Linguistics Beyond the Classroom:
Information for Linguistics Instructors
 
 

LBC Suggested Video List (If you want to use a subset of this list, print this page and strike out the deletions.)

PDF version of Information for Linguistics Instructors

PDF version of the Information for Students

PDF version of the Notification Form, used to turn in your video list

PDF version of a sample research questionnaire

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Introduction

The Linguistics Beyond the Classroom (LBC) program serves to expose undergraduate students to advanced research and researchers in linguistics, and to create a human subject pool for the department. Similar programs have been followed in the Linguistics Departments of University of Oregon and Ohio State University (see http://ling.ohio-state.edu/~blodgett/rec_page.html). This document contains information about the program for Linguistics 102 instructors and other department members. The LBC committee will also hold an orientation meeting (attendance optional) for Ling 102 instructors early in the semester, to discuss any questions or concerns about the program.

All sections of Ling 102 are asked to participate in the LBC program, although faculty may choose to opt out (as explained below). Please read this document carefully, and follow the "To Do List" at the end.
 
 

Program Description

1. Students will view one video, participate in one research project, or have their child participate in one research project. Each activity will be no more than one hour in length.  (Somewhat different options apply to Unit Mastery students -- see the Unit Mastery materials for details.)
2. LBC participation will be required for all students enrolled in Ling 102, and worth 5% of the grade for all regular sections. Students do not have to complete the requirement to pass, but those who fail to complete it will lose points in the course.
3. Faculty may opt out of the program by notifying the LBC committee prior to the end of the add/drop period.
4. All LBC activities must contain a clear educational component appropriate for undergraduate linguistics students. A suggested video list will be provided by the LBC committee to Ling 102 instructors. The LBC committee will review research projects for appropriateness for the program. Researchers will be required to provide educational handouts (written feedback forms) to all participants; these must be written in language accessible to in undergraduates in introductory linguistics courses.
5. Examples of videos: American Tongues, The First Signs of Washoe, Discovering the Human Language.
6. Examples of research projects: Student gives judgments on grammatical vs. ungrammatical sentences in their native language, student participates in sociolinguistics experiment, student participates in phonetics experiment, student's child recorded for an acquisition database.
7. The LBC committee will ensure that at least one research project per semester will be made open to any student who must fulfill the LBC requirement (although the number of participant slots may be limited). Other research projects may place limits on participants, such as age or native language.
8. At least one appropriate video option must be provided. Failure to provide alternatives to participating in research is a violation of research ethics and could jeopardize the LBC program and other research involving human subjects at UH. Instructors are free to edit the suggested video list to remove videos that will be part of the regular course content, or make other additions or deletions to tailor it to the course content. All approved videos must be part of the regular or reserve holdings of the Sinclair library or available free of charge via the internet.
9. Each instructor must provide the LBC committee with the approved video list for the class by the last day to add classes, so that the committee can verify that all students have some option other than participating in research projects. Please see the attached form.
10. Research Project Option: Students will fill out a brief participation credit questionnaire after participating in activities.
11. Video Option: Students will write a 500-word summary of the contents of a video and how it relates to class.
12. Research project participation questionnaires will be turned in to course instructors/Ling 102 monitors, who will use them to keep track of credit for the students. The questionnaires will then be turned into the LBC committee and passed on to researchers, who will get feedback from the forms.
13. Video summaries will be turned in to course instructors/Ling 102 monitors, who will use them to keep track of credit for the students. The summaries will then get passed on to the LBC committee. The LBC will keep a file of video summaries for instructors concerned about violations of academic honesty.
14. Instructors are free to grade the questionnaires and summaries with a credit/no credit system or with letter grades, as best fits their class, although it is recommended that instructors use a credit/no credit system. One-page summaries (written feedback forms) of research projects approved for the LBC program will be available from the LBC committee for instructors who wish to review them before grading research project questionnaires.
15. Approved research projects will be limited to those in which filling out the participation credit questionnaire would not subject the student to social or emotional risk (e.g., by identifying the student to his/her instructor as a member of a stigmatized category). All research projects must have completed review with the UH Committee on Human Subjects before they can be approved by the LBC Committee.
16. Research projects will be approved on a rolling basis. A website listing research project options will be updated throughout the semester.
17. Instructors of other linguistics courses may opt into the program by notifying the LBC committee prior to the end of the add/drop period.
18. Use of participants from the human subject pool is open to any student, faculty member, or visitor in the Department of Linguistics. At this point, there is no limit to the number of participant-hours from the subject pool that a researcher is permitted to use.
19. The Linguistics Beyond the Classroom committee will consist of at least one faculty member and any interested graduate students.
20. The LBC committee will produce a description of the program each semester, and make it available to instructors no later than the first day of classes.
21. The LBC committee will approve research projects for the program, maintain web pages for the program, maintain and distribute a list of suggested videos, and manage the announcement of research projects approved for the program.
22. The committee will create questionnaires for students to fill out after participation, to give to their instructors to get credit. Researchers will request the number of forms needed from the committee.
23. The committee will work with the UH Committee on Human Studies to verify that the LBC program is in compliance with regulations on the use of human subjects. Individual investigators will still be responsible for completing a human subjects review for each research project.

1. State on your section syllabus that 5% of the grade will be based on LBC participation.
2. Distribute the document "Linguistics Beyond the Classroom: Information for Students" (available from the LBC committee) to your students.
3. Distribute an approved video list to your students, or use the one suggested by the LBC committee.
4. Give the LBC committee a copy of the approved video list for your section by the last day to add classes, or a statement that you are adopting the suggested list. A notification form is attached.
5. Return all graded video summaries and research participation forms to the LBC committee.

Amy Schafer

Chair, Linguistics Beyond the Classroom Committee