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Home Catalog Programs of Study List of Programs Deaf Culture and American Sign Language Studies

Deaf Culture and American Sign Language Studies

Overview

Sacramento City College Deaf Culture and American Sign Language Department provides academic coursework based on a Deaf-centered framework that encourages students to embrace an empowered collaboration with Deaf people. The program prepares students with a basic understanding of and appreciation for their roles in local, regional, national, and global Deaf-Hearing relations and how those relationships impact Deaf people.

Degrees and Certificates Offered

  • A.A. in Deaf Culture & American Sign Language Studies
  • Deaf Culture & American Sign Language Studies Certificate

Associate Degree

A.A. in Deaf Culture & American Sign Language Studies

This degree provides academic coursework based on a Deaf-centered framework that encourages students to embrace an empowered collaboration with Deaf people. It provides an introductory overview of the Deaf community and American Sign Language in a cultural context, with the psychosocial dynamics of people working in the Deaf community. It also emphasizes the development of skills related to paraprofessional services, in an individual or group setting, in an educational or social services agency that serves Deaf clients.

Catalog Date: August 1, 2026

Degree Requirements
Course Code Course Title Units
DEAF 310 American Sign Language I 4
DEAF 312 American Sign Language II 4
DEAF 314 American Sign Language III 4
DEAF 316 American Sign Language IV 4
DEAF 351 Introduction to American Deaf Culture 3
DEAF 355 Audism and Inequality of the Deaf 3
Total Units: 22

The Deaf Culture & American Sign Language Studies Associate in Arts (A.A.) degree may be obtained by completion of the required program, and either (a) the Local General Education Pattern or (b) the California General Education Transfer Curriculum (Cal-GETC), plus sufficient electives for a total of at least 60 units. See SCC graduation requirements.

Student Learning Outcomes

Upon completion of this program, the student will be able to:

  • compare and contrast characteristics that impact a Deaf person’s life in the following areas: the world of work, education, family, language, and social development.
  • demonstrate the ability to carry on American Sign Language conversation consistent with the ability of a 4th-semester second language learner with a Deaf individual or groups of Deaf people.
  • apply entry-level positions working with the Deaf community.
  • demonstrate knowledge of characteristics related to personal growth and adjustment in various populations within and outside of the Deaf community.
  • apply skills in working with various Deaf participants within and outside of the Deaf community.
  • demonstrate skills in working with school-age Deaf children in an educational setting.
  • compare and differentiate the Deaf individual to individuals of diverse populations when comparing human development.
  • demonstrate appropriate cultural interaction within the Deaf community as an anti-audist ally.
  • demonstrate the ability to communicate respectfully in a Deaf-culture setting.

Certificate of Achievement

Deaf Culture & American Sign Language Studies Certificate

This certificate provides academic coursework based on a Deaf-centered framework that encourages students to embrace an empowered collaboration with Deaf people. It provides an introductory overview of the Deaf community and American Sign Language in a cultural context, with the psychosocial dynamics of people working in the Deaf community. It also emphasizes the development of skills related to paraprofessional services, in an individual or group setting, in an educational or social services agency which serves Deaf clients.

Catalog Date: August 1, 2026

Certificate Requirements
Course Code Course Title Units
DEAF 310 American Sign Language I 4
DEAF 312 American Sign Language II 4
DEAF 314 American Sign Language III 4
DEAF 351 Introduction to American Deaf Culture 3
DEAF 355 Audism and Inequality of the Deaf 3
Total Units: 18

Student Learning Outcomes

Upon completion of this program, the student will be able to:

  • compare and contrast characteristics that impact a Deaf person’s life in the following areas: the world of work, education, family, language, and social development.
  • demonstrate ability to carry on American Sign Language conversation consistent with the ability of a 4th semester second language learner with a Deaf individual or groups of Deaf people.
  • apply to entry-level positions working with the Deaf community.
  • demonstrate knowledge of characteristics related to personal growth and adjustment in various populations within and outside of the Deaf community.
  • apply skills in working with various Deaf participants within and outside of the Deaf community.
  • demonstrate skills in working with school-age Deaf children in an educational setting.
  • compare and differentiate the Deaf individual to individuals of diverse populations when comparing human development.
  • demonstrate appropriate cultural interaction within the Deaf community as an anti-audist ally.
  • demonstrate the ability to communicate respectfully in a Deaf-culture setting.

Career Information

This certificate prepares students for entry-level positions such as paraprofessional services in an individual or group setting, in an educational or social services agency which serves Deaf clients.

