American Sign Language Analysis

Words: 1501
Pages: 7

learn and engaged in the lesson being taught. Barbara Cooper, who writes for the Reading Teacher which is a peer reviewed journal and has researched this topic immensely and is well informed on the information she wrote about, discovers, “I have found that incorporating Sign Language in a diverse curriculum enhances the rate of children’s learning, leads to greater motivation for reading and reaches a broad spectrum of children.” It helps the students become better in language arts and reading, but Sign Language can have an impact on all classes in school (Brown; Cooper; Simpson). American Sign Language is a language assists a child’s education and can be used with every type of child.
American Sign Language helps all different children such
…show more content…
In Africa, a doctor wrongly prescribed a medication to a patient with a hearing impairment, Tafara Mago, which resulted in his death. This death could have been prevented if the doctor had the opportunity to learn Sign Language in school and was able to communicate with the deaf and hearing impaired. Tafara Mago’s parents, who are parents to a deaf child who died from a communication barrier, stated, “Mago is among thousands of people with hearing and speech impairments condemned to a life of limited interaction with the greater world due to the language barrier hindering communication” (qtd. In “Teach Sign Language in Schools”). This situation also brought up the isolation that the deaf feel from many people not knowing Sign Language and how to communicate with them. They do not have enough individuals qualified in translating or interpreting Sign Language and are forced to guess what each other are saying. Africa has a lower economic status than the United States does, so courses may not be able to be offered as easily in American Sign Language than in the United States. If the doctor was able to learn Sign Language while in school, he would not have needed anyone to translate and could have prevented the situation (“Teach Sign Language in Schools”). Sign language becoming available to be taught in all levels of education would be beneficial for the …show more content…
Some solutions to allow more schools to teach Sign Language to the students is to slowly incorporate the language in the classroom at a young age. Using a little bit of Sign Language in the classroom is different than teaching the actual language as a foreign language or elective, but it will introduce the students to the language and can allow more students to see if they are interested in learning the language or not. Using simple signs like a “T” for toilet and “W” for water will introduce the students to the language and also allow unspoken communication between the students and teachers. Fran Nadel, a second grade teacher who uses Sign Language in her classroom, states, “Sign Language is the ultimate multitasker’s tool” (qtd. in Brown). Fran Nadel uses Sign Language in her classroom so that she is able to continue class without having to interrupt the lesson to tell a student they can leave the room by simply signing yes or no to students who sign letters asking to use the restroom or get a drink of water. Allowing more schools to teach Sign Language as a credit class could be accomplished by one of the foreign language teachers taking American Sign Language courses and then teaching the students that want to learn it. Schools could also bring in certified American Sign Language teachers to teach the student if the school