Introduction to Language
This course is an introduction to the general study of language. It deals with the origin, nature and function of language as a uniquely human phenomenon – that is, what is common to all human speakers no matter what specific language they speak. Topics such as the structure of language, its role in society, and how it is learned are surveyed. Linguistic phenomena and their links to other disciplines such as psychology, sociology, culture, and brain, among others, are discussed.

Introduction to Linguistics
This course introduces students to fundamental concepts in linguistics. These include the production of speech sounds (phonetics), the patterning of speech sounds in particular languages (phonology), the formation of words (morphology) and sentences (syntax), and the analysis of meaning in words and sentences (semantics).  Data and examples from numerous languages, particularly English and Arabic, are used to illustrate these concepts.  This course helps students approach language in a scientific way.

Phonetics and Phonology
This course introduces students to general phonetics and phonology from a theoretical perspective. Students will be introduced to the notion of “phoneme” and the articulatory features of speech sounds from phonetic and phonological perspectives. The students will be introduced to topics including acoustic phonetics, phonological alternations (allophonic variation), phonological rules and rule ordering. A discussion of the major theoretical frameworks in the field will cover theories such as Feature Geometry, underspecification, and Optimality Theory.

History of the English Language
The course introduces student to the history of the English language, focusing on its origins and development in the areas of phonology, spelling, morphology, syntax and semantics. It will cover elements of Proto-Indo-European, Proto-Germanic, Old English, Middle English, Early Modern English, and Present Day World Englishes. The course will also familiarize students with methods used by linguists to recognize, describe and analyze language change.

Speech Sciences
This is a comprehensive course that teaches the core material of the three areas of speech science: Acoustic Phonetics, Speech Production and Speech Perception. The course opens with a unit on Speech Production, which addresses the anatomy and physiology of speech, physiological phonetics, gestural timing; and acoustic phonetics, including source-filter analysis, analysis based on spectrograms and other acoustic displays, and models of speech production. The Speech Perception unit addresses acoustics cues, experiments based on synthetic speech, and categorical vs. continuous perception.

Second Language Acquisition
The purpose of this course is to outline and discuss the theoretical and empirical background concerning aspects of Second Language Acquisition (SLA). Some fundamental considerations of the nature of language and language learning will be discussed first. Then ideas and research that have provided the framework for SLA will be presented. Other aspects of SLA will be surveyed and discussed in order to contribute further to students’ understanding of foreign language acquisition processes.

Sounds of English
This course introduces College of Education students to a range of topics on the sounds of English. Topics covered include segmental phonology, syllable stress, syllable structure and intonation. Students will also learn about the articulation of English sounds, including the components of the human vocal tract that contribute to English speech sounds. Students will be introduced to some basics of different varieties of English (e.g. American English, British English). Attention will be paid to aspects of English that are different from Arabic, including English vowels and consonants not found in Arabic.

Structure of English
This course provides College of Education students an introduction to the structure of the English language, aiming to help them develop their ability to analyze and describe morphological, syntactic, and semantic structure. The morphology part of the course examines the structure of English words and the processes that generate them. The syntax part of the course explores the structure of sentences, and for semantics, topics include meaning relations among lexical items, prototypes, semantic fields, idiomatic expressions, and the relationship between word meaning and sentence meaning.

Topics in Linguistics
General course description: This course offers students a concentrated exploration of a current linguistics topic in more detail than in the core linguistics curriculum courses, allowing students to keep up to date on the latest developments in linguistics. The topic for the course varies from semester to semester and so provides students with a variety of possible focused courses so that students can pursue topics that are of academic interest to them in greater depth.

More on how I teach this course: The theme of my Topics course is “Visual Aspects of Language.” In contrast to most presentations of linguistics that undergraduate students will have seen previously, this course investigates the study of language expressed in the visual, rather than auditory, modality. Much of the course explores the linguistics of manual-visual languages (i.e. signed languages of the deaf). Students will learn how core linguistic concepts (phonology, morphology, syntax) apply to sign languages, just as they do to spoken languages. Examples from various sign languages are used to illustrate how sign linguists express and make use of these concepts in the context of signed language. Other “visual aspects of language” to be discussed include writing systems, the contribution of visual information to speech perception, and the notion of “linguistic landscape.” Readings include papers published in scholarly journals.

Capstone (Integrated Skills)
Students take this course during the first or second term of their senior year. In this course, students embark on a research project under the supervision of their instructor. To enhance their collaboration skills, more than one student may embark on one project. Students are given the liberty to select their project, with the approval and guidance of their instructor. The Capstone project is supposed to reflect the skills gained by students throughout the DELL program. Students’ performance should reflect their professional writing and presentation skills, as well as their ability to conduct a methodical, goal-oriented research project. Key components of this include a research question and goal, clearly stated methodology, and critical analysis of results.