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Academic Catalog 2021-2022

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  • American Sign Language and Psychology, BS

American Sign Language and Psychology, BS

2021-2022 Edition

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        • Africana Studies, BA
        • Africana Studies and Political Science, BA
        • History, Culture, and Law, BA
        • Religious Studies and Africana Studies, BA
        • Spanish, BA
        • Spanish and International Affairs, BA
        • Africana Studies, BS
        • American Sign Language—English Interpreting, BS
        • American Sign Language and Human Services, BS
        • American Sign Language and Linguistics, BS
        • American Sign Language and Psychology, BS
        • American Sign Language and Theatre, BS
        • African American Studies, Minor
        • African Studies, Minor
        • Africana Studies, Minor
        • American Sign Language, Minor
        • Arabic, Minor
        • Black Feminist Studies, Minor
        • Chinese, Minor
        • Film and International Cultures, Minor
        • German, Minor
        • Italian, Minor
        • Japanese, Minor
        • French, Minor
        • Portuguese, Minor
        • Russian, Minor
        • Spanish, Minor
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  • Course Descriptions
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  • Overview
  • Program Requirements
  • Plan of Study

American Sign Language (ASL) is estimated to be the third most used language in the United States and its visibility in society is on the rise in recent years. There are roughly 500,000 to 2,000,000 Deaf, DeafBlind, or hard of hearing people in the United States who use ASL as their primary language, and a large number of non-Deaf signers use or learn ASL as a second language. A disproportionate percentage of Deaf people experience socioeconomic disadvantage due to their dual status as members of both a cultural linguistic minority group and a disability group. As a result, there is a broad societal misunderstanding of Deaf, signing people’s minority language and culture—their lived experience—which creates barriers to educational and economic opportunity. While state and federal legislation enables improved civic engagement by Deaf, hard of hearing, and DeafBlind individuals, there is continued need to elevate quality of life, equity, and the rich contributions of the diverse members of the American Deaf communities.

The program offers a wide array of courses as well as volunteer, co-op, and research opportunities to learn from Deaf people's lived experiences through community and industry connections.  

This combined major educates students in cognitive psychology, psycholinguistics, and the structures of human languages in general and ASL in particular. The curriculum is designed to assist students in acquiring competence in ASL, develop an understanding of the diverse American Deaf communities and Deaf culture, better understand cognitive efforts of interpreters' language transfer, as well as gain insights into various features of spoken language and experience firsthand the principles underlying the spatial organization of discourse required by signed languages. This knowledge and the psychology background from the major provide a foundation for more advanced studies of ASL and interpreting or psychology and Deaf people.

Complete all courses listed below unless otherwise indicated. Also complete any corequisite labs, recitations, clinicals, or tools courses where specified and complete any additional courses needed beyond specific college and major requirements to satisfy graduation credit requirements.

University-Wide Requirements

All undergraduate students are required to complete the University-Wide Requirements.

NUpath Requirements

All undergraduate students are required to complete the NUpath Requirements.

American Sign Language Requirements

Course List
Code Title Hours
American Sign Language
AMSL 1101Elementary ASL 14
AMSL 1102Elementary ASL 24
AMSL 2101Intermediate ASL 14
AMSL 2102Intermediate ASL 24
AMSL 3101Advanced ASL 14
Social and Cultural World
DEAF 1500Deaf People in Society4
DEAF 2500Deaf History and Culture4
Linguistics
LING 1150Introduction to Language and Linguistics4
DEAF 2700ASL Linguistics4
Interpreting
INTP 3500The Interpreting Profession2
INTP 3510Interpreting Inquiry Texts4
INTP 3970Research Methods for Interpreting and Translation (Research Methods for Interpreting and Translation)4

Psychology Requirements

Course List
Code Title Hours
Psychology
PSYC 1101Foundations of Psychology4
PSYC 2320Statistics in Psychological Research4
PSYC 3466Cognition4
Psychology Lab or Directed Study
Complete one of the following:4
PSYC 4600
Laboratory in Research Design
PSYC 4606
Laboratory in Biological Psychology
PSYC 4610
Laboratory in Psycholinguistics
PSYC 4612
Laboratory in Cognition
PSYC 4614
Laboratory in Social Psychology
PSYC 4616
Laboratory in Personality
PSYC 4622
Laboratory in Sensation and Perception
PSYC 4624
Laboratory in Affective Science
PSYC 4626
Laboratory in Life-Span Emotional Development
PSYC 4628
Laboratory in Developmental Psychology
PSYC 4991
Directed Study Research
Personal/Social Bases of Behavior (Area A)
Complete two of the following:8
PSYC 3400
Personality
PSYC 3402
Social Psychology
PSYC 3404
Developmental Psychology
PSYC 3406
Abnormal Psychology
Biological/Cognitive Bases of Behavior (Area B)
Complete one of the following:4
PSYC 3450
Learning and Motivation
PSYC 3451
Learning Principles and Behavior Analysis
PSYC 3452
Sensation and Perception
PSYC 3458
Biological Psychology
Language/Cognition Elective
Complete one of the following:4
PSYC 4520
Language and the Brain
PSYC 4522
Psychology of Reading
PSYC 4524
Cognitive Development
PSYC 4658
Seminar in Psycholinguistics
PSYC 4660
Seminar in Cognition
PSYC 4674
Seminar in Cognitive Neuroscience

Integrative Requirements

Course List
Code Title Hours
INTP 4940Interpreting Research Capstone4
PSYC 3464Psychology of Language4

Combined Major GPA Requirement

Minimum 2.750 GPA required in all AMSL, INTP,  and DEAF courses
Minimum 2.500 overall GPA required

Combined Major Credit Requirement

Complete 82 semester hours in the major.

Experiential Liberal Arts

All undergraduate students in the College of Social Sciences and Humanities are required to complete the Experiential Liberal Arts Requirement.

Program Requirement

128 total semester hours required

Four Years, No Co-op

Year 1
FallHoursSpringHoursSummer 1HoursSummer 2Hours
AMSL 11014AMSL 11024Vacation0Vacation0
DEAF 15004LING 11504  
PSYC 11014MATH 12154  
ENGW 11114Elective4  
 16 16 0 0
Year 2
FallHoursSpringHoursSummer 1HoursSummer 2Hours
AMSL 21014AMSL 21024Vacation0Vacation0
DEAF 25004PSYC 23204  
PSYC 34644PSYC 34664  
INTP 35002Elective4  
Elective1-4   
 15-18 16 0 0
Year 3
FallHoursSpringHoursSummer 1HoursSummer 2Hours
AMSL 31014DEAF 27004Vacation0Vacation0
Psych Area A elective4Psych Area B elective4  
ENGW 33154Language/cognition elective4  
INTP 35104AMSL 31024  
 16 16 0 0
Year 4
FallHoursSpringHours  
INTP 39704INTP 49404  
Elective4Psych lab elective4  
Elective4Psych Area A elective4  
Elective4Elective4  
 16 16  
Total Hours: 127-130
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