Professor

John Clayton

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5.0
Overall Ratings
Based on 4 Users
Easiness 4.7 / 5 How easy the class is, 1 being extremely difficult and 5 being easy peasy.
Workload 5.0 / 5 How light the workload is, 1 being extremely heavy and 5 being extremely light.
Clarity 5.0 / 5 How clear the professor is, 1 being extremely unclear and 5 being very clear.
Helpfulness 5.0 / 5 How helpful the professor is, 1 being not helpful at all and 5 being extremely helpful.

Reviews (4)

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June 14, 2025
Quarter: Spring 2025
Grade: A+

I took this class as a GE and although I never expected to take a linguistics class and enjoy it, I can say that I did enjoy this class. This class introduces you to linguistics from different perspectives, and through its inclusion of biology and evolutionary bases, I found myself interested in the class much more than I expected. The class has weekly quizzes (which I usually got at least one wrong) and a midterm and take-home final. I did really well on the midterm and final, and did any extra credit opportunities offered which allowed me to get an A+. I'm glad that I took the class, as it introduced me to linguistics and was enjoyable overall.

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May 30, 2024
Quarter: Spring 2024
Grade: A

Professor Clayton was a very well-spoken professor. He cared about student's learning and valued understanding of the subject above all else. He never failed to make students feel welcome and comfortable. I would definitely take another course he taught simply because he is an amazing professor who is great at communication and funny. I hope this evaluation shows his irreplaceable value as a professor at UCLA.

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May 28, 2024
Quarter: Spring 2024
Grade: A+

I'm a cognitive science major who decided to take this class because I couldn't get the intro linguistics course I wanted, but I knew that I still wanted to take a class about linguistics, so I settled for M4. I am so glad that I decided to take this course. Dr. Clayton is a great lecturer, and incredibly accommodating of the needs of his students. He uploads his slides after every class, which has been incredibly helpful considering that I have had to miss a handful of lectures this quarter. I have learned so much about historical linguistics, evolutionary linguistics, evolutionary biology, psycholinguistics: etc. The material taught in the course is very interdisciplinary, and all of it is fascinating! There are two readings due every week that tend to be a bit long, but you can skim over them for the most part since Dr. Clayton does a great job of talking about the subjects that they touch on during lecture. I would recommend doing most of the readings, though, since they are usually quite interesting (they can be redundant at times, but I digress). Midterm was take-home, final is also going to be take-home. You also have to do a presentation at the end of the quarter about a topic in linguistics that you find interesting, but it is fairly low-stakes, from my understanding. TL;DR: This is a low-stress, fun GE, and you will learn a lot about many different linguistic subtopics. Take this class!

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I E STD M70
Quarter: Spring 2025
Grade: A+
June 14, 2025

I took this class as a GE and although I never expected to take a linguistics class and enjoy it, I can say that I did enjoy this class. This class introduces you to linguistics from different perspectives, and through its inclusion of biology and evolutionary bases, I found myself interested in the class much more than I expected. The class has weekly quizzes (which I usually got at least one wrong) and a midterm and take-home final. I did really well on the midterm and final, and did any extra credit opportunities offered which allowed me to get an A+. I'm glad that I took the class, as it introduced me to linguistics and was enjoyable overall.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
I E STD M70
Quarter: Spring 2024
Grade: A
May 30, 2024

Professor Clayton was a very well-spoken professor. He cared about student's learning and valued understanding of the subject above all else. He never failed to make students feel welcome and comfortable. I would definitely take another course he taught simply because he is an amazing professor who is great at communication and funny. I hope this evaluation shows his irreplaceable value as a professor at UCLA.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
LING M4
Quarter: Spring 2024
Grade: A+
May 28, 2024

I'm a cognitive science major who decided to take this class because I couldn't get the intro linguistics course I wanted, but I knew that I still wanted to take a class about linguistics, so I settled for M4. I am so glad that I decided to take this course. Dr. Clayton is a great lecturer, and incredibly accommodating of the needs of his students. He uploads his slides after every class, which has been incredibly helpful considering that I have had to miss a handful of lectures this quarter. I have learned so much about historical linguistics, evolutionary linguistics, evolutionary biology, psycholinguistics: etc. The material taught in the course is very interdisciplinary, and all of it is fascinating! There are two readings due every week that tend to be a bit long, but you can skim over them for the most part since Dr. Clayton does a great job of talking about the subjects that they touch on during lecture. I would recommend doing most of the readings, though, since they are usually quite interesting (they can be redundant at times, but I digress). Midterm was take-home, final is also going to be take-home. You also have to do a presentation at the end of the quarter about a topic in linguistics that you find interesting, but it is fairly low-stakes, from my understanding. TL;DR: This is a low-stress, fun GE, and you will learn a lot about many different linguistic subtopics. Take this class!

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
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