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SOUTH AFRICAN QUALIFICATIONS AUTHORITY 
REGISTERED UNIT STANDARD THAT HAS PASSED THE END DATE: 

Demonstrate knowledge of the structure of South African Sign Language 
SAQA US ID UNIT STANDARD TITLE
115802  Demonstrate knowledge of the structure of South African Sign Language 
ORIGINATOR
SGB SA Sign Language and Sign Lang Interpreting 
PRIMARY OR DELEGATED QUALITY ASSURANCE FUNCTIONARY
-  
FIELD SUBFIELD
Field 04 - Communication Studies and Language Language 
ABET BAND UNIT STANDARD TYPE PRE-2009 NQF LEVEL NQF LEVEL CREDITS
Undefined  Regular  Level 6  Level TBA: Pre-2009 was L6  6 
REGISTRATION STATUS REGISTRATION START DATE REGISTRATION END DATE SAQA DECISION NUMBER
Passed the End Date -
Status was "Reregistered" 		 2018-07-01  2023-06-30  SAQA 06120/18 
LAST DATE FOR ENROLMENT LAST DATE FOR ACHIEVEMENT
2026-06-30   2029-06-30  

In all of the tables in this document, both the pre-2009 NQF Level and the NQF Level is shown. In the text (purpose statements, qualification rules, etc), any references to NQF Levels are to the pre-2009 levels unless specifically stated otherwise.  

This unit standard does not replace any other unit standard and is not replaced by any other unit standard. 

PURPOSE OF THE UNIT STANDARD 
People credited with this unit standard are able to:
  • Describe SASL phonological processes
  • Describe SASL morphological processes
  • Identify SASL syntactical processes
  • Identify SASL semantics
  • Identify language variations within SAS 
    		•

    LEARNING ASSUMED TO BE IN PLACE AND RECOGNITION OF PRIOR LEARNING 
    Level 4 and 5 SASL - Additional Language standards 

    UNIT STANDARD RANGE 
    1. Deaf is capitalised when it refers to the Deaf community and Deaf culture, as opposed to deaf in lower case, which relates to audiological hearing loss.

    2. Deaf culture is defined globally as 'a way of life, a shared perspective, based on knowing the world primarily through vision' and includes the rules governing communication behaviour and social interaction within the Deaf community e.g. eye contact is maintained to allow conversation to proceed.

    3. The rules of SASL refer to those accepted by the South African Deaf community, for use in South Africa, and may include any or all of the following: grammatical, visual, social and cultural elements.

    4. Grammatical features may include but are not limited to:- spatial reference; sign formation including manual signs and non-manual features (parameters - handshape, movement, location, palm orientation and non manual features); non-manual and manual modification; all question types including yes/no, 'wh' and rhetorical questions; all sentence types including topicalisation and conditionals; number including quantifying sounds; pronouns; negation; classifiers; locative verbs; temporal aspects; idioms; compounds; numeral incorporation; eye gaze, negative sentences.

    5. 'Wh' questions refer to questions containing the words who, what, where, when, why, which and how. Yes/no questions refer to those where the answer is yes or no.

    6. Morphological processes refer to the smallest units of meaning, morphemes, and the regular processes by which they can create and change the meaning of signs in SASL.

    7. Phonological processes refer to the smallest components of signs, that is phonemes, and the constraints and processes by which phonemes are organised in SASL.

    8. Syntactical processes refer to how sign phrases and sentences are constructed. 

    Specific Outcomes and Assessment Criteria: 

    SPECIFIC OUTCOME 1 
    Describe SASL phonological processes. 
    OUTCOME RANGE 
    Handshape, palm orientation, movement, location, non-manual signals and minimal pairs. 

    ASSESSMENT CRITERIA     

    ASSESSMENT CRITERION 1 
    The identification of individual parts of a sign is consistent with the rules of SASL. 
    ASSESSMENT CRITERION RANGE 
    At least ten minimal pairs.
     

