NAC389.5716. American Sign Language: Fourth year.

A course of study in American Sign Language must include instruction designed to teach a pupil by completion of the fourth year:

     1. Receptive skills, including, without limitation:

     (a) The ability to comprehend a wide variety of registers with little or no repetition or paraphrasing necessary for comprehension;

     (b) The ability to comprehend most points of discussion or presentations on familiar topics; and

     (c) Continued development and mastery of advanced signed communication.

     2. Expressive skills, including, without limitation:

     (a) The ability to organize presentations on familiar topics;

     (b) The ability to organize complex ideas;

     (c) Use of an advanced vocabulary;

     (d) Advanced control of the morphology of the language and of most of the frequently used syntactic structures of signs; and

     (e) The ability to sign in a manner that is comprehensible to a person who is fluent in American Sign Language.

     3. Interactive skills, including, without limitation:

     (a) The ability to communicate in most situations with confidence;

     (b) Continued development towards mastery of complicated or difficult material; and

     (c) Advanced control of more complex structures of signs.

     4. Cultural skills, including, without limitation:

     (a) Knowledge of and the ability to function in the culture of the community of persons who are deaf;

     (b) An understanding of most behaviors particular to the community of persons who are deaf that are the product of the culture of the community of persons who are deaf;

     (c) An appreciation for the culture of the community of persons who are deaf;

     (d) The ability to function, communicate and generally avoid misunderstanding in authentic, everyday situations encountered in the community of persons who are deaf;

     (e) The ability to use the context to guess the meaning of unfamiliar behaviors that are particular to the culture of the community of persons who are deaf;

     (f) Demonstration of initiative and ease in using behaviors which are appropriate for use in the community of persons who are deaf and which are learned by observing authentic needs in the culture of the community of persons who are deaf;

     (g) Increased knowledge of current and historical events in the community of persons who are deaf and of persons who are deaf who are prominent in American society;

     (h) Increased familiarity with directional signs within the geographical area of the school in which the class is taught; and

     (i) Familiarity with systems of signs derived from American Sign Language.

     (Added to NAC by Bd. of Education by R036-99, eff. 11-3-99)