The SAGE Deaf Studies

Encyclopedia
Sign Language Teaching, History of

Contributors: Keith M. Cagle

Edited by: Genie Gertz & Patrick Boudreault
Book Title: The SAGE Deaf Studies Encyclopedia
Chapter Title: "Sign Language Teaching, History of"
Pub. Date: 2016
Access Date: March 31, 2016
Publishing Company: SAGE Publications, Inc
City: Thousand Oaks
Print ISBN: 9781452259567
Online ISBN: 9781483346489

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.4135/9781483346489.n273
Print pages: 855-859
2016 SAGE Publications, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
This PDF has been generated from SAGE Knowledge. Please note that the
pagination of the online version will vary from the pagination of the print book.

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American Sign Language (ASL) is accepted by colleges and universities and has been
accepted in fulfillment of the modern/foreign language requirements at the high school,
bachelors, and masters levels in schools and states across the United States. ASL
classes are also offered in elementary and middle schools.
Teaching sign language is a relatively new phenomenon compared to the teaching of
other foreign or modern languages. Prior to the 1960s, many members of the Deaf
community had the idea that their sign language was based on the spoken language
used in their home community. At that time, sign language was taught strictly in parallel
with the words from the spoken language. Many sign language classes were provided
on a voluntary basis through Deaf community organizations and churches for the Deaf.
The widely used sign language dictionary in the classes was A Basic Course in
Manual Communication published by National Association of the Deaf in 1970, which
provided a list of English words with accompanying illustrations of signs for the words.
Prior to the 1980s, the classes often were taught by CODAs (children of Deaf adults),
interpreters, and hearing teachers of Deaf students. During this era, teachers relied
heavily on using spoken English to teach new signs and on vocabulary drills without
much attention to grammatical structure or communicative behaviors. Beginning in the
1980s, signed language instruction changed to being offered as formal courses taken
for credit in an academic setting with qualified sign language teachers who use signed
language to introduce lexical signs, grammatical structures, and culture of Deaf people.
In the United States, linguistic research on sign language in the 1960s and 1970s
paved the way for recognition of the Deaf communitys sign language as a legitimate
language that is distinctive from spoken languages grammar, and further to use the
name American Sign Language (ASL) for the sign language used by the Deaf
community members in the United States and Canada. This led to many states giving
recognition to ASL as the official language of the Deaf community, and to provide ASL
classes for credit in academic settings, beginning with the colleges and universities
and then in the K12 schools. The Modern Language Association reported that the
number of students taking ASL classes increased 15.5 percent from 2006 to 2009 and
19 percent from 2009 to 2013, and that ASL is the third most common foreign
language in the United States.
ASL Teaching Methods
With the limited knowledge about teaching foreign language as a second language in
the 1960s and 1970s, many ASL teachers employed the methods known as
Vocabulary Method and Audiolingual Method (well known as the Army Method). The
instructors often provided the lists of vocabulary and sign dictionaries to the students,
and then taught the signs correlating to the English words from the lists. The students
relied on memorizing the signs through the drills where the lists of sentences in English
were provided for the students to copy and practice. The students used the signs in
their native languages grammar rather than in ASL grammar.
There are numerous methods and approaches available for teaching foreign language
as a language. Today most ASL teachers are using an eclectic approach in which they
select and use several approaches and methods to fit their teaching styles and
students learning styles. Most draw from the following methods and approaches in their
ASL classes: Direct Method, Functional Notation Approach, Grammar Translation
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Method, Total Physical Response, Interactive Learning, and Learner-Centered

