Choosing Register When Producing a Formal Complaint
A student must produce a 90-second signed monologue complaining about a broken school lift. The audience is the principal, who is Deaf and uses Auslan fluently. The student plans to sign informally, as they would with Deaf friends, using lots of casual mouthings and relaxed body posture. The task sheet says the monologue must be "appropriate to a formal complaint to a person in authority" and must include a clear request for action plus a proposed timeline. The student is confident about vocabulary but unsure how to adjust register. They have 20 minutes to prepare and can film only one take.
1. Explain how the student should adjust register for this audience and purpose, giving at least three specific features.
Read the worked answer
Register in Auslan is carried by non-manual features, signing space, pace, and lexical choice, not just vocabulary. For a formal complaint the student should: (1) use a more upright, controlled posture and a smaller, more deliberate signing space rather than broad casual signs; (2) slow the pace and add clear pauses at clause boundaries so the principal can follow the argument; (3) reduce slang and heavy casual mouthing, using clearer mouth patterns that match the formal signs; (4) keep eye contact and use eyebrow and head movements to mark the structure (problem, impact, request, timeline); (5) choose polite request forms rather than blunt demands. The reasoning is that the principal is fluent, so clarity and structure matter more than simplification. The student should not switch to a more English-like signing style, because that can reduce clarity; the goal is formal Auslan, not English word order.
2. The student can film only one take. Propose a preparation plan for the 20 minutes that reduces the risk of a register slip.
Read the worked answer
A sensible plan: spend 5 minutes drafting the content as a four-part structure (problem, impact on students, specific request, timeline). Spend 5 minutes deciding the formal non-manual markers for each part and practising the transitions, since register slips usually happen at transitions. Spend 5 minutes doing one full timed rehearsal in front of a mirror or camera, checking pace and posture. Spend the last 5 minutes reviewing only the two highest-risk moments (the request and the timeline) and then film. The reasoning is that one-take tasks fail most often at structure changes and at the request, where students revert to casual phrasing. Rehearsing transitions and the request specifically targets that risk. The student should not spend all 20 minutes memorising vocabulary, because vocabulary is not the stated weakness.