Key Words: Curriculum Materials, Language, college
Date: Wed, 16 Oct 1996 19:46:09 -0700
I am working with another teacher who is trying to get a student into
university with ASL as a second language. The university has said that it
will not accept ASL as it does not have a 'literature'. Well, WE all know
that is WRONG,but where do I find the research to prove it. I know its out
there but I don't have access to a university library at this point to find
it. Can someone point me in the right direction and then I will follow up?
Thanks
Jeanne Shaw
Itinerant Teacher of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing Date: Thu, 17 Oct 1996 10:31:28 -0400
First, you need to make sure that you get a clear definition of what your
university means by "literature". If the definition is "articles written
*about* ASL", then you absolutely have a legitimate argument in saying
that ASL has an extensive research literature, and one can even argue that
it has an aesthetic literature (stories, folk traditions, etc). For this
second one, you may want to try and argue an extension of what we think of
as literature - meaning, not just the written word but also "oral"
traditions (passed down person to person), videotaped stories, plays which
were written to be performed in ASL.
However, many universities will define "literature" as research or stories
written *in* the language. So, people taking French will read Moliere *in
French*. Here you will have problems because it is going to be very hard
to argue that there is any literature written *in* ASL, considering ASL is
not a written language. All efforts aside to put ASL into writing
(SignWriter, etc...), there is just not a body of any kind of literature
written in ASL. Like I said before, you might want to try and argue an
expanded definition of literature to include videotape or plays which were
meant to be performed in ASL, but I really don't know how far you are
going to get. Administrators are a prickly bunch. No offense to any
administrators out there, but you have to admit that the beaurocracy of a
university is pretty hard to cut through.
I think the best thing to do is to gather as much information as you can
about all the other universities that accept ASL as a foreign language
(University of Pittsburgh is one of them). You might even go so far as to
get a letter from a dean at one of these universities stating the reasons
that they accept ASL as a language which will fulfill their language. If you decide to do this, you can e-mail me privately and I will try to see what I can gather here at Pitt.
Good luck!
Date: Thu, 17 Oct 1996 10:38:12 -0400
I know that in high school they accept *Sign Language* as foreign language
credits. I believe this is throughout the state. I am not sure about
college criteria, but if you could find other universities that accept it
as a foreign language credit, this might help your cause.
Linda C.
Date: Thu, 17 Oct 1996 11:37:57 -0500
Sometimes I think we just need to challenge their paradigm. If you flip
it around, a deaf student who cannot speak intelligibly would never get
credit for a foreign language. Heck, if s/he can't *speak* English, he sure
can't speak French (or German or Spanish...). If a student *can* get
credit by demonstrating reading and writing mastery, but without the oral
communication component, doesn't it make sense that one should also be
able to demonstrate the communication ability without a written
component? The school's reasoning also eliminates Hmong as a
"legitimate" foreign language.
Candy Krepel
Date: Fri, 18 Oct 1996 19:46:00 -0700
>I know that in high school they accept *Sign Language* as foreign language
credits. I believe this is throughout the state. I am not sure about
college criteria, but if you could find other universities that accept it
as a foreign language credit, this might help your cause.
For a list of Universities and Colleges that accept ASL for Foreign
Language credit, check out www.sheridanc.on.ca/~cowley/aslcred.htm
Uploaded by: Jessica Soltesz/Kent State University/Deaf Education Major
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