Professor
Giuseppina Silvestri
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Most Helpful Review
Fall 2020 - So I took this class during online learning. While Prof. Silvestri is the actual professor, the class is almost entirely taught through recorded Harold Torrence lectures. Torrence is a great lecturer and the material isn't super difficult and is generally replicated in the reading. I have trouble paying attention to recorded lectures, so I primarily read the textbook instead. Grades are composed of participation (discussion section and a once a week mandatory attendance lecture w Silvestri); homework; two easy papers; midterm and final. Overall not super interesting in my opinion, but a pretty easy A.
Fall 2020 - So I took this class during online learning. While Prof. Silvestri is the actual professor, the class is almost entirely taught through recorded Harold Torrence lectures. Torrence is a great lecturer and the material isn't super difficult and is generally replicated in the reading. I have trouble paying attention to recorded lectures, so I primarily read the textbook instead. Grades are composed of participation (discussion section and a once a week mandatory attendance lecture w Silvestri); homework; two easy papers; midterm and final. Overall not super interesting in my opinion, but a pretty easy A.
Most Helpful Review
Fall 2019 - Giuseppina is fantastic! I took her LING 20 class on the side of two heavier STEM classes and found the subject to be an interesting look at language more than half of the time. It can get a little technical with grammaticality, sentence structure, and phonological rules (language sounds). While the required homework (30% of your grade, graded pretty leniently) was usually short, it could be tricky- but the TAs would always be happy to help you through it and check your rationale before you turned it in. The midterm (35%) wasn't so hard, but the material got a decent amount trickier by the final (35%), which would require you spend some more time learning everything and getting support from her and the TAs. She offered 2% extra credit, and her lectures came straight out of the textbook, which is a free pdf another professor on campus wrote very well and with clear explanations of each topic. Though I didn't do as well as I'd have liked because I didn't allot enough time to studying for the final, I'd definitely take more classes with her. She's really sweet and always brought a positive energy to each lecture. Get feedback on your practice from the TAs and you'll do great.
Fall 2019 - Giuseppina is fantastic! I took her LING 20 class on the side of two heavier STEM classes and found the subject to be an interesting look at language more than half of the time. It can get a little technical with grammaticality, sentence structure, and phonological rules (language sounds). While the required homework (30% of your grade, graded pretty leniently) was usually short, it could be tricky- but the TAs would always be happy to help you through it and check your rationale before you turned it in. The midterm (35%) wasn't so hard, but the material got a decent amount trickier by the final (35%), which would require you spend some more time learning everything and getting support from her and the TAs. She offered 2% extra credit, and her lectures came straight out of the textbook, which is a free pdf another professor on campus wrote very well and with clear explanations of each topic. Though I didn't do as well as I'd have liked because I didn't allot enough time to studying for the final, I'd definitely take more classes with her. She's really sweet and always brought a positive energy to each lecture. Get feedback on your practice from the TAs and you'll do great.
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Most Helpful Review
Spring 2024 - Lectures were kinda boring but the workload was manageable. I would suggest to take this class if you want a easy Ling Upper Div. There is no final or midterms just quizzes throughout the quarter that are open note. There is a final paper with a presentation but she is helpful and guides you through it if you have any questions.
Spring 2024 - Lectures were kinda boring but the workload was manageable. I would suggest to take this class if you want a easy Ling Upper Div. There is no final or midterms just quizzes throughout the quarter that are open note. There is a final paper with a presentation but she is helpful and guides you through it if you have any questions.
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Most Helpful Review
Spring 2022 - I enjoyed taking this class with Professor Silvestri, who is a very kind and approachable professor! The homeworks and exams felt very fair, and discussion sections helped a lot in practicing and reviewing the material. I would recommend knowing or at least being familiar with a second language when taking this class as the entire course is about comparing languages, but it's by no means a requirement.
Spring 2022 - I enjoyed taking this class with Professor Silvestri, who is a very kind and approachable professor! The homeworks and exams felt very fair, and discussion sections helped a lot in practicing and reviewing the material. I would recommend knowing or at least being familiar with a second language when taking this class as the entire course is about comparing languages, but it's by no means a requirement.
Most Helpful Review
Fall 2019 - This was one of the toughest, disorganized courses I took in the ling department thus far. The readings were dense and not debriefed, leaving lots behind on topics. Lectures were scattered and often lacked background information. The exams were tough; 2-3 essays closed-book. There was also a final project where the professor pairs you up with another student in the class to do a research paper, with a presentation included. I stopped going halfway through the quarter because the lecture did not help, and it was frankly a waste of my time.
Fall 2019 - This was one of the toughest, disorganized courses I took in the ling department thus far. The readings were dense and not debriefed, leaving lots behind on topics. Lectures were scattered and often lacked background information. The exams were tough; 2-3 essays closed-book. There was also a final project where the professor pairs you up with another student in the class to do a research paper, with a presentation included. I stopped going halfway through the quarter because the lecture did not help, and it was frankly a waste of my time.
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