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Enrich your lifestyle, expand your potential.
An American Sign Language minor at William Woods University includes coursework in American Sign Language, Deaf culture and various electives like sociological perspective of Deaf education and ASL Literature.
Whether you’re preparing for a career in journalism, law, education, medicine, social work, business, biology or virtually any other field, a minor in American Sign Language (ASL) will enrich your degree and your future.
Add culture to your life and your career, increase your marketability, polish up your communication skills, and grow significantly the number of patients, clients, audience members and individuals you will interact with every day.
The Minor in American Sign Language at William Woods University includes 18 course credits total — 15 required course credits and 3 required elective credits.
Minor Requirements
Core Credits: 15.00
| Introduces students to basic expressive and receptive skills in ASL, including conversation strategies, spatial referencing and facial expressions. Awareness of deaf culture also is included. Attendance in lab is required. Students must earn a ‘C’ or better for the course to meet the requirements as a prerequisite for subsequent language courses. credits: | American Sign Language I -U | 3 |
| Compares, contrasts and analyzes deaf culture and American culture from a variety of perspectives. Examines cultural interactions between deaf and hearing people and provides opportunity for exploring potential cultural conflicts between deaf and hearing people. credits: | Deaf Culture -U | 3 |
| Continues to develop basic expressive and receptive skills including classifiers, temporal sequencing, spatial agreement and object indentification through description. Study of deaf culture is continued. Attendance in lab is required. Students must earn a ‘C’ or better for the course to meet the requirements as a prerequisite for subsequent language courses. Prerequisite – ASL105 credits: | American Sign Language II -U | 3 |
| Focuses on expressive and receptive communication skills and culture. Functional language ability in survival and social situations is further developed. Attendance in Lab is required. Students must earn a ‘C’ or better for the course to meet the requirements as a prerequisite for subsequent language courses. Prerequisite – ASL145 credits: | American Sign Language III | 3 |
| Expressive and receptive communication skills and culture. Functional language ability in survival and social situations is further developed. Attendance in lab is required. Students must earn a ‘C’ or better for the course to meet the requirements as a prerequisite for subsequent language courses. Prerequisite – ASL205 credits: | American Sign Language IV | 3 |
Required Electives - 3 Credits
| Continuation of ASL: Expanded study of ASL with emphasis on conversation skills and storytelling; introduced to study of storytelling features; continued expansion of knowledge of Deaf culture and Deaf community. Vocabulary is expanded through introduction of various content areas dealing with current events, world affairs, literature, the arts and abstract ideas. Students lean how to participate in-group discussions, speculate, make analagies, and give instructions and express feelings and intentions. Students must earn a ‘C’ or better for the course to meet the requirements as a prerequisite for subsequent language courses. Prerequisite – ASL245 credits: | American Sign Language V | 3 |
| This course is designed to develop proficiency in the understanding and use of non-manual markers in ASL. Many grammatical structures of ASL are produced as facial expressions, body shifts, and morphemes produced with specific mouth and eye movements. For non-Deaf people, this is perhaps some of the more difficult aspects of ASL to learn and the most important for comprehension and production. Students will learn how to accurately inflect specific meaning in ASL using non-manual markers. The course will also touch on fingerspelling accuracy. Prerequisite: ASL 205 credits: | Linguistics Non-Manual Mrkrs in ASL | 3 |
| Deaf Education is a complex and controversial issue in the Deaf community; Is deafness looked upon as a way of life or a disability? Is sign language seen as a resource or a last resort? How do deaf people best learn and thrive? One’s education experiences have a profound impact on self actualization and success as an deaf adult. This population faces unique circumstances regarding their own language and cultural competency, access to equivalent services, and relationships with other people. Students taking this course will learn about these circumstances in a specific context and examine the various options and perspectives facing deaf students in today’s educational environments. Examining laws and policies pertaining to this field and being able to discuss such things will better prepare them to assist and advocate for clients in various settings. Prerequisites: ASL 205 credits: | Sociological Perspectives of Deaf Education | 3 |
| This course is focused on current topics impacting the Deaf community as part of a linguistic and cultural minority. Topics that could be covered include, but not limited to: perspectives on Deafhood and Deaf/deaf communities, attitudes toward Deaf people and signed languages, technology and communication, history of the Deaf community, multiple factors of a d/Deaf identity, contributions of Deaf people to society, communication issues and the politics of language use, choices, and power. Seminar style course taught in ASL, Interpreter not provided. May be repeated for credit Prerequisite: ASL245 credits: | Topics in Deafness | 3 |
| Upper level ASL course with a focus on diglossia, variation in sign language use, and viewing the Deaf community as part of a linguistic and cultural minority. Topics that will be covered include perspectives on Deafhood and Deaf/deaf communities, attitudes toward Deaf people and signed languages, technology and communication, history of the Deaf community, contributions of Deaf people to society, communication issues and the politics of language use, choices, and power. Students will expand on vocabulary through working on areas of advanced subject matters, application of non-manual markers, use of classifiers, and proper pronominalization. Prerequisites: ASL 305 credits: | American Sign Language VI | 3 |
| Students take an analytical approach to language and the field of linguistics as it applies to American Sign Language. ASL phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics, bilingualism, and language use and usage will be examined and discussed. Language samples will be viewed and analyzed for evidence of different language structures and forms. Students will also read and critique research articles pertaining to ASL and other signed languages. Prerequisite: ASL245 credits: | Linguistics of American Sign Lang | 3 |