American Sign Language (AMSL)

AMSL 1101. Elementary ASL 1. (4 Hours)

Introduces students to American Sign Language (ASL). Students develop expressive and receptive competence in using ASL to fulfill various social functions (such as introductions, explanations of personal history, and descriptions of simple narratives). Additional topics include the use of signing space and further use of nonmanual components including facial expression and body postures.

AMSL 1102. Elementary ASL 2. (4 Hours)

Continues AMSL 1101. Continues development of expressive and receptive competence in using American Sign Language to fulfill various social functions (such as introductions, explanations of personal history, and descriptions of simple narratives). Emphasizes further development of receptive and expressive skills, finger spelling, vocabulary building, grammatical structures; encourages more extensive use of nonmanual behaviors, classifiers, body postures, and signing space. Students are also introduced to regional and ethnic sign variations and political and educational institutions of the Deaf community.

Prerequisite(s): AMSL 1101 with a minimum grade of D-

AMSL 1511. ASL Classifiers. (4 Hours)

Seeks to improve understanding of and use of ASL classifiers, including appropriate nonmanual grammatical features and other nonmanual markers. Discusses classifier hand shapes and how movement, location, and orientation of classifiers affect meaning in ASL. Covers eight types of ASL classifiers: semantic, instrumental, descriptive, locative, plural, body part, sport, and elemental. Offers students an opportunity to build on existing classifier vocabulary and eventually use an expanded range of classifiers to express narratives.

Prerequisite(s): AMSL 1101 with a minimum grade of D-

AMSL 1512. ASL Numbers and Fingerspelling. (4 Hours)

Offers students an opportunity to improve receptive and expressive skills in the specific areas of ASL fingerspelling and ASL numbers. Includes a brief history of fingerspelling. Focuses on strategies for understanding fingerspelling/word phrases and number recognition; recognizing number patterns (e.g., ordinal and cardinal numbers, height, age, time); and additional strategies for understanding and using numbers and fingerspelling in context. Uses drills to improve speed, clarity, and fluency skills.

Prerequisite(s): AMSL 1102 with a minimum grade of C-

AMSL 1990. Elective. (1-4 Hours)

Offers elective credit for courses taken at other academic institutions. May be repeated without limit.

AMSL 2101. Intermediate ASL 1. (4 Hours)

Continues the student’s development of expressive and receptive competence in using American Sign Language to fulfill various communicative functions, such as making and responding to inquiries, constructing and comprehending narratives, and engaging in debates. Students also continue to expand their ASL lexicon.

Prerequisite(s): AMSL 1102 with a minimum grade of C ; DEAF 1500 (may be taken concurrently) with a minimum grade of C

AMSL 2102. Intermediate ASL 2. (4 Hours)

Continues AMSL 2101. Emphasizes further development of receptive and expressive skills, finger spelling, vocabulary building, grammatical structures; encourages more extensive use of nonmanual behaviors, classifiers, body postures, and signing space. Continues exposure to regional and ethnic sign variations and political and educational institutions of Deaf people. Offers intensive practice involving expressive and receptive skills in storytelling and dialogue. Introduces language forms used in American Sign Language poetry and the features of culture as they are displayed in art.

Prerequisite(s): AMSL 2101 with a minimum grade of D-

AMSL 2900. Specialized Instruction in ASL. (1-4 Hours)

Designed for individuals whose language skills are at the intermediate level and who seek specially focused language instruction. Such instruction might be the use of the language in specific settings (e.g., media, medical, legal, mental health), or it might be focused on specific conversational nuances of the language. May be repeated without limit.

AMSL 2990. Elective. (1-4 Hours)

Offers elective credit for courses taken at other academic institutions. May be repeated without limit.

AMSL 3101. Advanced ASL 1. (4 Hours)

Focuses on continued development of syntactic competence in American Sign Language with particular attention to the use of ASL in formal discourse. Also focuses on lexical semantics and semantic equivalents for multiple meaning English lexical items.

Prerequisite(s): AMSL 2102 with a minimum grade of D-

AMSL 3102. Advanced ASL 2. (4 Hours)

Continues AMSL 3101. Focuses on further development and refinement of American Sign Language competence in various discourse settings, predominantly formal and consultative. Continues development of lexical semantics and uses individual diagnostic assessment of ASL competence to determine individual competency goals.

Prerequisite(s): AMSL 3101 with a minimum grade of D-

AMSL 3990. Elective. (1-4 Hours)

Offers elective credit for courses taken at other academic institutions. May be repeated without limit.

AMSL 4990. Elective. (1-4 Hours)

Offers elective credit for courses taken at other academic institutions. May be repeated without limit.

AMSL 4992. Directed Study. (1-4 Hours)

Offers students a way of going beyond work given in the regular curriculum; may also enable students to complete major requirements in certain situations. Priority is given to American Sign Language majors and to juniors and seniors. May be repeated without limit.

AMSL 5901. Gallaudet University Program. (20 Hours)

Offers students an opportunity to study at an officially bilingual university, with American Sign Language and English used for instruction and by the university.