On Sept. 24, the weekly High School Headline communication that is sent out to all 9th-12th grade students and parents contained a survey that could shake up the language department here at Spring-Ford. The survey, which was exclusive to grades 7 through 9, asked if the classes would be interested in having American Sign Language, more commonly known as ASL, as an option for their World Language Class.
The questions were relevant to identify the interest level of students, Director of Curriculum, Instruction, and Educational Technology Dr. Catherine Gardy said.
“The Curriculum and Instruction department is focused on providing a student-focused curriculum,” Gardy said. “Our goal is to provide the best student experience possible while maintaining Pennsylvania Department of Education requirements and remaining fiscally responsible. When students express interest in courses, we take that seriously and explore the possibilities.”
The survey asked questions about student grade level, interest, what motivates these interests, and if they would prefer a potential course to be an online or in-person option.
The question of an American Sign Language course began with an unknown student who had expressed their interests to the School Board last year. This sparked the idea to send out the survey to determine student interest.
Gardy said 92 students participated in the survey, and of that number 37 stated they were heavily interested in this class, while another 45 stated that they were only somewhat interested in the possibility.
Jennifer Alvarez, World Language Department Chair, said it would take a couple of years for the class to be implemented if the interest rate is high. Therefore, students in the high school who are sophomores or above will be unable to experience this class regardless of whether it gets accepted into the curriculum.
A study from the Modern Language Association in 2021 found that ASL was the third most studied language, behind Spanish and French, in higher education. Local schools, such as Emmaus, began offering ASL at the high school level recently.
“Learning any language that differs from one’s native language is beneficial to help students broaden their horizons and to better understand and connect with others,” Alvarez said.
