Are students required to complete three years of the same World Language, or can they study three years of two or three different languages?
Can a student study a language that is not offered at PVPA?
If a student struggles with foreign languages, is he/she eligible for a waiver?
Can a student who travels abroad receive credit towards his/her World Language requirement?
What is American Sign Language?
Is ASL a visual form of English?
Is ASL Universal? (Is ASL used all over the world?)
Do colleges accept ASL (American Sign Language) as a world language requirement?
Do most colleges offer American Sign Language?
My child has a language based learning disability. Will s/he be successful in ASL?

Are students required to complete three years of the same World Language, or can they study three years of two or three different languages?
Students must complete three years of the same world language in order to meet the PVPA graduation requirement. Three years of language study is the minimum needed in order to gain a true understanding and a base-level proficiency in the target language. Back to top

Can a student study a language that is not offered at PVPA?
Yes.  Please refer to our independent study guidelines for more information. Back to top

If a student struggles with foreign languages, is he/she eligible for a waiver?
World Language waivers are only for students who have a documented learning disability or other testing results that identify sufficient reason to indicate that the student would not be able to successfully meet the standards and benchmarks for a World Language course. Please see our waiver policy for more detailed information. Back to top

Can a student who travels abroad receive credit towards his/her World Language requirement?
In some cases, yes. During the stay abroad, the student would have to be enrolled in a language and/or immersion class and documentation of content and classroom hours completed would have to be provided in order to be translated into PVPA credit hours. Back to top

What is American Sign Language?
American Sign Language, often referred to as ASL, is a complex visual-spatial language that is used by the Deaf community in the United States and English-speaking parts of Canada. It is a linguistically complete, natural language. It is the native language of many Deaf people, as well as some hearing children born into Deaf families. Back to top

Is ASL a visual form of English?
No.  ASL shares no grammatical similarities to English and should not be considered in any way to be a broken, mimed, or gestured form of English. In terms of syntax, for example, ASL has topic-comment syntax, while English uses Subject-Object-Verb. In fact, in terms of syntax, ASL shares more with spoken Japanese than it does with English. Back to top

Is ASL Universal? (Is ASL used all over the world?)
No.  Sign languages develop specific to their communities and are not universal. For example, ASL is totally different from British Sign Language even though both countries speak English. Back to top

Do colleges accept ASL (American Sign Language) as a world language requirement?
Yes, most colleges do. Back to top

Do most colleges offer American Sign Language?
The number of colleges that offer American Sign Language is growing rapidly. Back to top

My child has a language based learning disability.  Will s/he be successful in ASL?
Many students with language based learning differences, such as Dyslexia, are successful with American Sign Language.  The success rate varies individually from student to student. Back to top