7 Best FREE Online ASL (American Sign Language) Classes

By : Amanda Henderson Amanda Henderson
Hours Updated

American Sign Language (ASL) is a complete, natural language with the same linguistic attributes as spoken languages, but its grammar differs from English. ASL is a natural language that uses movements of hands and facial expressions. It is the primary language of many citizens of America who are deaf and have hearing issues.

There are free online ASL courses available that teach the language effectively and are self-paced.

The following list of American Sign Language Courses & Certifications will help you learn more about this subject.

Best Online ASL Courses & Classes: American Sign Language

Course Name Provider Video Duration Certification Links
Learn & Master Sign Language by Udemy Udemy 47 hours on-demand video Yes Learn More
American Sign Language Level 1 SkillShare 2 hours 27 minutes No Learn More
Professional Certificate in American Sign Language Science edX Self-placed Yes Learn More
Signing Savvy ASL Courses Signing Savvy Self-placed No Learn More
Lifeprint ASL Courses Lifeprint Self-placed No Learn More

American Sign Language

1) Learn & Master Sign Language by Udemy (Udemy)

Specs: Rating: 4.7 | Duration: 47 hours of on-demand video | Fee: $29.99 | Certificate: Yes | Level: Beginner

Learn & Master Sign Language by Udemy teaches you about American Sign Language. Each chapter provides basic lessons, quizzes, and vocabulary, with a video for each word taught in the lesson.

This ASL course contains 25 section that covers various aspects of ASL. You can access the detailed lesson book from the free online student support site. The course is created by Legacy Learning Systems, a leader in ASL education.

Udemy

Features:

  • 1 downloadable resource
  • Full lifetime access
  • Access on mobile and TV
  • Certificate of completion

Key Topics:

  • Learning and Master Sign Language is structured around different matters that come around everyday life.
  • Basics of ASL, along with introduction and greetings.
  • Gestures, pronouns, and alphabet members of the family.
  • Know adjectives and topicalization.
  • Learn about Clock Time, Calendar Time, and Frequency.
  • Learn about directional verbs.

Enroll Now >>

2) American Sign Language Level 1 (Skillshare)

Specs: Duration: 4 weeks | Fee: 30 Days Free Trial | Certificate: No | Level: Beginner

American Sign Language Level 1 is designed to give students a language foundation in ASL. The course covers 26 lesson which teaches all the important points about American Sign Language. The course creator is Intellezy designs, whose delivery approach is aligned to meet intended outcomes and address a student’s specific training needs.

Students will be introduced to important ASL topics such as the alphabet, fingerspelling, animals, foods, drinks, professions, and verbs. They will have access to materials that they can use to practice vocabulary and sentence construction. At the end of the course, students will be able to clearly demonstrate a short story in ASL.

Skillshare

Features:

  • Taught by expert tutors.
  • You can learn ASL online from any device.
  • Skillshare helps you to enhance your sign language skills easily.

Key Topics:

  • Pronouns + Vocab + Practice
  • Fingerspelling Exercises
  • 32 Essential Phrases
  • Colors, Nouns, Dialogues
  • Alphabet plus 26 Basic Signs
  • Master the Alphabet and Fingerspelling fast

Enroll Now >>

3) Professional Certificate in American Sign Language Science (edX)

Specs: Duration: 4 months | Fee: $356.40 | Certificate: Yes | Level: Expert

Professional Certificate in American Sign Language helps you to explore the history and evolution of American Sign Language. This course is ideal for anyone looking to accelerate their career, earn a degree, or become proficient in ASL.

You can learn ASL from exercises in just 3-5 hours in a week. Students from diverse backgrounds, signers, and speakers can benefit from this remarkable journey into visual-manual languages.

The course designer is Ted R. Supalla, Ph.D., who is a Neurology, Linguistics, and Psychology Professor at Georgetown University Medical Center. He runs the Sign Language Research Lab, a part of the Center on Brain Plasticity and Recovery.

edX

Features:

  • It includes a short video with learning exercises.
  • This site contains a weekly subject sequence.
  • Teaches the historical origins of ASL grammar.
  • Helps you learn the role of visual analogy in learning ASL.
  • It helps you learn language-specific variation and historical change for signed languages.

Key Topics:

  • Identify the historical origins of a natural gesture that led to the emergence of ASL grammar.
  • Discuss the role of visual analogy in learning ASL, considering the possible linguistic universals for signed languages.
  • Describe the visual, motoric, and cognitive constraints which may give rise to these phenomena.

Enroll Now >>

4) Signing Savvy ASL Courses

Signing Savvy is a sign language course site containing several thousands of ASL learning videos. They provide study material like fingerspelled words and other common signs used widely in the U.S.A. and Canada. This ASL course allows you to search the sign language dictionary and learn with high-resolution videos. The free ASL classes online offer a better understanding of ASL basics.

The site is created by Brenda Cartwright, a seasoned interpreter, a master teacher, and author of several best-selling sign language and interpreting textbooks.

Signing Savvy

Features:

  • It helps you to build vocabulary word lists which you can practice with flashcards and quizzes.
  • You can join the community of educators, interpreters, and students.

Link: https://www.signingsavvy.com/

5) Lifeprint ASL Courses

Lifeprint provides many free self-study materials, lessons, information, and paid instructor-guided courses for ASL. This online learning site supports parents of deaf children living in rural or “outlying” areas. Students eighteen years of age or older can be admitted to this program with their parent’s or guardians’ permission.

