I love his style of teaching lectures because he is coherent and he shows the step-by-step process of his phonological analyses. He is also a very understanding professor and kind in general and I appreciate that.
The workload was a lot (especially during finals week because we had a final exam and term paper due in the same week on top of our other courses) and the homeworks were difficult/complex (we were on our own to figure out the homeworks because hints given during OH were very broad) but overall I really enjoyed the class and learning a lot about phonology. I found the computer program Pheatures to be very fun. The textbook (I believe it is written by him) is very fascinating and I continue to read it even after finishing the class. I thought the final would be very difficult judging by the homeworks, but it turned out not to be so. I feel that the complex homeworks prepare you for the final so you will do better than you think on it. The final tests your knowledge and skills but the homework is more complex.

Honestly, I liked the class in the beginning but as time passed on, it became a bit difficult and taxing. This was his first time teaching during COVID and it's understandable that he wouldn't have a good grasp on how to pace his lectures online, but he expected us to write a term paper while giving out weekly homework AND a final exam. The pace of the class wasn't terrible, but it was an overload of work, and if you go to Office Hours to ask for help, his help is very vague and I understand it's because he doesn't want to give out an answer but it confused me more than anything.

The nice thing about the final is that it was a take-home exam, so I had time to complete it but even then, it was draining. I really enjoyed the professor and think the professor was nice company and you can tell he's passionate about linguistics and teaching, additionally, the class was lenient with extensions which were super nice of them.

Overall, I enjoyed the class but it took a lot out of me.

I took introductory phonology with Professor Hayes and found his teaching style both innovating and instructional. His demeanor makes him easily approachable and his class interesting. Pr. Hayes has an incredible sense of humor, as there was never a class where I didn't laugh out loud at least once. His class was one of the most enjoyable that I have taken at UCLA in the linguistics dept, but I suppose that depends on your aptitude for phonology. I would defiantly recommend taking a class with Professor Hayes if given the opportunity.