ASL As a Foreign Language
Joy Kreeft Peyton

In recent years, a number of states have passed legislation recognizing American Sign Language (ASL) as a foreign language and permitting high schools, colleges, and universities to accept it in fulfillment of foreign language requirements for hearing students as well as deaf students. As of July 1997, 28 states had passed such legislation, and several community colleges and universities (including Brown, Georgetown, Harvard, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology) accept ASL as a foreign language for academic or elective credit.

ASL is a visual/gestural language that is distinct from English and other spoken languages, from sign languages used in other countries, and from English-based sign systems (such as Manually Coded English Systems) used in the United States. Although the precise number of ASL users is difficult to determine, ASL is the predominant language--in other words, the language used most frequently for face-to-face communication, learned either as a first or second language--of an estimated 100,000 to 500,000 Americans (Padden, 1987), including Deaf native signers, hearing children of Deaf parents, and adult Deaf signers who have learned ASL from other Deaf individuals.¹

Resources American Sign Language Teachers   Association (ASLTA) 814 Thayer Avenue Silver Spring, MD 20910-4500 Phone: 301-587-1788 TTY: 301-587-1789 http://www.aslta.org Dawn Sign Press 6130 Nancy Ridge Drive San Diego, CA 92121-3223 Toll Free: 800-549-5350 Phone and TTY: 619-549-5330 Gallaudet University Press 800 Florida Avenue, NE Washington, DC 20002-3695 Toll Free: 800-621-2736 (for orders) Toll Free TTY: 888-630-9347 Phone: 202-651-5488 Fax: 800-621-8476 (for orders) http://gupress.gallaudet.edu/ National Association of the Deaf (NAD) 814 Thayer Avenue Silver Spring, MD 20910-4500 Phone: 301-587-1788 TTY: 301-587-1789 http://www.nad.org Sign Communication Proficiency   Interview (SCPI) National Technical Institute for the Deaf Rochester Institute of Technology 52 Lomb Memorial Drive Rochester, NY 14623-5604 Contact: Frank Caccamise Phone and TTY: 716-475-6420 Fax: 716-475-6500 E-mail: fccncr@rit.edu Sign Enhancers, Inc. 1320 Edgewater, NW Suite B10, Room C-1 Salem, OR 97304 Phone and TTY: 800-76-SIGN-1 (800-767-4461)

As schools have decided to grant foreign language credit for ASL, they have had to address a number of questions, including those listed below. (See also Wilcox, 1989b and n.d., for more detailed discussion.)

• Is ASL a language? ASL is a fully developed language--one of hundreds of naturally occurring signed languages in the world--with a complex grammatical structure (see, for example, Klima and Bellugi, 1979; Valli and Lucas, 1993).

• If ASL is used in the United States, how can it be considered a "foreign" language? ASL is indigenous to the United States and parts of Canada. At most universities, however, a language's place of origin has little to do with its status as a foreign language. For example, American Indian languages--such as Navajo--are accepted in fulfillment of foreign language requirements at some universities. Because many native speakers of the "foreign languages" studied in U.S. schools live in the United States and were even born here, many programs are beginning to refer to themselves as second language programs rather than foreign language programs.

• Are ASL users in this country part of a different culture? Although ASL users in the United States are members of the U.S. culture, they also participate in a rich and vibrant Deaf culture that has its own history, arts (including dance, theater, and poetry), and customs (Padden and Humphries, 1988; Wilcox, 1989a).

• Is there a body of literature in ASL? There are writing systems for ASL, but none are widely used to record ASL literature. However, there is a large body of ASL literature available in movies, videotapes, and CD-ROMs from companies such as Dawn Sign Press and Sign Enhancers, Inc., and from Gallaudet University's bookstore in Washington, D.C. In addition, Gannon (1981) is an excellent source of information about the heritage and folklore of Deaf people.

• Is ASL easier to learn than other foreign languages? Because ASL developed as a visual/gestural language, its grammar differs from that of English and other languages that developed as oral/aural languages. Many aspects of ASL grammar are more complex than English grammar; as a result, some students of ASL believe that ASL is more difficult to learn than oral languages.

Designers of ASL school programs need to consider issues related to curriculum and materials, teacher qualifications, and evaluation of students' proficiency. ASL classes should be taught by teachers who have a formal background in second language pedagogy, have experience in teaching ASL, and are verifiably proficient in ASL. Ideally, the teacher or co-teacher would be a native ASL user, and some schools require that teachers be certified by the American Sign Language Teachers Association. Students learning ASL need to develop both expressive and receptive fluency in the language, to have opportunities to interact with Deaf individuals and attend events in the Deaf community, and to have access to the rich body of ASL literature. Additionally, students learning ASL need to be evaluated according to proficiency guidelines in the same way as students learning spoken languages. An ASL proficiency test, the Sign Communication Proficiency Interview (SCPI), has been developed by William Newell and Frank Caccamise (Caccamise and Newell, 1997; Newell and Caccamise, 1997), based on the widely used oral proficiency interview. Although developed for use with adults, the principles and techniques of the SCPI may be adapted for use with students in K-12 programs. See the Resources section at the end of this article for contact information concerning the use and adaptation of these materials and training workshops.

References

Caccamise, F., and W. Newell. 1997. An Overview of the Sign Communication Proficiency Interview (SCPI): History, Development, Methodology, and Use. Rochester, NY: National Technical Institute for the Deaf, Rochester Institute of Technology.

Gannon, J. 1981. Deaf Heritage: A Narrative History of Deaf America. Washington, DC: National Association of the Deaf.

Klima, E., and U. Bellugi. 1979. The Signs of Language. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Newell, W., and F. Caccamise. 1997. Skills Important for Effective Sign Language Communication and Sign Communication Proficiency Interview (SCPI) Rating Levels. Rochester, NY: National Technical Institute for the Deaf, Rochester Institute of Technology.

Padden, C. A. 1987. "Sign Languages." In J. V. Van Cleve, ed., Gallaudet Encyclopedia of Deaf People and Deafness. New York: McGraw-Hill.

Padden, C. A., and T. Humphries. 1988. Deaf in America: Voices From a Culture. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Valli, C., and C. Lucas. 1993. Linguistics of American Sign Language. Washington, DC: Gallaudet University Press.

Wilcox, S. 1989a. American Deaf Culture: An Anthology. Silver Spring, MD: Linstock.

Wilcox, S. 1989b. "Foreign Language Requirement: Why Not American Sign Language?" ERIC Digest. Washington, DC: ERIC Clearinghouse on Languages and Linguistics. ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 309 651.

Wilcox, S. n.d. American Sign Language as a Foreign Language: Fact Sheet. http://www.unm.edu/~wilcox/ASLFL/asl_fl.html.

Note

¹ Following standard practice among most researchers and educators, capitalized Deaf is used to refer to the culture of Deaf people. Lowercase deaf refers to the audiological condition of deafness.

Joy Kreeft Peyton is Director of the ERIC Clearinghouse on Languages and Linguistics at the Center for Applied Linguistics (CAL) in Washington, D.C. She is also Director of the National Clearinghouse for ESL Literacy Education and Vice President of CAL. She has had many articles published on instructional strategies for language learners and is a former teacher of Spanish. She speaks Spanish fluently.

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