AMES-337S
CHINESE SOCIOLINGUISTICS
Not in Fall 2026
Term
Overview
Feedback is mostly positive. The strongest signal is that discussion is a clear strength. Best for students who will actually talk in class instead of sitting silent.
DepartmentAMES
Terms offeredFall, Spring
Typical enrollment12–13
Semesters of data3
3.8
Hrs / week
32
Responses
37
Enrollment
86%
Response Rate
Evaluation Scores
Overall quality
Teaching, content, and experience combined.
4.3
Intellectually stimulating
Challenges students to think deeply.
4.4
Instructor effectiveness
Explains concepts and facilitates learning.
4.4
Difficulty
Higher means harder.
2.9
Feedback Analysis
Feedback Analysishigh
Analysis based on student evaluations
Based on 107 comments across 3 sections
Feedback is mostly positive. The strongest signal is that discussion is a clear strength. Best for students who will actually talk in class instead of sitting silent.
Student Reports
How hard is the A?
A is doable but not automatic
The signal here is more do-the-work-and-you-should-be-fine than easy-A chatter. Students do not describe the A as automatic, but the evidence also does not paint grading as punishing.
Homework Load
Heavy homework load
Homework load is one of the clearest friction points. Students repeatedly describe assignments, readings, or problem sets as time-consuming.
Lecture Load
Lighter lecture burden
Student comments describe this as more discussion-, seminar-, or workshop-driven than lecture-dependent. The lecture burden itself does not sound like the main source of friction.
Strengths
• Discussion is a clear strength; students repeatedly describe the class conversation as engaging and useful.
• Readings, films, or outside materials come up repeatedly as a real strength rather than filler.
Tradeoffs
• There is no single dominant complaint theme, but the feedback is not uniformly glowing either.
Best fit for
Best for students who will actually talk in class instead of sitting silent.
Watch out for
• A large share of the evidence comes from one instructor's version of the course, so this may not generalize cleanly.
Student Responses
Social linguistics of Chinese and Culture/ sentence structure.
Fall 2025 · Liu, Yan
Sociolinguistics approach to Chinese, research, information about dialects and Chinese language development
Fall 2025 · Liu, Yan
I learned how to think critically about sociolinguistics and also analyze quantitative and qualitative data.
Fall 2025 · Liu, Yan
1. Everything is interconnected, and the way we speak does impact the way the world works. What we speak into existence can change others perceptions, and shape our environments to work with or against us. 2. Chinese is fun and also nuanced, and given its rich history it's involves many different components which is very different from English. 3. Learning environments fostered can really make a difference. The best learning environments in language can really speed up someones ability to acquire and fully understanding of a language and the worst can even cause regression.
Fall 2025 · Liu, Yan
In this course, I learned how language reflects social hierarchies and cultural values in Chinese-speaking communities. including how honorifics, gendered language, and regional variation signal social power dynamics. I also developed a deeper understanding of sociolinguistic theory and gained the ability to analyze linguistic phenomena through frameworks such as language ideology and identity construction rather than viewing language purely in terms of grammar or vocabulary. I acquired practical research skills in sociolinguistics, including qualitative interviewing, discourse analysis, and evaluating real-world linguistic data from media and conversation to understand how language change occurs in society.
Fall 2025 · Liu, Yan
Rating History
Rating history
Error bars show \u00B11 std dev
| Term | Instructor | Overall | Difficulty | Hrs/wk | Enrolled |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fall 2025 | Liu, Yan 4.8Rate My ProfessorsQuality4.8Difficulty2.8Would retake100%Based on 12 ratingsClick to view on RMP → | 4.6 | 2.8 | 3.6 | 12 |
| Spring 2025 | Liu, Yan 4.8Rate My ProfessorsQuality4.8Difficulty2.8Would retake100%Based on 12 ratingsClick to view on RMP → | 4.3 | 2.5 | 2.9 | 12 |
| Spring 2024 | Liu, Yan 4.8Rate My ProfessorsQuality4.8Difficulty2.8Would retake100%Based on 12 ratingsClick to view on RMP → | 4.2 | 3.3 | 5.0 | 13 |
Instructor
Liu, YanAMES
Also teaches
CHINESE-203 INTERMEDIATE CHINESE4.1CHINESE-451S CHINA & U4.4CHINESE-99 SURVIVAL CHINESE4.3GLHLTH-270T-5 VOICES IN GH:MANDARIN TUTORIAL4.3PUBPOL-273T-3 VOICES IN PUBPOL: CHINESE