Instruction.
Many ASL programs and teachers have established a policy of no voice used in the
ASL classes to strengthen students receptive skills and natural acquisition of ASL as a
language. In the classes, different teaching techniques are used: identifying and
labeling, substituting, contrasting, setting a scenario or acting out, and defining to
introduce new ASL signs without relying much on written English.
Curricula for ASL Classes
The teaching method and curriculum for ASL classes has evolved through the 1980s
and 1990s to the 21st century with new findings and information from the research on
teaching language as a second language, and the first ASL curriculum authored by
Charlotte Baker and Dennis Cokely in 1980. Although Lou Fant authored the first ASL
book, which is known as Ameslan, in 1972, Baker and Cokelys curriculum is
comprehensive; it includes videos and information about methodology, grammar,
community, and culture; and it became the model for many new ASL curricula
developed later (e.g., Basic Sign Communication, later changed to ASL at Work,
Bravo, Signing Naturally, and Master ASL). Today most ASL teachers use different
resources, teaching methods, and approaches to maximize students learning of ASL
as a language.
Training for ASL Teachers
Today there are professional development opportunities available for ASL teachers in
the United States and Canada through workshops and conferences hosted by the
American Sign Language Teachers Association (ASLTA) and its state and local
chapters, Sign Language Instructors of Canada (SLIC), National Association of the
Deaf (NAD), and Canadian Cultural Society of the Deaf (CCSD), along with other
professional organizations such as Conference of Interpreter Trainers (CIT), Registry of
Interpreters for the Deaf (RID), and Association of Visual Language Interpreters of
Canada (AVLIC). In addition, colleges and universities, including Gallaudet University,
National Technical Institute for the Deaf, and California State University, Northridge
(CSUN), provide professional development opportunities.
Beyond professional development, graduate-level training in teaching ASL for masters
degrees is available through certain colleges and universities such as McDaniel
College in Westminster, Maryland; Columbia University in New York City; Gallaudet
University in Washington, D.C.; and the University of Northern Colorado. In addition,
colleges and universities offer bachelors degrees in ASL or Deaf Studies, including
Northeastern University, the University of Rochester, Gallaudet University, CSUN,
Gardner-Webb University, and Keuka College, among others.
In the 21st century, more colleges and universities will provide more degree programs
in teaching ASL through face-to-face and online instructions.
Professional development and formal training for ASL teachers focus on teaching
methodology, assessment and evaluations, curriculum development, lesson planning,
research, linguistics of ASL and other sign languages, Deaf culture and community,
ASL and Deaf literatures, Deaf Studies including Deaf history, and instructional
technology.
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Organizations and Evaluation Systems for ASL Teachers

