Linguistics 300: Experimental Sociolinguistics

Course description

This course will explore how experimental methods can help us examine new questions about the social meaning of language. We will begin by discussing current theoretical work on socially meaningful linguistic variation, finding research questions that are suited to the use of experimental methods. We will then turn to the growing body of experimental research in sociolinguistics to understand the theoretical and methodological contributions of this work. We will discuss questions such as: How do we infer who someone is from the way that they speak? How do our social expectations influence our linguistic perceptions? How do our social experiences, stereotypes, and attitudes mediate how we speak and how we listen? And how much control do we have over these processes? Students will gain both a theoretical understanding of research in these areas, as well as practical knowledge related to formulating research questions and constructing experimental studies on sociolinguistic topics. .




Learning outcome goals

Through successfully completing this course, you will:

• gain a theoretical understanding of how social knowledge and linguistic perception are intertwined.
• write clear critical analyses of the relation between social factors and linguistic variation as tested through experimental methods.
• learn to formulate research questions rooted in theoretical sociolinguistic work.
• learn about a variety of experimental methods.
• gain experience designing experimental studies.
• gain experience presenting and discussing proposals for original research.





Course Organization - Remote Learning

While learning remotely will present some new and unique challenges to us this quarter, I hope that you will be able to get as much out of this course as you would via in-person meetings! Our syllabus and schedule can always be found on this page. Please be sure to have e-mail notifications for Canvas announcements turned on, as I will communicate with the class through Announcements throughout the quarter. For the extent of our remote learning mandate, the course will be organized as follows:




Weekly DIY Lectures (Tuesdays)

Beginning in Week 2, we will complete Tuesday classes asynchronously (on your own time). See the readings that are assigned for each class day on our Schedule page (click the tab above). All readings and class slides can be found in the Files section of our Canvas page.

Each week, I will pre-record a lecture based on the Tuesday reading. The lecture will be posted to Canvas in the Panopto tab by Monday 5 p.m. CST. These may be single, longer videos or multiple shorter videos. If multiple videos, you must view all of them.

Note that in Week 1, we will complete the Thursday meeting asynchronously. The same requirements as below apply, but with a Thursday deadline.

You must complete the Tuesday reading and view the pre-recorded lecture on Monday or Tuesday. Then, you must submit very brief (2-4 sentence) responses to the lecture questions included in the lecture (number your answers) for that week by 2 p.m. CST on Tuesday. During the recorded lecture, it will be made clear what these questions are. Submit these in the "Lecture Questions" Assignment (in the Assignments tab) on Canvas for that week. These will be graded as credit/no credit, and are intended to ensure that you've completed the reading and viewed the lecture. You must show an understanding of and engagement with the material to receive credit.

If you have any questions about the lecture on either day, pose your questions related to that day's readings or lecture on our Canvas forum (the "Any questions?" post in the "Discussion" tab) by 2 p.m. CST on Tuesday (optional).




Discussion Board Posts (Wednesday/Thursday)

To get you thinking critically about all of the week's assigned readings, you will post in our Canvas Discussion board about the Thursday readings. For each week, a discussion board has been created with prompts about that week's Thursday readings. You will need to complete two posts for each week on this board, as follows:

1. First, post a response to the prompts provided on the discussion board (or choose a prompt or question of your own on the week's readings) to the discussion board by Wednesdays at 11:59 p.m. CST. You should show clear engagement with the Thursday readings in these posts.


2. Second, respond to another post from your classmate on the discussion board by Thursday at 11:00 a.m. CST (the beginning of our Zoom class time). You will only be able to view others' posts once you have submitted your own.




Weekly Zoom Discussions (Thursdays)

Our Thursday classes will be completed synchronously at our appointed lecture time, 11am-12:20pm CST. We will connect via Zoom, and you can access our meeting for the day by clicking on the Zoom tab in Canvas, then selecting the day's meeting. I will walk us through some slides, and we will have a class discussion about the readings. You will be expected to attend and participate in each Thursday Zoom discussion unless arrangements have been made in advance with Annette.





