ASL : Access , Benefits , and Quality
Rosen
literacy skills in ASL , which completes the bridging process concerning ASL and English . For an in-depth discussion on sign language and reading and how a transition to English literacy is best achieved , readers are referred to Supalla et al . ( 2017 ). These scholars have proposed that a special written form of ASL that is hybridized with English will help systematize the teaching process with deaf children . The much needed comparative analysis lessons for ASL and English are contingent on these children having read in ASL and being able to bridge it to English .
Hearing students
The benefits of ASL for hearing students are predicated on the students ’ perceptual processing strategies to learn and use languages . Students vary in their perceptual processing schemata ( Dunn , 1983 ) and preferred modalities for coding and processing information ( McDonald , Teder-Sälejärvi , & Ward , 2001 ). Some students rely on visual processing strategies to learn languages , while other students rely on auditory processing strategies to learn languages , and still others rely on kinesthetic processing strategies ( Barbe & Swassing , 1979 ). Rosen ( 2015 ) conducted a study of the perceptual processing schematas of speaking and hearing students of ASL . The students were asked about their perceptual processing schemata and how these affect their learning of ASL . It was found that students varied in their perceptual processing schemata . When they first learned signs and grammar , some of the students reported that they thought in pictures and images , other students reported that they thought in actions , and a few of the students depended on English translations . The bulk of the student responses demonstrated a preference for visual processing strategies . Apparently , ASL appeals to speaking and hearing students who largely rely on visual processing strategies to learn .
There are multiple motivations for hearing students to learn ASL . In the same study by Rosen ( 2015 ) on high school students who take ASL for foreign language credit , it was found that more than half of the students take sign language because they want to learn about deaf people and want to work with deaf people in the future , and / or that they want to teach the language in the future . Half of the students take ASL because they need to communicate with family and friends . For some hearing students , learning ASL will help students learn English better . About a third of the students take ASL because they failed other spoken foreign languages , which may be associated with their learning styles , as discussed earlier . This last finding suggests that ASL provides the students opportunities for completing the higher education degree by meeting a foreign language requirement for graduation that they might not meet otherwise .
One particular motivation among hearing students for learning ASL has to do with deaf students themselves , according to Rosen ’ s 2015 study . In regular public schools where deaf students attend alongside hearing students , some hearing students have chosen ASL to communicate with their deaf classmates . This helps bolster communication between the students , and prevents mainstreamed deaf students from feeling isolated at their schools . For the hearing students , classes in ASL focus their awareness on deaf community and culture . Applying that knowledge through signing with deaf students appears to be fulfilling for the hearing students .
Finally , the extra-curricular uses of ASL as a foreign language by students of ASL demands attention . Rosen ( 2015 ) found certain interpersonal situations and social contexts that fostered the use of ASL in daily life . The interpersonal situations were created by the learners to use ASL instead of spoken English when they wanted to bond , tell secrets , express themselves with other learners and avoid having other people overhear their conversations . There were also social contexts that made it difficult for the learners to use spoken English and forced them to use visual-
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