I really enjoyed this class, and Torrence made the class so easy. He really has a passion for the subject, and this is evident through the way he teaches and interacts with his students. His lectures did seem to drag a bit, but I would recommend going to lecture just because he explains the subjects so well.

Class consisted of weekly hw assignments, a midterm, and a final. The midterm and final were very easy (I think the class average was a 93% on midterm). They are just multiple choice and questions come from powerpoint, so study these and you'll do fine.

Professor Torrence's lecture is really clear and interesting. I personally like this topic so I found the lectures very engaging even though they are recorded videos. However, like other reviews said, the course is impacted and heavy in workload if you take it during summer. 8 hours of videos every week and lots of materials to learn and remember. You have to actually spend time understanding and memorizing some of the concepts to do well in exam.
All in all, I recommend this course if you are interested in linguistics and willing to work hard.

I wouldn't take this as an online SUMMER class. Since the videos are edited, he can fit in so much information into one video.
My friend who took this in class in Spring 2019 showed me the work he had to do. Come to find, the 6 week summer course and 10 week regular course have the exact same content. So they shoved 10 weeks of stuff into 6. It can be demanding (4-8 videos a week, each over 1 hour) but if you're good with your time, you can do it. I was taking another class along side this one and found problems juggling it all.
Online summer class has a final paper, final exam (cumulative), discussion sessions and homework. The class can be difficult in certain sections and it's hard to ask questions in discussion since it's online. There will be hundreds online at the same time with like 80 questions and they only have their allotted time to answer while also covering the lectures. I'm sure this class is fine in person. Professor Torrence is very charming and engaging. But as an online class, it can be just too much at times. Plus you have to pay to take the test online or go in person, which isn't ideal as a Summer course since many students are away and don't have $40 to dish out on a final. Overall not bad, would take it again but not over the summer.

I absolutely loved this class! I honestly find myself using the concepts I've learned almost every day in multiple different areas of my life. The first midterm was super straightforward, and I got a 98% from taking detailed notes (which was relatively easy because of the online lectures) and just a few hours of review the night before. The final was a bit more challenging because the material was a little tougher. There's also a 5 page paper due at the end of the quarter where you apply the concepts you've learned to your own personal experience with language, and you have to participate in a Psych study for 2% of your grade (don't wait til week 10 like me lol). Overall, the professor is extremely thorough and I'm happy I took the course!

The class was really interesting and easy. I came into this class not knowing anything about Linguistics and I thought it would be boring. But Torrence was engaging, funny and made me really like the material. The first midterm was a little disorganized but the second midterm and final were fine. He does listen to students and does care about student learning. He gave a couple REALLY easy pop quizzes during lecture to reward those who showed up and every time there was an actual quiz, he told us exactly what we needed to know and gave us more than enough time to learn it. People complained that he didn't give them enough time but he literally gave us two weeks to learn one sheet. Those people weren't paying attention/didn't show up to class. Even then though, he did push the quiz back so he really does listen to students and is concerned about student learning. Likewise, with the exams, he literally went through the slides and told us exactly what we needed to know and that was accurate. He didn't put anything on the test he didn't tell us to know. The homework was fine and was actually really helpful in preparing for the exams as the exams mimic the homework structure.

So overall it was a really fun and interesting class and I would definitely take Torrence again. It was a little more work than I was expecting but if you go in knowing that you're going to have homework and you'll have to study a bit, then it's actually pretty easy material.

This class was a terrible experience. Torrance was extremely unclear in his lectures and his homework was confusing. In addition, his TA's grading was inconsistent and homeworks that had the same answers as other classmates often scored differently. Finally, his tests were all unfairly scored and worded in a way that sought to confuse the students. I would NOT take another class with Torrance.

He is so strict about grading distribution and I was 92.90% that he gave me A-. I liked the material but I hated the professor.

This class is awesome! Super interesting and the paper wasn't graded to hard.

I think this class was good. I expected to have my socks blown off, but hard to do that asynchronously. At the end of the day, I learned some interesting language facts and got to know the Ling field in a way I had no knowledge of previously. I just wish they weren't so repetitive in lectures, because there was a lot of fluff and repetition that made it difficult to sit through all the material. Elisa Migliaretti was a great TA, make sure you can attend her section. I would be still struggling with IPA had it not been for her.

This is an interesting course and Professor Torrence does a great job explaining the course content. Just be sure to stay on top of the HW, analysis paper deadlines, and attend discussion section especially for the modules with more written exercises.