Outcomes and Careers

Outcomes

The Department of ASL and Deaf Studies plays an important role in helping students meet the five major competencies of Gallaudet's new General Studies Curriculum:

• Language and Communication
• Critical Thinking
• Identity and Culture
• Knowledge and Inquiry
• Ethics and Social Responsibility

The Department has established student learning outcomes (SLOs) for the BA and MA degree programs.

• ASL BA Student Learning Outcomes
• Deaf Studies BA Student Learning Outcomes
• Deaf Studies MA Student Learning Outcomes

Department Mission Statement:

Gallaudet University's Department of ASL and Deaf Studies is dedicated to providing the most comprehensive, challenging, and productive ASL and Deaf Studies program anywhere in the world. Expert faculty will guide students to explore the complexities of Deaf communities and their signed languages through interdisciplinary approaches.

ASL BA Program Outcomes:

• Will demonstrate theoretical and analytical knowledge of American Sign Language linguistics and literature, and the role of American Sign Language in education, politics and media.
• Will produce college level American Sign Language and English texts that demonstrate knowledge of, and critical inquiry into, key concepts in the American Sign Language discipline.
• Will recognize the importance of the American Sign Language expert as a system change agent and apply this in practice inside and outside the classroom utilizing effective leadership, advocacy, consultation, and collaboration to influence change on the individual, group, and organizational and systemic levels.

Deaf Studies BA Program Outcomes

• Demonstrate knowledge and engage in critical inquiry relating to topics in Deaf history, culture and sign languages.
• Produce and present written and signed research projects related to the field of Deaf studies using various media.
• Demonstrate in-depth knowledge of the historical, social, cultural and ideological constructions of Deaf people and their communities on national and global scales. 
• Demonstrate knowledge of critical issues in sign language studies.
• Demonstrate analytical and thematic awareness of Deaf arts and literature.
• Develop research skills using primary and secondary sources and ability to analyze a variety of text critically. 
• Demonstrate skills in effective use of written and signed academic discourse. 

Graduates from the MA Program in Deaf Studies

In addition to these program-wide SLOs, students in the 

Concentration in Cultural Studies:

• Will work toward individual, institutional and ideological change through leadership, advocacy, and dissemination of new perspectives on Deaf communities and signed languages. 
• Will be prepared to undertake further work in research, teaching, or related scholarly and creative activities in higher education.

In addition to these program-wide SLOs, students in the

Concentration in Language and Human Rights:

• Will demonstrate knowledge of the relevant actors in the global human rights sector, including international bodies, key governmental organizations, and other institutional actors doing human right work related to peoples with disabilities, Deaf people and other linguistic minorities.
• Will be able to create discourses which present Deaf people within the framework of linguistic minorities and promote these discourses to relevant governmental and institutional actors, including media.