Being fluent in American Sign Language means having the
ability to communicate in ASL easily and effectively. Fluent signers have
a high enough level of proficiency that they are able to understand and express
the language smoothly with little to no hesitation.
Characteristics of ASL fluency:
Effective Communication: The ability to communicate your thoughts clearly
and effectively without significant struggle. This includes conversing naturally
and fluidly, conveying complex ideas, and participating in various forms of
dialogue.
Comprehension: This includes the ability to comprehend different
regional variants, speeds, and informal or formal styles of signing as well as
fingerspelling and depictive signing.
Expressive Skills: The use of correct handshapes, movements, facial
expressions, and body language to convey meaning accurately and effectively.
This includes using an appropriate signing box, hand dominancy, eye-gaze, role
shift, intensity, absent & present referents, depiction, location, flow, and
other aspects of articulation.
Fingerspelling: Skill in receptive and expressive fingerspelling is
an important aspect of ASL fluency. This includes knowing when and when
not to fingerspell which requires a wide general awareness of existing ASL
vocabulary.
Cultural and Idiomatic Knowledge: Understanding cultural references, idioms, and expressions unique to the Deaf community is crucial for full fluency.
Pragmatic skills: Seamless and
effective communication in ASL often relies context. Skilled signers know that
the interpretation of meaning of many signs or phrases depends on the setting.
They adapt their language to their audience, the setting, and previously
established information.
Question: Does ASL fluency mean signing fast?
Answer: Speed is relative. A rate of signing that seems moderate or
even slow to a skilled Deaf signer may seem fast to someone who is learning ASL
as a second language.
Some students mistakenly try to sign as fast as they can without pauses --
thinking that they are being fluent.
Being a fluent signer doesn't mean "no pauses." Fluent signers can and
often do sign at a high rate of speed but we also take the time to add pauses
when it is appropriate.
Being fluent involves being able to sign at a normal speed for an average native
language user -- which often seems fast to Hearing ASL as a second language
learners but seems medium or normal to (native) Deaf signers.
My wife, Bee Vicars, has many times indicated how nice it is to sign with
skilled signers who can sign quickly. To be clear: At no point has Bee
ever suggested that a student should
sign without pauses.
Also, for those reading this information and thinking -- "Oh my teacher
told me to slow down and that I was trying to sign too fast."
Such teachers are generally trying to help you understand that signing fast
without pauses is not what being fluent is about.
If you are a slow signer you generally will NOT be considered fluent -- but signing fast without pauses is not how fluent signers sign.
Instead, skilled signers sign at a rate of signing that fits the situation and
use appropriate punctuation in their signing.
Do you think that Bee doesn't pause during her signing? Of course she does.
However she and other fluent signers don't have to pause every other sign to
think of how to do the next sign.
If Hearing people want to be considered fluent by Deaf people -- Hearing people
will need to be able to sign at a rate that is generally similar to the rate of
signing that Deaf people sign -- with appropriate pausing in-between the other
signing that is being done at the rate and flow that Deaf people sign.
If you want to get along on the highway -- you go the rate of travel of other
people on the highway or you end up slowing down traffic. That doesn't mean you
floor the gas (or the electricity) turn on your cruise control and never tap the
breaks, never change lanes, and never slow down -- it means you don't take a
bicycle onto the freeway and wonder why all those car drivers are honking.
Yes, sometimes a teacher will tell certain ambitious "students to slow down" but
what they actually mean is "use appropriate ASL punctuation." If you are
ever going to become an interpreter for the Deaf or a teacher of the Deaf or
even just chat with Deaf people without being annoyingly slow you will need to put in the effort to learn how to sign at a rate of flow similar to
average Deaf signing."
That might take years but
aspiring interpreters are usually going to need to sign at a rate that is similar to
the rate that Deaf sign in order to pass certification tests and do their future
job in a way that doesn't harm Deaf.
Use appropriate pausing (and
other fluency characteristics). Your teacher telling you to slow down
isn't giving you a free pass to not put in
effort. Rather they are saying make the effort to learn the rest of the aspects of
fluency in addition to signing at a flow that will make you welcome in Deaf conversations.
To be considered fluent, you need to use appropriate pausing, staging,
punctuation, facial expressions, identify your referents, use role shift to indicate
who is talking, and the many other skills that skilled Deaf signers use to communicate
effectively.
Notes:
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