American Sign Language

Just like spoken languages, this visual language has a phonology, morphology, and a standardized syntactic construction. Professionals fluent in American Sign Language (ASL) are needed in virtually every field. Learning ASL and gaining fluency in it allows you to work with a diverse population in the United States. Fluency in ASL will allow you to communicate with deaf people in Canada, France, countries in Africa, Jamaica, Philippines, Guam, and places where the root language for deaf citizens is ASL. There is also a great need for teachers who specialize in education for the deaf as well as interpreters who facilitate communication.

Check out the video below to see why our students chose ASL at Iowa State!

ASL placement screening

If you already have some proficiency in American Sign Language, please contact an ASL faculty member to take the ASL Placement Screening. The ASL Placement Screening is an assessment tool to determine your proficiency and skills in ASL to place you in the appropriate course. This screening is based on Signing Naturally, the curriculum used by the ASL faculty at Iowa State University. Please arrange this with an ASL faculty member, whom you can contact at wlc-advising@iastate.edu. You will be assessed on the following:

• ASL grammar, including but not limited to sentence types, grammatical categories, and discourse functions
• Range and proper use of ASL vocabulary
• Clarity of sign formation that includes the 5 Parameters (hand shape, location, movement, facial expression, and palm orientation)
• Range of fluency in use of ASL
• Comprehension of conversation in ASL