s ASL gains in popularity as a recognized acceptable means of meeting foreign language requirements for high schools and colleges, enrollment in sign language classes is booming, to put it mildly. Students are having to be turned away from full sign language classes. According to an essay by Sherman Wilcox on ASL as a foreign language, the increased popularity of ASL has not hurt study of other non-signed foreign languages, however.

Wilcox also maintains a lengthy listing of colleges and universities that accept ASL as satisfying foreign language requirements.

If you are a student looking for a college to attend that will accept ASL, or are simply looking for a college course to take in your area, Wilcox's listing is the place to check.

Sign language is one of the languages mentioned in the Modern Language Association's brochure, "Knowing Other Languages Brings Opportunities." (A survey by the MLA also found that ASL is the fastest-growing language offered at colleges nationwide. At the time this article was written, the survey was not available on the MLA's web site).

Benefits for Students

In addition to the academic and career benefits mentioned in the MLA brochure, I can think of quite a few other benefits of having so many students learn ASL:

    * Increased socialization between hearing and deaf students
    * Increased interest in becoming interpreters, which may eventually ease the shortgage of interpreters
    * Increased acceptance of having deaf people as employees and co-workers. Today's young college student is tomorrow's boss.
    * Increased interest in becoming educators of the deaf.
    * More jobs in teaching sign language.

Sample Articles on Popularity

Newspapers and magazines frequently run articles on the popularity of sign language as a foreign language. Here are a few of them:

    * In Gesture Toward Change, Schools Sign On to 'Signing' - Article from the Christian Science Monitor, about the popularity of sign language classes at Purdue University. (Publication date December 18, 1997)
    * Silent language roars: students want to sign instead of speak Spanish, German, French - Article from the Detroit Free Press about the popularity of sign language classes in high school. (Publication date November 27, 2000)