Graded on the same curve as grad students—they set it, you struggle to meet it. One of the most unorganized classes I have taken at UW, and he clearly has not changed it despite 20 years of consistent negative student feedback. Do not take this class with Yafei if you do not 100% have to.Rate My Professors ↗
Current instructor
Yafei Li
What students say
Original student reviews · all captured dates
Exactly like other ratings describe. Even grad students struggled with the baseline material. Some concepts are tough by themselves, but professor made EVERYTHING much more confusing. Might be time to retire ngl. Exam Qs worded poorly. Graded on a curve (usually boosts score though bc almost everyone does terribly). Good luck with this one.Rate My Professors ↗
This class was really difficult to follow. The lectures didn't have many helpful materials and no structure, and when students asked questions, he often didn't give clear answers. He also said certain topics wouldn't be on the exam, but they were, which made studying frustrating. Overall, not an easy class and hard to understand the material.Rate My Professors ↗
Yafei is very nice, knowledgeable, and always asks students if they understand the concepts. However, the lack of slides, frequent tangents, and lack of drawing trees made this one of the most stressful classes I have ever taken. I feel like I learned a lot, but wish the topics were covered with more clarity.Rate My Professors ↗
If you don't have to take this class for a Linguistics requirement, don't take it. If you have to take the class, wait for a different professor. He spent the entire semester teaching concepts then undoing what he had taught and re-teaching them in a more complex way--this made the course so unnecessarily confusing and nearly impossible to follow.Rate My Professors ↗
Entire course is graded on two assignments and two exams. Complete examples are rarely given in class and very few other resources are made available online to help with trees. Exam questions are confusingly worded and heavily weighted. He ended up having to adjust letter grade values to make a 65% a B. Would not have passed without this curve.Rate My Professors ↗
Personal experiences, not a representative survey. Profile matching and captured coverage are shown in the source details.
Classes with Yafei Li
Junior Honors Tutorial
1 creditsJunior Honors Tutorial provides mentored individual research for students pursuing Honors in the Major in Linguistics.
Offering recorded · Spring 2027 · Sources
No recorded grade history
HONORS SEMINAR-SENIOR THESIS offers mentored individual research and study for students completing a thesis in an Honors program.
Offering recorded · Spring 2027 · Sources
Independent Reading
1–6 creditsLINGUIS 699 Independent Reading offers advanced directed study projects arranged with a faculty member.
Offering recorded · Spring 2027 · Sources
historical GPA · grades
Fall 2022–Fall 2023 · limited sampleThesis
1–12 creditsLINGUIS 990 supports research in connection with the doctoral thesis.
Offering recorded · Spring 2027 · Sources
No recorded grade history
Independent Reading
1–12 creditsIndependent Reading is a mentored reading and research course for students with dissertator status.
Offering recorded · Spring 2027 · Sources
No recorded grade history
Recorded teaching history
Distinct courses recorded per term
Explore courses taught by this instructor →Browse recorded courses
| Term | Course | Title |
|---|---|---|
| Spring 2027 | LINGUIS 482 | Junior Honors Tutorial |
| Spring 2027 | LINGUIS 682 | Honors Seminar-senior Thesis |
| Spring 2027 | LINGUIS 699 | Independent Reading |
| Spring 2027 | LINGUIS 990 | Thesis |
| Spring 2027 | LINGUIS 999 | Independent Reading |
| Fall 2026 | LINGUIS 373 | Topics in Linguistics |
| Fall 2026 | LINGUIS 481 | Junior Honors Tutorial |
| Fall 2026 | LINGUIS 681 | Honors Seminar-senior Thesis |
| Fall 2026 | LINGUIS 690 | Capstone in Linguistics |
| Fall 2026 | LINGUIS 699 | Independent Reading |
| Fall 2026 | LINGUIS 990 | Thesis |
| Fall 2026 | LINGUIS 999 | Independent Reading |
Teaching history may be incomplete. Course pages contain course-specific feedback and citations.
Instructor identity & provenance
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