WHY SIGN LANGUAGE?
South African Sign Language (SASL) is used throughout South Africa and is being officialised as one of South Africa’s twelve official languages. It has been recognised as an official language for education since 1996, and has been offered since 2018 as Home Language subject at South African schools.
By acquiring this unique South African language, you gain access to the Deaf world. Hereby you not only enrich yourself, but also place yourself in a position to help advance the Deaf community.
The SASL course is offered over three years, but students can exit after any year of completion. There is no prerequisite for enrolment on first-year level except motivation, passion and eagerness to learn. For second- and third-year level students, successful completion of all modules from the preceding year is required.
SASL as a subject is divided into four separate modules, all of which are compulsory:
- Linguistics: This module offers students the basis for understanding the grammatical aspects of signed languages.
- Deaf Studies: The focus of this module is to provide students with information about Deaf culture, organisations for the Deaf, as well as to establish an understanding of the struggle Deaf people have in having their language recognised.
- SASL Acquisition and Conversational (Practical): During this module, students are taught vocabulary (signs) related to specific topics, such as family, school, work, food, animals, and so forth. Students also have the opportunity to practise what they have learned.
Module codes
First-year
SASL1514 and 1524
Second-year
SASL2614 and 2624
Third-year
SASL 3718 and 3728
Other undergraduate modules offered by the Department of South African Sign Language and Deaf Studies:
- SICL3512
Linguistic, History and Acquisition
- SICL4522
Linguistic, History and Acquisition
For further information, please refer to the latest Rule Book on the Faculty home page.