Chapter 14: “A language in its own right”: American Sign Language and World Language Education

The number of schools and universities offering courses in American Sign Language (ASL), and the number of students enrolled in such classes, have increased significantly in recent years. This chapter will discuss why a chapter about ASL is both necessary and important in a book of this type. It will offer an overview of the nature of sign languages from a linguistic perspective, identify different kinds of “signing,” and distinguish sign language from other kinds of signing. It will explore the debate about the teaching and learning of ASL as a “foreign language” in the United States, and will offer a response to criticisms of the most common challenges to the teaching of ASL as a “foreign language” in the United States. It will discuss the teaching and learning of ASL as a world language, and will also describe the nature of the DEAF-WORLD and its relationship with ASL.