Course Policies




Office Hours

Office hours will be held virtually via Zoom each Tuesday from 2-3pm CST. You can enter through the Zoom tab in Canvas. If you'd like to make an appointment for a Zoom meeting at a different time, please let Annette know via e-mail.




Communication with instructor

Please contact Annette via e-mail for questions, issues, or to set up an appointment outside of the scheduled office hour. Any e-mail sent before 5 p.m. CST, Monday through Friday, will be answered the same day. Given that these are difficult cirucumstances, I will do my best to answer for emails sent after 5 p.m., or on weekend days, the only guarantee I make is that after-hours emails will be answered the next business day. All assignments should be submitted in the appropriate place on our Canvas page.




Late assignments

Late submissions of any kind will be given half credit up to two days late. No credit will be given for assignments turned in more than 48 hours late, though in the case of final project tasks I will read and provide feedback on these assignments. This does not apply to the final paper, which must be turned in on the due date.




Academic integrity

All students are expected to comply with Northwestern's principles regarding academic integrity. See this link for more information. Suspected violations will be investigated.




Students with documented disabilities

Any student requesting accommodations related to a disability or other condition should to register with AccessibleNU (accessiblenu@northwestern.edu; 847-467-5530) and provide the instructor with notification from AccessibleNU, preferably within the first two weeks of class. All information will remain confidential.




Recording

Synchronous meetings of this will be recorded by the instructor for educational purposes. These recordings will be shared only with students enrolled in the course and will be deleted at the end of the Spring Quarter. Please contact Annette if you have any questions or concerns about recordings.

All recordings and materials provided in class are not intended to be shared beyond our classroom. While our synchronous discussions will be recorded for students who are not able to make those classes, these will be only shared with those students.

Unauthorized student recording of classroom or other academic activities (including advising sessions or office hours) is prohibited. Unauthorized recording is unethical and may also be a violation of University policy and state law. Students requesting the use of assistive technology as an accommodation should contact AccessibleNU.

Unauthorized use of classroom recordings, including distributing or posting them, is also prohibited. Under the University's Copyright Policy, faculty own the copyright to instructional materials, including those resources created specifically for the purposes of instruction, such as syllabi, lectures and lecture notes, and presentations. Students cannot copy, reproduce, display or distribute these materials. Students who engage in unauthorized recording, unauthorized use of a recording or unauthorized distribution of instructional materials will be referred to the appropriate University office for follow-up.

Grading Breakdown

For Spring Quarter 2020, all course grades will be Pass/No Pass for both undergraduate and graduate students. A passing grade is a D or higher (above 60%). Your passing grade will be calculated by your quality completion of the following tasks.


Lectures, readings and participation (60%)

Your participation grade will consist of:

1. Your lecture question responses for the DIY lectures (20% - 2.5 points per question set)
2. Your weekly discussion board posts (20% - 4 points per week: 2 for your initial post, 2 for your reply to a classmate's post)
3. Your attendance and participation in our Zoom meetings (20% - 2.5 points per class), unless other arrangements have been made with Annette due to issues with feasibility of internet and/or computer access.

These are all opportunities to show your engagement with course material, and will be graded on a full credit- half credit - no credit basis, depending on your display of engagement with the material. If you are unable to attend any of our synchronous Zoom meetings, you must let Annette know as soon as possible, so other arrangements can be made.




Final Project Proposal (40%)

This class will not include exams. Instead, you will complete a final project proposing an original research study in experimental sociolinguistics. This project will be completed in stages throughout the quarter. You will select your topic and begin designing your methods in our Experimental Design Workshop on Thursday of Week 5. Each stage following the design workshop will be worth a portion of your overall grade, breaking down as follows:

• 10% - Topic Description and Bibliography (due Friday Week 6)
• 10% - Project Presentations Due (first draft and small group feedback due Week 8; in-class presentations Week 9)
• 20% - Final paper (due on Monday, June 8, by 11:59 PM)

All assigned tasks and project deadlines will be noted on the Schedule page in the corresponding week that they are due, with instructions and materials provided in advance.