LING 1
Introduction to Study of Language
Description: Lecture, three hours; discussion, one hour. Summary for general undergraduates of what is known about human language; biological basis of language, scientific study of language and human cognition; uniqueness of human language, its structure, universality, its diversity; language in social and cultural setting; language in relation to other aspects of human inquiry and knowledge. P/NP or letter grading.
Units: 5.0
Units: 5.0
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Most Helpful Review
Summer 2020 - I feel like this is one of the easy GEs I've taken. The lectures of this professor is clear and engaging, and the workload is rather light, only multiple choice questions each week. The content is not the easiest, but it is pretty enjoyable. The final paper is released very early so you'd have plenty of time to work on it. The final exam are like the homeworks, not easy, but predictable. Overall this is a great class to take!
Summer 2020 - I feel like this is one of the easy GEs I've taken. The lectures of this professor is clear and engaging, and the workload is rather light, only multiple choice questions each week. The content is not the easiest, but it is pretty enjoyable. The final paper is released very early so you'd have plenty of time to work on it. The final exam are like the homeworks, not easy, but predictable. Overall this is a great class to take!
Most Helpful Review
Fall 2025 - If you're looking for an easy GE this is it! There were 2 lecture videos about an hour long each, per week that were actually pretty interesting in my opinion. Professor Torrence was a very engaging lecturer and he gave many practice problems/examples that made the topics very easy to understand as someone with no background in linguistics. The weekly homework assignment (multiple choice quiz) was directly based off of the material in the lectures and would take me like 20-45 minutes. There were also case studies and textbook readings assigned each week but I would just skim them/not do them since they rarely/never appeared in the homework/exams. There are 2 papers that were very easy, I was able to finish them in a few hours. The midterm/finals are also very straightforward and based on the information in lecture. I would spend a lot of time taking notes during the lecture so that by the time the exams came, I didn't really need to study much. I also feel like some of the questions you could figure out using common sense. There are certain sections that require a lot of memorization and I would highly recommend doing the optional practice worksheets provided. For the discussions, we were able to go to whichever ones fit our schedule best, you don't have to go to the one you are enrolled in which was very convenient. Each TA had slides that were actually really helpful in going over the big ideas of that week's lectures.
Fall 2025 - If you're looking for an easy GE this is it! There were 2 lecture videos about an hour long each, per week that were actually pretty interesting in my opinion. Professor Torrence was a very engaging lecturer and he gave many practice problems/examples that made the topics very easy to understand as someone with no background in linguistics. The weekly homework assignment (multiple choice quiz) was directly based off of the material in the lectures and would take me like 20-45 minutes. There were also case studies and textbook readings assigned each week but I would just skim them/not do them since they rarely/never appeared in the homework/exams. There are 2 papers that were very easy, I was able to finish them in a few hours. The midterm/finals are also very straightforward and based on the information in lecture. I would spend a lot of time taking notes during the lecture so that by the time the exams came, I didn't really need to study much. I also feel like some of the questions you could figure out using common sense. There are certain sections that require a lot of memorization and I would highly recommend doing the optional practice worksheets provided. For the discussions, we were able to go to whichever ones fit our schedule best, you don't have to go to the one you are enrolled in which was very convenient. Each TA had slides that were actually really helpful in going over the big ideas of that week's lectures.
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