I. General Information

1. Course Title:
American Sign Language I

2. Course Prefix & Number:
AMSL 1410

3. Course Credits and Contact Hours:

Credits: 4

Lecture Hours: 4

Lab Hours: 0

4. Course Description:

In this introductory course, you will engage in receptive and expressive language readiness activities as well as learn vocabulary, basic use of ASL grammatical structure and signing space, conversational regulators, fingerspelling and introductory aspects.  Students will learn appropriate introductions, how to exchange personal information, sign about their surroundings, explain where they live, speak about their family and converse about activities.  Basic aspects of Deaf Culture will also be integrated throughout the course. MnTC Goal 8

5. Placement Tests Required:

Accuplacer (specify test):

Reading College Level CLC or Reading College Level

Score:

6. Prerequisite Courses:

There are no prerequisites for this course.

9. Co-requisite Courses:

There are no corequisites for this course.

II. Transfer and Articulation

1. Course Equivalency - similar course from other regional institutions:

St. Paul College, ASLS 1411 ASL 1, 3 credits
St. Catherine University, ASL 1110 Beginning ASL 1, 4 credits
St. Cloud State University, CSD 171 ASL 1, 3 credits
Bemidji State University, ED 1111 or ML1111 ASL 1, 3 credits
University of Minnesota – Duluth, ASL 2001 Beginning ASL 1, 3 credits
University of Minnesota, ASL 1701 ASL 1, 5 credits

2. Transfer - regional institutions with which this course has a written articulation agreement:

III. Course Purpose

1. Program-Applicable Courses – This course is required for the following program(s):

Deaf Studies, Certificate
Child Development/ASL, AAS Degree

2. MN Transfer Curriculum (General Education) Courses - This course fulfills the following goal area(s) of the MN Transfer Curriculum:
Goal 8 – Global Perspective

IV. Learning Outcomes

1. College-Wide Outcomes

College-Wide Outcomes/Competencies	Students will be able to:
Demonstrate oral communication skills	Introduce themselves, communicate basic needs and wants, and speak about familial ties; understand and respond correctly when others introduce themselves, communicate basic needs and wants, and speak about familial ties.
Demonstrate interpersonal communication skills	Demonstrate appropriate conversational turn taking behaviors in ASL.
Discuss/compare characteristics of diverse cultures and environments	Identify common characteristics associated with Deaf culture.

2. Course Specific Outcomes - Students will be able to achieve the following measurable goals upon completion of the course:

• Describe and analyze political, economic, and cultural elements which influence relations of states and societies in their historical and contemporary dimensions.  MnTC Goal 8
• Understand the role of a world citizen and the responsibility world citizens share for their common global future.  MnTC Goal 8
• Demonstrate knowledge of cultural, social, and linguistic differences.  MnTC Goal 8
• Summarize specific problems, illustrating the cultural, economic, and political differences that affect their situation.  MnTC Goal 8
• Demonstrate cultural sensitivity and awareness within American Deaf Culture. 
• Use basic noun/verb pairs in American Sign Language appropriatley. 
• Develop basic knowledge of personal pronouns, possessives and negatives in American Sign Language. 
• Demonstrate appropriate use of time concepts, relating to past, present and future. 
• Create conversations using appropriate ASL sentence structures. 
• Compose narrative stories in appropriate ASL order. 
• Explain appropriate facial expression/grammar that is used for various ASL sentence types. 
• Ability to establish and identify reference points is space and use real-world orientation. 

V. Topical Outline

Listed below are major areas of content typically covered in this course.

1. Lecture Sessions

1. INTRODUCING ONESEL
   • Grammar: yes/no questions, wh-questions, personal pronouns, spatial referencing, non-manual signals
   • Conversational strategies: Correcting and confirming information
   • Strategies for learning ASL
   • Introduction to the Deaf Community
   • Fingerspelling
   • Appropriate introductions in Deaf Culture
2. EXCHANGING PERSONAL INFORMATION
   • Grammar: agent marker, yes/no questions, wh-questions, negation and directional verbs
   • forming questions
   • Dominant hand
3. TALKING ABOUT SURROUNDINGS- tour of college
   • Grammar: Wh-questions, real world orientation indexing, negation, non-manual markers for “very close” and “far away”, and spatial referencing
   • Spatial Agreement
   • Conversation Strategies: Correcting and Confirming
4. TELLING WHERE YOU LIVE
   • Grammar: Real world orientation, wh-questions (how and where), noun/verb pairs
   • When do you fingerspell?
   • Sentence structures asking and giving information
   • Appropriate responses
5. TALKING ABOUT YOUR FAMILY
   • Sentence Structures: Yes/no questions
   • Grammar: Possessive Pronouns, yes/no questions, Negative Responses (#no, not, none), use of space (contrastive structure)
   • Forming Negative Statements
6. TELLING ABOUT ACTIVITIES
   • Grammar: Time signs (past, present and future), Wh-questions (2h #D0+++), dual personal pronouns (US-TWO), listing
   • Time concepts
   • Deaf Culture-Keeping each other informed
7. DEAF CULTRAL NORMS AND VALUES
   • Collectivist vs Individualistic Cultures
   • Time values between cultures
   • Leavetaking rituals
   • Privacy
   • Giving/Receiving feedback
   • Commenting on Appearance

2. Laboratory/Studio Sessions