Last spring, the Tufts administration made the decision to allow American Sign Language (ASL) to fulfill Part I of the foreign language requirement for students. After a perennial debate as to whether the requirement should be revised to include ASL, university faculty voted to approve the proposal. Now, the three available ASL classes included within the Eliot Pearson Department of Child Developments course listings can be taken to count toward either Part I or Part II of the requirement.
Tufts recognition of ASL as a language in and of itself instead of just as a feature of the child development curriculum is a positive development. The growing size of the ASL program indicates that many students, not just child development majors, are interested in learning sign language.
For this reason, Tufts should consider offering an interdisciplinary ASL minor so that students can further pursue their interest in learning sign language. Though it is appropriate that ASL can count toward either part of the language requirement, and that the program should expand upon its three courses to offer more to students, there should be limitations in fulfilling the entire foreign language requirement with ASL.
ASL is not like any other foreign language that Tufts offers. For one, it is essentially an American language, distinct from others such as British Sign Language and Auslan, the language of the deaf in Australia both of which borrow from English but are fundamentally different. Additionally, there is no codified written form of ASL, which means that students are learning how to speak in their ASL classes, but not how to read or write, as they would for a foreign language.
The point of this requirement is to ensure that students graduate from the Hill with the ability to interact with at least one foreign community. The university needs to respect students desires to learn ASL without allowing this to completely replace the language and culture requirements that help them engage with the world outside of the United States borders.
Tufts recognition of ASL as an option for half of the foreign language requirement does just that. Yet given the growing interest in the program, there should be expanded course offerings and learning opportunities in a developed program and minor to allow students aspiring to master sign language the chance to do so.