Lifeprint

Features:

  • The lessons cover simple phrases and verbs to explain basic grammar.
  • Every Lifeprint ASL course is designed with a 15-week semester length.
  • This course also helps you to complete either faster or slower, depending on each student’s needs, abilities, and time availability.

Key Topics:

  • Fingerspelling Practice
  • Numbers Practice
  • ASL 1: Practice Cards
  • ASL 2: Practice Cards

Link: https://www.lifeprint.com/index.htm

6) TakeLessons ASL Courses

TakeLessons is an Online ASL learning website that offers access to hundreds of live classes. This online course site allows you to take as many classes as you want across various subjects.

These American Sign language classes help you enhance your real-time ASL learning with an extensive library of on-demand videos.

TakeLessons

Features:

  • Provides fast-track learning by asking questions and getting feedback.
  • On-demand videos to support faster and more efficient learning.
  • Essential reading materials.
  • Offers online classes 7 days a week.
  • Provides on-demand videos around the clock.
  • It helps you to stay motivated with progress tracking.

Link: https://takelessons.com/live/american-sign-language

7) Gallaudet ASL Courses

Gallaudet University is a fully accredited liberal arts college specializing in the language and culture of deaf people. The university offers the world’s only BA, MA, and Ph.D. programs for the deaf community within an ASL-immersive setting.

Gallaudet is one of the best American Sign language University that offers some of the best online ASL classes. You can also learn and excel at American Sign Language through these learning courses.

Gallaudet

Features:

  • American Sign Language Level 1, 2,3,4. Students can take these ASL courses online or through their residency program.

Key Topics:

  • Signing the complete alphabet correctly from memory.
  • Recognizing and understanding all the letters in ASL.
  • Being able to sign and identify the notes quickly.
  • Beginning fingerspelling with multiple letters and short words.
  • Beginning recognition of signed numerous letters and short words.
  • Visual Gestural Communication.

Link: https://gallaudet.edu/asl-connect/asl-online-courses/

FAQs:

American Sign Language (ASL) is a complete, natural language with the same linguistic attributes as a spoken language, but its grammar differs from English. ASL is a natural language that uses movements of hands and facial expressions. It is the primary language of many citizens of America who are deaf and have hearing issues.

Everyone learns at a different pace, so the answer given to one person may not be right for another person. It might take one person longer to learn American Sign Language than others. However, it depends on how much time you have to allocate to learn sign language online and how quickly you pick up new concepts and remember them.

Some ASL classes are self-paced, and some can take up to six to eight weeks to complete. By the time you have completed your ASL class, you should understand sign language better. However, that still not be fluent as it may take several years of regular practice to become an expert in sign language.

Here are some important points that tips that will help you to select the free ASL classes:

  • You should find a class that teaches you in an easily readable language.
  • It is important that should opt for an ASL course that enables you to track your progress.
  • The course should provide regular exercises and assessments to track your progress.
  • You should look for an ASL course that teaches you all the important basic aspects of American Sign Language.

Few methods to learn American Sign Language are as follows:

  • Learn online by watching videos: YouTube Sign Language videos make learning American Sign Language online easy. If you don’t understand it once, you can watch it again and again.
  • Take an online course: Learning sign language online can be an alternative today. Some universities and schools provide online ASL courses. You can search for the best American Sign Language courses for communicating better with deaf people using sign language.
  • Hire a professional sign language tutor: Hiring a private ASL tutor can be the best way to learn sign language. You can search locally for qualified American sign language tutors willing to teach you sign language.
  • Watch and mimic interpreters:You can also learn sign symbols by watching sign language interpreters. You can find them at deaf events on TV or on video platforms like YouTube.
  • Get the help of your deaf relative or friends: Asking a deaf friend or relative to teach you some sign language is another easy method. It helps you teach some signs and will also reduce the struggle of having a conversation with them.
  • Read a book: If you do not enjoy online learning, plenty of books are available at bookshops and libraries to learn ASL. Moreover, you will also find a number of Sign Language dictionaries for step-by-step learning!
    However, this can be difficult to learn, as the movements of the signs are not as obvious as watching a video.
  • Watch a video/DVD: Several organizations have created videos or DVDs to help you learn ASL.
  • Practice your fingerspelling. Fingerspelling is a simple and easy way to communicate with deaf people without remembering all the word phrases.

The best way to learn anything is by practicing! Most programs differ in course length and course requirements. This question depends upon which program you have chosen to learn ASL.

If you opt for a self-paced program and repeat the lesson from ASL class material 2-3 times, it will take approximately 25 hours to complete.

On the other hand, in a traditional classroom, ASL instructors cover 1 lesson in 2-3 weeks, making an academic year cover around 10-15 lessons. So it will take a longer time.

You should remember that there is no common single sign language that is used around the world. Like any other formal language, sign language developed naturally by interacting with different groups of people, like Americans, British, Australians, Spanish, etc.

ASL differs from other sign languages in using two hands instead of one.

Best Online ASL Courses & Classes: American Sign Language

Course Name Provider Video Duration Certification Links
Learn & Master Sign Language by Udemy Udemy 47 hours on-demand video Yes Learn More
American Sign Language Level 1 SkillShare 2 hours 27 minutes No Learn More
Professional Certificate in American Sign Language Science edX Self-placed Yes Learn More
Signing Savvy ASL Courses Signing Savvy Self-placed No Learn More
Lifeprint ASL Courses Lifeprint Self-placed No Learn More
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