Linguistics Outside the Classroom (LOC)

LING 2000(H): Linguistics is a growing and changing field. There are constantly new discoveries being made, and an important part of learning about the study of language is to become familiar with some of this research.

LING 2051: The field of linguistics uses a variety of data types and kinds of quantitative analysis. Faculty and students in the Department of Linguistics engage in the collection and interpretation of data for basic research. One way to become familiar with the way experiments are conducted is to participate in them, contributing data to basic research.

LING 3701(H)/PSYCH 3371(H): Understanding how researchers investigate different aspects of language processing is an important part of this class. One of the best ways to understand this research is to actually participate in an experiment or to hear researchers speak about their work.

By doing one of the following three things:

• Participating in two experiments and completing the accompanying questionnaires
• Attending two talks and completing the accompanying questionnaires
  (Please note that occasionally there may be video showings that count toward the talk requirement; however, you may attend only one video in place of a talk. You may not go to two video showings in order to fulfill the LOC requirement.)
• Attending one talk (or video showing) and participating in one experiment, and completing the appropriate questionnaire for each

If your schedule will make these options impossible, you must ask your instructor by the third week of class about an alternative written assignment that you can complete instead.

Each presentation or experiment is worth 2.5% of your total course grade. Thus, this requirement is worth a combined total of 5%.

The first completed questionnaire from a presentation or experiment is due during the eighth week of the semester (fourth week in seven-week courses). The second completed questionnaire will be due during the last week of classes. Your instructor will inform you about the specific time during those weeks that the questionnaires are due. You may, of course, turn in either or both of your questionnaires early.

Please note that even though the questionnaires are due in the eighth and last weeks, because there is limited availability of experiment slots, it is not possible for every student to wait to fill the requirement during those weeks. There is usually at least one experiment running at all times, and there are presentations scheduled regularly throughout the semester. Therefore, please plan ahead to find opportunities that work well with your schedule, rather than waiting until the last minute.

View the LOC talk schedule here. This web page will list all of the presentations that will take place during a semester that satisfy the requirement. The list should be finalized within the first several weeks of the semester. (Although there will be other talks hosted by the Department of Linguistics during the semester, and although you are encouraged to attend them if you are interested, only the presentations that are posted on this web site can be attended for credit as a part of the LOC requirement.) You do not need to sign up before attending a talk.

View the LOC experiment list here (you will be prompted to log on with your OSU credentials) and click on the name of an experiment. To sign up, click the "Sign Up" link that lines up with a time that is convenient for you. On the new page, confirm that your name and email address have been filled in correctly, select your instructor's name and course number from the drop-down menu, and click the "Sign Up" box. Remember to write down the time and place for yourself, and be sure to arrive on time. If you arrive even five minutes late, you may be unable to participate in the experiment.

NOTE: Some experiments may be done in person and some may be done online. Specific instructions for signing up for and participating in in-person and online experiments may be included on the web site and communicated to you by your instructor; additional details may also be emailed to you upon signing up for or completing an experiment.

For some experiments, it may be possible to schedule an appointment with the experimenter outside of the posted time slots. Use the contact information that is posted on the sign-up page to make an appointment. Even weekend and evening hours can sometimes be arranged this way.

Please email or phone the experimenter to say that you are not coming as soon as you are aware of a conflict! (The experimenter's contact information can be found on the web page where you signed up.) Canceling appointments at the last minute or failing to show up is not only inconsiderate to the person running the experiment, but also it decreases the availability of future slots for you and your peers. If no-shows become a problem, we may have to institute a policy such that students who do not show up to experiments are unable to receive credit for the LOC requirement.

When you attend a presentation, questionnaires will be distributed at the beginning of the talk either by the speaker or by a member of the Department of Linguistics staff. The speaker or staff member will then collect the completed questionnaires from you as you leave, and they will give them to your instructor.

When you participate in an in-person experiment, the experimenter will give you the questionnaire when you leave. When you participate in an online experiment, the questionnaire will be made available to you online at the completion of the experiment. In both cases, it is your responsibility to turn the completed questionnaire in to your instructor by the due date.

Depending on the presentation that you attend, there may be a moderator who introduces the speaker, or a speaker may introduce themself. The speaker will then present to you information about their research.

Speakers are invited to talk for up to a full hour. Note that speakers may be invited guests of the department and the university. Please be considerate of them and the other members of the audience. You should attend a presentation only if you can stay for the entire time.

After the talk, if it is not a moderated talk, the speaker will likely lead their own question and answer session, which may or may not fit within the designated hour. Either way, you will have an opportunity to turn in your questionnaire and leave at the end of the hour. If there is a moderator, they will thank the speaker and invite the audience to stay for a question and answer period which lasts for an additional ten to thirty minutes. If you need to leave before the question and answer period, the moderator will give you an appropriate opportunity to turn in your form and leave before the questions begin.

Please feel free to ask questions during the question and answer period! Our speakers are there to share their knowledge and enthusiasm with our undergraduates, and they will be happy to hear about what interests you. Don't be afraid if you have little experience with linguistics: everyone in the audience will come from a slightly different background, and all questions will be welcome.

For talks: All of the posted talks are geared toward our undergraduate students. When you attend a talk, don't worry about trying to understand everything that a speaker talks about. Even professors and graduate students attend talks in order to learn about topics that are new to them. Do try to listen for the main points of the talk and think about the reasons why a specific piece of linguistic data is being used.

For experiments: It is not necessary to have any linguistics background to participate in an experiment! At the end of an experiment, the experimenter will share information with you about what they are trying to learn, and you'll have the opportunity to ask any questions that you might have. Experimenters understand that you are coming from an introductory-level class, and that you might be participating before having learned about the area of linguistics that they are studying, so they will be prepared to explain their research to you.

Even though you will be told what an experimenter is studying after you finish participating in the experiment, please do not discuss this information with classmates who have not participated in the experiment yet, since doing so may spoil the data that they provide when they participate.

Yes. All of the talks are given in accessible classrooms, and most experiments are also accessible. If necessary, the alternative written assignment may also be available for you to complete instead of going to talks or experiments. If you have any specific concerns about your ability to fulfill this requirement based on your particular circumstances, please speak with your instructor.

The only restriction on experiment participation is age. Due to federal guidelines, anyone who is under the age of 18 must have parental permission to participate in experiments. If you are under the age of 18 and would like to participate in experiments to fulfill this requirement, you must ask your parents to sign a parental permission form and bring the signed form with you to the experiment. You can obtain a parental permission form by contacting by contacting the experimenter of the study you would like to participate.

If you are under the age of 18, you can also fulfill this requirement by attending two talks. If necessary, the alternative written assignment may also be available for you. If you have any specific concerns about your ability to fulfill this requirement based on your particular circumstances, please speak with your instructor.

Sometimes it is impossible for experimenters to collect the data they need in a single one-hour session. 2-credit experiments are experiments that require a commitment of more than one hour on one day, or one hour on each of two separate days. As the name suggests, completion of such experiments is worth 2 credits rather than just 1. If you complete a 2-credit experiment before the first deadline, you have earned both credits required for the semester.