Posted on 05/13/2002 5:54:27 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
WASHINGTON - (AP) -- Foreign-language classrooms across the country are growing increasingly silent. Instead of tackling French, German or other more commonly taught languages, students are learning to speak with their hands.
''If we teach one American Sign Language course, we have enough students for three. If we teach three courses, we have enough students to fill six,'' said Sherman Wilcox, professor of linguistics at the University of New Mexico, which offers ASL as a foreign language. ``We just cannot keep up with demand.''
''I just thought it was a beautiful language,'' said Kelly King, 21, who is majoring in ASL at Gardner-Webb University in Boiling Springs, N.C.
''It came easy to me, and it was something I felt very impassioned to do,'' King said. ``It's one of the fields in the world where you can make a difference.''
While many schools are offering ASL as a foreign language, the idea is not universally accepted.
At issue for educators and lawmakers is whether ASL has the components of a bona fide language -- a set of unique linguistic components, a culture, a body of literature, all components of other languages.
'FOREIGN' IDEA
''I think one of the reasons that people will be skeptical is because they're so used to thinking of languages as being spoken,'' said Douglas Baynton, an ASL professor at the University of Iowa. ``The idea that you can have a language on your hands is just very foreign.''
ASL was offered at 119 two- and four-year colleges and universities that responded to a 1999 survey by the Modern Language Association.
The survey, which did not specify how many schools offered ASL as a foreign language, found that enrollment in ASL classes rose from about 4,000 in 1995 to more than 11,000 in 1998.
Authoritative statistics on the use of ASL and even the number of the nation's deaf are hard to find.
In the latest statistics available, nearly eight million Americans reported ''difficulty hearing a conversation,'' according to a 1997 survey by the Census Bureau. Similarly difficult to define, ASL can incorporate different dialects, personal customized signs and slang, and the amount of use varies by person.
LINGUISTS DISAGREE
Some linguists say there is no question that ASL should be considered a foreign language. Others contend that they are too accepting.
''I'm not opposed to the teaching of sign language at all,'' said Jonathan Chaves, who teaches Chinese at The George Washington University, in Washington, where ASL is offered as an elective.
``But the issue that has been raised is whether to allow it to fulfill the same requirement that is fulfilled by the study of French, Russian and Chinese language and literature.''
The language, he said, has functional limitations and the desire to equate ASL as a foreign language is driven more by emotion than reason.
RELATION TO ENGLISH
''Everything that can be expressed in English can be expressed in ASL,'' said Steven Chough, a professor of ASL at George Washington, who is deaf and spoke through an interpreter. ``They can understand the world through ASL, the way that you understand it through English.''
Geralyn Schulz, head of the speech and hearing science department at the school and a member of an ASL fact-finding committee, said there is ''a very large interest'' in having ASL classes taught at George Washington.
''I think we could . . . make a positive statement if we not only offer ASL but accept it as a foreign language,'' she said.
From Congress to newborn wards, parents and policy-makers face deaf activists who extol the virtues of living deaf. Meanwhile, implant surgeons are labeled "profiteers" and anti-deaf "bigots," and accused of genocide. Some are so besieged they dare not even offer patients the option of an implant. Meanwhile, we swallow the myth that keeping a baby deaf is morally and medically equivalent to letting the baby hear.***
Though I do not consider sign language (even ASL) to be a 'foreign language' (as it is a form of interpreted English), it is certainly an interesting course of study. The difficulty with taking the courses is that it is almost impossible for the hearing (except those raised by or living with the deaf) to become proficient enough for such jobs as medical, legal, diplomatic, etc. interpretation. And since most Americans don't live with the deaf, there is little chance to converse and hone skills.
I personally consider ALS to be a unique language. Nobody created ASL, but ASL has evolved. Humans are linguistic beings, and deaf people created and evolved ASL on their own. To say it is interpreted english is an insult. When a deaf person has a conversation using ASL, they activate the same portion of the brain for language that hearing use. They don't have to convert the language into english to understand, they understand ASL directly.
This is a very personal topic for me, since my wife has been working with deaf kids for almost a year now. She has made several new friends who are deaf. I have been having to deal with these issues and they are not so black and white as you think.
Now trying to sound too much like an environmental wacko, but the deaf community is very distinct and unique in this world today. If the deaf community went away tomorrow, the world would be a little less colorful, a little more dull. If we could eliminate deafness through gene therapy, we would be destroying a culture, or at least a subculture.
Believe it or not, most deaf are happy, and would choose to be deaf rather than hear. Now parents deciding to have their children be deaf may seem monstrous, but I'm not really sure. What is important for children: to have as many options as possible, or to grow up to be happy, productive individuals. Deaf children raised by deaf parents are happy, and they are just like any other children. This is a subject that I'm still trying to understand.
I think the school voucher program would produce some wonderful results in helping sort this all out.
