LING 3400

I adored this class. The material was super interesting and fun to master. I enjoyed this class so much that I looked FORWARD to discussion sections and WEEKLY quizzes. It was truly special. My enthusiasm for the class shifted rapidly when the final project was introduced. Compared to the grading in the weekly quizzes, each stage of the final project was evaluated far more harshly. Expectations were unclear a lot of the time, and the direction that my group (and, based on conversations with friends, most other groups) was pushed in seemed counterproductive to the course content. This project made my last few weeks in the class pretty miserable, which was unfortunate. Unless you're able to strike gold with a topic that Prof. Crabtree immediately gels with, you might experience the same. I want to recommend this class so badly, but this one project is making it hard to do so.

My Groupwork hours apply only to weeks where the project was a priority.

I was thinking about a linguistics minor but probably not going to after this class. I felt like the feedback was harsh at times and inconsistent. The project was graded very harshly even though my group met with the professor multiple times and incorporated her feedback. The weekly quizzes were so long and I felt like I never quite figured out what we needed to do. I know other people in my discussion section felt the same way about the professor and the TA's grading being harsh and hard to understand. Also, the minimum for an A is a 95 so that's unfortunate. There are some opportunities to bump up your grade but overall I just felt frustrated with the feedback we got. The discussion section was way more helpful than the lecture in terms of what the quizzes looked like and actually understanding the concepts.

This course is not as hard as a lot of people say, but it can be frustrating. There are weekly quizzes which I recommend you to try your absolute best on because they serve as 50 pts. of your overall grade. By the second or third grades quiz, you should be able to get the hang of the quizzes. They require an "essay" but are graded like mini papers. Class attendance is not a necessity but this may change in the upcoming semesters. The group project (20 pts.) can be good or bad depending on your group. I had a great group and ended up doing very well in the course. If you notice yourself struggling, please reach out to Professor Crabtree, the TA, or other students.

People seem to be saying this class suddenly became difficult. I didn't find it so, and I'd never taken a linguistics class before. I didn't know it had been different previous semesters.

I didn't put a great amount of effort into this class, and I received an A. I sporadically did the readings, and I didn't participate in class or discussion very often. The professor is very nice and learns all the students' names, and the material is interesting to me, and well-presented. The take-home quizzes are not that difficult, and they take up 50% of your grade. The poster presentation was awful just because I hate presenting in front of people, but my group project members were great. The discussion was easy, and in fact it was kind of irritating that the TA only randomly took attendance a few times, as I then had to go to all of the discussions in case he decided to take attendance. However, he was a great TA who really tried to help us learn the material.

However, it might not be an easy an A as you want, though it's still fairly easy. I was shocked to find out that a 95% was an A, but she gave us opportunities for extra credit on one quiz as well as the final exam, so that should help. I thought the class was interesting and a worthwhile elective.

First of all, do not take it if you are expecting to take this class for an easy A. Apparently, her students were very poorly prepared for next level class that she made this class unnecessarily tedious and difficult compared to previous semesters. Whereas previous semesters, you have neither final exam nor group project, starting this semester, you not only have a weekly quiz and a weekly discussion, but also tedious group research project that you have basically no guideline on, and final exam that takes 20% of your grade that professor Crabtree would not tell us how the format of the exam would be like. First few quizzes were doable, but starting like fifth quiz, she added these free response questions that had the most arbitrary grading rubric. For instance, if two students had similar content, one would get a good grade, or one would get a worse grade. Also, poster presentation was the most disorganized group work I have ever done. No guideline whatsoever. Professor Crabtree also suddenly decided to put poster content in the final. (You are unable to listen to other groups' presentation while you are presenting because it is a conference style) So she decided to take a picture of posters and upload on collar with very low resolution camera. Trust me, you cannot read those when you go back and try to read. Take pics of posters if you are going to take this class for sure; or suggest her to get a better camera. Also, you have to get a 95 in this class to get an A, which is ridiculously high when you mess up some quizzes. I didn't learn much in her lecture, and attendance to lecture is not necessary. Don't buy Hornsby book, but buy Klammer for sure. She rarely tests on what she teaches, but it is mostly from the book. T.A. often forgot to take attendance for discussion section, and would give everyone a free credit. Pray that you will have cooperative group members. Final exam was not as bad as I expected it to be, but I really don't recommend it if you want an easy A. It is not... (Unless you are a linguistics major and have taken linguistics courses and grammar classes before)

This class is easy only if you have taken a linguistics class before. If you don't care about linguistics and just want an easy A, find another course. Quizzes are tough if you have no prior linguistics experience b/c Crabtree often tests on material not covered in chapters. Find another class to take.

Class was a little too easy for those who have already taken linguistics classes, as the stuff we didn't already know was pretty much just memorization of terms. Weekly quizzes and blog posts, plus a discussion section (with TA who was just satisfactory)

Professor Crabtree is an OK lecturer, but pretty much 100% of the lectures are on information that isn't graded. The grade is based on discussion attendance and weekly quizzes, which are online and closed-book. If you try at all you can get an A. The TA Michael was AMAZING and really made the class a lot of fun.

I cannot recommend this class enough. It is geared towards teaching you how to explain grammar to others. You relearn English structure the way you learned foreign languages. English was never a strong point of mine, but I got an A+ in this class. You have a weekly online quiz and discussion post which are not hard. You read 2 short books and the quizzes are based on them. Reading, quiz, and discussion post took up less than an hour a week. Class only reinforces what the book covers. Even if you have no interest in the field, take this class. It teaches you what you should've learned a long time ago.