Teaching

Courses Taught:

• Introduction to Linguistics
• Science of Language
• Language and Gender
• Linguistics of Sign Languages
• Laboratory Phonetics/Introduction to Speech and Hearing Science/Articulatory Phonetics
• Syntactic Structure of English
• Introduction to Phonology

Style: I center my classes and teaching style on methods that have helped me and previous students find success in linguistics. Phonology did not come easily to me when I was an undergraduate linguistics student, and I remember oftentimes feeling lost and not knowing where to even start. As I grew in my studies, I noted which questions or processes helped me better understand the kind of abstract thought necessary for phonological analysis. I have made sure to teach my students with those same questions and processes, and it has yielded success for my students. First, I simplify a process down to a small set of questions they need to ask themselves, focusing first on the mechanics of analysis and then making the higher-level connections. For example, I always give my phonology students the simple flow chart below providing questions and steps to drive their phonological analyses for class:

Second, I include as many opportunities as possible for students to work through the process in class both individually and in groups where they can easily ask questions. This acts as a time to self-check their understanding, since so often we understand something in lecture but not in practice. I remember many teary moments when I had no idea where to start once I got home with the assignment, and I aim to avoid that for my students.