American Sign Language (ASL) courses will now count toward a student’s foreign language requirement.

Current ASL classes, AHRS 430, 431 and 432, will be converted into AHRS 101, 102, 201 and 202, similar to other foreign language classes.

Communicative disorders professor Greg Long said the outcome was the result of a collaboration by the NIU Presidential Commission on Persons with Disabilities, the Allied Health and Communicative Disorders Department and the Foreign Language Department.

“The timing was right; everyone was cool about it,” Long said of the collaboration. Although it has no written component, Long said this does not hamper ASL as a language.

“ASL has all of the linguistic characteristics of a spoken and written language,” Long said, adding ASL does have grammar and syntax.

Anne Birberick, chair of the Foreign Language Department, said although they were concerned about how the courses would be offered, the department fully supports the change.

“We in [the Foreign Language Department] are delighted that ASL is now being offered in fulfillment of the requirement,” Birberick said in an e-mail. “When we were approached by professor Greg Long regarding this change, we supported it whole-heartedly and without hesitation.”

In the class, Long said students will be taught by a deaf instructor. Students will also have to learn how to use their faces to convey additional meaning to their words. Long said raised eyebrows could mean a “yes-or-no” question, while furrowed eyebrows would imply a “who-what-where-when-why” question.

In addition, there’s not one form of ASL. The same signs may have different meanings in different places.

“Much like how you have accents, you have regional differences,” Long said. ASL also varies by country, Long said, meaning there’s a British Sign Language and a Chinese Sign Language.

Birberick said having ASL count toward students’ foreign language requirement will benefit them overall.

“Students will benefit from having more flexibility in fulfilling their foreign language requirement while the increase of learners of ASL will be of benefit to the community as a whole,” Birberick said.

The change was approved at the end of last semester by the university. However, because it takes a year for changes in the undergraduate catalog, the new class numbers are not shown in this year’s catalog.

In addition, students hoping to register for the classes this spring on MyNIU will only be able to see the old course numbers, not the new ones.