Historical instructor
Original student reviews · all captured dates
DO NOT TAKE THIS CLASS. Cravens certainly has a passion for linguistics... But his instruction is entirely arbitrary. Exams are entirely unpredictable. He gives review sheets. Sometimes exams are based completely off of them. Sometimes they do not even relate. You will not learn anything & your grade is a complete roll of the dice. DO NOT TAKE.Rate My Professors ↗
Professor Cravens clearly has an impressive knowledge of linguistics, but he utterly fails to communicate effectively. His lectures are all over the place and are clearly not directed at linguistic beginners. That said, exams are reasonable, and texts are unnecessary. All told, would not recommend.Rate My Professors ↗
Professor Cravens obviously knows everything there is to know about the subject of romance language linguistics and is as nice a guy as they come. But that being said, this was without a doubt the worst class I've taken at UW. I didn't learn a thing, he has absolutely no command or structure of the class, and arbitrarily grades things. AVOID!!!!Rate My Professors ↗
Prof. Cravens is brilliant when it comes to romance linguistics. The class isn't so much learning new facts as it is questioning what you think you knew about italian, and he facilitates. That said, having some experience in linguistics is very helpful to follow along in class because terms get thrown around a lot. Very interesting class overall,Rate My Professors ↗
I studied Linguistics with Dr. Cravens at Loyola College from 1988-1990. He was by far one of the best professors I have ever had. He inspired me to better appreciate not only language but also culture, and 20 years later, I still consider him to have been one of the most impactful people in my adult life.Rate My Professors ↗
This class is really easy. Just show up, pay attention, and you'll do well. He wants you to do well, so there are no tricks. JUST SHOW UP! Don't waste your money on the textbooks--you don't need them. I regret buying them.Rate My Professors ↗
Personal experiences, not a representative survey. Profile matching and captured coverage are shown in the source details.
No teaching recorded in Fall 2026.
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| Term | Course | Title |
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Teaching history may be incomplete. Course pages contain course-specific feedback and citations.
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