1. Attendance and class preparation (15%): Please make sure you come to every class. Missing class is only acceptable for one of the academically legitimate excuses. It’s really hard, if not impossible, to do well on homework problems and exams or write a good project report without attending classes regularly.
Also, make sure you read the textbook as well as all materials on reserve or on the course website that are assigned in class every week BEFORE coming to class. It will help you (and help me too) a lot if you come to class prepared.
As part of your participation, you will be called upon to lead discussion in class, particularly of one of the short chapters in Language Myths and/or The Five-Minute Linguist, or of short articles relevant to the course topics.
2. There will be FIVE HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENTS (40%) to test your understanding of the content covered in class as well as the learning skills targeted in this course, applying the same reasoning and analytical tools of linguistic analysis that we’ll be discussing in class.
Each homework counts for 8% of your overall grade. So, take them seriously!
While I do not mind you discussing assignment questions with your colleagues, bear in mind that the work you turn in has to be yours, and yours alone. Copying someone else’s work will be treated as cheating, will receive no credit, and will be subject to the consequences of violating academic integrity, as described in the College’s Academic Honesty Statement, a link to which is provided near the end of this document.
More information on homework assignments, including the delay policy, can be found HERE.
3. In addition, each student will be required to work on a LANGUAGE ADOPTION PROJECT (LAP) (15%) for an unfamiliar or endangered language, and turn in a double-spaced 8-page report focusing on one or more particular linguistic aspects of this language.
Details on this project will be posted here in due time. A one-page LAP proposal is also required by November 7th. The LAP report itself is due on December 7th. (Please note that no two LAP projects can be on the same language. Should two students select the same language, choice will be granted on a “first-come, first-serve” basis.) You can find detailed information about the LAP HERE.
4. Finally, students are required to take TWO OPEN-BOOK TAKE-HOME EXAMS (each worth 15%): a midterm and a final. The midterm exam is currently scheduled to be assigned on October 26 and is due on Oct 31. The final exam is currently scheduled to be assigned on December 8 and is due on December 13.
Here’s how each course requirement contributes to your overall percentage in the course:
|
Class attendance and participation (including doing the readings) |
15% |
|
5 Assignments |
40% |
|
LAP |
15% |
|
Take-home Midterm Exam |
15% |
|
Take-home Final Exam |
15% |
Here’s how your letter grade will be assigned:
|
A |
95% plus |
|
A- |
90% plus to 95% |
|
B+ |
87% plus to 90% |
|
B |
83% plus to 87% |
|
B- |
80% plus to 83% |
|
C+ |
75% plus to 80% |
|
C |
70% plus to 75% |
|
C- |
65% plus to 70% |
|
D |
50% plus to 65% |
|
F |
Less than 50% |
Honor code
Remember that the Honor Code is in effect in this class. Please make sure to write the Honor Code Pledge “I have neither given nor received unauthorized aid on this assignment,” on all homework assignments, exams, as well as the project report.
Submitting work that is not your own or receiving unauthorized help, is a violation of that code. If you have any questions about the code, please ask me, or check the following link on the college’s website: http://www.middlebury.edu/academics/administration/newfaculty/handbook/honorcode