Plan of Study – American Sign Language

Note: A Semester Hour (s.h.) is a unit of academic credit representing an hour of class (such as lecture class) or three hours of laboratory work each week for an academic semester. Most courses are two, three or four semester hours.

American Sign Language: Minor

Minor Courses (Minimum of 31 semester hours required.)

SLS 1000 Sign Language in Society (3 s.h.)

A survey of American Sign Language and Deaf culture. Emphasis on Sign language structure, history, and usage. Discussion of a sociocultural perspective of Deaf people including readings from anthropology, sociology, linguistics, and education. Includes an examination of American attitudes toward Sign language and Deaf culture.

SLS 1015 Beginning American Sign Language I (3 s.h.)

Development of basic ASL communication skills with appropriate vocabulary and grammatical structures. Emphasis on communicative and linguistic functions. Prerequisite or corequisite: SLS 1000.

SLS 1020 Beginning American Sign Language II (3 s.h.)

Development of basic ASL communication skills with appropriate vocabulary and grammatical structures. Emphasis on communicative and linguistic functions. Prerequisite: SLS 1000 and SLS 1015 or placement.

SLS1020L Beginning Sign Language II Lab (1 s.h.)

Guided laboratory practicum: Foundational activities building on basic receptive skills with application to real interactions along with reflection and research. Prerequisite: SLS 1020

SLS 2010 Intermediate American Sign Language I (3 s.h.)

Review of ASL grammatical features and further development of communication functions at the intermediate level. Prerequisites: SLS 1020 and SLS 1020.LB or placement. Corequisite: SLS 2010.LB

SLS2010L Intermediate Sign Language 1 Lab (1 s.h.)

Guided laboratory practicum: Continuation of foundational activity building on basic receptive skills with increased use of visual spatial space. Corequisite: SLS 2010

SLS 2020 Intermediate American Sign Language II (3 s.h.)

Second level of immediate instruction and review of ASL grammatical features with further development of communication functions at the intermediate level. Prerequisite: SLS 2010 or placement. Thirty hours of laboratory practicum required for SLS 2020.

SLS2020L Intermediate Sign Language II Lab (1 s.h.)

Guided laboratory practicum: Students will begin modeling ASL discourse and make applications to mock setting and real-world settings. Corequisite: SLS 2020

SLS 2310 Deaf Culture (3 s.h.)

Examination of Deaf culture through the lens of intersectionality and exploration of how various social, cultural, and identity factors intersect within the Deaf community. Analysis of how hearing society shapes and influences Deaf culture, both historically and in contemporary contexts. Investigation of the global diversity of Deaf experiences through the use of literature, media, and narratives from Deaf communities around the world, with an emphasis on cross-cultural perspectives. Prerequisite: SLS 1000

SLS 3010 Advanced American Sign Language I (3 s.h.)

Advanced American Sign Language development with a focus on text analysis of English and ASL content to increase student vocabulary and understanding of ASL syntactical patterns. Communicative dialogues will highlight the sociocultural and historical aspects of ASL etymology. Prerequisite: SLS 2020.

SLS3010L Advanced American Sign Language I Lab (1 s.h.)

Guided laboratory practicum: Students will continue modeling ASL discourse and make applications to mock settings and real-world settings along with analysis of distinctive ASL features seen in ASL storytelling. Prerequisite: SLS 2020

SLS 3020 Advanced American Sign Language II (3 s.h.)

Advanced American Sign Language development utilizing increased grammatical complexity through continued emphasis on ASL syntactical patterns through different scenarios and nuances. Prerequisite: SLS 3010.

SLS3020L Advanced American Sign Language II Lab (1 s.h.)

Guided laboratory practicum: Increased complexity of ASL discourse in a variety of real-world settings. Prerequisites: SLS 3020, SLS 3010.

SLS 3290 Fingerspelling and Numbers in ASL (2 s.h.)

Concentrated instruction in practice of fingerspelling, numbering, and loan signs at increasing levels of complexity. Corequisite: SLS 2020.