Promoting Curiosity Through Inquiry-Based Learning in the Undergraduate Linguistics Classroom: A Case Study

As in most academic fields, inquiry and intellectual curiosity play an important role in the development of research and the advancement of the discipline of linguistics. While inquiry-based teaching is crucially deployed in the training of graduate students, pedagogical approaches to undergraduate education remain largely instructor-focused and lecture-based, especially in introductory courses. This paper presents a case study of the implementation of inquiry-based learning in an undergraduate course in phonetics/phonology. Results indicate that, in addition to increased student attendance and engagement, student performance on exams and the term project improved, and overall student satisfaction with the course was higher.