Visual Gestural Communication

Catalog description

Co-requisites: ASL 101 recommended Description Visual Gestural Communication (VGC) provides a means of bypassing vocabulary and strict grammar rules of a language and aiming directly at other very important components of effective communication. These include: cohesion, or the sequencing of relevant pieces of communication so that they hang together and make sense; monologic discourse, which involves rules of building sequences to a point of climax and resolution in narratives; dialogic discourse with the rules for turn taking and interrupting; and stylistics that include the confidence, character and personality expressed while communicating. All of these variables are essential for fluent language use and can be practiced via VGC, even though VGC is not itself a language. The course requires students to practice and apply skills by completing projects outside the classroom.