Old Dog, New Tricks: General Linguistics in the Age of New Media

When I accepted an invitation to teach linguistics 101 at UMW. I brought with me an agenda born more than 40 years ago and which has had a growth spurt since I retired in 2003. Driven by technological innovation and recent interpretation of the role mind/brain in an understanding of language, the time has come to test whether one can teach general linguistics to a general college audience so as to provide a basis for further study in linguistics, connect with the interests and competencies of a heterogeneous group of students, present a coherent and reasonable facsimile of contemporary linguistic thought, and hold the attention of 65 weary students in a 3 hour evening class once a week. I got great help using a number of media resources, in particular web based materials, QuickTime and Personal Brain, and encouraging students to DO linguistics rather than merely read about it. I will illustrate my approach to the subject by flying over the “Plex” of Personal Brain and diving in to look up close at one unit in the course. I’m convinced the approach is right, but I think the patient may have died.