Abstract
There has been tremendous growth in the teaching of sign language as a foreign sign language in elementary/secondary schools, colleges/universities, private businesses, and agencies. While this surge has allowed students to obtain foreign language credit for personal or professional reasons, the acceptance of teaching sign languages has had its challenges. Traditionally, sign language courses have been provided face-to-face using a variety of curricula in diverse departments, academic programs, and degree programs in different countries. This paper acts as a reference guide that provides locations of where sign languages are formally taught around the world, as well as learning about Deaf culture. Historical and current pedagogical practices are also discussed. Looking ahead to the future, one growing trend is providing sign language courses online in a distance-learning format to meet the high demands of interested students and reach a wider population. Moreover, examining the importance of utilizing well-trained and certified instructors, and implementing current pedagogical practices and materials that include appropriate cultural opportunities are needed to effectively teach sign language classes.
Highlights
The teaching of sign language, as a foreign language or second language (L2), has seen tremendous growth in the last few decades (Quinto-Pozos, 2011; Rosen, 2008; Rosen, 2010)
While there are over 300 different international sign languages used around the world, sign language courses have been established at a number of formal and informal locations
A project through UCLAN established an online curriculum for instructors in higher education to teach BSL, “British Sign Language: Quality Embedding of the Discipline” (BSL:QED) in 2007 (Centre for Languages, Linguistics, & Area Studies, 2016)40
Summary
The teaching of sign language, as a foreign language or second language (L2), has seen tremendous growth in the last few decades (Quinto-Pozos, 2011; Rosen, 2008; Rosen, 2010). ASL has become one of the fastest growing foreign languages in agencies, elementary/secondary schools, and post-secondary education (Quinto-Pozos, 2011; Rosen, 2008) It is ranked as the third most widely taught non-English language in the United States after Spanish and French (Gallaudet University, n.d.; Goldberg, Looney, & Lusin, 2015; Harrington, 2016). The information in this paper required individual searches within individual countries and by type of educational institution These searches were through Deaf agencies, elementary/secondary schools, and colleges/universities that teach sign language in different countries. Given this research into sign linguistics, we will highlight the process of sign language gaining recognition in different countries
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