HG1001 MIND & MEANING (3.0 AU)

Year Taken: AY 19/20, Sem 1

2 in-class closed-book quizzes – 15% each Individual
Pop quizzes in lecture – 8% Individual
Final exam – 50% Individual
Class participation – 12% Individual
One lecture + one tutorial per week

It’s one of the core lms mods that lms freshmen have to take in sem 1. Content is relatively interesting and easy to understand. Getting an A should not be an issue if one is consistent in their studies, although the professor has a tendency to set easy quizzes but tough exams. My advice is to keep up with the lecture, make your own notes and seek consultation with the tutor if you have any doubts. The format of the quizzes are in MCQ+short answers (by short I mean 3-5 lines for one question), while the format of the final exam is in MCQ+short answers+2 essay questions (about a page long).

This review was reposted with the kind permission of Pressing Realities. Originally published at https://pressingrealities.wordpress.com/2020/05/01/ay19-20-y1s1/

Year Taken: AY 17/18, Sem 1
Grade: A+

The easiest and most interesting module of the semester. We learnt about animal communication, sign languages as well as a glimpse into neurolinguistics (the study of the brain during language usage) and psycholinguistics (the study of the mind during language usage). The coursework component is as followed:

1. 15% Quiz
2. 15% Quiz
3. 12% Tutorial Participation
4. 8% Lecture Participation
5. 50% Exam

The first quiz was very easy. A lot of people scored close to 26 out of 26. However, the second quiz was pretty tough in the sense that there were a lot of open-ended questions. Still, most people did relatively well, scoring at least 24 out of 32. As the tutorial participation is 12%, please do your tutorials regularly and actively participate in class. Just doing this alone can easily push you a grade up at least. For the lecture participation, the professor will ask students in the lecture hall to sign in to an app to answer some of the questions she just covered. Just turning up for lectures regularly and answering the questions (even if you do get them wrong) can give you the full 8%.

The examination was all right if you studied for it. However, there were 3 short essay questions (about half a page) consisting of 15 marks which took all of us by surprise. Whoever did their readings would be able to comfortably answer these 3 essay questions. These 3 questions also determine who gets As and Bs as the bell curve had been very steep.

This review was reposted with the kind permission of aLMSstudent. Originally published at https://ntulmsmods.wordpress.com/2018/07/06/ntu-lms-2017-2018-semester-1/

Probably the easiest year 1 mod. The quizzes are all relatively easy but this also means that the bell curve will be a huge problem. On the other hand, the finals tend to be harder. Still, I really liked this mod because of how chill it is but then again this was in 2019, so not sure how this is now that there is COVID. My biggest tip to you juniors out there will be to turn up for all classes and participate.

Prof Alice Chan is the nicest prof out there, the content is simple and straightforward. As a beginner mod it delves into the more broad aspects of linguistics in relation to things like semantics, morphology and language acquisition. I did my course in AY20/21 and it was conducted on zoom, results may vary if lessons become normal again.

One of the fundamental course for any NTU (aspiring) linguist. You will experience the broad branches of Linguistics and how they observe and present the natural phenomena of language. Prof Alice Chan did a really amazing job in AY19/20, but do watch out for the final examination: the difficulty level will be significantly raised. No telling what will come out too, since LMS mostly does not have PYPs.

Enjoy the journey, fellow linguist!