{"id":47,"date":"2025-12-28T16:47:49","date_gmt":"2025-12-28T16:47:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vanoostendorp.nl\/wordpress\/?page_id=47"},"modified":"2026-02-15T08:59:55","modified_gmt":"2026-02-15T08:59:55","slug":"teaching","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/vanoostendorp.nl\/wordpress\/index.php\/teaching\/","title":{"rendered":"Teaching"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

My Teaching Philosophy:<\/strong>\u00a0I believe that the classroom will remain an important place for learning, as live interaction can transfer things that go beyond from what one can learn. Effective teaching focuses on insight, helping students understand concepts and how they relate to the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I’m committed to Open Education<\/strong> – making high-quality (linguistic) education accessible to learners worldwide. This includes creating open educational resources, online courses, and materials that students and educators can freely use and adapt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Current Courses (2025-2026)<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Phonology<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

BA Level 50 students Fall Semester<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An introduction to phonological theory and analysis. Students learn to describe sound systems, analyze phonological patterns, and understand how sounds are organized in the human mind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Topics covered:<\/strong> Distinctive features, syllable structure, phonological rules, Optimality Theory basics, cross-linguistic variation<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dutch Phonology and Morphology<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

BA Level 50 students Spring Semester<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Detailed analysis of the sound and word structure of Dutch. How does Dutch phonology work? What patterns exist in Dutch word formation?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Topics covered:<\/strong> Dutch vowel system, devoicing, syllabification, stress patterns, compounding, derivation<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Language Variation in the Dutch Area<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

MA Level 20 students Spring Semester<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Investigation of linguistic variation across Dutch dialects and Frisian. How do we study variation? What do dialect differences reveal about language structure?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Methods:<\/strong> Fieldwork, dialect atlas analysis, statistical approaches to variation, sociolinguistic interviews<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Writing for Non-Specialist Audiences<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Research MA 10 students Spring Semester<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Intensive training in writing, presentation, and communication skills for aspiring researchers who wish to communicate with the general audience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Skills developed:<\/strong> Article structure, argumentation, revision strategies, conference presentations<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thesis Supervision<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

BA\/MA\/PhD Ongoing<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I currently supervise BA theses, MA theses, and PhD dissertations on topics in phonology, dialectology, and language variation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Teaching Materials<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Online Courses<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Miracles of Human Language: An Introduction to Linguistics<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

MOOC 200,000+ students Coursera<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A comprehensive online course introducing linguistics to general audiences. Available free on Coursera with optional certificate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Topics:<\/strong> Phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics, pragmatics, language acquisition, language evolution\u2192 Enroll in the course<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Open Course Materials<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Phonology<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

BA Level\u00a02024 Edition<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Comprehensive introduction to phonological theory for Dutch-speaking students. Covers classical generative phonology through contemporary constraint-based approaches.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Previous Courses<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

I have previously taught courses on:<\/p>\n\n\n\n