LINGUIST List 15.2411

Mon Aug 30 2004

Sum: Philosophies for Teaching Intro to Ling

Editor for this issue: Megan Zdrojkowski <meganlinguistlist.org>

Directory

1. Jo Mackiewicz, Philosophies for Teaching Intro to Ling

This is a summary of results for a query I posted on June 3, 2004
(Linguist 15.1710). I asked for linguists' philosophies for teaching
introductory courses in linguistics.

Linguists said that they stressed the following in their classes: 
1)scientific analysis of language data,
2) reevaluating beliefs about language, especially nonstandard
dialects,
3) differentiating between language and other communication, 
4) understanding main concepts, such as 
	A) language is systematic, 
	B) languages share some universal characteristics, 
	C) humans have an innate capacity for language.

I would like to thank Michael Erard, Paul Justice, Susan Meredith
Burt, Kathryn Riley, Ilhan Cagri, Janine Graziano-King, and Madalena
Cruz-Ferreira for their thoughtful replies to my request.

I am still interested in receiving responses, as this research project
is ongoing. Please send your teaching philosophy, your syllabus for
your introduction to linguistics course, or any other materials that
you think might be helpful to jmackiewd.umn.edu.