n American Sign Language is a naturally developed visual language with grammar and syntax that are distinct from all other languages, including spoken English and other signed languages. ASL is indigenous to the United States and parts of Canada and used by millions of deaf people as a primary language. The ignorance and misinformation surrounding ASL are precisely the reasons it should fulfill a foreign language requirement and be offered to a broader audience. If Nathaniel Pagan (“Foreign language must be foreign,” March 30, pg. 9) and those who share his misconceptions had taken ASL, they would surely see that it does not have Anglo-Saxon roots and is, in fact, the core of a culture quite different from that of mainstream America. Furthermore, numerous researchers have shown over the last 30 years that ASL is definitely not “English in the air.”
As noted by Rowan Armor (“American Sign Language should count for class credit,” March 26, pg. 7), Twi is also indigenous to the United States, yet Twi fulfills the foreign language requirement in the College of Arts and Sciences and ASL does not. Other signed languages such as French Sign Language (LSF) are not accepted by CAS, but they are clearly foreign to the United States, and so CAS presents a situation of discrimination against languages of the visual modality and against users of signed languages throughout the world.
The issue seems to revolve around the terminology being used as in “foreign.” Perhaps there is a need to change the terminology from “foreign” to “second” language, which would apply to Twi, ASL, Inuit, Sioux, Cherokee and other signed languages. Since the ASL courses offered in the School of Education have all of the necessary elements for language study, it should fulfill the CAS language requirement, just like Twi. Over 100 other prestigious universities and colleges in America accept ASL as a foreign language. This discussion in CAS has a long history at BU and it is time for CAS to accept ASL for its language requirement.
Students in BU’s deaf studies program take four semesters of ASL to fulfill their major requirement in SED. If a deaf studies student wants to double major in CAS, she must take two years of another language. Why should deaf studies students be forced to learn a third language when others are only required to learn a second? Students who major in French are not required to learn a third language. If CAS accepts ASL to fulfill the language requirement, standards can be established university-wide to create an equal education for all at BU.
The CAS administration has allowed ignorance to persist in a university committed to excellence and education. In order to reverse the clear misinformation present in the BU community regarding American Sign Language and deaf culture, it is necessary for CAS to reconsider its decision regarding this matter. Students should have the choice to learn ASL under their language requirement, and ASL and the deaf community have the right to be recognized here at BU.
Elizabeth Taylor SED ’05
Executive Board Secretary, Deaf Studies Club
