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Intermediate ASL II Portfolio Presentations

What is the Portfolio Presentation?

Students in Intermediate II hoping to register for any upper level courses within the ASL program  will need to make an appointment to participate in a video recorded interactive interview where they will demonstrate their proficiency in ASL. During the interview, students will discuss a variety of topics relating to personal experience, future plans, involvement in the Deaf Community, and course content. You may be asked to discuss how, when, and where you began learning ASL and your progress since then; your areas of strength and areas where you would like to focus more effort; specific information you have learned, for example through your community involvement. The intended purposes of the Portfolio Interview are to:

1. Provide students with an evaluation of their language skills as well as their cultural literacy.
2. Provide an outcome measurement between year two and year three for program accreditation purposes.
3. Serve as a gateway to the upper division courses within the ASL course sequence.
4. Give you an opportunity to discuss your plans for your community service project(s) in Advanced ASL I and II.

How do I schedule a portfolio presentation?

Intermediate ASL II students should sign up in spring or summer in order to register for upper level ASL courses in the following fall semester. Contact Prof. Steve Vickery at svickery@kent.edu for information about how to sign up. The presentations are only scheduled in March/April for Spring Semester and in August for Summer Session. If you miss a deadline, you will need to wait until the next round of presentations.

How should I prepare for the presentation?

The reviewers will be evaluating your ability to use varied sentence and phrase types; proper use of indicating, locative, and depicting verbs; clarity and fluency with fingerspelling; accuracy in production (pronunciation); and vocabulary range. 

Ask for help, feedback, and suggestions from the ASL lab mentors. Conduct mock interviews with classmates, deaf community members, or lab mentors. Be sure to get adequate rest the night before and arrive early for your presentation so that you don't feel rushed. We will have a warm-up area where you converse in ASL before you enter your interview.

Keep in mind that we are looking at your ASL proficiency. Moving your hands while mouthing English phrases is not proper ASL and does not demonstrate that you know and can use ASL.