Sherman Wilcox, Ph. In several states, ASL is mandated by law as acceptable in fulfillment of high school foreign language graduation requirements. More and more colleges and universities are accepting ASL in fulfillment of foreign language requirements.
The University of California system all campuses will soon accept ASL in fulfillment of foreign language entrance and graduation requirements. Harvard and Yale are among some of the schools which are investigating similar action. Recently, we have witnessed tremendous activity by state legislatures to support the teaching and acceptance of ASL as a foreign language. Many states now recognize ASL as a foreign language for the purpose of meeting high school graduation requirements.
In , the parliament of the European Community, noting that there are , profoundly deaf people in member states whose first language is their national signed language and not the dominant spoken language of their country, recognized as legitimate languages the indigenous signed languages of the twelve member states.
Recognition and acceptance of signed languages is clearly an idea whose time has come on an international scale. Many questions come to mind when the topic of ASL as a foreign language is brought up.
People often ask if it is appropriate to call ASL a foreign language. Is it really a language? Isn't it a derivative of English, on the order of Black English? Is ASL "foreign"? Is there a body of literature associated with ASL? Others may note that foreign language courses teach students about the culture of the group of people who use the language. They may wonder if there is a full and distinct culture associated with users of ASL.
The answers to all of these questions support the recognition of ASL as a foreign language. ASL is a fully developed human language, one of the hundreds of naturally occurring signed languages of the world. It is not a derivative of English. It is not a "simplified" language -- it contains structures and processes which English lacks such as ASL's rich verbal aspect and classifier systems. A deaf child born to parents who are deaf and who already use ASL will begin to acquire ASL as naturally as a hearing child picks up spoken language from hearing parents.
However, for a deaf child with hearing parents who have no prior experience with ASL, language may be acquired differently.
In fact, 9 out of 10 children who are born deaf are born to parents who hear. Some hearing parents choose to introduce sign language to their deaf children. Hearing parents who choose to have their child learn sign language often learn it along with their child. Children who are deaf and have hearing parents often learn sign language through deaf peers and become fluent.
Parents should expose a deaf or hard-of-hearing child to language spoken or signed as soon as possible. Thanks to screening programs in place at almost all hospitals in the United States and its territories, newborn babies are tested for hearing before they leave the hospital.
If a baby has hearing loss, this screening gives parents an opportunity to learn about communication options. Study of sign language can also help scientists understand the neurobiology of language development. In one study, researchers reported that the building of complex phrases, whether signed or spoken, engaged the same brain areas. Better understanding of the neurobiology of language could provide a translational foundation for treating injury to the language system, for employing signs or gestures in therapy for children or adults, and for diagnosing language impairment in individuals who are deaf.
The NIDCD is also funding research on sign languages created among small communities of people with little to no outside influence. Emerging sign languages can be used to model the essential elements and organization of natural language and to learn about the complex interplay between natural human language abilities, language environment, and language learning outcomes.
The NIDCD maintains a directory of organizations that provide information on the normal and disordered processes of hearing, balance, taste, smell, voice, speech, and language.
For deaf and hard-of-hearing individuals, sign language provides a clear and effective means of communication. Yet, from the lates until the mids, signing was viewed as a substandard practice -- one that could hinder a deaf individual's ability to communicate with hearing people.
Beginning in the s, that view began to change. Today, signing is understood to be critical to helping many deaf people communicate with each other and with those who can hear, and ASL is also recognized as a fully formed language with its own syntax, morphology rules for word creation , and structure. William C. Stokoe, an English professor who joined the faculty of Washington, DC's Gallaudet University then College in deserves much of the credit. While teaching the works of Chaucer at the institution for deaf and hard of hearing individuals, he noticed students using American Sign Language ASL in spite of social and educational trends.
Although an Old and Middle English scholar by training--not a linguist--Stokoe was convinced ASL was a true language worthy of academic pursuit, not ridicule. His was the first linguistic study of that language.
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