EL1101E Module Review

EL1101E The Nature of Language

AY2016/17 Semester 2

Taught by Dr. Leslie Lee

Weekly readings

I cleared the two requisite psychology modules in semester 1 but was too craven to take a level 3000 module in year 1. If only I had known that it didn’t matter but that’s water under the bridge now. 

Because of my mindset, I used the second semester of year 1 to clear some graduation requirements. 

This module was for the humanities basket. Why did I pick it? 70% of the final grade came from exams (2 x 20% midterms + 30% finals). And what do you know, all of these exams were completely MCQ-based <3. The other 30% came from class participation, which I again hogged. However, I did try to tone it down as the semester wore on because my tutor would hand out treats with every attempted answer (I ended the semester with 23 bookmarks and 1 keychain.

Dr. Lee adopted a “flipped-learning” format. In the case of this class, this entailed reading the readings beforehand (again, it’s a good habit to cultivate, everyone should be doing it). He would present multiple-choice questions in class for us to answer using remote controlled “clickers”. This was pretty novel to me. However, we were also expected to discuss our answers after each question with a neighbour. My awkwardness and lack of friends in the class made this process unbearably embarrassing. Also, more often than not, the people around me wouldn’t have prepared for the lecture.

Readings were very straightforward and short <15 pages on average for about the first 10 weeks. The last 2 or 3 were a little harder but there was some psycholinguistics involved, which PL1101E had already introduced to me. However, the content was fairly comprehensible throughout. Made the curve a bit too clustered for my liking.

The exam questions were pretty easy as long as one has a grasp of the concepts. Some memorisation is needed but it was nothing compared to PL1101E. Overall, it was a pleasant experience, except for the nerve-racking fear that I might lose or break the clicker during the semester.

The A+ was a nice bonus.