We have always wanted to try life off the road system but concern for our daughter has always placed dreams on backburner. Well, this year we accepted positions at a 50/50 mixed community located on the ocean in the Tongass forest. Nice place right where all the boat people from lower 48 gawk at the glaciers, whales, and mountains; tremendous hunting & fishing. No road to the place, just barge and daily flights.
I feel this will be a good experience for our daughter, as I believe she is currently somewhat segregated into the deaf culture. My wife disagrees but we are trying it for a year. Our fear is not the academics, but the social aspect.
Anyway, with the current teacher shortage; we could quit one day and have 25 job offers the next. I sure hope that we find that out daughter continues to excell in this new environment or my wife will be proved up once again.
So it looks as though we are going to find out firsthand if the deaf are better served within their own community or in a mainstream educational environment.
The deaf community is generally quite pro-active now-a-days. Big change from the days they were considered mutes,warehoused,wards of the govt, and noncontributing members of society. No going back for them. The good IDEA has accomplished.
As it turned out, this was the best thing they ever did for my aunt, because she learned (taught herslf) lip-reading. Also, my mother, who was 5 years younger than my aunt, taught her sister speech! It was a very primitive method--they would go out in the outhouse and my mother would put her mouth on my aunt's ear and scream at the top of her lungs! My aunt had just enough hearing to begin to make out sounds and words.
This lady went on to teach herself hair dressing, became very good at it, and supported herself very well all her life.
Down the road, hearing aids were invented, and these helped her somewhat. Today's advancements in hearing aid technology further increased her ability to hear, but she still has to rely a lot on lip-reading.
Today, this dear lady remains an upbeat, funny lady who has had a full life. She has outlived 3 husbands, supported her parents in their old age, and to this day, lives alone and takes care of herself.
She has had 2 hearing dogs in her lifetime that were a great benefit to her as she grew older, and I highly recommend these dogs to deaf people.
No clue; I wasn't born deaf. I know several deaf, and I know their answer is no, they don't want it. And they also find it monstrous that hearing parents decide for their children to have cochlear implants; sometimes against their will.
One concept that I'm trying to deal with is the concept of "deaf" and "Deaf". The upper case D makes all the difference in the world. The word "deaf" means you can't hear. The word "Deaf" means you are part of deaf culture. Basil's Aunt would be lower case deaf.
??? By interpreted English, do you mean signed English? ASL isn't even close to English or any other language in grammar or syntax, and so must certainly by classified as a foreign language.
ASL is NOT merely a form of interpreted English. It has its own grammar, rules, etc., and it conveys info completely differently than does English. In fact, some concepts are easier to express in ASL than in English, and many make much more sense when ASL is used.
Also, different countries have their own versions of signing. A friend of mine is fluent in American, British, and Kenyan sign languages (plus she knows a smattering of Mexican and French), each of which is extremely different from ASL. In no way can Kenyan sign language be considered "interpreted English!"
It is no more impossible for the hearing to become fluent in ASL than for any person to become fluent in any other language. It isn't easy, but it isn't impossible. Many speakers of other languages can't translate legal or medical terms, either, but that is no reason to not learn the language. Getting a job as an interpreter and talking to the deaf are two different things, and are not necessarily mutually required or desired.
True, not being able to converse or hone skills with the deaf makes becoming better at ASL more difficult. That same problem comes up with any foreign language someone is trying to learn. I took German in high school and college, and never had anyone outside of class to talk to. I still learned enough to appreciate the culture and literature more than I did before taking the classes, and I learned a lot about English in the process as well. The same applies to ASL.
Also, there are a lot more deaf people out there than most hearing people are aware of. So, finding someone to "talk" to really isn't that much of a problem if someone makes the effort to find them.
Correct, which is why those who converse only in ASL tend to be illiterate in written English. Without a one-to-one correlation between a gesture and an English word, there can be no written language beyond the most primitive level. I've seen the writing of many ASL users, and it is usually unintelligible.
On the other hand, those who use Signed English can usually make themselves clearly understood in writing.
Which one would benefit a child more, i.e. make him employable at something besides manual labor?
ASL is child abuse.
Deaf parents don't want their deaf children to excel? Can you really believe this to be true? Why not just say deaf parents don't love this children? And if that's the way you feel, why not just pass a law that all deaf people need to be sterilized? Get out of the dark ages!
ASL is child abuse? ASL is a form of communication. There is no reason someone can't be fluent in ASL and English. If they are not, you can blame their parents, themselves, and their educators. How can a language be abuse? This is a silly statement.
Tao Yin's reply was more directed at sixtycyclehum than at you. However, it was probably an oversight when he failed to take you to task for falling about six inches short of calling for sterilization of deaf people. Frankly, I was appalled at your post.
My gut feel is that deaf parents who don't want to have their kids hear, are simply being selfish and don't want their children to excel at anything.
The child abuse line was from Steve, notice he posted to both of you.
Your wish is my command: Right Here.
Unless, of course I misunderstand that "appalling, damn cruel" things done to children are somehow good.
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