Course Content and Outcomes Guides (CCOG)

CCOG for ASL 201 Winter 2025


Course Number:
ASL 201
Course Title:
American Sign Language IV
Credit Hours:
4
Lecture Hours:
40
Lecture/Lab Hours:
0
Lab Hours:
0

Course Description

Continues the work of first year ASL. Reviews and expands expressive skill, structure, and vocabulary for the purpose of active communication in a culturally appropriate manner. ASL proficiency interview may be required. ASL 201, ASL 202 and ASL 203 covers the same material as ASL 250 and ASL 251 and both cannot be applied to graduation. Recommended: Prerequisite course must have been completed within one year of class enrollment or proficiency interview within one term. Prerequisites: ASL 103 or ASL 151 or department permission.

Addendum to Course Description

This course utilizes dialogues and drills in learning grammar and vocabulary designed to help the students develop expressive/communicative skills. Cultural information is shared through readings and classroom discussions.

Intended Outcomes for the course

Upon completion of this course students should be able to:

  • Narrate and describe events in paragraph form, using connected discourse.
  • Apply expressive language-learning skill and be able to converse clearly and successfully when dealing with most routine tasks and social situations.
  • Follow ASL linguistic and grammar rules, such as the use of cohesive devices, and apply them semantically.
  • Engage with Deaf communities using an awareness of linguistic and cultural diversity and how these unique factors influence Deaf individuals' accessibility and educational needs.  

Integrative Learning

Students completing an associate degree at Portland Community College will be able to reflect on one’s work or competencies to make connections between course content and lived experience.

General education philosophy statement

This ASL course teaches American Sign Language and Deaf culture. As part of this course, students will learn how to communicate through a visual language in a culturally appropriate manner. Students will develop a deeper understanding of Deaf culture and how it relates to other cultures. The lessons learned in this course will increase students’ multicultural awareness and how one’s own culture affects communication.

Course Activities and Design

Students are expected to attend all classes, participate actively in classroom activities, and complete homework assignments. Students may record videos of their work in class, the language lab, or at home as assigned by the instructor. ASL will be used in the classroom at all times; no spoken English is permitted. Students should plan to spend about one hour in preparation and practice outside of class for each class hour.

Outcome Assessment Strategies

Assessment strategies include observation of students' in-class receptive and expressive use of ASL, written quizzes on cultural knowledge and on receptive skills, and videorecording of students' expressive use of ASL. Students will be assessed in their competence in using the language as demonstrated by the quality of receptive and expressive preparation and participation and assignments. Attendance is an important factor but it is not used as assessment tool. 

Course Content (Themes, Concepts, Issues and Skills)

The course focuses on the acquisition and correct use of parameters, non-manuals signals, grammatical markers, grammatical structures, functional vocabulary, and cultural concepts for the purpose of successful communication in ASL. Successful students have reviewed, expanded and perfected previously learned material, have practiced, and will be able to use the following communication topics and structures:

  • Prices

  • Number types

  • Conditionals

  • Wh-Questions

  • Locative classifiers

  • Personal opinions and abilities

  • Temporal aspects

  • Spatial agreement of sign orientation and eye gaze

  • Constructed dialogue and action