ASL

Types of Degrees ASL Majors Are Getting

The following table lists how many american sign language graduations there were for each degree level during the last year for which data was available.

Education Level	Number of Grads
Master’s Degree	106
Graduate Certificate	3
Doctor’s Degree	2

What ASL Majors Need to Know

In an O*NET survey, asl majors were asked to rate what knowledge areas, skills, and abilities were important in their occupations. These answers were weighted on a scale of 1 to 5 with 5 being the most important.

Knowledge Areas for ASL Majors

According to O*NET survey takers, a major in asl should prepare you for careers in which you will need to be knowledgeable in the following areas:

• Foreign Language - Knowledge of the structure and content of a foreign (non-English) language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition and grammar, and pronunciation.
• English Language - Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.
• Customer and Personal Service - Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.
• Law and Government - Knowledge of laws, legal codes, court procedures, precedents, government regulations, executive orders, agency rules, and the democratic political process.
• Communications and Media - Knowledge of media production, communication, and dissemination techniques and methods. This includes alternative ways to inform and entertain via written, oral, and visual media.

Skills for ASL Majors

The following list of skills has been highlighted as some of the most essential for careers related to asl:

• Active Listening - Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.
• Speaking - Talking to others to convey information effectively.
• Reading Comprehension - Understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work related documents.
• Writing - Communicating effectively in writing as appropriate for the needs of the audience.
• Critical Thinking - Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions or approaches to problems.

Abilities for ASL Majors

As a asl major, you will find yourself needing the following abilities:

• Oral Comprehension - The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
• Oral Expression - The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
• Speech Recognition - The ability to identify and understand the speech of another person.
• Speech Clarity - The ability to speak clearly so others can understand you.
• Written Comprehension - The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing.

What Can You Do With a ASL Major?

Below is a list of occupations associated with asl:

Job Title	Job Growth Rate	Median Salary
Interpreters and Translators	17.7%	$49,930
Professors	9.4%	$65,660

Who Is Getting a Master’s Degree in ASL?

This major is dominated by women with about 75% of recent graduates being female.

Racial-Ethnic Diversity

At the countrywide level, the racial-ethnic distribution of asl majors is as follows:

Race/Ethnicity	Number of Grads
Asian	7
Black or African American	11
Hispanic or Latino	13
White	65
International Students	2
Other Races/Ethnicities	8

Geographic Diversity

ASL appeals to people across the globe. About 1.9% of those with this major are international students.

Amount of Education Required for Careers Related to ASL

Some careers associated with asl require an advanced degree while some may not even require a bachelor’s. In general, the more advanced your degree the more career options will open up to you. However, there is significant time and money that needs to be invested into your education so weigh the pros and cons.

How much schooling do you really need to compete in today’s job market? People currently working in careers related to asl have obtained the following education levels.

Education Level	Percentage of Workers
High School Diploma - or the equivalent (for example, GED)	1.1%
Post-Secondary Certificate - awarded for training completed after high school (for example, in agriculture or natural resources, computer services, personal or culinary services, engineering technologies, healthcare, construction trades, mechanic and repair technologies, or precision production)	1.1%
Associate’s Degree (or other 2-year degree)	11.4%
Bachelor’s Degree	52.1%
Master’s Degree	25.5%
Post-Master’s Certificate - awarded for completion of an organized program of study; designed for people who have completed a Master’s degree but do not meet the requirements of academic degrees at the doctoral level.	8.9%

Online ASL Programs

The following table lists the number of programs by degree level, along with how many schools offered online courses in the field.

Degree Level	Colleges Offering Programs	Colleges Offering Online Classes
Certificate (Less Than 1 Year)	0	0
Certificate (1-2 years)	61	3
Certificate (2-4 Years)	1	0
Associate’s Degree	145	4
Bachelor’s Degree	4	1
Post-Baccalaureate	0	0
Master’s Degree	10	3
Post-Master’s	0	0
Doctor’s Degree (Research)	2	0
Doctor’s Degree (Professional Practice)	0	0
Doctor’s Degree (Other)	0	0

Majors Related to ASL

You may also be interested in one of the following majors related to asl.

Major	Number of Grads
Romance Languages	13,043
Linguistics & Comparative Literature	7,681
East Asian Languages	2,056
Classical Languages & Literature	1,484
Germanic Languages	1,098
Middle Eastern Semitic Languages	549
Slavic, Baltic & Albanian Languages	536
Foreign Language, Literature & Linguistics (Other)	520
Second Language Learning	282
Southeast Asian & Pacific Languages	50
Native American Languages	48
South Asian Languages	26
African Languages	8
Iranian & Persian Languages	8
Greek Language & Literature	4
Celtic Language & Literature	3
Turkic & Central Asian Languages	1

References

*The racial-ethnic minorities count is calculated by taking the total number of students and subtracting white students, international students, and students whose race/ethnicity was unknown. This number is then divided by the total number of students at the school to obtain the racial-ethnic minorities percentage.

• College Factual
• College Scorecard
• National Center for Education Statistics
• O*NET Online
• U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
• Usual Weekly Earnings of Wage and Salary Workers First Quarter 2020
• Image Credit: By PsiДҐedelisto under License

More about our data sources and methodologies.