Minor in ASL

This course introduces students to different types of specialized, academic discourses in American Sign Language. Students will be given opportunities to analyze and evaluate academic and creative works and to compose logical arguments infused with critical thinking skills and perspectives through synthesizing information from sources.

This course covers areas of vocabulary, semantics, grammar and organization of ASL and English. Students look at the linguistic aspects of both languages and compare the two. The class also covers word classes and sentence structure of both languages. To assist students in understanding the structure of both languages, discussion of how languages work is included.

Visual media has changed the way we work with American Sign Language. With the advent of new tools and platforms, possibilities of publishing have proliferated, allowing a wider discourse of ideas to be shared with a vast audience of people who work with ASL and ASL learners. This course explores these opportunities through a hands-on approach and introduces students to the tools and skills necessary to produce digital video, websites, interactive presentations and social media and integrate those with the field of ASL.

This course is designed to expose students to the variety of features in ASL by recognizing and considering the ways those features are demonstrated in naturalistic data. Students will compile a collection of data sets, which will allow them to investigate ASL features. Critical analysis of ASL features including ASL fingerspelling, sentence types, and non-manual aspects of the language reinforces students' abilities in creating, utilizing, and analyzing ASL materials for the purpose of academic research, pedagogy, and resources.

This course is designed to continue students' exposure to the variety of features in ASL by recognizing and considering the ways those features are demonstrated in naturalistic data. Students will compile a collection of data sets, which will allow them to investigate ASL features. Critical analysis of ASL features including ASL depiction, discourse features, and ASL registers reinforces students' abilities in creating, utilizing, and analyzing ASL materials for the purpose of academic research, pedagogy, and resources.

This course provides an overview of various genres in American Sign Language Narratives ranging from visual vernacular to fictional narratives. Students will analyze contents, themes and stylistic techniques of works done by various ASL literary artists. This course emphasizes practices in planning, developing, performing and critiquing various narrative genres.

This course provides an overview of various genres in American Sign Language Poetics ranging from ABC Stories to Poetry. Students will analyze contents, themes and stylistic techniques of works done by various ASL literary artists. This course emphasizes practices in planning, developing, performing and critiquing various works in the poetics genres.

This course covers elocution, in other words, registers of ASL discourse -- frozen, formal, consultative, casual and intimate. Students will be able to discuss using ASL in the most common registers (formals, consultative and casual) in classrooms or at social events. They will also learn how to refine their skills in giving presentations using formal ASL.

This course demonstrates the use of space and eye gaze. It also demonstrates the use of role shifting to indicate speaker or locus of the subject/object in the ASL text. Organization of an ASL text and the function of these features will be covered. How they overlap with other features of the language will also be covered. Turn-taking regulators will be discussed within the conversation style of a discourse text.

This course will begin with developing an understanding of the concept of 'culture' and then will focus on the complexities and varieties of Deaf cultural experiences. Students will be asked to engage course materials through multi-disciplinary approaches in order to gain a critical appreciation of Deaf lives within historical, political and global contexts.

This course examines various forms of oppression by looking across different cultures and communities, then examines possible parallels occurring within the deaf community.