Psychology 3140F-001

Bilingualism

If there is a discrepancy between the outline posted below and the outline posted on the OWL course website, the latter shall prevail.

1.0    CALENDAR DESCRIPTION

This course will examine how people acquire, process and use a second language. Topics will include simultaneous and sequential bilingualism, the critical period hypothesis, theories of bilingual language representation, cross-language transfer, language selection and switching, simultaneous interpreting, cognitive consequences of bilingualism, the bilingual brain and bilingual education.

Prerequisites: Psychology 2820E or both Psychology 2800E and 2810, and one of Psychology 2134A/B or 2135A/B

Unless you have either the prerequisites for this course or written special permission from your Dean to enrol in it, you may be removed from this course and it will be deleted from your record. This decision may not be appealed. You will receive no adjustment to your fees in the event that you are dropped from a course for failing to have the necessary prerequisites.

Antirequisite: Psychology 3990F taken in 2008 

Antirequisites are courses that overlap sufficiently in content that only one can be taken for credit. So if you take a course that is an antirequisite to a course previously taken, you will lose credit for the earlier course, regardless of the grade achieved in the most recent course.

3 lecture/discussion hours, 0.5 course

2.0    COURSE INFORMATION

       Instructor:   Dr. Debra Jared                                   

       Office and Phone Number:  WIRB 5150  (519) 661-2111 x84631                   

       Office Hours: by appointment                                

       Email: djjared@uwo.ca                                                                  

 

       Teaching Assistant: Haopai Yang                           

       Office Hours: by appointment                                

       Email:  hyang336@uwo.ca                                     

 

            Time and Location of Classes:   Monday 11:30-1:30; Wednesday 11:30-12:30   P&AB10                                                                                   

Students who are in emotional/mental distress should refer to Mental Health@Western

http://www.uwo.ca/uwocom/mentalhealth/ for a complete list of options about how to obtain help.

Please contact the course instructor if you require material in an alternate format or if you require any other arrangements to make this course more accessible to you. You may also wish to contact Student Accessibility Services (formerly known as Services for Students with Disabilities) at 519-661-2147.

3.0  TEXTBOOK

There is no text. Course readings will be posted on OWL. Look under the Lesson for each class date for the reading for that class.

4.0    COURSE OBJECTIVES

The goal of the course is for students to develop an understanding of issues and theories of bilingual language processing, and how these can be addressed through research. Students can expect to develop their ability to read journal articles in psychology and to express their understanding orally and in writing.

   4.1    STUDENT LEARNING OUTCOMES 

By the end of this course, the successful student should be able to:

 

 

Learning Outcome

Learning Activities

How Assessed

Depth and Breadth of Knowledge.

Articulate the concepts and current states of knowledge in the cognitive study of bilinguals

 

 

Lectures

Readings (journal articles)

Class discussion

Videos

 

Three essay exams

Knowledge of Methodologies.

Access, interpret and critically evaluate research on the cognitive aspects of bilingualism.

 

Formulate a research hypothesis to

address a question about bilingualism and design a research project to test that hypothesis.

 

 

 

Lectures

Readings (journal articles)

Class discussion

 

 

 

Three essay exams

Assignments 2 & 3A

 

 

Assignment 1, 3A

 

Application of Knowledge.

Use evidence to support claims.

 

Critically evaluate the presentation of scientific ideas and research in the popular media.

 

 

Lectures

Class Discussions

 

 

Three essay exams

 

Assignment 2

Communication Skills.

Communicate in writing accurately, clearly and logically, using the discourse of the discipline of psychology

 

Communicate psychological knowledge in writing in a way that would be understandable to a non-specialist audience

 

Readings (journal articles)

 

 

 

Example articles

 

Assignment 3

 

 

 

Assignments 2

Autonomy and Professional Capacity

Demonstrate initiative, personal responsibility and accountability

 

Placement at the Western English Language Centre (an option)

 

Assignment 3B

    

Note: Students will do either Assignment 3A or Assignment 3B. Assignment 3B is for students who choose the placement option. 

5.0     EVALUATION

Grades in the course will be based on three exams (15%, 15% and 25% for exams 1-3, respectively), and three assignments (5%, 20%, and 20% for Assignments 1-3, respectively). The first assignment involves choosing picture stimuli that could be used in an experiment. The second and third assignments each require written work of approximately 5-7 pages in length. You must pass the essay component of the course to pass the course (i.e., you must have earned at least 20 out of the 40 possible points for assignments 2 and 3).

Students will be offered the opportunity to volunteer in Western’s English Language Centre. This centre is housed in our faculty of education. Instructors in the centre assist international students to develop their English language skills so that they can handle a university program in English. Students in this course will be expected to go to the volunteer placement for approximately two hours every week, depending on their assigned role at the centre. Students who decide to complete the placement will be offered an alternative to Assignment 3. In the alternative assignment, students will be asked to discuss what they have learned during the placement. 

Although the Psychology Department does not require instructors to adjust their course grades to conform to specific targets, the expectation is that course marks will be distributed around the following averages:

70%     1000-level and 2000-level courses
72%     2190-2990 level courses
75%     3000-level courses
80%     4000-level courses
   
The Psychology Department follows Western's grading guidelines, which are as follows (see http://www.uwo.ca/univsec/pdf/academic_policies/general/grades_undergrad.pdf):

A+  90-100      One could scarcely expect better from a student at this level
A    80-89        Superior work that is clearly above average
B    70-79        Good work, meeting all requirements, and eminently satisfactory
C    60-69        Competent work, meeting requirements
D    50-59        Fair work, minimally acceptable
F    below 50    Fail


6.0  ASSESSMENT/EVALUATION SCHEDULE

There will be exams on Oct. 9, Nov. 13, and during the December exam period. Exams will be short essay (a paragraph or two) format and will require that information be drawn from both lecture material and course readings. The final exam is cumulative, in that it will include questions on material from across the course.

