How To Become A Sign Language Teacher: What It Is and Career Path

What is a sign language teacher and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

4 min read

Quoted Expert

Dr. Lisalee Egbert

American Sign Language, or ASL, is the language spoken by the deaf community in the United States. Like any other language, ASL has its own dialects, slang, and culture, even though it is spoken with hands and face instead of sounds. Sign language teachers are teachers that help students, both hearing and deaf, learn sign language.

Sign language teachers can work with deaf students and their families to help them learn how to communicate or with classrooms of hearing students looking to learn ASL. Sign language teachers can be hearing or deaf themselves. No matter who they work with, sign language teachers help students learn to speak sign language and introduce them to deaf culture.

Just like teachers of any other subject, sign language teachers need to prove their qualifications before they step into a classroom. Many get bachelor's or even master's degrees in ASL. In addition to getting a teaching license, many sign language teachers also need to get a certificate from the American Sign Language Teachers Association. They earn on average $50,329 a year for their teaching expertise.

What general advice would you give to a Sign Language Teacher?

Dr. Lisalee Egbert

Professor and Coordinator, The University of Texas at Arlington

In working with the Deaf Community - either with children or adults - language skills in ASL as well as allyship and/or advocacy should be focused on.

ScoreSign Language TeacherUS Average

Salary

4.2

Avg. Salary $54,210

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability Level

5.2

Growth Rate 12%

Growth Rate 0.3%

Diversity

5.2

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.28%

Asian 11.33%

Black or African American 7.02%

Hispanic or Latino 10.01%

Unknown 4.91%

White 66.46%

Gender

female 81.44%

male 18.56%

Age - 46

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 46

Stress Level

5.2

Stress level is manageable

7.1 - high

Complexity Level

9.9

Complexity Level is advanced

7 - challenging

Work Life Balance

6.7

Work Life balance is good

6.4 - fair

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Key steps to become a sign language teacher

Explore sign language teacher education requirements

Most common sign language teacher degrees

Bachelor's

60.0 %

Associate

20.4 %

Master's

12.7 %

Start to develop specific sign language teacher skills

Skills	Percentages
ESL	76.46%
Student Learning	6.67%
Classroom Management	4.23%
Deaf Culture	2.82%
Learning Styles	2.68%

Research sign language teacher duties and responsibilities

Lead debates with advance students on topics including globalization, economics, and political history.
Develop syllabus and overall class curriculum.
Re-Design the extensive ESL program.
Interface with the dean of instruction regarding the professional learning community (PLC) and teachers' and programs' evaluation.

Prepare your sign language teacher resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your sign language teacher resume.

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Apply for sign language teacher jobs

Now it's time to start searching for a sign language teacher job. Consider the tips below for a successful job search:

Browse job boards for relevant postings
Consult your professional network
Reach out to companies you're interested in working for directly
Watch out for job scams