This class is awesome! Super interesting and the paper wasn't graded to hard.

I think this class was good. I expected to have my socks blown off, but hard to do that asynchronously. At the end of the day, I learned some interesting language facts and got to know the Ling field in a way I had no knowledge of previously. I just wish they weren't so repetitive in lectures, because there was a lot of fluff and repetition that made it difficult to sit through all the material. Elisa Migliaretti was a great TA, make sure you can attend her section. I would be still struggling with IPA had it not been for her.

Torrence was frustrating. He was over an hour and a half late to our 8 AM final (with our tests) and we couldn't have extra time because another class needed the room for their final. I think he ended up not using the final for our grade, and it was extremely annoying. He was very unorganized and the class was extremely boring. I like Linguistics, but I hated this class. It was easier than any class I've taken (even in high school), but I would not take a class with him again. The class is easy. Take it with a different professor.

This is an interesting course and Professor Torrence does a great job explaining the course content. Just be sure to stay on top of the HW, analysis paper deadlines, and attend discussion section especially for the modules with more written exercises.

Professor Torrence made this class extremely easy. Just remember his slides and teaching assistant's slides you will be fine.

I took his online class.

Pros:
- Lecture videos are well recorded and edited (done by film department).
- Mostly self-pace meaning it makes easier to manage time (except homework, online discussion, and exam).
- Lectures are fairly short and clear (2-4 hours a week).
- No surprises in exams (Qs are based on lectures and some are identical from homework).
- Final exam is not accumulative (i.e. phonetics will not be on final. thank god).
- Lecture videos has subtitles and allows to be played in faster speed.

Cons:
- Requires self-disciplines. It's easy to get distracted.
- Proctor-U (for taking online exam) is expensive. $25 if you set the date 72 hours ahead of time or $30. You have an option to take exams offline though.
- Very straight forward lectures which can be boring (but his charming voice neglects this con).

Overall, I enjoyed his class. Topics are fairly interesting and we get to learn how the languages are formed and how they interact our everyday life. Homework and exams are fairly easy as long as you watch all of the lecture videos carefully and take notes while doing so (typing in word doc was good enough for me). Closed-book exams meaning you have to memorize the materials. However, most of materials are fairly easy to remember and some of them are simply common sense.

Would recommend taking this class as a GE. Ultimately, it was a pretty easy class, with weekly homework and about 2-3 hours of weekly lectures. Homework is straightforward, and good practice for the midterm/final that were also pretty easy. Lectures are a bit boring, so I would recommend watching on 2x speed or even skipping them and just reading the textbook. Case studies are mostly optional, but there were 1 or 2 questions on the midterm about them (out of 50 questions.) Two analysis papers are also very straightforward and graded easy (at least by my TA).

Close to no work a week, probably spent about 3 hours a week on this class total, including discussions.

This class is a little challenging over the summer with up to 5 lectures per week since they put in 10 weeks of lecture into 6 weeks. However, it's definitely doable and interesting. The grading is 15% discussion participation, 40% weekly homework, 25% final paper, and 20% final, though I think that there's a different grading scheme if you take it during a regular quarter. The workload seems like a lot but it's manageable and lectures are engaging. I think that this class is a good start for those who are interested in learning about linguistics, and this is definitely one of the best GE's I've taken.

This class is NOT an easy A. You actually have to put in some work! But this class is actually pretty interested. The tests are easy IF you take the time to learn like some of the material. The essays are pretty straight forward too. I am lucky I am a native english speaker, which is a definite perk to this class

strongly recommended. The most easiest GE i have taken so far.