American Sign Language Research Paper

American Sign Language (ASL) is a beautiful language that involves communicating by using your hands and facial expression. Although ASL is so much more than using your eyebrows or memorizing signs. ASL has its very own grammar, format, culture, history, terminology and other unique characteristics. When someone that ASL is not their native language, may succumb to using signed exact English (SEE). What is the history behind ASL and what exactly is the difference between the two version of sign?
In the early 1800's, A man by the name of Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet, a Yale graduate and a what was called a hearing minister. His Neighbor, Dr.Mason Cogswell Had a daughter that was deaf. Gallaudet immediately took an interest in teaching the girl and
As stated before, ASL has its own grammar rules and puts words in a different order than English. There is a growing culture of people who are Deaf or hard of hearing. As the culture and the people grow and evolves, so does the language. This means there is a cultural quality to ASL, while learning the language, you also learn about a different culture. Some people say that children that have a short attention span highly benefit from the use of ASL since sentences or complete thoughts that would typically take several words to get across can be shortened down into a single gesture. Also, ASL has greater long-term value with it being the official language used by the Deaf
The use of SEE generally uses one set sign for any of the English terms used in spoken English. A SEE sign can have two but no more than three hand shapes for one English word. The theory that currently supports the use of SEE with deaf students is for that student to better understand the English vocabulary. The reasoning is that it is difficult for hearing people attempt to learn a second language referring to ASL. There are according to The Comprehensive Signed English Dictionary; there are four major problems with deaf students learning ASL. One, only 3% of children in programs for the deaf have 2 deaf parents, not all of those individuals use ASL. Two, it is impossible to speak English and sign ASL. Three, ASL is not visible in a deaf child’s environment. Four, English speaking parents prefer not to learn a different