Hi,

My name is Dot Pagram and I’m a year 11 student at Marryatville High School in South Australia. This year we have to do a big Research Project to go towards our year 12 ATAR and SACE certificate. We had to think of a topic for our personal research and after stumbling across various TV shows and books with deaf protagonists, having a keen interest in communication and language and a possible career pathway as an interpreter; I ultimately decided to focus my research project on Auslan.

Auslan is an incredible non-verbal language which I’ve always been interested in. I’ve always watched the interpreters standing behind political conferences in the news and wanted to know more. I am hearing and haven’t been exposed to Auslan much but I have been left incredibly inspired and inquisitive from the information I have acquired from websites.

One of my personal goals through this research is to develop an empathy and understanding of what it is like to be deaf and the importance of Auslan in that circumstance. I would like to build on my awareness of the language and also improve the awareness of those around me; my peers and the wider community. I feel from what I’ve gathered that, most people aren’t aware of Auslan and the importance of the deaf community of Australia.

For my research my main question is ‘How effective is Auslan as a language for Australia’s deaf community?’ I have formed many subquestions under this heading. I would really appreciate if you and/or contacts that you have in the deaf community would answer some quick and simple questions about what Auslan is from your perspective.

I have attached below the questionnaire, the questions are to be completed when convenient to you. Can you please email me back ( )with your attached answers… No information will be disclosed that you don’t want others to see, I am very careful and considerate of privacy.

Please help me out on this journey learning about Auslan and increasing the awareness of those around me.

Yours sincerely, Dot Pagram

It would be much appreciated if you could fill out this questionnaire if you are a user of Auslan (deaf or hearing). The amount of space in between each question is not an indication of how much you should write (write as much or as little as you desire)

*some of these questions only relate to deaf Auslan users*

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1.What is your name (optional), age and where in Australia do you live?

2. How are you involved in the deaf community (deaf member, part of an organisation, leader of an organisation, advocating for it) and what is your position?

3.Why did you start learning Auslan, and when did you start learning it?

4.How long did it take for you to learn Auslan?

5.How important is Auslan, and why is it important to you?

6.

a)How effective are other forms of communication used in the deaf community?i.e. lip-reading, English, Signed-English, communication through technology (texting, skype etc.)

b)Which of these forms do you use?

c)What is the most accessible form of communication in the deaf community?*

7.Are there similarities between Auslan and other sign languages across the world? What are they?

8.Do you know a sign language other than Auslan?

9.What type of community does Auslan create?

10.What are the limitations of Auslan?

a)physical

b)social

11.How hasmedical screening and cochlear implants impacted the use of Auslan and how willit impactthe use of Auslan?

12.What are your opinions of the borrowing of signs from other sign languages across the world (in particular ASL)?

13.What improvements could be made to Auslan to make it a more effective form of communication?

14.Is there anything else you would like to add…

For your privacy…

Are you okay with me using the information you provide in my research project?

If you would not like me to include certain information please let me know.

Thankyou so much for completing this questionnaire, it is much appreciated!

Sincere thanks from Dot 

Email: