Thank you!

Very Good

Excellent

EXCELLENT

Loved it!

Excellent

brilliant

very good

Excellent

muy bueno

Thanks!!

Good !

Great!

非常好的课程

GREAT

nice

good

good

Fun!

no

H

.

A good course with many interesting and unique insights into the field of Linguistics. The language informants was a good idea. As hearing and seeing how different languages and cultures differ and are similar is a very nice addition to the course. The lecturer is clearly very passionate about the subject and this helps the motivation of the learners. However, this course misses the 5 stars for the following reasons: Firstly, the quizzes/assignments are very specific in their questions on things that were very briefly mentioned in the lectures and by the language informants. Reducing the requirement of completion from the current 80% minimum to, say, 70% would allow for a general understanding of concepts and not specific questions on ideas and sounds that are very briefly mentioned. I would find myself writing down several of the correct answers to questions somewhere so I could use them on my 3rd try at some of the quizzes. Also, many of the readings are not available anymore and therefore the questions relating to these are very hard. Secondly, this may seem like an introductory course, but I think that the time it takes to complete and the level of the questions asked does not relate much to this definition of introductory. A different name to the course may better reflect the detail that some readings, questions from quizzes and linguistic analysis of different languages require. Finally, I believe the course was created around 2015. It would be great to get updates on some of the research that was being discussed now that the course is close to its 10-year anniversary.

Overall, I really enjoyed this class. It gave me an excellent overview of linguistics as the scientific study of language. The presentation style was really engaging as Maarten interacts with Martin, Inge and guests. The downloadable lecture transcripts were fantastic. That said, I have a few suggestions:

1) Include more free online resources. Most the background reading material were Amazon books, which are expensive if you come from a country with a weak currency. On the practical note, most telelearners like myself don't have time to read an entire book. It would have been far better to include journeys.

2) If students want to do the honours course, allow them to study on a different academic schedule. I found it impossible to complete research assignments and tests at the same.

3) A few assessment questions were poorly phrased and this leads to confusion on the single and multiple select quizzes.

4) Commenting and replying to questions wasn't that interactive. Hoping that somebody would randomly reply or comment to your answer was frustrating. If we were paired up with online study partners, we could discuss topics together.

5)Lastly, fix for typos on course material and tests.

MOOC's are definitely the future of education in an increasing globalized and connected world. Thank you for a great module.

The course is interesting and offers a theoretical basis together with real language examples, that is a good combination when trying to put some of the theory in practice. The interviews with researchers also offer different perspective into interesting topics. What I consider not quite well accomplished are the tests: some offer incorrect answers to questions that already have been pointed out, as mentioned by the staff, in previous editions. Not having them corrected rests credibility to the entire course material. The final test includes some questions that although having relationship with a particular module, are hardly something relevant to take away from this course (e.g. in what sentence did a language informant repeat a nasal sound as a result of a speech error). If we consider tests as a learning tool, as they should be, the way they are designed should be more careful and meaningful to the learner. Despite the parts that to me need improvement, I want to thank to everybody involved in preparing and offering this MOOC, as I know from personal experience how challenging this can be.