There is a national professional organization for ASL teachers in the United States
called the American Sign Language Teachers Association (ASLTA). The organization
was originally founded in 1975 in Texas as the Sign Instructors Guidance Network
(SIGN). In 1991, the name of the organization changed from SIGN to ASLTA. The
organization was affiliated with the National Association of the Deaf (NAD) from 1975
to 2004. Its mission is to provide professional development, evaluation, certification,
and networking for teachers of ASL and Deaf Studies and to serve as a clearinghouse
for information regarding the teaching of ASL and Deaf Studies.
In 1976, SIGN (former name) began offering evaluations for a certification in ASL,
manually coded English (MCE), or both. Certification is one of the means for ensuring
that an instructor is qualified to teach ASL. In 1992, the ASLTA ceased providing
evaluations for MCE certification. In 2009, the ASLTA began requiring that candidates
successfully pass the American Sign Language Proficiency Interview (ASLPI) or Sign
Language Proficiency Interview: ASL (SLPI: ASL) in an effort to demonstrate
proficiency in ASL. Further, in 2012, the ASLTA began requiring a bachelors degree
or higher as part of its evaluation and certification requirements. While a degree
specifically in teaching ASL and Deaf Studies is certainly preferable, many qualified
teachers of ASL will have degrees in other fields but will have demonstrated their ability
to teach ASL through qualified experience or certification from the ASLTA.
Since the early 1990s, more universities, colleges, K12 schools, Deaf community
services, and state departments of education or public instruction in the United States
are requiring ASLTA certification for ASL teachers employment, promotion, and
tenure. In Canada, the CCSD created an evaluation tool known as the American Sign
Language Instructors of Canada Evaluation (ASLICE). The evaluation is used for
teachers of ASL. More information about ASLICE evaluation and certification may be
obtained through the CCSD website.
ASL and Signed English
Beginning in the late 1950s and early 1960s, the civil rights and antiVietnam War
movements in the United States emerged. Those movements influenced the Deaf
community and ASL in several ways. First, they motivated many Deaf communities to
exercise their own rights. As a consequence, many schools for the Deaf were
pressured into changing their educational method from oralism to total communication
(TC) so that the use of sign language was allowed in the classroom. TC is a philosophy
for deaf education endorsing an inclusion of audition, fingerspelling, gesture, lipreading,
nonmanual signals, reading, signing, and writing. This led many people within deaf
education and the Deaf communities to create committees to develop new signs with
the goal of improving deaf childrens English vocabulary. Many of these newly created
signs were initialized. That led to the creation of Seeing Essential English (SEE 1),
Signing Exact English (SEE 2), and other English-based signed systems. During those
times, many prominent Deaf leaders and activists were not aware that ASL was a true
language. Research of their native sign language was occurring concurrently and did
not become public knowledge until some years later. It appears after some years that
from those different English-based signed systems, the SEE 2 system has emerged as
the most widely used in the education of the Deaf and among hearing parents of deaf
children. Simultaneously, ASL gained wide popularity among the Deaf communities.
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ASL and SEE 2 would be on a collision course in years ahead. Much of the Deaf
community rejected the use of SEE 2, particularly its English prefix (e.g., PRE-, POST-)
and suffix signs (e.g., -ING, -MENT, -NESS, -ISH).
The civil rights movement has empowered the Deaf community to demand more
equality and rights, particularly in the area of communication where deaf people have
demanded interpreting services, assistive devices such as the telecommunication
device for the deaf (TDD, known as TTY for teletypewriters), relay services, and more.
That has led to tremendous improvement in technology for deaf people, and in training
for interpreters. These advancements have enabled more deaf people to enter higher
education because of access to better interpreting services and technology. This, in
turn, has resulted in more deaf people being hired in advanced and professional
employment where, as a result, they encountered new terminology and professional
jargon. The process of initialization then played an important role in creating new lexical
items in ASL for use in technical classes and professional workplaces.
In addition, technological advancements have spurred the Deaf community to change
several signs, such as TELEPHONE (from the old-time sign of S handshapes placed at
the mouth and ear to one Y handshape placed on the cheek), HORSE-DRIVE to CARDRIVE, and COMPUTER. Furthermore, technological advancements often lead to the
creation of new signs, such as AIRPLANE, MICROWAVE OVEN, ATM, SPACE
SHUTTLE, VIDEOPHONE, and PAGER.
There are several ways that ASL has borrowed from English: through initialization,
fingerspelling, and lexicalized fingerspelling. ASL and English have coexisted for close
to 200 years. One cannot deny that ASL has borrowed some terminology from the
English language. Examining the ASL lexicon closely reveals that numerous ASL signs
are initialized using handshapes corresponding to the first letter of English words, such
as F in FAMILY, G in GROUP, I in IDEA, M in MATHEMATICS, and more.
In addition to the process of borrowing from English through initialization, ASL signers
often borrow English words by using the ASL manual alphabet to finger spell numerous
English words in their daily conversation, such as brand names and names of persons.
There is a particular phenomenon that can occur with fingerspelling. It is known as
lexicalized fingerspelling. In 1978, Robbin Battison, an ASL linguist, conducted the first
in-depth research on fingerspelling and discovered that certain well-used
fingerspellings become more sign-like through nine restructuring profiles: deletion,
location shift, handshape from change, movement change or addition, palm orientation
shift, reduplication, use of second hand, morphological involvement, and restricted
semantics. Those lexicalized and restructured finger spelled words become new
vocabulary items in ASL.
In summary, the influence of English can be seen in ASL as revealed through the
processes of initialization, finger spelling, and lexicalized fingerspelling, yet ASL is
distinct from signed English.
What About Hiring a Native Signer or Nonnative Signer?
Nonnative versus native teachers of languages is an issue debated among all foreign
language teaching organizations. Some countries discourage hiring nonnative signers
to teach signed languages. This issue is debated within the profession of ASL teaching
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as well. Like other professional organizations of language teachers, the ASLTA