 

Assignments will be due Oct. 7, Oct. 30, and Dec. 4. Late assignments will incur a penalty of 10% per day, including weekends 

7.0   CLASS SCHEDULE

Sept. 9 & 11           Languages in Canada; Characteristics of bilinguals        

Sept. 16 & 18         Bilingual memory

Sept. 23 & 25         Word reading in bilinguals         

Sept. 30 & Oct. 2    Perceiving and producing speech

Oct. 7                    Language selection and control

Oct. 9                    Mid-term exam 1

Oct. 14                   Thanksgiving- No class

Oct. 16                   Cognitive consequences of bilingualism

Oct. 21 & 23           Simultaneous interpreting and Code switching   

Oct. 28 & 30           Acquiring sounds

Nov. 4 & 6              Fall Reading Week- no class     

Nov. 11                  Acquiring words

Nov. 13                  Mid-term exam 2

Nov. 18                  Acquiring grammar

Nov. 20 & 25          Conceptual representations/ Language & thought           

Nov. 27 & Dec. 2    Bilingual brain & aphasia

Dec. 4              Bilingual education

8.0     STATEMENT ON ACADEMIC OFFENCES

Students are responsible for understanding the nature and avoiding the occurrence of plagiarism and other scholastic offenses. Plagiarism and cheating are considered very serious offenses because they undermine the integrity of research and education. Actions constituting a scholastic offense are described at the following link:  http://www.uwo.ca/univsec/pdf/academic_policies/appeals/scholastic_discipline_undergrad.pdf

As of Sept. 1, 2009, the Department of Psychology will take the following steps to detect scholastic offenses. All multiple-choice tests and exams will be checked for similarities in the pattern of responses using reliable software, and records will be made of student seating locations in all tests and exams. All written assignments will be submitted to TurnItIn, a service designed to detect and deter plagiarism by comparing written material to over 5 billion pages of content located on the Internet or in TurnItIn’s databases. All papers submitted for such checking will be included as source documents in the reference database for the purpose of detecting plagiarism of papers subsequently submitted to the system. Use of the service is subject to the licensing agreement, currently between Western and Turnitin.com http://www.turnitin.com

Possible penalties for a scholastic offense include failure of the assignment, failure of the course, suspension from the University, and expulsion from the University.



9.0    POLICY ON ACCOMMODATION FOR MEDICAL ILLNESS

Western’s policy on Accommodation for Medical Illness can be found at:
http://www.westerncalendar.uwo.ca/PolicyPages.cfm?PolicyCategoryID=1&Command=showCategory&SelectedCalendar=Live&ArchiveID=#Page_12

 

The full policy for consideration for absences can be accessed at: https://www.uwo.ca/univsec/pdf/academic_policies/appeals/Academic_Consideration_for_absences.pdf


Students must see the Academic Counsellor and submit all required documentation in order to be approved for certain accommodation:
http://counselling.ssc.uwo.ca/procedures/medical_accommodation.html

 

If you experience an extenuating circumstance (e.g., illness, injury) sufficiently significant to temporarily make you unable to meet academic requirements, you may request accommodation through the following routes:

  1. Submitting a Self-Reported Absence form (for circumstances that are expected to resolve within 48 hours);
  2. For medical absences, submitting a Student Medical Certificate (SMC) signed by a licensed medical or mental health practitioner in order to be eligible for Academic Consideration;

For non-medical absences, submitting appropriate documentation (e.g., obituary, police report, accident report, court order, etc.) to Academic Counselling in their Faculty of registration in order to be eligible for academic consideration. Students are encouraged to contact their Academic Counselling unit to clarify what documentation is appropriate.

Students must see the Academic Counsellor and submit all required documentation in order to be approved for certain accommodation. The self-reported absence form may NOT be used for absences longer than 48 hours; coursework/tests/exams/etc., worth more than 30% of the final grade; or exams scheduled in the December or April final-exam periods: http://counselling.ssc.uwo.ca/procedures/medical_accommodation.html

Students seeking academic consideration:

  • are advised to consider carefully the implications of postponing tests or midterm exams or delaying handing in work;  
  • are encouraged to make appropriate decisions based on their specific circumstances, recognizing that minor ailments (upset stomach) or upsets (argument with a friend) are not normally an appropriate basis for a self-reported absence;

must communicate with their instructors no later than 24 hours after the end of the period covered by either the self-reported absence or SMC, or immediately upon their return following a documented absence



10.0        OTHER INFORMATION

Office of the Registrar web site:  http://registrar.uwo.ca

Student Development Services web site: http://www.sdc.uwo.ca

Please see the Psychology Undergraduate web site for information on the following:

    http://psychology.uwo.ca/undergraduate/student_responsibilities/index.html

- Policy on Cheating and Academic Misconduct
- Procedures for Appealing Academic Evaluations
- Policy on Attendance
- Policy Regarding Makeup Exams and Extensions of Deadlines
- Policy for Assignments
- Short Absences
- Extended Absences
- Documentation
- Academic Concerns
- 2019-2020 Calendar References

No electronic devices, including cell phones and smart watches, will be allowed during exams.

Copyright Statement: Lectures and course materials, including power point presentations, outlines, and similar materials, are protected by copyright. You may take notes and make copies of course materials for your own educational use. You may not record lectures, reproduce (or allow others to reproduce), post or distribute lecture notes, wiki material, and other course materials publicly and/or for commercial purposes without the instructor’s written consent.