ASL Native Students and Why U.S. Education Policy Fails

Author: Linguistic Society of America
Published: 11 Jun 2018 - Updated: 4 Aug 2026
Publication Type: Findings

Table of Contents:
Synopsis - Definition - Overview - FAQs - Insights, Updates - Related Content

Synopsis

This research examines how native users of American Sign Language (ASL) are treated by the U.S. Department of Education, and it finds significant gaps in the protections available to them. The peer-reviewed study, "If you use ASL, should you study ESL? Limitations of a modality-b(i)ased policy," by Elena Koulidobrova, Marlon Kunze, and Hannah Dostal, appeared in the June 2018 issue of the scholarly journal Language. The authors show that while U.S. law grants focused English instruction to many multilingual children, students whose first language is ASL have been systematically left out because ASL has long been framed through disability rather than multilingualism. This affects Deaf and hearing members of the ASL community, educators, and policymakers, and it matters because no reliable data has ever been gathered on typically developing children who use ASL as a native language. The work is authoritative because it comes from established linguists and a professional society, and it offers practical value to families, teachers, and advocates working toward educational equity for people with hearing needs and the wider signing community.*

At a Glance

• 1 - Many members of the ASL community are not deaf.
• 2 - ASL is a full language, independent from English.
• 3 - The study separates language impairment from normal language development so ASL users get proper support.
• 4 - The authors offer specific curricular suggestions and call to dismantle the link between language and disability in policy.

Topic Definition

American Sign Language Education Policy

American Sign Language education policy refers to the body of laws, regulations, and school practices that determine how students who use American Sign Language as their native language are identified, supported, and taught within the U.S. school system. It sits at the intersection of language rights and disability law, and the central issue is whether ASL is treated as a genuine first language, comparable to Spanish or Mandarin for an English learner, or reduced to a matter of hearing loss. When policy conflates the two, native ASL users lose access to the multilingual education protections that other bilingual children receive, and no accurate count is kept of how many typically developing children rely on ASL at home. A sound policy approach recognizes ASL as a language in its own right, separates questions of language development from questions of impairment, and builds curricula that serve both Deaf and hearing signers.

Overview

A new study of the educational needs of students who are native users of American Sign Language (ASL) shows glaring disparities in their treatment by the U.S Department of Education.

The article, "If you use ASL, should you study ESL? Limitations of a modality-b(i)ased policy", by Elena Koulidobrova (Central Connecticut State University), Marlon Kunze (Gallaudet University) and Hannah Dostal (University of Connecticut), will be published in the June, 2018 issue of the scholarly journal Language.

The US legal system offers various protections to children for whom English is an additional language, such as access to focused English instruction to facilitate mastery of the academic curriculum. However, these laws do not protect all multilingual students in the US. One population of bilingual students has been systematically excluded from these protections are those whose native language is ASL.

The authors' research shows that ASL has long been considered a system of communication for people with hearing needs and viewed through the prism of disability as opposed to multilingualism. However, as decades of linguistic research have revealed, ASL is a language in its own right and independent from English; it is the primary language of the Deaf community in the US, but there are also many members of the ASL community who are not deaf. Yet, the conflation between the lack of hearing and language drives the linguistic, as well as educational policy, of the US government.

Among the most serious ramifications of the exclusion of ASL users from the legal policies on multilingual education is that no data has ever been systematically collected on users of ASL who have no disabilities: we simply do not know with certainty how many typically developing children in the US school system have ASL as a native language.

This article systematically demonstrates that there are different kinds of "ASL native" groups, and each is truly multilingual in all the ways which have by now become familiar as a result of previous linguistic research with individuals who speak other languages.

Schools and educators understand the need to separate issues of language impairment from language development so that ASL users are able to receive appropriate linguistic support. The authors propose explicit programmatic curricular suggestions, but more importantly, they call for a change in policy that would dismantle the conflation between language and disability and, therefore, finally take the US closer to equity for children whose native language is a sign language.

Linguistic Society of America (LSA)

The Linguistic Society of America publishes the peer-reviewed journal, Language, four times per year. The LSA is the largest national professional society representing the field of linguistics. Its mission is to advance the scientific study of language.

Frequently Asked Questions

NOTE: Researched FAQs by Disabled World (DW)

Is American Sign Language considered a foreign language in U.S. schools?

Many U.S. states and colleges accept ASL to meet foreign or world language requirements, though recognition is not universal and varies by district and institution.

How many people in the United States use American Sign Language?

Estimates vary widely because no systematic count of native ASL users exists, and figures commonly cited range from several hundred thousand to around one million people.

Can hearing people be native users of American Sign Language?

Yes, hearing children of Deaf adults, often called CODAs, frequently grow up with ASL as a first or home language even though they can hear.

What is the difference between ASL and English?

ASL is a distinct visual and gestural language with its own grammar, syntax, and vocabulary, and it is not a signed word for word version of English.

What does ESL mean and why is it relevant to ASL users?

ESL stands for English as a Second Language, and it matters because ASL native students may need English support yet are often excluded from the policies that provide it.

Who was the study published by?

The study appeared in the scholarly journal Language, which is published four times a year by the Linguistic Society of America, the largest national professional society for linguistics.

How can parents support a child who uses ASL as a first language?

Parents can seek schools that recognize ASL as a language, request appropriate bilingual support, and connect with Deaf community organizations and qualified educators for guidance.

Insights, Analysis, and Developments

Editorial Note: The heart of this study rests on a distinction that sounds simple but carries enormous weight: the difference between not being able to hear and not having a language. For decades, U.S. policy has treated the two as one and the same, and the result is a population of bilingual children who fall through the cracks of laws written to serve every other multilingual learner. The authors, working across Central Connecticut State University, Gallaudet University, and the University of Connecticut, argue that ASL native students come in more than one kind, each multilingual in ways linguistics already recognizes for spoken languages. What gives the paper its edge is not just the critique but the roadmap, since it pairs a plain call for policy change with concrete curricular proposals that schools could act on. For teachers, parents, and advocates in the Deaf community, the takeaway is that recognizing ASL as a language rather than a symptom is the first real step toward classroom equity.*

Attribution/Source(s): This quality-reviewed publication was selected for publishing by the editors of Disabled World (DW) due to its relevance to the disability community. Originally authored by Linguistic Society of America and published on 11 Jun 2018, this content may have been edited for style, clarity, or brevity.

* Editorial additions by Ian C. Langtree.