Undergraduate Course: Psychology of Language (LLLI07017)
Course Outline
| School | Centre for Open Learning |
College | College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 7 (Year 1 Undergraduate) |
Availability | Not available to visiting students |
| SCQF Credits | 10 |
ECTS Credits | 5 |
| Summary | This is a for-credit course offered by the Centre for Open Learning (COL); only students registered with COL should be enrolled.
An examination of the psychological and neurobiological factors that enable humans to learn, use, and understand language. We will examine language development and acquisition, language comprehension and production, and language and cognition. Throughout, these topics will be illuminated through reference to their representation in the brain, various pathologies that impede normal language function, and comparative structures in other animals. |
| Course description |
Contents by class:
1. What is psychology and what is language? Introducing the psychology of language. How do we define language and where did it come from?
2. An overview of linguistics (the study of language). How do we describe language? Methodological approaches and an overview of language representation in the brain.
3. How does language develop in children? Examining theories of child language development; developmental language pathologies and insights into language from children.
4. Bilingualism and second language acquisition: early vs. late bilingualism; the critical period in light of bilingualism; bilingualism in the brain.
5. Written vs. spoken language: lexical processing; production and representation; word recognition and comprehension; brain damage and language aphasias.
6. Sentence processing and parsing; comprehension and literacy in the brain; language lateralisation and literacy; reading and speech processing; reading comprehension disorders
7. The Whorfian hypothesis; pidgins and creoles; sign languages and language in the deaf and blind.
8. Models of meaning and conceptual structure; perception and language; social and cognitive approaches and the issue of modularity; pathologies affecting language and cognition.
9. Recap of the major issues throughout the course.
10. Overview of the structure of a language system; new and future directions in the psychology of language.
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
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Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
Course Delivery Information
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| Academic year 2022/23, Not available to visiting students (SS1)
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Quota: 20 |
| Course Start |
Lifelong Learning - Session 3 |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
100
(
Lecture Hours 20,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 2,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
78 )
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| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
0 %,
Coursework
100 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
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| Additional Information (Assessment) |
Open Studies 10 credit courses have one assessment. The assessment for this course is a Take-home exam answering two questions, each 750 words. This is worth 100% of the total mark. To pass, students must achieve a minimum of 40%.
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| Feedback |
Not entered |
| No Exam Information |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Demonstrate knowledge of various theories of how people are able to acquire, use, and understand language(s);
- Understand the experimental and other evidence that support these theories;
- Demonstrate knowledge of the major experimental techniques for investigating language processing;
- Apply their knowledge to wider discussion of how people use and understand language and what happens when the system breaks down.
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Reading List
Essential:
Harley, T., 2008. The Psychology of Language: from Data to theory. 5th ed. Hove; New York: Psychology Press.
Recommended:
Field, J., 2003. Psycholinguistics: A resource book for students. New York, NY: Routledge.
Forrester, M.A., 1996. Psychology of language: a critical introduction. London: Sage.
For Basic Linguistics:
Fromkin, V.A., Rodman, R. and Hyams, N., 2006. An Introduction to Language, London: Heinle. |
Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Not entered |
| Special Arrangements |
Please contact Reception to arrange a confidential appointment with our Student Guidance Advisor if you feel you have specific study requirements to enable you to study an Open Studies course or complete assessments. Giving us this information will enable us to make arrangements to meet your requirements for studying in accordance with the Equality Act 2010. |
| Keywords | Not entered |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Mr Maximillian Jaede
Tel:
Email: v1mjaede@exseed.ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Ms Kameliya Skerleva
Tel: (0131 6)51 1855
Email: Kameliya.Skerleva@ed.ac.uk |
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