{"id":157767,"date":"2020-01-21T07:58:45","date_gmt":"2020-01-21T12:58:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/?p=157767"},"modified":"2020-01-21T10:58:40","modified_gmt":"2020-01-21T15:58:40","slug":"uconn-becomes-first-ct-offer-sign-language-major","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/2020\/01\/uconn-becomes-first-ct-offer-sign-language-major\/","title":{"rendered":"UConn Becomes First In CT To Offer Sign Language Major"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><iframe title=\"The First ASL Major in CT | UConn\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/bfuGLBhKj28?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>When Annie Clark \u201920 (CLAS) was in kindergarten, she met a new friend at summer camp. The little boy taught her a new way to say \u201clollipop.\u201d She thought it was \u201cthe coolest thing ever,\u201d she recalls, and immediately wanted to know how he said \u201cplay.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Now a senior at UConn, Clark says she now knows that in that little boy\u2019s language, the words for \u201clollipop\u201d and \u201cice cream\u201d are the same \u2013 the only difference is facial expression and context.<\/p>\n<p>Clark hopes to be one of the first students to declare UConn\u2019s new major in American Sign Language. The program makes UConn the first and only college or university in Connecticut to offer a four-year bachelor\u2019s degree in ASL. Students can begin declaring the ASL major on May 1.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen they announced that the ASL major had been approved, and something I could really show my interest in by declaring a major, I got really excited,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n<p>The language, which originated around 1817 at Hartford\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.asd-1817.org\/\">American School for the Deaf<\/a> (ASD), is now used by up to a half-million people worldwide.<\/p>\n<p>The major is made up of courses in language, literature, linguistics and culture. All the ASL language courses are taught by Deaf faculty in the Department of Linguistics, including Joan Hanna, Doreen Simons, and Sherry Powell.<\/p>\n<p>Board of Trustees Distinguished Professor of Linguistics Diane Lillo-Martin teaches linguistics courses in the major, and serves as a liaison between the ASL faculty and the Linguistics faculty. She has seen the ASL program grow from a few courses to a minor in ASL,\u00a0along with about 10 sections of Elementary American Sign Language I every fall.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cA typical ASL class is not like any other class,\u201d says Clark, currently a speech, language, and hearing sciences major with a sign language interpreting minor who serves as an undergraduate instructional assistant in introductory ASL I classes.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEveryone sits in a circle so you can see each other and make eye contact. Voices are not allowed, and that immersion environment really teaches you to communicate with signs a lot faster.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Assistant Professor in Residence of Linguistics Linda Pelletier led the program faculty in the development of the new major.<\/p>\n<p>Pelletier, who is a CODA, an acronym in the Deaf community for \u201cchild of Deaf adults,\u201d teaches interpreting classes, an optional component of the major.<\/p>\n<p>She says the major sets students up with many of the cultural tools they\u2019ll need for a career in speech pathology, social work, and education. Within the major, a concentration in interpreting offers introductory courses for students who wish to continue their education and training to become certified as interpreters.<\/p>\n<p>Cultural events, such as the ASL Club\u2019s annual <a href=\"https:\/\/dailycampus.com\/stories\/2019\/4\/12\/signs-of-unification-at-uconn-through-deaf-awareness-day\">Deaf Awareness Day<\/a>, also bring Deaf community members from across the state to UConn, says Pelletier.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe students put on a performance in ASL, so it\u2019s not just an event for the Deaf community, but a chance for the students to interact and learn more about Deaf culture,\u201d notes Pelletier.<\/p>\n<p>Doreen Simons, lecturer in linguistics and ASL who represents the fifth generation of Deaf people in her family, says that ASL is gaining greater visibility.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAttitudes and perceptions of people who are Deaf is changing for the better,\u201d she says through an interpreter. \u201cThat wasn\u2019t my experience growing up as a young child, as a Deaf individual. It wasn\u2019t always as well-accepted or understood.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>UConn\u2019s proximity to and relationship with the ASD create an unparalleled learning environment for students of ASL, says Clark. With the UConn ASL club, Clark and other students volunteer at the ASD, which enrolls students ages 3 to 21. They help with after-school programs, give informal tutoring, and have even chaperoned the school\u2019s homecoming dance.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBecause of all the components of Deaf culture that you can\u2019t really get from a classroom, if you want to truly become fluent with the language, you need to be involved with the Deaf community,\u201d notes Clark.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou need to meet other Deaf people and socialize, and see their signs. So it just makes sense to have this major here \u2013 our department, all the incredible UConn professors, and having the ASD right here.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Simons says that in the last decade, interest in learning ASL has grown substantially.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere\u2019s greater interest in learning ASL now,\u201d Simons notes. \u201cThat motivation has certainly grown significantly. It\u2019s taken on a more positive perspective than years ago.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Clark plans to go to graduate school for speech pathology and would like to work with children who are nonverbal \u2013 either Deaf children who use sign language to communicate, or kids with autism or other disorders who are nonverbal because of their disorder and may benefit from the use of sign language \u2013 like the little boy she met in kindergarten, who had a stroke that made him nonverbal. She is still friends with him today, and she uses her ASL on a regular basis with other friends around campus.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019ve made so many wonderful connections with everyone else who\u2019s involved with ASL here,\u201d she says. \u201cAll our professors encourage you to make mistakes and raise your hand when you don\u2019t understand. The students are encouraging in the same way \u2013 you see someone who knows sign language as you\u2019re walking around outside, and you sign to each other, sometimes from across the room: How are you?\u201d<\/p>\n<p><em>Learn more about UConn\u2019s new ASL major at <\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/asl.uconn.edu\/\"><em>the American Sign Language Studies website<\/em><\/a><em>. <\/em><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>UConn has become the first higher education institution in Connecticut to offer a four-year degree in American Sign Language. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":37,"featured_media":157777,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"video","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_crdt_document":"","wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_series":0,"wds_primary_attribution":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2226,2225,2234],"tags":[],"magazine-issues":[],"coauthors":[1860],"class_list":["post-157767","post","type-post","status-publish","format-video","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-clas","category-uconn-storrs","category-university-life","post_format-post-format-video"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-12 15:43:03","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/157767","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/users\/37"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=157767"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/157767\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":157816,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/157767\/revisions\/157816"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media\/157777"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=157767"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=157767"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=157767"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/magazine-issues?post=157767"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=157767"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}