ASL Interpreter Education Program

The American Sign Language Interpreter Education Program (IEP) degree prepares students for a career working as an entry level sign language interpreter for people who are Deaf and hard of hearing. This degree provides instruction in communication models and processes of American Sign Language, Deaf culture, interpreting skills, ethical understanding, and hands-on training in oral and manual interpreting in a wide range of situations, including Spanish-influenced settings. This degree also requires completion of 21 general education credit hours. Successful completion of this program will prepare students for certification examinations conducted in local, state, and national accrediting agencies. This degree requires a minimum of 43 credits in program requirements and general education as listed below. It is important to note that particular courses in this program may be “double counted” for the requirement of the major as well as for general education requirements, allowing students to complete the degree with 60 units.

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Program Goals: •. To prepare professional ASL interpreters who are competent, ethical, and lifelong learners to work in entry level positions in the community, particularly in the field of education. •. To prepare students to become interpreter generalists who are competent to work in areas of the community such as social services, basic legal services, and the medical field. •. To offer an optional trilingual component in the degree that would enable heritage students of Spanish to communicate more effectively in Spanish-influenced settings. Program Objectives: • Provide high quality ASL instruction through the continuous innovation of the curriculum and evaluation of the faculty, the integration of technology to facilitate communication and assessment of student progress, and the scheduling of flexible and nontraditional hours for classes. • Recruit and retain qualified and diverse faculty in ASL. • Continuously improve ASL curriculum, materials, methods, and assessments to reflect trends in the field of ASL instruction, linguistics, and interpreting. • Maintain adequate equipment and facilities to support ASL instruction, particularly at the MLD/ESL Language Lab. • Offer quality ASL courses in support of general education requirements and the interpreting major. • Help prepare students to have basic proficiency in ASL as part of the prerequisites of the IEP program by providing support through tutoring services, use of supplemental software at the MLD/ESL lab, and workshops that help students hone the most challenging content of their coursework. The outcomes are: • Students will develop critical and creative thinking skills. • Students will develop competency in ASL and English. • Students have the option of developing skills to interpret in a setting with Spanish-speakers. • Students will possess a general level of knowledge in professional issues, theories, and multicultural dynamics related to the interpreting profession. • Students will demonstrate ethical and culturally competent decision-making in various interpreting settings. • Students of the program will demonstrate at least entry-level competency in interpreting between ASL and English. • Students will be able to critically assess their own work and use creative problem-solving to continually develop themselves after they leave the program.

1) ASL 5: Introduction to Interpreting - 4 units 2) ASL 6: English to Sign Interpreting/Transliterating - 4 units 3) ASL 10: Sign to English Interpreting/Transliterating - 4 units 4) ASL 16: Creative Signing - 2 units 5) ASL 22: Professional Issues and Practice I - 2 units 6) ASL 23: Professional Issues and Practice II - 2 units 7) ASL 25: ASL Conversation - 2 units 8) ASL 30: Fingerspelling - 1 unit 9) ASL 35: Trilingual Interpretation I (Optional) - 3 units 10) ASL 36: Trilingual Interpretation II (Optional) - 3 units 11) ASL 40: Deaf Culture - 3 units or ASL 45: Interpreting in Deaf Latino Communities - 3 units 12) ASL 55: Interpreting - 4 units 13) ASL 65: Transliterating - 4 units

An ASL Interpretation program does not currently exist at our college.

ASL Interpretation degrees/certificates are offered at Pierce College, El Camino College, and Mt. San Antonio. None of these programs are offered in ELAC’s service area. Pierce College, ASL Interpreting Program, consisting of 47 units. Pierce is 30 miles from ELAC. Mt. San Antonio College ASL Interpreter Training AS degree, consisting of 42-42.5 units. Mt SAC is 21 miles from ELAC. El Camino College ASL Interpreter AS degree or certificate, consisting of a total of 39 units, focusing on educational, medical, and community interpreting. The campus is 21 miles from ELAC. Rio Hondo, Pasadena City College, all LACCD campuses, with the exception of Pierce, Santa Monica College, Long Beach City College, Cerritos College, and Chaffey College do not offer any programs in ASL interpretation.

The ASL program coordinator, Dr. Tomas Garcia, with the help of the Office of Institutional Effectiveness (OIEA), issued a projected enrollment survey during the spring of 2017 to current and past students of ASL. The results were: “If ELAC implemented an Interpreter Education Program, how likely are you to enroll in the program?” Total respondents: 426 1. Extremely unlikely: 8.7%  2. Unlikely: 0.7%  3. Likely: 20%  4. Extremely likely: 70%  5. Abstention: Don't Know / Not Applicable: 0.7%  With this data, projections are as follows, 2018-2019: 25