Deaf Culture and American Sign Language Studies (DEAF) Courses

DEAF 310 American Sign Language I

  • Units:4
  • Hours:72 hours LEC
  • Prerequisite:None.
  • Transferable:CSU (Previously approved for SILA 305.); UC (Previously approved for SILA 305.)
  • General Education:Local GE L3
  • Catalog Date:August 1, 2026

This is the beginning course in a series of four courses in the visual-gestural processes of American Sign Language (ASL). It provides instructional activities for students to become competent in communication with deaf people. The emphasis is on non-speech communication. Credit will be awarded for either SILA 305 or DEAF 310 but not for both. This course is formerly known as SILA 305.

DEAF 312 American Sign Language II

  • Units:4
  • Hours:72 hours LEC
  • Prerequisite:DEAF 310 with a grade of "C" or better
  • Transferable:CSU (Previously approved for SILA 306.); UC (Previously approved for SILA 306.)
  • General Education:Local GE L3
  • Catalog Date:August 1, 2026

This is the second in a series of four courses in American Sign Language. Topics presented include grammatical features such as adjective descriptors, differentiation between cardinal and ordinal numbers, contrastive structure, temporal aspect markers, and temporal sequencing. Credit will be awarded for either SILA 306 or DEAF 312 but not for both. This course is formerly known as SILA 306.

DEAF 314 American Sign Language III

  • Units:4
  • Hours:72 hours LEC
  • Prerequisite:DEAF 312 with a grade of "C" or better
  • Transferable:CSU (Previously approved for SILA 315.); UC (Previously approved for SILA 315.)
  • General Education:Local GE L3; Cal-GETC Area 3B
  • Catalog Date:August 1, 2026

This course is the third in a series of four courses in American Sign Language. It emphasizes expressive and receptive nonverbal communication skills between signers who have preliminary American Sign Language syntactical and lexical skills. It provides an understanding of deaf cultural processes by identifying behaviors and norms from activities assigned in the class. It also includes dialogs that involve asking, empathizing, negotiating, and agreeing or disagreeing. The emphasis is on non-speech communication. This course is formerly known as SILA 315. Credit will be awarded for either SILA 315 or DEAF 314 but not for both.

DEAF 316 American Sign Language IV

  • Units:4
  • Hours:72 hours LEC
  • Prerequisite:DEAF 314 with a grade of "C" or better
  • Transferable:CSU (Previously approved for SILA 316.); UC (Previously approved for SILA 316.)
  • General Education:Local GE L3; Cal-GETC Area 3B
  • Catalog Date:August 1, 2026

This is the final course in a series of four courses in American Sign Language. It emphasizes expressive communication skills that involve sharing interesting facts, talking about money, making major life decisions, and narrating unforgettable moments. It incorporates information and activities previously learned about the Deaf into these narratives. Credit will be awarded for either SILA 316 or DEAF 316 but not for both. This course is formerly known as SILA 316.

DEAF 320 Fingerspelling, Classifiers and Numbers

  • Units:0.5 - 1
  • Hours:27 - 54 hours LAB
  • Prerequisite:DEAF 310 with a grade of "C" or better
  • Transferable:CSU
  • Catalog Date:August 1, 2026

This course provides hands-on experiences with fingerspelling, classifiers, and American Sign Language (ASL) numbers. Topics include expressive and receptive fingerspelling, classifiers and ASL number techniques. This course enables American Sign Language learners to develop, expand, and reinforce hands-on experiences with fingerspelling, classifiers and ASL numbers skills while working independently, in small groups and with media such as DVDs and record video clips in ASL that incorporate fingerspelling. Coursework includes study topics integrated with expressive and receptive fingerspelling, classifiers and ASL numbers techniques. Student may re-enroll for a maximum of 1 unit. This course is graded as Pass/No PASS.

DEAF 351 Introduction to American Deaf Culture

  • Units:3
  • Hours:54 hours LEC
  • Prerequisite:None.
  • Advisory:ENGL C1000 with a grade of "C" or better
  • Transferable:CSU (Previously approved for SILA 330.); UC (Previously approved for SILA 330.)
  • General Education:Local GE L4; Cal-GETC Area 4
  • Catalog Date:August 1, 2026

This course is a survey of four institutions that have critical impact on the psycho-social development of Deaf people: family, education, work, and society. It provides awareness and sensitivity to the unique challenges of deafhood and how they influence personal-social and communication competencies of the Deaf person. Selected visits to community events may be required. This course is formerly known as SILA 330. Credit will be awarded for either SILA 330 or DEAF 351 but not for both.

