This organized session took place during the 2021 Annual Meeting of the LSA. For more information and content, please visit our official session page HERE.

Organizers 

Michal Temkin Martínez, Boise State University, [email protected]

Kazuko Hiramatsu, University of Michigan-Flint, [email protected] 

 

Sponsoring LSA Committees and SIGs 

SIG on Scholarly Teaching 

Linguistics in Higher Education Committee (LiHEC) 

Linguistics in the School Curriculum (LiSC)

 

Session Abstract 

The shift to remote learning in early 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic has provided an opportunity for many instructors to rethink their approach to teaching and to consider student learning beyond content delivery. This global moment has highlighted the need for increased awareness and understanding of evidence-based approaches to pedagogy at many of our academic institutions and across the field of linguistics. 

Instructors who are engaged in scholarly teaching take an informed and reflective approach to improving their teaching practices with the goal of enhancing student learning. Some of this work has been shared publicly through presentations and publications in the scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL). 

This goal of this session is to share and reflect on strategies used by linguists during the shift to remote teaching/learning, as informed by best practices, in addition to discussing the effect of the shift on teaching and learning in the field of linguistics.

 

Introduction: Scholarly Teaching and SoTL 

Kazuko Hiramatsu, University of Michigan-Flint 

Michal Temkin Martinez, Boise State University 

Scholarly teaching, and the field of Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) represents a fairly recently constructed area of scholarly focus that combines two traditionally distinct functions of the academy—research and teaching. This intersection allows faculty to “bring a scholarly lens—the curiosity, the inquiry, the rigor, the disciplinary variety—to what happens in the classroom” (Chick, n.d.). SoTL builds on what many university instructors already do as reflective teachers, providing a framework of intentional investigation of instructional practices as well as student learning. In this introduction, we provide background context to frame our session. 

 

LSA COVID-19 Survey 

Reed Blaylock, University of Southern California 

Evan Bradley, Pennsylvania State University, Brandywine 

Ann Bunger, Indiana University 

Taylor Sharp, Boise State University 

During the late spring of 2020, the LSA carried out a survey to identify and assess adjustments to teaching and learning that were made by faculty, graduate students, and undergraduate students during the sudden shift to remote courses. In this portion of the session, we will present an overview of findings from this survey, from both instructor and student perspectives, and discuss opportunities for growth in support and resources related to scholarly teaching in the field of linguistics. 

 

Panel on Scholarly Teaching 

Christina Bjorndahl, Carnegie Mellon University 

Kristin Denham, Western Washington University 

Jessi Grieser, University of Tennessee, Knoxville 

Wesley Y. Leonard, University of California, Riverside 

Michael Rushforth, University of Texas, San Antonio 

Rosa Vallejos, University of New Mexico 

Lynsey Wolter, University of Wisonsin Eau Claire 

A panel of instructors will share their experiences from spring/winter 2020. The panelists represent diverse perspectives in terms of academic rank, geographical area, institution type, student population, and linguistic subfield. 

 

Reflection and Discussion 

The organizers will lead the audience in reflective discussion about their own teaching and learning experiences, and invite conversation about successful transfer of the strategies and approaches used to future terms.

 

Part 2: POSTER (Presentation Opportunity for Scholarly Teaching, Education and Research) Panel [11:00am - 12:30pm PST]

The second portion of our organized session will consist of three 30-minute panels by linguists from around the world about their experiences with scholarly teaching. Each of the presenters has prepared a page with materials for their presentation, but will only be able to share a one-minute video during the actual session. We highly encourage you to check out the pages linked below ahead of the annual meeting so that you may familiarize yourself with the material prior to the session.

POSTER Session A: Course Design [11:00am]

  1. Using a Class Wiki to Facilitate Community and Linguistic Inclusivity (Bjorndahl)

  2. Offline vs. Online Modalities in Extracurricular Programming (Lucovich)

  3. Diversifying the Field: Activities to make linguistics more relevant (Mantenuto)

  4. ADA Compliance and Teaching Linguistics Online: Best practices and resources (Miller)

  5. Contract grading in Introductory Linguistics: Creating motivated self-learners (Paraskevas)

  6. Course Design Principles for a More Diverse Professoriate (Truong)

  7. Rethinking Extra Credit: How gamification can reduce grade inflation and strengthen soft skills (Welch)

POSTER Session B: Learning Activities [11:30am]

  1. Podcasting in a Pandemic for Teaching, Outreach, and Justice (Anderson, Bjorkman, Desmeules-Trudel, Doner, Currie Hall, Mills, Sanders, Taniguchi)

  2. Interactive Activities for Asynchronous Introduction to Linguistics (Curtis)

  3. Team Based Learning and English Grammar: Building community and lowering affect (Launspach)

  4. Replacing Traditional Sections With Teams-based Groupwork: Remote learning and beyond (Lee)

  5. Journaling About Progress and Errors (Nordquist)

  6. Making Online Group Work Appealing Through Wikipedia Editing (Stvan)

  7. The impact of Metacognition in Linguistics Courses (Vallejos & Rodríguez-González)

POSTER Session C: Teaching a Specific Topic in Linguistics [12:00pm]

  1. From "Hello World!" to Fourier Transforms: Teaching linguistics undergraduates to code in ten weeks or less (Blaylock)

  2. Active Learning in Asynchronous Introductory Linguistics: Successes and challenges (Bunger)

  3. All in With Google Slides: Virtual engagement and formative assessment in introductory sign language linguistics (Geer)

  4. Fostering Learner Investment Through Objectives-based Evaluation and Structured Independent Research Projects (Nee & Remirez)

  5. Teaching Grammaticality with Online Tools (Rapp Young)

  6. Ten Trees a Day: How Gwilym the Trilingual Buffalo and Insights from Learning Science Can Improve Syntax Skills (Santelmann)

  7. Teaching Teachers Phonetics: The design and implementation of an asynchronous online English phonetics course (Weinberger, Almalki & Olesova)

 

Click here for our official session webpage

Learn about Scholarly Teaching in Linguistics: