IST – Interpreting Direct Address
Course Syllabus (NTID - Spring, 2008)
Course ID: Interpreting Direct Address
Room Location: 60-3rd floor, TBA
Meeting Times: Wednesday, February 27th 10 to 10:30 am,
Instructor: Brian Cerney, Ph.D, BrianCerney@mac.com
Course Description: This Class Session reviews the concept of Direct Address (also known as Role Shifting). The concept is then applied to the interpreting process, particularly English to ASL interpreting.
Course Materials:
• Baker, C. & D. Cokely. 1980. American Sign Language: A Teacher’s Resource Text on grammar and Culture. Silver Spring, MD: T.J. Publishers.
• Cerney, Brian. 2005. The Interpreting Handbook, Part One. Rochester, NY: Hand & Mind Publishing.
• Roy, Cynthia. 1989a. Features of discourse in an American Sign Language Lecture. In C. Lucas (ed.), The Sociolinguistics of the Deaf Community. San Diego, CA: Academic Press.
• Taylor, M. 1993. Interpretation Skills: English to American Sign Language. Edmonton, Canada: Interpreting Consolidated.
• Valli, C. & C. Lucas. 1992. Linguistics of American Sign Language. Washington, DC: Clerc Books.
February 27th, 2008: Activities
Announcing the topic – Direct Address (Role Shifting)
Introduction to students (my name, your names)
OBSERVATION OF TOPIC IN CONTEXT
ASL Preview – Watch Lou Fant’s Goldilocks story and think about “Direct Address”
DISCUSSION
Direct Address (Role Shifting) What does it include?
Manual/Linguistic Features
Lexical
Stylistic
Non-Manual/Paralinguistic Features
Posture
Facial Expressions
OBSERVATION & ANALYSIS OF TOPIC
ASL Review – Watch Lou Fant’s Goldilocks story and think about “Direct Address”
DISCUSSION
Direct Address Elements that were seen in the ASL text
OBSERVATION & ANALYSIS OF TOPIC
English to ASL Preview – Watch Tom Snyder Interview of Alec Baldwin
DISCUSSION
ASL Direct Address Features that can be used for the English text
IMMEDIATE APPLICATION OF TOPIC
Simultaneous Transcommunication of Direct Address Features with Gestures
Teamed practice. Students will take turns generating a simultaneous transcommunication of the source text. (This means that the students are not to try to use ASL signs, but rather to generate natural gestures while also generating the paralinguistic elements of Direct Address that have been discussed so far.) One set of students will do the entire text, then the other set of students will take a turn with the entire text. Team members should note successful elements of their team members’ performances.
DISCUSSION & SELF-ANALYSIS
Direct Address Elements that were seen in student performances
ADDITIONAL APPLICATION & PRACTICE
Homework:
Review the source text and prepare a translation into natural/idiomatic ASL that maintains both the meanings of the source text and the direct address performance features that we just practiced. Be prepared to perform your translations live to the class the next time we meet. You may use the “Conversational Gestural Space” handout (from your Visual Gestural Communication course) to refresh your memories about the spatial features so that you can incorporate them correctly into your direct address translations.