American Sign Language Storytelling

ASL storytelling is a cherished tradition in the Deaf community and a unique, cinematic way to experience stories.  A good grasp of many aspects of ASL are needed to be a good storyteller.  These aspects need to be practiced and honed to ensure a signer is accurately expressing the story, characters, actions and themes to their audience.  

What else makes a good ASL storyteller?  Vicars (2020) cites that the following components are also essential:

• Signer uses animated facial expressions
• Signer uses classifiers liberally and mime, as appropriate
• Signer has a wide range of vocabulary and makes choices to accurately represent the specific concept being conveyed
• ASL role play, body shift and eye gaze are used to model the characters in the story as they communicate with each other
• Signer tells culturally appropriate and representative stories

Below is an example of ASL storytelling that I think does an excellent job of highlighting all of the important aspects discussed above (Stecker, 2011).  Pay attention to how the signer uses all of the components discussed to really make the story come alive!

ASL is a rich and complex language with many pieces that come together to make an expressive, visual language experience.  To me, watching someone sign a story in ASL is more akin to a cinematic experience. 

Novice and/or non-native signers have to remember that all of the components previously discussed are ESSENTIAL to accurately conveying ideas, information and stories in ASL.  Many of the ASL parameters are things that are not essential to speaking the English language.  Therefore, novice and/or non-native signers must practice utilizing these parameters in order to become proficient and incorporate these features.