American Sign Language

American Sign Language (ASL), visual-gestural language used by most of the deaf community in the United States and Canada. ASL is a natural language with a structure quite different from spoken English. It is not a manual-gestural representation of spoken English, nor is it pantomime. Instead, ASL is a full language, with all of the properties of spoken natural languages, but one that has developed independently of and differently from English. The role of ASL in the education of deaf students has been characterized by conflict and controversy. This situation has existed throughout the history of deaf education in the United States.