Example 1
Example from 2:46-2:54: Melissa uses her non-dominant hand to mark herself as a child on her left side and then talks about herself as a PhD student and contrasts her experiences with protest… marking those two different spaces with both her body shifting and use of dominant & non-dominant hands.
Example 2
Example from 3:34-3:37: Melissa sets up the space with her index fingers. Her non-dominant hand uses its index finger by the front of chest while her other hand is using index finger to indicate ASL concept of FAR AWAY re: ITALY.
Example 3
Example from 3:48-3:55: Melissa uses two examples of spatial structuring in this 7 second excerpt to indicate two concepts of RIOT (03:50-:03-52) and ALL OVER (03:55).
Example 4
Example from 4:29-4:32: Melissa sets up the windows for the embassy and then shows people moving about in the space beyond the windows to establish distance between embassy employees and the protestors.
Example 5
Example from 7:57-8:05: Melissa sets up the space to illustrate an overarching idea of advocacy as confrontation and agitation to other kinds of advocacy — by setting up the space by her side first to explain the agitation then from that side she rotates her body while shifting her hands to sign WIDE-RANGE simultaneously to her another side to express the concept of creative ways to dissent.
Example 6
Example from 8:40-8:45: Melissa uses her body to rotate sightly to mark the clause in ASL sentences – English equivalent of comma “,” when she is expressing the relationship between knowledge and science in her experience.
Developed by Shanna Grossinger
Time Required for Activity: 30 mins
Competencies Address: discourse mapping, use of space, ASL Grammar
Objective(s):
Participants will:
- identify discourse markers and use of space in an ASL lecture
Step One: NAME
Prediction: Practice explaining what advocacy means to you in ASL. Think about what you already know about discourse markers and how you structure your ASL. We suggest recording yourself to be able to use for comparison later on in the process. Record no more than 5 minutes.
Watch the Video:
Watch the beginning of the video (00:30-4:30) and identify as many discourse markers and space items as you can. Turn off sound and captions so you are relying only on your own skills, rather than relying on the voice interpretation or captions.
Make a list of discourse markers you identify. In the next step, you will see examples that you can compare with what you found
Step Two: Check Your Work
Here are four examples from the first five minutes of the video that you have watched.
Bonus Examples from the Rest of the Video
Step Three: Watch Video Again
Watch the video again and see if you notice discourse markers more readily and see how the signer users space.
For optimal learning and retention, allow for at least 24-48 hours between steps to provide desirable difficulty.
