October 15, 2018
Should Schools Offer Sign Language in Addition to Foreign Language?
“One in eight people in the United States aged 12 years or older has hearing loss in both
ears, based on standard hearing examinations.”(Lin, FR). Sign language has been proven to
benefit not only the deaf community but also hearing people. By offering sign language hearing,
people can strengthen their brains. Literacy and communication are ways sign language help
hearing people. Cochlear implants don’t work for everybody. Schools should offer sign
language in addition to foreign language.
One might object to sign language being taught in schools. Some of their arguments are:
1. Sign language will confuse children while they are trying to learn English.
2. There are devices that allow deaf people to hear.
3. Where would the money come from to pay for sign language teachers?
“The National Assessment of Educational Progress tested children nationwide for reading
skills. The results for reading tests for fourth-grade students were: Below the most basic level 38
percent; Proficient 31 percent, and Advanced 7 percent.” The highest percentage showed that
children were below the necessary level of reading. Children have a hard time learning English.
Let’s face it it is a hard language to learn. Why then would it be a good idea to make children
learn another language? Sign language takes English and rearranges the words in a broken way;
this could cause the children to be confused. The confusion could lead to learning deficits later in
According to Hear-it.org, “It is estimated that 90 percent of children and 80 percent of
adults with cochlear implants improve their hearing.” With the success rates of the cochlear
device being so high they need to learn sign language is unnecessary. If all the deaf and hard of
hearing people went get a cochlear implant, everyone would be able to communicate with each
other without having to learn another language.
Where would the money come from to pay for sign language teachers? Most people
know that each education system has an allotted amount of money to use. Nine out of ten times
the education system uses all of their money and goes over. So where would the money come
from to pay for another teacher and all of their supplies? The likely answer to those questions is
the taxpayers. It is not like we do not already have to pay enough taxes, but it would be
reasonable to say that the people would be paying for it. All that being said is it that important to
teach sign language in schools?
Hearing children benefit from the use of sign language. In an article called “An
Alternative Approach to Early Literacy: The Effects of ASL in Educational Media on Literacy
Skills Acquisition for Hearing Children.” published in the “Early Childhood Education Journal”
Theorists suggest that individuals learn to read through 'dual coding' and may benefit from more
than one route to...