DEAF 352 Introduction to American Deaf Education

  • Units:3
  • Hours:54 hours LEC
  • Prerequisite:DEAF 351 with a grade of "C" or better
  • Advisory:ENGL C1000 with a grade of "C" or better
  • Transferable:CSU; UC
  • General Education:Local GE L3; Local GE L4
  • Catalog Date:August 1, 2026

This course surveys topics related to educating Deaf children, adults, and individuals with additional disabilities. It also covers teaching methods and philosophies, school placement issues, child development, and methods of addressing developmental and linguistic stages. Selected visits to a residential Deaf school in Fremont and/or a local mainstreaming/Deaf program school may be required. This course is formerly known as SILA 332. Credit will be awarded for either SILA 332 or Deaf 352 but not for both.

DEAF 353 Baby Sign Language

  • Units:3
  • Hours:54 hours LEC
  • Prerequisite:None.
  • Transferable:CSU
  • Catalog Date:August 1, 2026

This course focuses on Baby Sign Language vocabulary, alphabet, handshape, movement, palm orientation, structure, and grammar. Students will learn core vocabulary, comprehension, and grammar in American Sign Language to understand its structure. Students will also be introduced to the history of the Deaf community and its culture, as well as be exposed to community resources for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing populations.

DEAF 355 Audism and Inequality of the Deaf

  • Units:3
  • Hours:54 hours LEC
  • Prerequisite:DEAF 351 with a grade of "C" or better
  • Advisory:ENGL C1000 with a grade of "C" or better
  • Transferable:CSU; UC
  • General Education:Local GE L4; Cal-GETC Area 4
  • Catalog Date:August 1, 2026

This course focuses on topics in the field of race and ethnicity in the Deaf community. It provides theoretical background and contexts of audism and oppression. It also covers the contribution of minorities including Deaf people to the United States as well as the sociological reasons for inequality of Deaf people in the United States.

DEAF 360 Deaf Art

  • Units:3
  • Hours:54 hours LEC
  • Prerequisite:None.
  • Transferable:CSU; UC
  • General Education:Cal-GETC Area 3A; Cal-GETC Area 3B
  • Catalog Date:August 1, 2026

This course introduces Deaf Arts such as drawings, sculptures, artifacts, painting, printmaking, and films. We will examine the materials, methods, and design principles of creating Deaf Arts. This course addresses the need and demand of this instruction for global recognition and its social and cultural affects toward Deaf Arts. It promotes global and cultural understanding to the relationship of Deaf Art and the expression of national, regional, socio-economic class, and gender identity.

DEAF 362 Introduction to Deafhood

  • Units:3
  • Hours:54 hours LEC
  • Prerequisite:Fluency in American Sign Language (ASL), and strong receptive and expressive skills in ASL without ASL Interpreters.
  • Advisory:The student needs to have been immersed in the Deaf culture and the Deaf community to be successful in this course.
  • Transferable:CSU; UC
  • General Education:Cal-GETC Area 4
  • Catalog Date:August 1, 2026

In this course, an in-depth guide to Deaf culture will be presented, starting from the premise that Deaf culture has an important contribution to make to other academic disciplines and to human lives in general. Within and outside of Deaf communities, there is a need for an account of the new concept of Deaf culture, which helps students or Deaf leaders in the Deaf community to assess its place alongside work within other minority cultures and multilingual discourses. In this course, students will assess the concepts of culture on its own terms and in its many guises and apply these to Deaf communities. In addition, the students will study the pitfalls that have been created for Deaf communities by an unthinking adherence to the medical concept of 'deafness' and contrast this with the new concept of Deafhood: a process by which every Deaf student, family, and adult implicitly explains their existence in the world to themselves and each other.

DEAF 380 American Sign Language Literature

  • Units:3
  • Hours:54 hours LEC
  • Prerequisite:DEAF 314 with a grade of "C" or better
  • Transferable:CSU; UC
  • General Education:Local GE L3; Cal-GETC Area 3B
  • Catalog Date:August 1, 2026

This course introduces American Sign Language (ASL) literature genres such as folklore and folktales, storytelling, visual vernacular, personification, classifier story, poetry, ABC and number stories, and non-fiction narrative. Topics include analyzing and applying ASL usage in ASL literature genres.

DEAF 495 Independent Study

  • Units:1 - 3
  • Hours:54 - 162 hours LAB
  • Prerequisite:None.
  • Catalog Date:August 1, 2026

This course involves an individual student or small groups of students in study, research, or activities beyond the scope of regular offered courses, pursuant to an agreement among college, faculty members, and students. Independent studies offers students a chance to do research that is more typical of industry and graduate student work. UC transfer credit will be awarded only after the course has been evaluated by the enrolling UC campus. The units completed for this course cannot be counted towards the minimum 60 units required for admissions.

DEAF 499 Experimental Offering in Deaf Culture & ASL Studies

  • Units:0.5 - 4
  • Prerequisite:None.
  • Catalog Date:August 1, 2026

This is the experimental courses description.

Catalog