California State University, San Marcos General Education Program
GENERAL EDUCATION NEW COURSE CERTIFICATION REQUEST
• AREA D: Social Science
See GE Handbook for information on each section of this form
ABSTRACT
Course Abbreviation and Number: LING 121
Course Title: History and Structure of English Words
Number of Units: 3_____
College or Program:
Desired term of implementation:
CHABSS
CSM
CEHHS
COBA
Fall
Other______________________________
Spring
Summer
Course Proposer (please print): Jocelyn Ahlers
Year: 2015
Email: jahlers@csusm.edu
Mode of Delivery:
face to face
hybrid
fully on-line
Submission
Date:1/29/15
Introduction to the history of English words of classical (Latin and
Greek) origin. Through a linguistically guided analysis of word-formation students will achieve
substantial enrichment of their vocabulary while learning about the origin and development of
words, including changes in pronunciation, meaning, and usage associated with socio-historical
events and processes. Of particular interest to students of history, language, linguistics,
literature, biology, psychology, philosophy. No knowledge of classical languages required. No
prerequisites. May be taken by any lower-division student.
1. Course Catalog Description:
2. GE Syllabus Checklist: The syllabi for all courses certified for GE credit must contain the following:
Course description, course title and course number
Student learning outcomes for General Education Area and student learning objectives specific to your
course, linked to how students will meet these objectives through course activities/experiences
Topics or subjects covered in the course
Registration conditions
Specifics relating to how assignments meet the writing requirement
Tentative course schedule including readings
Grading components including relative weight of assignments
SIGNATURES
Course Proposer
Date
Department Chair
date
Please note that the department will be required to report assessment data to the GEC annually. ______
DC Initial
Library Faculty
Support
Do not support*
□
□
Date
Impacted
Discipline Chair
Support
Do not support*
□
□
Date
Support
Do not Support*
Approve
Do not Approve
□
□
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California State University, San Marcos General Education Program
GENERAL EDUCATION NEW COURSE CERTIFICATION REQUEST
• AREA D: Social Science
See GE Handbook for information on each section of this form
Impacted Discipline
Chair
Date
GEC Chair
Date
* If the proposal is not supported, a memo describing the nature of the objection must be provided.
Course Coordinator:Jocelyn Ahlers Phone: 8014 Email:jahlers@csusm.edu
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California State University, San Marcos General Education Program
GENERAL EDUCATION NEW COURSE CERTIFICATION REQUEST
• AREA D: Social Science
See GE Handbook for information on each section of this form
Part A: D Social Science General Education Learning Outcomes (GELOs) related to course content. [Please
type responses into the tables.]
Social Science GELOs this course
will address:
D.1 Students will describe and
critically apply social science theories
and methods to problems. This may
include the development of research
questions, critical evaluation of
evidence, data collection, fieldwork,
and/or employment of mathematical
analysis.
D.2 Students will analyze the impact
of race, class, gender and cultural
context on individuals and/or local and
global societies.
D.3 Students will outline the
contemporary and/or historical
perspectives of major political,
intellectual, psychological, economic,
Course content that addresses each
GELO.
Linguistics as a social science offers a
wide range of theoretical constructs to
evaluate linguistic data, ranging from
an understanding of sound change
over time, to an understanding of the
social processes that can disrupt or
drive those changes. During the
course of the semester, students will
be exposed to each of these kinds of
constructs (e.g., an understanding of
sound change in weeks 8 and 9; and
an examination of social factors
influencing linguistic shift in week
14).
As stated above, one of the key
elements driving linguistic change is
social attitudes and constructs. In
particular, dialects (including
vocabulary) spoken by people who
are members of stigmatized races,
classes, and genders, are less likely to
be integrated into a dominant
language than those of groups whose
membership carries prestige.
Sometimes, stigmatized dialects
achieve prestige in very particular
social areas, and the language reflects
that social reality (e.g., vocabulary
from African-American English in
semantic domains such as music and
sports). These influences will be
brought into consideration throughout
the course, for example, in Week 3,
understanding the relative social status
of Old French versus Old English
speakers in early English history is
critical to understanding the
borrowings which come from French,
as well as semantic shifts in English
vocabulary; and in Week 14,
understanding the processes of
amelioration and pejoration depends
on understanding social processes.
For example, understanding that
ethnic designators change over time
because their meanings pejorate – e.g.,
Negro to Black to African American –
requires understanding that words
carry social meaning and accrue
connotations on top of their
denotational meaning over time, and
that the power differentials determined
and delimited by race, class, and
gender have implications for those
meaning changes and for who has the
right to rename and who does not.
These are just a few examples.
The entire course has as its focus a
historical perspective on the
development of the English language,
with the goal of seeing its current state
as the result of its social and linguistic
How will these GELOs be
assessed?
Weekly homework
assignments will offer students
the opportunity to apply these
constructs to linguistic data
(please see example
worksheets included with this
packet).
Students’ acquisition of this
understanding will be assessed
through the use of the weekly
homework worksheets and
through quizzes. They will
also be assessed on their
ability to bring this element to
bear in analyzing the data
chosen for their final paper.
Students’ understanding of
English as the result of
millennia of social and
linguistic practices will be
assessed through the weekly
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California State University, San Marcos General Education Program
GENERAL EDUCATION NEW COURSE CERTIFICATION REQUEST
• AREA D: Social Science
See GE Handbook for information on each section of this form
history. Language is not only a tool
worksheets (examples included
scientific, technological, or cultural
for doing social work, but is a
here) and in the final paper
developments.
reflection of the society that speaks it;
(described above, in the
this course as a whole thus speaks to
syllabus, and elsewhere in this
this SLO.
form).
