LIN 456 & 1156: Language Variation and Change

Course expectations

Course requirements	Reading	Syllabus (Schedule)
Course description	Grading	Contacting the professor

Contacting the professor

Dr. Naomi Nagy, Professor, Department of Linguistics	416-978-1767
See my email address at bottom of page.	Office: Sidney Smith 4072
Please expect responses to email and phone messages only during normal business hours.	Office hours

Please feel free to contact me outside of class if there is something you want to discuss or anything you don't understand. If you will miss class, get the homework AHEAD OF TIME so that you are not behind when you return. Arrange to get lecture notes from another student BEFORE coming to talk to me about what you missed.

Course expectations

Quercus:   Readings, assignments, and resources for the research project are posted in Quercus (http://q.utoronto.ca/).   Check it before class each week for important information and to download/print/read any handouts for class. Materials will be available at least 24 hours before class.

Assignments: There are homework assignments due as noted on the syllabus. This is where the real learning happens--when you get involved with the data and the theory. Assignments are posted in Quercus and on this website. Assignments will be developed and explained in class. It is your responsibility to hand in the assignments on time - a missed class is NOT an excuse for a late assignment.   Homework will be accepted early, but not late, unless you provide appropriate documentation for a valid reason within 48 hours of the due date. You are encouraged to print double-sided whenever possible for this course.

Research Project: Details of the project will be discussed and developed by the class. More about the research project.

Reading and Participating:

It's critical to read the assigned articles/chapters before class. Bring notes, articles, and your questions/comments about them to class. This way, you can contribute productively to discussion and ask questions in class about anything that is not clear. Part of your grade is based on participation.

Participation includes asking and answering questions, making relevant observations and connections between course content and your life experiences. It's important to do this in class, to develop your ability to talk clearly about research, but you may also contribute through the Discussion Forum in Quercus. You'll receive a holistic grade that considers both the quantity and quality of your contributions to the course.

• Required textbook: Walker, James. A. 2010. Variation in linguistic systems. NY: Routledge.
• Recommended textbook: Tagliamonte, Sali A. 2006. Analysing sociolinguistic variation. Cambridge: CUP.
• Additional required READINGS will be available via Quercus. You may be required to find some directly from the library. Other RESOURCES will also be in Quercus and loaded to the in-class computers.

We will all discuss most readings in class. It is important to keep up with the reading: read the items listed on the syllabus by the date for which they are listed.

Grading: Your grade for the semester will be calculated as shown.

A note on assessment

I aim to provide formative assessments in the earlier parts of the course, while the assignments later in the term will have summative assessments.

Formative assessment

• Formative assessments provide ongoing feedback that can be used by instructors to improve their teaching and by students to improve their learning. They help students identify their strengths and weaknesses and target areas that need work and help faculty recognize where students are struggling and address problems immediately.
• Formative assessments are generally low stakes, which means that they have low point value.

Summative assessment

Summative assessments evaluate student learning at the end of an instructional unit.

Summative assessments are often high stakes, which means that they have a high point value.

Information from summative assessments can be used formatively when students or faculty use it to guide their efforts and activities in subsequent courses.

The tables on the next page show how each assignment is weighted in the calculation of your final course mark. Please note that this differs from the number of points out of which an assignment is assessed in the Quercus gradebook.

Graduate students are exempt from handing in assignments 5-7, if they do not feel the need for feedback on them and are expected to make one additional presentation (11/28).

[adapted from https://www.cmu.edu/teaching/assessment/basics/formative-summative.html]

Undergraduate (LIN 456)

Category	Task	% of final mark
Assignments (55%)	Survey ("a little about you")	1%
	HW 1: Syllabus report	2%
	HW 2: Sample design & token search report	2%
	HW 3: Coding schema for your dependent and independent variables	3%
	HW 4: Proto-abstract	3%
	HW 5: Speaker distribution	3%
	HW 6: Token file	3%
	HW 7: Distributional analysis	5%
	HW 8: Multivariate analysis	5%
	HW 9: Abstract	10%
	HW 10: Draft of paper	18%
Presentation of findings		10%
Research Paper (final version)		20%
Class participation, including the Social Factor Fest presentation		15%

Graduate (LIN 1156)

Category	Task	% of final mark
Assignments (45%)	Survey ("a little about you")	1%
	HW 1: Syllabus report	2%
	HW 2: Sample design & token search report	3%
	HW 3: Coding schema for your dep. and indep. variables	4%
	HW 4: Proto-abstract	5%
	HW 5: Speaker distribution	3%
	HW 6: Token file	3%
	HW 7: Distributional analysis	5%
	HW 8: Multivariate analysis	10%
	HW 9: Abstract	10%
	HW 10: Draft of paper	10%
Formal Fest II Presentation		15%
Presentation of findings (optional; makes final paper weigh less)		0% or 5%
Research Paper (final version)		25% or 30%
Class participation, including the Social Factor Fest presentation		10%

Further information about course policies and procedures is available in Quercus. Please read it.

Return to the Syllabus

Updated August 31, 2022.