Hallaway 1

Allissa Hallaway

Mrs. Goossens

Senior Seminar

28 February 2018

American Sign Language in Schools

Everywhere in the world, American Sign Language (ASL) is being used. Children may

be taught ASL because they have a hearing or speech impairment. Others learn it to help

improve their development and knowledge. American Sign Language is not just a growing

language; it is a language needed for people to communicate with one another. Teaching

American Sign Language as a foreign language in schools will help students have the knowledge

and opportunities needed to communicate with others.

“ASL is currently the sixth most-used language in the US” (Harrington). This may not

seem like a very big deal when comparing it to the growing language of Spanish, but it really is.

Currently, ASL is ranked 18th in the world behind Polish but in front of Japanese in terms of the

people using the language (Harrington). To many, this is far down on the list, but in comparison

to the number of languages in the world, it is high on the list. ASL is slowly becoming a popular

language throughout the nation, as it helps make people feel more involved and welcomed. ASL

is being used all over the world in schools, homes, and the workplace.

When people hear about ASL, they think about deaf people, but ASL is not just for the

deaf. It is also for those that have a hearing or speech complication. If someone is born with a

speech problem, they can learn ASL for a way of communicating with those around them. If a

child has a stutter at a young age, they may learn some basic ASL to communicate while they are
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going to therapy to get rid of or decrease the stutter. A stutter does not easily go away, so if the

child feels uncomfortable talking, ASL is how they communicate (Rivito).

Every year, about 8,000 children are born deaf or hard of hearing but 95% of those

children are born into hearing families (Winn). This means that the family members will have to

learn ASL not only for them, but for their child as well (Winn). Unfortunately, it will be harder

for the parent to learn ASL than it will be for their child. The reason for this is that the adult

brain does not absorb new information like a child’s brain (Winn). A child’s brain is a sponge

that wants to learn new information all the time. This is why when a baby is first born they are

constantly looking around; they are trying to take in new information. Having a parent already

knowing basic ASL will help both the parent and child in the long run while they are trying to

teach each other. The parent will have the basic knowledge of ASL so they are more likely to

grasp the language while the child can learn the language faster.

People may not think that ASL would be beneficial to learn for preschool children unless

they have a direct family member that is deaf or has a speech problem. This is not the case at all.

If a preschool child learns ASL, they will have a lot of benefits later on in life. One benefit they

are more likely to see at first is that they score 17% higher on standardized tests than children

that do not know ASL (Education Playcare). The reason is that their brain works like someone

who is bilingual. Any child that is bilingual has a higher chance on standardized tests and can

score 17% or higher than the average student. Some other benefits of looking into ASL at a

young age are having a larger speaking vocabulary, accelerated speech and emotional

development, lower frustration levels, ability to remember words because of the muscle memory,

and better grades in school (Education Playcare). To make sure that the child will keep this

muscle memory, it is important to use some ASL at home. Muscle memory is defined “as the
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ability to repeat a specific muscular movement with improved efficiency and accuracy that is

acquired through practice and repetition” (Muscle Memory). Having a parent know what the

child is learning in school will help increase a child’s chance of having all of these benefits later

on in life.

Teaching toddlers ASL can also help ease the “terrible twos” tantrums, and at the same

time teach them quiet behaviors (Benefits for ASL for Children). ASL is also a way for them to

express themselves in a safe way. Some toddlers will take or wreak things to express

themselves, but if they have some knowledge of ASL, they are less likely to express themselves

in a dangerous or naughty way. Later on in life, expressing themselves will also become more

natural instead of extremely dramatic.

If the child still has the muscle memory gained by learning ASL throughout elementary

and middle school, this can benefit them even more if the high school offers an ASL class.

Many states throughout the United States and Canada are recognizing ASL as a foreign language

that can be offered in schools (Selover). By having all these schools offer ASL as a foreign

language, colleges are starting to accept ASL as a foreign language credit and offer it as a class

themselves. Having high schools offer ASL as a class will help benefit the students by giving

them the opportunity to learn the language and also help prepare them if they wish to pursue a

future where they could encounter someone who speaks ASL.

High schools commonly offer French, Spanish, or Latin as foreign languages, but if one

lives in the United States their entire life, they probably are not going to use French or Latin

every day (Selover). They could, however, run into a deaf or speech impaired person at any

point because the number of deaf and speech impaired people in the United States is on the rise.

On average, 5% of the world has a hearing impairment that limits their ability to communicate
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with their voice (Rivito). This is such a high number, and yet most of the world’s population

does not know sign language.

Giving the opportunity to take ASL as a class opens the window to so many potential

possibilities for careers. Many people in careers today encounter so many different people that

speak a different language or have certain limitations. A person may be faced with someone that

can only communicate with ASL, so knowing at least the basics can help make an impact on

someone’s career. All it takes is to have one small gesture that changes the way a person feels

about a worker and make them feel welcome to come back to the company or store in the future.