The course culminates in a
Students’ ability to explain the
D.4 Students will explain the
presentation
of
the
social
factors
utility of a linguistic
usefulness of a disciplinary
which drive linguistic change, but this perspective will be assessed in
perspective and field of knowledge for cannot be understood without the
the final paper project
social issues and problems.
more detailed grasp of linguistic
(described above, in the
processes presented throughout the
syllabus, and elsewhere in this
earlier parts of the course. Thus,
form).
linguistic theories having to do with
sound change, word formation, and
linguistic borrowing are critical for
understanding the units of analysis
which become relevant in discussing
the impact of social attitudes on
language change, which in turn can
help to clarify why some “regular”
language change processes aren’t so
regular. Thus, the whole course
content fulfills this goal.
Part B: General Education Learning Outcomes required of all GE courses related to course content:
GE Outcomes required of all
Courses
Students will communicate effectively
in writing to various audiences.
(writing)
Course content that addresses each
GE outcome?
Final paper, which requires students
to research and present the history of a
set of words drawn from a lexical
domain of their choice.
Students will think critically and
analytically about an issue, idea or
problem. (critical thinking)
Workbook exercises assigned
throughout the course will give
students a chance to critically apply
the information acquired during the
course and through the course
readings. For example, students may
have to respond to a prompt such as:
“What major socio-historical and
cultural events that influenced the
English lexicon in a major way took
place at each of the following dates or
period: (a) end of sixth century AD?
(b) 1066? (c) 1476?” In order to
respond to this question, students will
have to have a clear sense of what
historical events took place at those
times, and of those events, which are
likely to have a linguistic impact, and
how.
Final research paper.
Students will find, evaluate and use
information appropriate to the course
and discipline. (Faculty are strongly
encouraged to collaborate with their
library faculty.)
How will these GELOs be
assessed?
Through the use of a rubric
which will allow the course
instructor to assess the key
features of the students’
writing, including clarity of
purpose and presentation.
These exercises will be
assigned through weekly
assignments that will be
assessed for accuracy,
understanding, and clarity of
presentation.
To complete the final paper,
students will need to access,
evaluate, and present
information about the use and
history of the lexical items
they are focusing on. This
will involve the use of
dictionaries and historical
texts.
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California State University, San Marcos General Education Program
GENERAL EDUCATION NEW COURSE CERTIFICATION REQUEST
• AREA D: Social Science
See GE Handbook for information on each section of this form
Part C: GE Programmatic Goals: The GE program aligns with CSUSM specific and LEAP Goals. All D
courses must meet at least one of the LEAP Goals.
GE Programmatic Goals
LEAP 1: Knowledge of Human Cultures and the
Physical and Natural World.
LEAP 2: Intellectual and Practical Skills
LEAP 3: Personal and Social Responsibility
LEAP 4: Integrative Learning
CSUSM Specific Programmatic Goals
CSUSM 1: Exposure to and critical thinking about
issues of diversity.
CSUSM 2: Exposure to and critical thinking about the
interrelatedness of peoples in local, national, and global
contexts.
Course addresses this LEAP Goal:
No
Yes
No
Yes
No
Yes
No
Yes
Course content that addresses the following CSUSM
goals. Please explain, if applicable.
No
Yes (please describe): One of the drivers of
language change (or, alternatively, social movements
towards the maintenance of particular forms of
language as “pure”) is social attitudes towards the
speakers of prestige varieties of language versus
stigmatized varieties. As part of understanding the
processes that have led to English as it is spoken and
written today, students will have to come to grips with
the many diverse inputs that have gone into creating
modern English; these diverse inputs include, to name
just one example, the languages of immigrants to
Englis- speaking countries, and the indigenous
peoples of regions into which English-speaking
colonies moved over time.
No
Yes (please describe): This relates to the
answer given above. While language change can
happen in a vacuum (the languages of communities
out of touch with others will change over time),
contact between people is one of the greatest drivers of
linguistic change, whether towards innovation (by
borrowing concepts and terminology from other
languages) or conservatism (by trying to maintain a
“pure” version of a language in the face of
stigmatized “other” languages and dialects).
Part D: Course requirements to be met by the instructor.
Course Requirements:
Course meets the All-University Writing
requirement: A minimum of 2500 words of writing
shall be required for 3+ unit courses.
Instructors will include an evaluation of students’
written work which assesses both content and writing
proficiency.
Courses will include a component requiring students to
develop an understanding of the core information
resources and literature of the disciplines.
How will this requirement be met by the instructor?
Through the writing required in weekly homework
assignments, in addition to the final research paper,
in which students will present the history of a set of
words drawn from a semantic domain of their
choice.
Weekly homework assignments and final paper will
be graded based not only on the content and its
reflection of the attainment of course SLOs, but also
students’ ability to express themselves clearly and
cogently in writing. Grades on these assignments
will be based on both of these factors.
In this course, the main focus of this requirement
will be the work that students do with three
dictionary resources (listed in the syllabus). These
three lexica represent best practices in the field, and
show different ways of presenting lexical
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California State University, San Marcos General Education Program
GENERAL EDUCATION NEW COURSE CERTIFICATION REQUEST
• AREA D: Social Science
See GE Handbook for information on each section of this form
information.
All social sciences core course proposals/syllabi shall
The access to the dictionaries referred to above will
require information literacy: This includes
require students to utilize information literacy, and
opportunities for students to read, evaluate and analyze
will give them a chance to further practice their
social science information, and report results of their
skills at researching and evaluating primary
analysis clearly. Courses will be assigned a librarian as information in coming to an understanding of word
a resource person to facilitate the information literacy
use and history.
and library use components.
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