    ASSESSMENT CRITERION 2 
    The identification of the physical space of the signer is identified consistent with the rules of SASL. 

    ASSESSMENT CRITERION 3 
    Identification of non-manual signals is consistent with SASL. 

    SPECIFIC OUTCOME 2 
    Describe SASL morphological processes. 
    OUTCOME RANGE 
    Noun-verb pairs, plan verbs, agreement verbs, locative verbs. 

    ASSESSMENT CRITERIA     

    ASSESSMENT CRITERION 1 
    The description of the morphological processes in SASL is consistent with the rules of SASL. 

    ASSESSMENT CRITERION 2 
    The description of derivational processes is consistent with the rules of SASL. 
    ASSESSMENT CRITERION RANGE 
    Noun-verb pairs, compounding, noun-adjective pairs.
     

    ASSESSMENT CRITERION 3 
    The description of inflectional morphological processes is consistent with the rules of SASL. 
    ASSESSMENT CRITERION RANGE 
    Numerical incorporation, subject-object agreement, temporal aspect, adverbs, adjectives.
     

    ASSESSMENT CRITERION 4 
    The identification of the classifier system is consistent with the rules of SASL. 
    ASSESSMENT CRITERION RANGE 
    Classifier predicates, size and shape specifiers, semantic classifiers
     

    ASSESSMENT CRITERION 5 
    Identification of non-manual signals is consistent with SASL. 

    SPECIFIC OUTCOME 3 
    Identify SASL syntactical processes. 

    ASSESSMENT CRITERIA     

    ASSESSMENT CRITERION 1 
    Sentence types are identified by non-manual signals and word order. 

    ASSESSMENT CRITERION 2 
    The identification of different meanings of sign phrases is consistent with the rules of SASL 
    ASSESSMENT CRITERION RANGE 
    A minimum of ten sign phrases.
     

    SPECIFIC OUTCOME 4 
    Identify SASL semantics. 

    ASSESSMENT CRITERIA     

    ASSESSMENT CRITERION 1 
    The identification of the different meaning of signs is consistent with the rules of SASL. 
    ASSESSMENT CRITERION RANGE 
    A minimum of ten signs.
     

    ASSESSMENT CRITERION 2 
    The identification of semantically related signs is consistent with the rules of SASL. 
    ASSESSMENT CRITERION RANGE 
  • A minimum of two signs.
  • A minimum of five related signs for each sign.
     
    		•

    SPECIFIC OUTCOME 5 
    Identify language variations within SASL. 

    ASSESSMENT CRITERIA     

    ASSESSMENT CRITERION 1 
    Historical changes to the language are identified in relation to educational and social contact with Deaf members in South African and internationally. 

    ASSESSMENT CRITERION 2 
    Regional and ethnic variations are identified in relation to Deaf schools, local Deaf clubs, and social groups. 
    ASSESSMENT CRITERION RANGE 
    The provinces of South Africa, the different schools for the Deaf in South Africa and organisations for the Deaf such as sporting, services, religious.
     

    ASSESSMENT CRITERION 3 
    National variations in fingerspelling are identified correctly. 


    UNIT STANDARD ACCREDITATION AND MODERATION OPTIONS 
    The assessment will be governed by the policies and guidelines of the relevant Education and Training Quality Assurance Body (ETQA) that has jurisdiction over this field of learning.

    The assessor will be registered with the appropriate ETQA and will be qualified in this learning area.

