The purpose of this course is to teach you to think analytically about gender, about language, and about the relation between the two. The goals are inseparably intellectual and political: Responsible scholarship and citizenship require the ability and eagerness to go beyond stereotype, common belief and the popular press, to evaluate claims for oneself in a knowledgeable way. This course will provide facts, theory, and analytic tools with which to consider issues related to gender, and its relation to language.
Section participation is required. Except for in extenuating circumstances, you must attend the same section time each week. Before attending a section time other than the one you are registered for you must contact the instructor and both TAs by email. All students unable to attend either section must email Lauren immediately to set up an office hour appointment with one of the two TAs.
Both exams will be administered in-class. Exams will consist of a mixture of multiple choice, true/false, short answer, and short essay questions. The final exam will be cumulative.
If you receive an A on your Midterm exam and would prefer to write a research paper for this course, you may do so in place of taking the Final Exam. This choice must be pre-approved by the instructor.
Online Discussion Posts
The only written assignments you will complete in this course will be turned in online, in the form of blog posts and comments on our course's private social network, located at http://ling156.ning.com. Each student is required to complete 10 blog posts (300-350 words each), one per week, due by 12midnight each Sunday night. Late posts will be not be given credit. Each blog post will be graded for both completeness and quality of execution.
Each student is also required make a minimum of 20 comments on other students' blog posts, distributed over the course of the quarter. There is no due date/time for comments, but we recommend that you post 2 per week to avoid a backlog at the end of the quarter.
Section Participation
Attendance and participation in section is required for you to get the full benefit of this course. Some assigned readings will primarily be discussed in section. All section material is testable material.
Extra Credit
Some of the research you will be learning about this quarter is based on laboratory experiments. Participate in current linguistic experiments is thus offered for up to 5% extra credit (2.5% for one experiment, 5% for two experiments). To participate, you must register with the subject pool during the second week of the course (you will be contacted by email to register).
You may also take the option of watching two videos, also for 5% extra credit. This option may not be combined with the experimental option. (In other words, you cannot get more than 5% extra credit.) Remember, if you donŐt show up for your scheduled time, you can get negative credit!
Students who have a disability which may necessitate an academic accommodation or the use of auxiliary aids and services in a class must initiate the request with the Disability Resource Center (DRC). The DRC will evaluate the request with required documentation, recommend appropriate accommodations, and prepare a verification letter dated in the current academic term in which the request is being made. Please contact the DRC as soon as possible; timely notice is needed to arrange for appropriate accommodations. The DRC is located at 563 Salvatierra Walk (phone 723-1066; TDD 725-1067). See http://www.stanford.edu/group/DRC/ for more information.