Professor
Elise Bell
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Most Helpful Review
Winter 2022 - This class was okay. However, I really appreciated the grading scheme. 60% of your grade is based on "skills mastery," where you essentially get several opportunities in weekly quizzes (and other assignments) to earn points toward a certain skill. Then once you've earned enough points in a certain skill, you no longer have to take the quizzes for that specific skill. This class does have a textbook but I honestly stopped reading it after the first week because I just didn't find it helpful. So, you could probably do well without it and you'd save a couple of bucks. The two homework assignments are fairly easy, graded for completion, and they can also help you earn some points toward skill mastery. There are also two transcription tasks, and they aren't graded necessarily, but all the points you earn go toward skill mastery. I really recommend spending a lot of time on Homework #2, because it's an easy way to earn points toward your transcription skill (one of the hardest skills to earn points for). I FLOPPED on the first transcription task, but through the quizzes and Homework #2, I was able to get the points I needed and ultimately didn't even have to do Transcription Task #2. The final was super similar to the quizzes. Each skill had a section in the exam with a few questions, for full credit in a particular section you had to earn a certain number of points and the rest would go toward skills mastery. As you can see, you have a ton of opportunities to max out your skills and earn a really good grade in the class. Good luck and don't stress!
Winter 2022 - This class was okay. However, I really appreciated the grading scheme. 60% of your grade is based on "skills mastery," where you essentially get several opportunities in weekly quizzes (and other assignments) to earn points toward a certain skill. Then once you've earned enough points in a certain skill, you no longer have to take the quizzes for that specific skill. This class does have a textbook but I honestly stopped reading it after the first week because I just didn't find it helpful. So, you could probably do well without it and you'd save a couple of bucks. The two homework assignments are fairly easy, graded for completion, and they can also help you earn some points toward skill mastery. There are also two transcription tasks, and they aren't graded necessarily, but all the points you earn go toward skill mastery. I really recommend spending a lot of time on Homework #2, because it's an easy way to earn points toward your transcription skill (one of the hardest skills to earn points for). I FLOPPED on the first transcription task, but through the quizzes and Homework #2, I was able to get the points I needed and ultimately didn't even have to do Transcription Task #2. The final was super similar to the quizzes. Each skill had a section in the exam with a few questions, for full credit in a particular section you had to earn a certain number of points and the rest would go toward skills mastery. As you can see, you have a ton of opportunities to max out your skills and earn a really good grade in the class. Good luck and don't stress!
Most Helpful Review
Winter 2022 - The workload of Ling 103 is heavy, at least for me. The grade consists of several parts. The most important part is "skill mastery", which accounts of 60% of your final grade. In order to earn full credit of this activity, you'd better do the quizzes every week. Dr. Bell introduces new materials every week. The corresponding exercises will be posted on CCLE accordingly, through which you can practice, review and preview the content learnt in class. There is specific requirement for each skill. For example, you might need 10 points for "transcribe vowel" to master the skill. If you have already earned 10 points, you can stop doing it and focus on other skills. It's clear and flexible. You might find it confusing of this assignment, but Dr. Bell will give an Excel form after the midterm. You can use the form to calculate your scores, which is very convenient. I recommend you to pay attention to the examples shown in the slides or in class, which might be shown up in the quizzes. Also, try to earn more points asap because there is also a term paper, which might drive you crazy at the end of the quarter. The term paper accounts for 22%, and it's done throughout the quarter. Its main purpose is to ask you to analyze a language that you don't know. It's broken down into 4 parts: the preliminary report (1%, mostly info about the language and your consultant); the word list (no credit, basically words from the language); recording script and annotated textgrid; and the final paper (22%). I recommend that you follow the instruction whenever Dr. Bell announces a new task. Otherwise you will find yourselves in shortage of time at the end since you have to wrap up the skill mastery, write the paper, and also prepare for the production task. The production skill is like an examination of what you have learnt throughout the quarter. It asks you to read 8-10 random or make-up IPA symbols, and you're done. The real exam is very quick to be honest, but you definitely have to know all the IPA symbols and how they are produced. There is only 10min for preparation, but our TA allows us to say it several time if we're uncertain about the pronunciation. Only the last one will be graded, which is very nice. This production task worths 15%. Dr. Bell encourages us to participate more, so there is also a participation score 1%. She also provides extra credits 2%. Dr. Bell is nice, patient, and supportive. Her lectures and slides are very neat and easy-understood. She also cares about her students and how well they do in class. If you have any concerns or questions, you're very welcome to say it in class. If you're not that kind of person, there are other methods you can share your thoughts. The shared google doc is a good one for me. Dr. Bell will post the link of the google doc in class, where everyone can share their thoughts. Also, Dr. Bell encourages us go to her office office or send her email if we need help. Even though I never went to the office hours, I feel like she cares about us. By the way, she really respects everyone in class. This class is supposed to be held online for the first 6 weeks and switch to in-person for the rest of the quarter. Dr. Bell sent us a questionnaire and ask everyone how they think. I really appreciates her for taking care of us. So, the workload is heavy and I do feel exhausted at the end of the quarter. I think this course is challenging, but if you are willing to devote your time and energy, plan ahead, follow the instructions, you should be fine.
Winter 2022 - The workload of Ling 103 is heavy, at least for me. The grade consists of several parts. The most important part is "skill mastery", which accounts of 60% of your final grade. In order to earn full credit of this activity, you'd better do the quizzes every week. Dr. Bell introduces new materials every week. The corresponding exercises will be posted on CCLE accordingly, through which you can practice, review and preview the content learnt in class. There is specific requirement for each skill. For example, you might need 10 points for "transcribe vowel" to master the skill. If you have already earned 10 points, you can stop doing it and focus on other skills. It's clear and flexible. You might find it confusing of this assignment, but Dr. Bell will give an Excel form after the midterm. You can use the form to calculate your scores, which is very convenient. I recommend you to pay attention to the examples shown in the slides or in class, which might be shown up in the quizzes. Also, try to earn more points asap because there is also a term paper, which might drive you crazy at the end of the quarter. The term paper accounts for 22%, and it's done throughout the quarter. Its main purpose is to ask you to analyze a language that you don't know. It's broken down into 4 parts: the preliminary report (1%, mostly info about the language and your consultant); the word list (no credit, basically words from the language); recording script and annotated textgrid; and the final paper (22%). I recommend that you follow the instruction whenever Dr. Bell announces a new task. Otherwise you will find yourselves in shortage of time at the end since you have to wrap up the skill mastery, write the paper, and also prepare for the production task. The production skill is like an examination of what you have learnt throughout the quarter. It asks you to read 8-10 random or make-up IPA symbols, and you're done. The real exam is very quick to be honest, but you definitely have to know all the IPA symbols and how they are produced. There is only 10min for preparation, but our TA allows us to say it several time if we're uncertain about the pronunciation. Only the last one will be graded, which is very nice. This production task worths 15%. Dr. Bell encourages us to participate more, so there is also a participation score 1%. She also provides extra credits 2%. Dr. Bell is nice, patient, and supportive. Her lectures and slides are very neat and easy-understood. She also cares about her students and how well they do in class. If you have any concerns or questions, you're very welcome to say it in class. If you're not that kind of person, there are other methods you can share your thoughts. The shared google doc is a good one for me. Dr. Bell will post the link of the google doc in class, where everyone can share their thoughts. Also, Dr. Bell encourages us go to her office office or send her email if we need help. Even though I never went to the office hours, I feel like she cares about us. By the way, she really respects everyone in class. This class is supposed to be held online for the first 6 weeks and switch to in-person for the rest of the quarter. Dr. Bell sent us a questionnaire and ask everyone how they think. I really appreciates her for taking care of us. So, the workload is heavy and I do feel exhausted at the end of the quarter. I think this course is challenging, but if you are willing to devote your time and energy, plan ahead, follow the instructions, you should be fine.
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Most Helpful Review
Spring 2023 - Big Dr. Bell fan and I appreciate her grading style. It's weekly problem sets that are challenging to figure out on your own so I suggest going to office hours if you're stuck. The midterm and final are also a bit difficult but the majority of the grade is skills mastery which you can work on throughout the quarter through the assignments tests and optional quizzes. When I took it in the spring she recorded lectures which was lovely but I do recommend going to class in person since it's easiest to understand everything. Dr. Bell works to engage with students and ensure learning and I love her use of slides and other materials to engage people in the class. It's clear she's passionate about the subject.
Spring 2023 - Big Dr. Bell fan and I appreciate her grading style. It's weekly problem sets that are challenging to figure out on your own so I suggest going to office hours if you're stuck. The midterm and final are also a bit difficult but the majority of the grade is skills mastery which you can work on throughout the quarter through the assignments tests and optional quizzes. When I took it in the spring she recorded lectures which was lovely but I do recommend going to class in person since it's easiest to understand everything. Dr. Bell works to engage with students and ensure learning and I love her use of slides and other materials to engage people in the class. It's clear she's passionate about the subject.
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