If someone goes to be a social worker, child care worker, educator, employment counselor,

psychologist, hospital worker, government institutions or into anything business related, they

have an extremely high chance of meeting someone who can only speak with ASL (Careers

Working with the Deaf and the Hard of Hearing). Specifically, if the career path is in education,

more and more schools are hiring staff to accommodate special needs students (A.). Knowing

ASL can help one get the job because of the background with another language, especially if the

school has a number of students that struggle with hearing or are completely deaf.

Since there are many different careers that could encounter someone with a hearing

impairment, knowing ASL will help them in their specific geographic region. People all over the

United States learn to sign differently depending on the region they grew up in and who taught

them ASL. If they grew up in the south, they will have some different signs that the people in

the north would not use (Marquardt). An example of this would be knowing how to sign slang

words that are commonly said in the south. Since a person could travel all over the nation,

knowing a variety of these words will benefit them for their career. Having an open mind that
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there will be words that they will not know and being willing to try and learn them is also

something that for which they must be prepared.

Once families start to have children, those with the ASL background will be able to teach

their kids some of the basic knowledge. This will benefit the parent if they do not get the chance

to use ASL as often as they hoped because now, they will hopefully get the chance to use it with

their children. In a way, this is a great opportunity for the parent and child to bond with one

another. People may think this is a weird way to bond, but when children are young and

developing, being around the child and sharing an interest will help build a stronger connection

versus a family that does not do things together. Once the child has a basic knowledge to hold a

conversation, they can communicate at home using ASL (Winn).

When a child starts to use ASL at home with their family when they are younger, their

signs will be different than those who will learn it in a class compared to at home. At home,

children will learn to sign in their own way that their family and friends will learn to know.

They may have a shortcut to saying a word or create their own word. An example would be their

own personal name. Instead of spelling it out every single time, they will create a sign that will

represent their name, thus saves time while communicating. The downfall that does come with

this is the fact that those that do not know the family will have a problem understanding what

they are saying (Marquardt).

Knowing ASL has so many benefits for children, careers, and communities, but ASL is

not a universal language across the world. There are different kinds of sign languages depending

on the language spoken in the country. In France, they have French Sign Language (LSF)

instead of ASL. Even in Britain, they have their own sign language, British Sign Language

(BSL). People would not think that there would be a difference between the two, but there is.
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For beginners, learning their ABC’s in BSL, they use both hands, while in ASL, it is only the use

of one hand. For “ASL, the middle finger is almost never used to form a sign, except for a small

class of signs” (Westfall). While in BSL, the middle finger is used for neutral words like

“holiday” (Westfall). Between both of the languages, there are words that are signed differently

or have a totally different meaning.

Offering American Sign Language as a foreign language in schools will offer students

beneficial opportunities for them to communicate with others. ASL is not just a way to

communicate with those who have a hearing impairments, but a way for people to increase their

knowledge in school and the real world. ASL is a growing language that will open doors for

careers all over the world from translating to communicating with others. Learning ASL will

benefit everyone for many years to come.

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Works Cited

A., Colette. "Top 3 Reasons to Learn American Sign Language for the Workplace." 2018. Eton

Institute. February 2018. <https://etoninstitute.com/blog/top-3-reasons-to-learn-american-

sign-language-for-the-workplace>.

"Benefits for ASL for Children." 2016. 4 Parent and Teachers. February 2018.

<http://4parentsandteachers.com/Benefits-of-ASL-for-children.html>.

"Careers Working with the Deaf and the Hard of Hearing." 2018. The Best Schools. February

2018. <https://thebestschools.org/careers/jobs-working-deaf-hard-hearing/>.

Education Playcare. "Benefits of Sign Language for Young Children." 16 June 2016. Education

Playcare. 16 February 2017. <http://www.educationalplaycare.com/blog/sign-language-

benefits-for-young-children/>.

Harrington, Tom. "Sign Language." 16 January 2018. Gallaudet University. 19 Febrary 2018.

<http://libguides.gallaudet.edu/c.php?g=773913&p=5552647>.

Marquardt, Danella. Interview. Allissa Hallaway. 27 February 2018.

"Muscle Memory." 13 March 2018. Merriam-Webster. 23 March 2018. <https://www.merriam-

webster.com/dictionary/muscle%20memory>.

Rivito, Katie. "Why We Need to Teach ASL in Schools." 7 March 2016. Odyssey. 19 February

2017. <https://www.theodysseyonline.com/teaching-sign-language-in-schools>.

Selover, Peggy J. "American Sign Language in the High School System." 2017. Project MUSE.

19 Feburary 2017. <https://muse.jhu.edu/article/507624/summary>.

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Westfall, Michele. "Quora." 9 June 2015. What are Some Interesting Differences Between

American Sign Language and British Sign Language. February 2018.

<https://www.quora.com/What-are-some-interesting-differences-between-American-

Sign-Language-and-British-Sign-Language>.

Winn, Jillian. "Signing Savy." 3 November 2016. The Importance of Early Exposure to

American Sign Language with Deaf Children. February 2018.

<https://www.signingsavvy.com/blog/235/The+Importance+of+Early+Exposure+to+Am

erican+Sign+Language+with+Deaf+Children>.