Sign students see new languages

In the fall of 1986, IU began offering a course in American Sign Language (ASL) taught by a part-time instructor and counselor Amy Cornwell. Classes were always full.\nJust 11 years later, in 1997, the College of Arts and Sciences recognized ASL as fit to fulfill students' foreign language credits. Interest only rose.\nToday, the waitlist to get into first-year sign language courses exceeds 500 students. Cornwell is now the coordinator of the ASL program, three new faculty members have since been added and new plans are in progress for the program's evolution.\nMike Jackson, newly hired ASL professor for 2002, said it's no surprise enthusiasm for the courses is so high.\n"There are a lot of deaf people in the United States," Jackson said. "Students are motivated to learn ASL because they can use it to meet people."\nWayne Mnich, ASL professor who joined the program in 1998, said ASL is a powerful tool in the professional world, with students learning the language in such diverse fields as criminal justice, special education and psychology.\n"Take psychology for instance," Mnich said. "That field is just realizing that no valid psychological testing of the deaf can occur unless the scientists can communicate with their patients."\nJoe Murray, a professor who came to IU in 1999, discussed a further element in ASL's intrigue.\n"The speaker is almost like an artist," Murray said. "You can visually see what you are saying."\nHe said this unique feature, its physical characteristic, gives those who use ASL a different understanding of language rather than hearing.\n"With ASL, you actually see the language develop," Mnich said.\nMnich elaborated on the concept noting if one simply said the word "butterfly," one may construct an image or they may not. But when someone signs "butterfly," a person watches it flutter before the eyes.\nCornwell also said in addition to imagery, ASL has its own registers of formality, its own grammar and even its own sense of humor. \nThis humor differs from hearing humor, Cornwell said, as the hearing rely on word play and linguistic acrobatics. Jackson said for the deaf, a different technique is employed.\n"You've surely heard the saying 'play it by ear,'" he said. "Well, we play it by eye."\nMnich hopes to someday include topics courses on a range of subjects to be taught using ASL, and Jackson expressed a desire to increase the ASL lab capabilities. \nMurray is working on a pet project consisting of silent weekend retreats for higher level ASL students. At the retreats, students would be exposed to deaf culture and language, and as the name implies, no voice will be permitted for the duration of the escapade.\n"I feel a silent retreat would greatly benefit students' understanding of deaf culture, because there is only so much you can take away from 50 minutes of silence in the classroom," Murray said.\nAs indicated by Murray, no voice is permitted in the classroom environments in all ASL courses. Cornwell said an interpreter will often attend to help introduce the class and the syllabus, but afterward, no talking is tolerated.\nCommunication with students from then on varies with each professor. For instance, Jackson -- who is deaf -- uses a computer and Microsoft Powerpoint for discussions and a hearing associate instructor will interpret if students are struggling. Cornwell -- who is hearing -- allows moderate speaking at specified times.\nIn addition to future hopes and continuing classes, the program hosts ASL symposiums twice a semester. At these events, individuals are brought in from the deaf community to allow students to get a glimpse of deaf life outside the lives of their professors. At these events interpreters gather with students from the Indiana School for the Deaf and deaf members of the Amish community.\nThese symposiums and the program in general, in addition to teaching the language, attempt to remove the false impression that the deaf are limited in their real-world capabilities.\n"A lot of students have the misconception the deaf can't do much," Mnich said. "But there are deaf lawyers, pilots and doctors."\nEach agreed the deaf can do almost anything.\n"Speech is silver and silence is golden," Mnich said. "But with ASL, it's all diamonds"