[Linganth] redesigning my intro linganth course

Thu Sep 5 13:01:14 UTC 2019

Hi Mary,

Before I answer, I should mention that my Intro to Ling Anth course has a cap of 35 students, which makes some of the interactive work we do a lot easier. I’ve done this with much larger classes in the past, but it is more difficult.

For transcription, we read and talk about the theoretical/ political implications of transcription in light of the fact that transcripts are always only partial representations of human encounters; I give students a handout that I created with about 11 common ling anth/ conversation analysis transcription symbols, and we practice in class with a fun video clip, talking about different strategies to represent aspects of the video other than the “words” and reasons why you might or might not want to include different symbols in a given instance. Then I ask them to record two minutes of conversation between at least two people who are not them (they can be a participant if there are two other people), and then transcribe it using the transcription symbols I’ve provided.

For phonetics/ phonology, I give students a handout with the IPA chart on it, we talk about/ read about the topic; and then in class together we complete a 1 page exercise that includes (1) write the IPA symbol for your pronunciation of the following sounds (e.g. “t” as in top), (2)  identify the place of articulation for these sounds, (3) split the following words into their phonemes (e.g. t h | i | n | k), and (4) identify the English letters in your way of reading/ speaking that correspond with the following IPA symbols. I’ve found that most students can’t do this on their own without former training, but going through it together—and discussing pronunciation differences among dialects/ accents that become apparent as students attempt this—at least gives a sense of critical distance from received ideas about orthography and phonics; and then I discuss examples of sounds that exist in other languages that don’t exist in English.

I hope this is helpful!

Take care,

Steve

Steven P. Black

Associate Professor / Department of Anthropology / Georgia State University

The Global Health Discourses Project / GSU Anthropology / Book: Speech and Song At the Margins of Global Health

P.O. Box 3998

Atlanta, GA 30302-3998

(404) 413-5168

From: Mary Scoggin <ms34 at humboldt.edu>
Date: Wednesday, September 4, 2019 at 2:40 PM
To: Steven Black <stevepblack at gmail.com>
Cc: Janina Fenigsen <jfenigsen at gmail.com>, LINGANTH <LINGANTH at listserv.linguistlist.org>
Subject: Re: [Linganth] redesigning my intro linganth course

Hi Steven, looks like a nice mix! Question to you and others: 

How do you run transcript and phonetic exercises? I would like to incorporate a little (but not a LOT) more "structural" material into some of my linguistic anth courses, esp the lower level ones. Any quick thoughts? 

On Fri, Jul 26, 2019 at 9:08 AM Steven Black <stevepblack at gmail.com> wrote:

Hi Janina,

I’m still making tweaks to it, but you are welcome to look at my “interactive” intro to ling anth syllabus that I am using this Fall (https://sites.gsu.edu/matlag/). The course texts are listed in the “About” section. In addition to Laura Ahearn’s textbook (“LL” in the schedule section), I’m using my new book (“SPESO” in the schedule section) this year--admittedly in part because I’ve got so much audio-video and so many stories that I can include with my own students, but I hope that the book will also be good for others to use as well!

Good luck with the syllabus-revisions.

Take care,

Steve

Steven P. Black

Associate Professor / Department of Anthropology / Georgia State University

The Global Health Discourses Project / GSU Anthropology / Book: Speech and Song At the Margins of Global Health

P.O. Box 3998

Atlanta, GA 30302-3998

(404) 413-5168

From: Linganth <linganth-bounces at listserv.linguistlist.org> on behalf of Janina Fenigsen <jfenigsen at gmail.com>
Date: Friday, July 26, 2019 at 10:32 AM
To: LINGANTH <LINGANTH at listserv.linguistlist.org>
Subject: [Linganth] redesigning my intro linganth course

Dear All,

I'm redesigning my introductory course in linguistic anthropology, Culture in Communication. It is a fairly large (130 students) class, where most students are not anthropology majors or minors, and many are first generation. 

I have developed a range of projects for the course and would be happy to share them with you. I am mainly looking for textbook/reading recommendations.

If you are teaching a similar class and are able to share suggestions or your syllabus, I would be very grateful. I looked up our SLA website, but wasn't able to find much there under "teaching" link. 

Many thanks in advance,

janina

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