    The learner can be assessed against this unit standard to obtain credits or as part of an integrated assessment for a qualification. All assessment activities must be fair, so that all candidates have equal opportunities. Activities must be free of gender, ethnic or other bias. Assessment and moderation procedures, activities and tools must be transparent, affordable and support development within the field, sub-field and NQF 

    UNIT STANDARD ESSENTIAL EMBEDDED KNOWLEDGE 
    The following knowledge is embedded within the unit standard, and will be assessed directly or implicitly through assessment of the specific outcomes in terms of the assessment criteria:
  • Morphological, phonological and syntactical processes 
    		•

    UNIT STANDARD DEVELOPMENTAL OUTCOME 
    N/A 

    UNIT STANDARD LINKAGES 
    N/A 


    Critical Cross-field Outcomes (CCFO): 

    UNIT STANDARD CCFO ORGANISING 
    Organise and manage oneself and one's activities responsibly and effectively 

    UNIT STANDARD CCFO COLLECTING 
    Collect, analyse, organise and critically evaluate information 

    UNIT STANDARD CCFO COMMUNICATING 
    Communicate effectively using visual, mathematical and/or language skills 

    UNIT STANDARD ASSESSOR CRITERIA 
    N/A 

    REREGISTRATION HISTORY 
    As per the SAQA Board decision/s at that time, this unit standard was Reregistered in 2012; 2015. 

    UNIT STANDARD NOTES 
    N/A 

    QUALIFICATIONS UTILISING THIS UNIT STANDARD: 
      ID QUALIFICATION TITLE PRE-2009 NQF LEVEL NQF LEVEL STATUS END DATE PRIMARY OR DELEGATED QA FUNCTIONARY
    Elective  50333   National Diploma: Occupationally Directed Education, Training and Development Practices  Level 5  NQF Level 05  Passed the End Date -
    Status was "Reregistered"     		 2023-06-30  ETDP SETA 
    Elective  50331   National Certificate: Occupationally Directed Education, Training and Development Practices  Level 6  Level TBA: Pre-2009 was L6  Passed the End Date -
    Status was "Reregistered"     		 2023-06-30  ETDP SETA 


    PROVIDERS CURRENTLY ACCREDITED TO OFFER THIS UNIT STANDARD: 
    This information shows the current accreditations (i.e. those not past their accreditation end dates), and is the most complete record available to SAQA as of today. Some Primary or Delegated Quality Assurance Functionaries have a lag in their recording systems for provider accreditation, in turn leading to a lag in notifying SAQA of all the providers that they have accredited to offer qualifications and unit standards, as well as any extensions to accreditation end dates. The relevant Primary or Delegated Quality Assurance Functionary should be notified if a record appears to be missing from here.
     
    1. AFRICA COMPETENCY DEVELOPMENT (PTY) LTD 
    2. Amaqamu Project Management and Consulting 
    3. ASSESSMENT COLLEGE OF SOUTH AFRICA PTY LTD 
    4. Bohlali Provider Support 
    5. Chartall Business College 
    6. Colleen Osorio Skills Development Consultancy cc 
    7. Dabulamanzi & Njabulo Ndaba Consulting cc 
    8. Divine Inspiration Trading 704 PTY Ltd 
    9. Emergence Learning Academy (Pty) Ltd 
    10. Igugu Training and Investments 
    11. Isamon Vocational College of Excellence Pty Ltd 
    12. Khaas Training Academy 
    13. Learnership Support Systems (Pty) Ltd 
    14. MACCAUVLEI LEARNING ACADEMY (PTY) LTD 
    15. MENTORNET (PTY) LTD 
    16. NTI College 
    17. OMNI HR CONSULTING PTY LTD 
    18. Petra institute of Development (PTY) Ltd 
    19. Regenesys Management (Pty) Ltd 
    20. Resonance Institute of Learning 
    21. Saint Colonel Graduate Institute (PTY) Ltd 
    22. Southern African Institute of Learning (SAIL) 
    23. The Institute of People Development 
    24. Thobologo Training and Education Group (Pty) Ltd 
    25. Thuto Adult Centre 
    26. TMG Quality Services 
    27. University of Johannesburg 
    28. VERYCOOLIDEAS 


    All qualifications and part qualifications registered on the National Qualifications Framework are public property. Thus the only payment that can be made for them is for service and reproduction. It is illegal to sell this material for profit. If the material is reproduced or quoted, the South African Qualifications Authority (SAQA) should be acknowledged as the source.