Defining ASL Literature for a District Showcase
A high school ASL Honor Society plans a 90-minute Deaf Voices Showcase with 12 student performances. The district curriculum coordinator asks the faculty advisor to justify how the event addresses ASL literature standards and to supply a scoring rubric. Three proposals are submitted: (1) an original ABC story that uses handshapes in A-to-Z order to tell a short narrative; (2) a student's translation of a famous English poem, performed mostly by fingerspelling the English lines with a few inserted signs; (3) a personal narrative about the student's Deaf grandparents and their residential school, told with classifiers and role shift. The advisor also learns that a hearing student wants to perform the grandparents' story, which she heard from a Deaf friend. The showcase is in two weeks, and the principal wants every act to be literature.
1. Evaluate the three proposals against characteristics of ASL literature. Which should be included, and what concerns should the advisor raise?
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Proposal 1 (ABC story) is a recognized ASL literary genre: the handshape sequence constrains the narrative, and skilled performers use it for original storytelling. It should be included. Proposal 2 (fingerspelled English poem) is more problematic. Translation into ASL can be literature, but if the performance is mostly fingerspelled English with a few signs, it is a signed rendering of an English text, not an ASL literary composition. I would ask the student to revise it into ASL with its own use of space, classifiers, and rhythm, or label it as a translation. Proposal 3 (personal narrative) can count as ASL literature or discourse, especially if it uses culturally specific themes and ASL narrative devices. For the hearing student's proposal, the concern is cultural ownership and attribution. Performing a Deaf friend's family story without permission risks appropriation; the advisor should require permission, credit, and a clear frame, or redirect the student to an original piece. The rubric should not reward English poetic devices as the default.
2. Draft a four-criterion rubric for the showcase that is specific to ASL performance rather than English poetry conventions.
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Four criteria, each scored 1-4: (1) Spatial coherence-uses signing space, referential shift, and classifier predicates to track entities; (2) Handshape and movement control-maintains chosen parameters and uses them meaningfully, including ABC constraints if applicable; (3) Narrative structure-has a clear opening, complication, and resolution, with appropriate pacing and eye gaze; (4) Cultural framing-acknowledges the Deaf community context, credits sources, and avoids spoken-English-only delivery. I would add a short performer statement for translations or borrowed stories. This rubric evaluates ASL performance rather than rhyme or meter in English. For reliability, two scorers would view 20 percent of performances and compare; anchor videos would define each level.
3. A hearing student wants to perform a story about a Deaf residential school experience that belongs to a Deaf friend's family. How should the advisor respond, and what would be a fair alternative?
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The advisor should first thank the student for her interest and explain the difference between appreciation and speaking for a community. The student did not experience the residential school; the story belongs to the Deaf friend and family. A fair path is to ask the friend and family for permission, co-present or introduce the source, and make clear that the student is retelling, not owning, the experience. If permission is not given, the student should choose another piece-an original narrative, a Deaf-authored work with permission, or a piece about her own learning. The advisor should also check school policy and involve the Deaf community members on the planning committee. This is not censorship; it is teaching attribution and respect, which are part of ASL literature standards.