recorded, or videotaped. The demonstration may include, but is not limited to a variety of American Sign Language samples.

This course is offered as part of a VCC program only.

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† This information is intended as a guideline only. Program and course details are subject to change with the approval of VCC's Board of Governors.