ライデン大学（Universiteit Leiden） による Miracles of Human Language: An Introduction to Linguistics の受講者のレビューおよびフィードバック

Great course. Even though it says An Introduction... I found it demanding.

By the way, when I started the course it was possible to see the number of hours a week needed to complete the course (3 - 4 hours) on the course description. However, now it's not possible and I need this important information a.s.a.p.

Thank you!

Very interesting course! Thank you!

It's an excellent introduction to linguistics! This course gives learners a general picture of how the field of linguistics look like. Assignments and assessments are of moderate difficulty. Definitely worth taking it!

Excellent course, though I found it difficult. The exercises that required listening to students speaking different languages were particularly hard for me, probably because I speak only English and my ear is poor. Nevertheless, I persevered and feel I got a great deal from the course. I would like to take the next course in the sequence, if there were one.

I liked the couse a lot, but I think the quizzes are very tricky and there are questions that you have to deduce more than to know. This is OK as part of learning, but it turns a little difficult when English is not your first language. Also, there were some errors in the quizzes, especially in week 3 and 4. It's very interesting to listen to the informants, but I find difficult to answer the questions about them. I'm not familiar with those languages and it's very hard, and I think that's not the point of the course, like to know how to say "grandma" in Abruzzese or how many ways there are to say "son" in Chinese. So, it may be taken into consideration. Anyways, I really liked the course and I hope it can grow for the best. Thank you!

A very nice introduction, covers a variety of topics that different branches of linguistics study, is not theory-heavy and is quite entertaining.

I enjoyed the course and learned a lot. I wish there had been more interaction in the discussions, though.

Firstly, I'd like to thank the professor for bringing us such a great class on linguistics! The course gives a general introduction on what linguistics is about in quite a balanced depth, not too deep to scare people away while not too shallow that you may feel boring. The missing star is due to some vague instructions of quizzes.

Interesting way of presenting the basics of linguistics. Helps a lot to organise crucial informatinon in one's memory. Lessons, however, are too similar.

Good introduction to linguistics led by a charming Professor with great enthusiasm for his subject. It was certainly enough to convince me that the study of linguistics is not for me

This is a decent introduction to the field of linguistics that is easy to understand and accessible to those without previous content knowledge.

Introductory insight into Linguistics. The professor takes you very briefly about the variety of subdivisions in linguistics , which , each by itself being a big subdivision within linguistics. Enlightened with basics of all these different approaches of investigating languages

The course is a lightweight introduction to Linguistics. If you are absolutely new to linguistics, it will provide you with enough information for further research and self-development. There are some really interesting facts provided by the required reading of the course.

What I mostly liked about the course is the list of additional literature. What I mostly didn't like are quizzes - I little bit too reliant on the question formulation. The only quiz that I really liked was about syntactic analysis of informants' sentences.

I think this course was very interesting, and quite frankly it would deserve a 4.5 stars rating. My only (light) remark would be that I would have hoped more details on the research studies the teacher presents. It's only at the very end, in the society and linguistics part that we get to see some detailed results from an academic study. Also, I would have liked more on historical linguistics, but I know that was not part of the initial curriculum. Overall, kudos to Leiden University's linguistic team, this was a great course.

I really enjoyed the content of this course. It really was a fascinating introduction and I feel I have learnt so much. It has made me hungry to learn more in some ways but less in others (as I found some parts quite technical and tricky but felt proud when I finally worked out the answers!). The Professor is very personable and the lectures are well presented. I did not personally have time to do the Peer assessments but would have liked to. Thank you to all involved. i chose this course as it interested me but it was by chance from Leiden university which is where I live. I felt more connected somehow.

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.

Professor van Oostendorp was a big plus and asset to this course. I would have really liked to have him as a professor at the Uni. I'm not giving 5 stars because I believe the estimated workload (in terms of time) for the mandatory reading material is at times vastly underestimated (like with the article on typology in module 1 and the audio lecture in module 6, for instance). Additionally, the way the forum is now, it is basically impossible to keep track of your own contributions and others' replies, which fatally undermines interaction between course participants.

Interesting course, I've learned a lot of things about studying languages.

Overall, I enjoyed taking this course. It was challenging, but it helped me to develop my skills in reading journal articles and assessing university level material. It had interesting case studies and gave me a good grounding in the field of linguistics. Thanks University of Leiden and Dr. Marc van Oostendorp!

Wide-angle, general introductory course. Engaging.

Good and intense introduction, but difficult multiple choice questions as most answers are deeply rooted in the clips and not in a reading text.

love the free access to Ethnologue and introduction to other linguistic tools such as WALS.

Thanks to the team.

I am essentially learning languages for work or for fun but this course gave me an opportunity to consolidate some knowledge / understanding about languages and across many languages. Excellent!

There was a lot of interesting information in this course, and I liked the interviews and guest speakers of other languages. If I could change anything, it would be the wording on some of the quiz questions, and the difficulty of a beginner course asking for some of the analysis with the guest speakers.

I have enjoyed this course although being a somewhat deaf beginner I found the modules on the sounds of, and the mechanics of making, consonants along with the videos of the informants, somewhat frustrating.

. Plus I really struggled with Module 6 and Politeness Theory and am not totally sure that it actually added anything to the course, at least for me.

I read a number of reviews before I started this course, in which people were complaining about the quizzes and although some of the questions were relatively easy, they were not all just about ticking boxes, but actually reading and understanding the intent of the questions. I was a beginner with little previous studied knowledge of the subject.

The Professor was enthusiastic and engaging.

Thank you

I watched all the videos, but did not do the coursework.

I was a total beginner on the subject. The videos were very well made, and quite nice to watch.

However, I feel like the material was a bit too easy for my taste. I would have enjoyed a course that delved into "harder things".

For someone who doesn't like as much "hard challenges" as I do, I do think that this course is a nice introduction to the subject.