Course Content and Outcomes Guides (CCOG)

CCOG for ASL 250 Winter 2025


Course Number:
ASL 250
Course Title:
Accelerated American Sign Language III
Credit Hours:
6
Lecture Hours:
60
Lecture/Lab Hours:
0
Lab Hours:
0

Course Description

Covers the material of ASL 201 and half of ASL 202 to continue the work of first year ASL in an accelerated format. Reviews and expands expressive skill, structure, and vocabulary for the purpose of active communication. Covers grammar and vocabulary for the development of expressive and receptive skills. 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 is an accelerated course which meets for 5 hours instead of the usual 3 hours.  This course utilizes the Functional/Notional, dialogues and drills approach in learning grammar and vocabulary in the context of communicative activities.  It is designed to help the students build their receptive skills, learn vocabulary through context, and develop strategies for figuring out meaning and to build upon that foundation. 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 all major time frames (past, present, future) in paragraph form using connected ASL discourse.
• Apply expressive language-learning skills and be able to converse with ease and confidence when dealing with most routine tasks and social situations.
• Follow ASL linguistic and grammar features such as cohesive devices, restructuring spaces, classifiers 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 assessments of cultural knowledge, and performance assessments on receptive and expressive skills. 

Course Content (Themes, Concepts, Issues and Skills)

The course focuses on the acquisition and correct use of sign production, grammatical structures, functional vocabulary, and cultural concepts for the purpose of successful communication in American Sign Language. Successful students will be able to use the following communication topics and structures:

  • Prices

  • Number types

  • Conditionals

  • Wh-Questions

  • Personal opinions and abilities

  • Temporal aspects

  • Spatial agreement of sign orientation and eye gaze

  • Constructed dialogue and action

  • Complaints and suggestions

  • Event sequencing

  • Possessive forms

  • Classifiers

  • Numbers 100-1000