LING 20
KENNEDY R A
Robert (Bob) Kennedy
4.1
166 reviews

166
4.1
LING20 . Kennedy R A 2 Months Ago

Dense lectures, however clear expectations and tests do not impact grade too heavily

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LING20 . Kennedy R A 2 Months Ago

Very nice professor and funny too. It's not a hard class and you can pass even if you fail both the midterm and final. However, the book is very boring and has many terms to memorize. You also have to take reading quizzes every week but are allowed to retake them until you get 100%. It was a cool topic but got confusing quickly.

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LING20 . Kennedy R A 2 Months Ago

Weekly quizzes you could retake until you get 100%. Midterm and Final aren't a big portion of your grade so even if you fail both you'll pass by doing all the small assignments. Professor is nice and funny but the class is just confusing if you don't really care about linguistics. Definitely read the assigned textbook (which you can find online).

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LING20 . Kennedy R A 2 Months Ago

As someone uninterested in linguistics, this class managed to hold my attention. Shout out to Noam Chomsky. Unfortunately, the textbook was a dry, protracted, loathsome work. Some of the chapters were void of information like pragmatics and discourse. Others were a jumbled mess of crucial definitions and concepts. Cool professor. Lame book.

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LING20 . Kennedy R A 2 Months Ago

Manageable workload, just get a head start on studying for midterm/final because there are a lot of concepts to learn. Very nice professor and interesting material in the lectures...recommend attending because he doesn't post full slides and his explanations are very helpful.

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LING20 . Kennedy R A 2 Months Ago

While this class is not difficult in terms of course material, this prof just makes his content and concepts so boring and unmotivating to learn. I cannot understate just how boring and underwhelming this class was. If you take this class beware that you will not find the concepts interesting one bit, but you will pass! So....

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LING20 . Kennedy R A 3 Months Ago

Prof. Kennedy is great. The workload is manageable and the lectures are engaging (mostly, there are a few boring parts). My only complaint is that there are no practice tests available and there seemed to be a bit of miscommunication b/w him and the TAs about what to prioritize reviewing for the tests.

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LING20 . Kennedy R A 8 Months Ago

Kennedy is a nice guy, this is a fine class. Boring if you don't care about ling as a subject, but easy homework. His exams are no longer online though, which means u have to pay attention. Relatively easy, but ur TA can skew that the other way if ur unlucky. Nice Area C requirement, but nothing extraordinary. He's funny n pretty sassy too.

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LING20 . Kennedy R A 9 Months Ago

his final is cumulative, which sucks. the material isn't super difficult just takes a while to grasp an understanding of. he doesn't post lectures unless you directly email him for them, so you do have to attend those. overall, the course isn't super difficult but you have to pay attention in class.

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LING20 . Kennedy R A 1 Year, 2 Months Ago

Professor Kenndy is a great professor. He genuinely cares for his students and the material being shared. I took this for a prep for major course and will be taking another one of his courses (Ling 70) this winter. His class is straightforward, and the TAs are all great. I think his grading is fair, and that his lectures were truly interesting.

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LING20 . Kennedy R A 1 Year, 2 Months Ago

Super funny. The words that he uses to describe the topics can be a bit confusing but if you read the textbook beforehand its alright. His mask and mich combo might put you to sleep tho. Very interesting class as well

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LING20 . Kennedy R A 1 Year, 2 Months Ago

Kennedy is one of the funniest professor's I've had at ucsb so far. You're graded on participation, quizzes/assignments online that you can retake until you get 100%, and 1 midterm and 1 final. You do need to actually understand terms and the material in order to do well, but his class wasn't too bad and it's not difficult to do well.

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LING20 . Kennedy R A 1 Year, 2 Months Ago

Two quizzes a week, unlimited attempts. Super easy class. One midterm and one final both very short. You do have to show up to the lectures because he doesn't post them online. I never touched the textbook and still passed so... he's that professor that tries to be funny too.

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LING20 . Kennedy R A 1 Year, 2 Months Ago

Prof Kennedy is great! His lectures are accessible online but he alters them, so it's worth going in person. Mostly graded on weekly reading quizzes/assignments that you get unlimited tries for. Midterm and final were only worth 15% each. Highly recommend this class if you need a GE/extra units!

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LING20 . Kennedy R A 1 Year, 3 Months Ago

I took 3 classes with him and he's amazing! Really passionate and understanding and makes linguistics easy to understand. Midterm and exam are online and open book/open web. Lectures are in-person but if you can't make it he can send you a recording of the lecture. Overall an awesome and caring prof that wants his students to succeed :)

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LING20 . Kennedy R A 1 Year, 3 Months Ago

great professor with a love in language but be careful with TAs some are difficult.

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LING20 . Kennedy R A 1 Year, 4 Months Ago

Kennedy is a great teacher and this class is a great start into linguistics. There are weekly online reading quizzes and the midterm and the final are online and at home. Overall, pretty easy and very interesting

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LING20 . Kennedy R A 1 Year, 11 Months Ago

Prof Kennedy's really awesome! Possibly my favorite professor at UCSB. In addition to the 3 tags I chose, I would've also picked "hilarious" and "accessible outside class." Although I marked LING20 as the class here, I've taken others (Ex: 15) and upper division classes with him too! They've all been awesome. Good at teaching and explaining + fun.

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LING20 . Kennedy R A 2 Years Ago

Professor Kennedy is caring and fun, and it's not his fault the topic of Ling20 was pretty boring and tedious. One or two long chapters for readings every week, which you should definitely do. He also does live zooms and recordings, which is so helpful. Definitely excited to take him again for higher-level linguistic classes!

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LING20 . Kennedy R A 2 Years Ago

Very easy class, the midterm and the final were both online. Graded mostly by weekly quizzes and weekly assignments which are both easy 100%s since he made it so the quiz/assignment lets you redo the questions if you get them wrong. Would 100% take again

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LING20 . Kennedy R A 2 Years Ago

I appreciate the leniency on homework, the weekly quizzes and the online exams, but Professor Kennedy's teaching style is monotonous and dull and does not provide a good sense of the material most of the time. The textbook is similarly unhelpful, and he expects students to know/understand far more than we would for an introduction course.

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LING20 . Kennedy R A 3 Years Ago

Dedicated and kind professor! He was very clear on the grading, assignments are manageable, and quizzes allow you to retake until you get everything correct. I honestly found the material and lectures a bit boring, but if you're interested in linguistics Kennedy is great

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LING20 . Kennedy R A 3 Years Ago

Professor Kennedy is nice! But a lot of things to memorize. Assignments were easy but tests were hard.

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LING20 . Kennedy R A 3 Years Ago

Dr. Kennedy is great. You can tell he's really passionate about teaching which makes his classes really engaging. He's also hilarious which makes the long lectures worth going to. Lectures can get a bit boring but if you show up and take good notes class is easy. There is a textbook, but reading is not necessary to do well.

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