Issue with a course description

[Lingolas88]

Hi, I am enrolled in an applied linguistics graduate program focusing in language teaching. I am in a contrastive linguistics/analysis class but the course syllabus and content has nothing to do with contrastive linguistics. Rather the course has focused on research methods and applying them. What should I do about this? I think contrastive linguistics is important skill and I was use it much more than research, which I am not planning to do outside of my course work.

[TakeruK]

If it turns out the course is not what you expected and is not useful to you, then I think the best thing to do is to drop it and spend your time on research or another course. Make sure you go through whatever channels you need to in order to drop a course. This might mean enrolling in additional research credits or enrolling in another course to ensure you meet minimum # of units for your program/university/visa status. Also, you may need permission from your dept chair, advisor, program representative, etc. 

[Lingolas88]

It can't be dropped. It's required. The program is small so there are no electives.

[fuzzylogician]

Professors can choose which materials to teach (so e.g., not every "Introduction to Linguistics" is the same), and that's entirely within their rights. You're doing a lot of analysis in your "contrastive linguistics/analysis" class, which sounds like it would within the bounds of the course, so I would not advise you to complain to anyone that you're not being taught what you should (or rather, what you want). If you have to take the class, you have to take it. You don't always get to choose to only take what you want or what you think is useful. Given all this, the best thing you can do is look for another way to learn the material you want to learn. Maybe next semester there will be a different instructor who will teach different materials, or there will be another course that covers what you want to learn. Or maybe there is a course outside your department that teaches some of the relevant skills. Or, if there are no courses, maybe you have to pick up a book and teach yourself. Look into doing that as part of an independent study with whoever the relevant professor is. In most programs I know, a student who takes initiative and tries to pick up a relevant skill isn't turned away. You just need to realize that as a graduate student you have to sometimes take the initiative; sometimes you have to teach yourself, sometimes you have to find your own resources. 

[TakeruK]

Professors can choose which materials to teach (so e.g., not every "Introduction to Linguistics" is the same), and that's entirely within their rights. You're doing a lot of analysis in your "contrastive linguistics/analysis" class, which sounds like it would within the bounds of the course, so I would not advise you to complain to anyone that you're not being taught what you should (or rather, what you want). If you have to take the class, you have to take it. You don't always get to choose to only take what you want or what you think is useful. Given all this, the best thing you can do is look for another way to learn the material you want to learn. 

Strongly agree with this. I thought this was an elective course. If you are required to take it, then you take it---it doesn't matter if it's useful to you or not! Everyone in my program takes a breadth of fundamental courses in basic planetary science, no matter what our actual research is. It's important to have some foundational groundwork in order to communicate and understand others who work in your field.

One day, when you are no longer taking courses, the department might solicit opinions on coursework from its senior students. This would be a good time to voice any concerns if you do indeed feel that some of the courses do not serve some of the students well. But the right time for that kind of feedback is not now, it's when it's solicited and when you have finished the coursework and have seen the full picture of all the courses and see how they fit with each other.