GoReact customers who teach sign language and interpreting may not know this, but GoReact was
not originally designed for ASL. It was conceived by a professor who wanted to give feedback to
public speaking students.
GoReact customers who teach sign language and interpreting may not know this, but GoReact was
not originally designed for ASL. It was conceived by a professor who wanted to give feedback to
public speaking students.
Despite its origins outside ASL, shortly after launching GoReact, the company was approached by
ASL teachers. The gist of those conversations was that these educators loved being able to give
feedback on student videos…but thought it would be really nice if they could give that feedback in
ASL.
So, our development team knocked out the first video commenting feature. This allowed sign
language teachers to conduct their ASL assignments in total ASL immersion. We had essentially
crowdsourced a little universal design for teaching software.
Since those early versions, GoReact has added many features to make life easier for ASL instructors.
And, I can’t help but wonder about the curb cut effect of all these students more easily learning ASL.
Are there more curb cut effects at work in the teaching of ASL?
Deaf culture and particularly sign language seem to be everywhere these days. Deaf actors and
issues are seen in TV shows and movies like Switched at Birth and A Quiet Place. We’ve seen reality
TV contestants like Mandy Harvey on America’s Got Talent and of course Nyle DiMarco from
America’s Next Top Model and Dancing with the Stars. Recently even the popular live trivia app HQ
Trivia asked a question about the sign for “not” in ASL.
ASL is now the 3 rd most taught foreign language at American universities with over 100,000 students
enrolled in ASL courses each year.
Where does this wealth of sign language exposure end up?
(Continue on the next page)
The Power of ASL
8
Winter 2019 – Issue 16