Teaching

Teaching philosophy

Linguistics is a relatively young field. Many of the mysteries of the human language capacity are yet to be discovered. This makes teaching linguistics more challenging and more interesting at the same time. I believe that my goal as a teacher is to show that there are different ways to look at the same phenomenon. There is no “Bible” and no absolute truth in linguistics (and probably in science in general). Many noteworthy linguistic discoveries have been made by students who questioned existing theories. Therefore, the most important skill I teach is critical thinking, which is needed in any field. I encourage asking questions, discussing the basics of the theories, making hypotheses in the classroom.

In addition, I am a fieldworker and come from a country where more than 100 languages are spoken. The idea I would like to transmit to the student audience is that every language matters. It matters for linguists, because the more data we have, the more accurate our theory is. But it also matters for us people. Linguistic diversity is fascinating and shows how beautiful our world is. We should cherish all languages, no matter how many speakers they have.

Classes taught