believes what counts most are the qualifications of the potential teacher. Most important
are the teaching skills and knowledge of the potential teacher and the potential
teachers ability to represent the language and culture as authentically as possible.
Naturally, if given a choice between two qualified individuals, choosing a Deaf native
signer may offer students an authentic and enriching experience to learn ASL from a
Deaf teacher. Deaf teachers can offer special insights to their students based on their
experiences in Deaf culture and using ASL in their daily lives. Deaf teachers can teach
any level of ASL from introductory classes to the most advanced, and students can
benefit from learning ASL from a native signer. Hearing teachers of ASL also can bring
special strengths to the learning experience for students. For example, knowing that a
hearing individual has accomplished a native-like proficiency in ASL and an
understanding of Deaf culture through interaction within the Deaf community can be
inspiring to students of ASL. Students may be able to see that it is truly possible for
hearing people to learn and use ASL effectively. In one sense, a hearing teacher can
act as a role model for adult learners of ASL. In programs with multiple levels of
instruction, it may be appropriate to consciously seek to have both Deaf and hearing
teachers. It is the policy of the ASLTA not to discriminate on the basis of hearing status.
Holding ASLTA certification is one way of ensuring that a teacher is qualified to teach
ASL whether the individual is deaf or hearing.
Keith M. Cagle
See also Sign Language Teaching, Curriculum Models of; Sign Language Teaching,
Foreign Language Requirements for; Signed Language Linguistics, History of
Further Readings
American Sign Language Teachers Association. (2009). About teaching ASL. Sioux
City, SD: CSD TV.
Baker, C., & Cokely, D. (1980a). American Sign Language: A student text (Units 19,
1018, 1927). Silver Spring, MD: T. J. Publishers.
Baker, C., & Cokely, D. (1980b). American Sign Language: A teachers resource text
on curriculum, methods, and evaluation. Silver Spring, MD: T. J. Publishers.
Baker, C., & Cokely, D. (1980c). American Sign Language: A teachers resource text
on grammar and culture. Silver Spring, MD: T. J. Publishers.
Brown, H. (2007). Teaching by principles: An interactive approach to language
pedagogy. White Plains, NY: Pearson Education.
Cagle, K. (1995). The Basics about teaching ASL. San Diego, CA: DawnSignPress.
Caswell, J. (1996). Bravo. Salem, OR: Sign Enhancers.
Cooper, S. B., Reisman, J. I., & Watson, D. (2008). The status of sign language
instruction in institutions of higher education: 19942004. American Annals of the
Deaf, 153(1), 7888.

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Fant, L. J. (1972). Ameslan: An introduction to American Sign Language. Silver

Spring, MD: T. J. Publishers.
Goldberg, D., Looney, D., & Lusin, N. (2015). Enrollments in languages other than
English in United States institutions of higher education, Fall 2013. New York, NY:
Modern
Language
Association.
Retrieved
from
http://www.mla.org/pdf/2013_enrollment_survey.pdf
Lentz, E. M., Mikos, K., & Smith, C. (1992). Signing naturally: Level 2. San Diego, CA:
DawnSignPress.
Newell, W. (1983). Basic sign communication. Silver Springs, MD: NAD Publishers.
Newell, W., Sanders, C., Ray-Holcomb, B., Caccamise, F., & Peterson, R. (2010). ASL
at work. San Diego, CA: DawnSignPress.
ORourke, T. J. (1970). A basic course in manual communication. Silver Springs, MD:
NAD Publishers.
Richards, J., & Rodgers, T. (2001). Approaches and methods in language teaching.
Cambridge, NY: Cambridge University Press.
Smith, C., Lentz, E., & Mikos, K. (1988). Signing naturally: Level 1. San Diego, CA:
DawnSignPress.
Wilcox, S. (1992). Academic acceptance of American Sign Language. Burtonsville,
MD: Linstok Press.
Zinza, J. (2006). Master ASL! Level 1. Burtonsville, MD: Sign Media.
Keith M. Cagle
http://dx.doi.org/10.4135/9781483346489.n273
10.4135/9781483346489.n273

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