Essay On American Sign Language

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The American sign language is a form of communication that uses gestures instead of using a verbal means of communicating, now the bill Sb 2981 proposes that the american sign language should be recognized as a foreign language in the public school system. What this means is that any public school in the state may teach the American Sign Language and if a student completes a course in this language, then the student will get a credit towards their world language requirement. I personally support this idea as this would open up more opportunities to “expand their horizons” and give students opportunities to learn a language that uses visual cues and does not use any verbal cues at all. Sign language will also give people a way to communicate and build relationships others whose hearing is impaired. Most importantly it will improve your way of non verbal communication, from just using natural gestures all the way to being able to have a conversation in an environment that is difficult to have a verbal conversation. Some people may say that sign is not language, but this essay will go over why the American Sign Language should be offered as a course in the public system and why the American sign language is in fact a language. If sign language were implemented in the public school system, it would be able to widen the understanding of the students knowledge of the language itself. The students in the class would be expose the students to a brand new way communicating. As opposed to communicating verbally, the students would learn how to communicate using gestures that correlate to words. Students may be reluctant to learn the language because of how different it is in comparison to other verbal languages, however, it is stated that “American sign language is the fourth most popular language at colleges and universities in the United States,”(Hawaii) so it is evident that the want for the class is there. Also it is noted that “Forty-two states currently recognize American sign language as a foreign language, and have incorporated it into public school curricula.” (Hawaii) so it is not crazy to think that this not something that Hawaii should do considering that majority of the United States has done. Also when this bill was introduced for voting majority of the people who voted for this bill said yes, and all the other voting sessions aside from the first two, all the votes were a yes. The students in this class would also learn that sign language is not a universal language, but there are different versions of sign language respective to each area. The whole point of communicating with others is to build relationships with others, so learning another language, especially if there is a chance of meeting someone who speaks that language in your area. Even though the chances of meeting someone who is deaf in the United States is about a 2.1 percent chance (Deaf), there is still a chance of meeting someone who is deaf. If this were implemented it would give a push of some sort for students to learn how to communicate through sign language, especially because being implemented into the public school system, the students have not decided what they are going to major in. So …show more content…
When you learn the American sign language, it is evidently comprised of only nonverbal communication, so that would include gestures that come out naturally. In the American sign language when you some signs, such as hurt, you use your facial expression to express different things (life print). If you do not use expressions such as this, you would be seen as someone with an accent of sorts, and because the point of taking a foreign language class is to meet all the standards, one of the standards is to become more fluent in the language that you are taking, so you will eventually learn to effectively use facial expressions properly while speaking. Since this bill is relevant to high school, the students do not know what they are going to do with their future careers yet, so there is a good chance that they will eventually take a class that involves some sort of public speaking, so it would make it easier to present in those

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