Psychology 2134A-650 (online)
Psychology of Language
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
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.
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.
0.5 course
2.0 COURSE INFORMATION
Instructor: Prof. Marc Joanisse
Office Phone Number: 519 661-2111 x86582
Office Hours: By appointment – I’m available M-F online via email or videoconferencing
Email: marcj@uwo.ca
Time and Location of Classes: Course material for each week will be posted on Tuesdays
Teaching Assistant: Geetika Gupta
Office Hours: virtual meetings, by appointment only
Email: ggupta23@uwo.ca
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
Required text: D. Ludden, The Psychology of Language: An Integrated Approach, (2016). Sage Publications, Inc.
4.0 COURSE OBJECTIVES
Psycholinguistics is the study of how people produce and understand language. It is a branch of cognitive science, which is the study of mental processes. This course will cover many areas of research, including: the structure of language; language acquisition; speech perception and production; sentence processing; reading; language and the brain; and language disorders. The goal of the course is to familiarize you with psychological phenomena related to language, theories that try to explain how and why these phenomena occur, and experimental evidence supporting or challenging these theories4.1 STUDENT LEARNING OUTCOMES
|
Learning Outcome |
Learning Activity |
Assessment |
|
Compare and contrast speech, language and communication. |
Textbook reading Written lectures Video lectures |
Multiple choice/Short answer/Essay answer exams, multiple choice quizzes |
|
Evaluate theories of language processing (e.g., speech perception, sentence comprehension, word retrieval and speech production). |
Textbook reading Video lectures Written lectures |
Multiple choice/Short answer/Essay answer exams, multiple choice quizzes |
|
Describe research methods for assessing perception and production of speech and language across the lifespan. |
Textbook reading Video lectures Written lectures |
Multiple choice/Short answer/Essay answer exams, multiple choice quizzes |
|
Identify pathways and structures in the brain important for language functions.
|
Textbook reading Video lectures Written lectures |
Multiple choice/Short answer/Essay answer exams, multiple choice quizzes |
|
Analyze differences in phonology, morphology, semantics, syntax and pragmatics across global languages. |
Textbook reading Written lectures Video lectures |
Multiple choice/Short answer/Essay answer exams, multiple choice quizzes |
5.0 EVALUATION
Weekly Quizzes 10% of final mark
Midterm Examination 45% of final mark
Final Examination 45% of final mark
Formats
Quizzes are multiple choice and short answer, timed using universal design to accommodate students requiring extra time to complete assessments
Midterm/Final exams will be mixed format: multiple choice, short answer and long answer questions. Exams will be open-book. I do not use Proctortrack or similar software for synchronous cheating detection. However, your answers must be your own. I will use offline tools (e.g., answer analysis, plagiarism detection software) to detect collaboration and other types of cheating.
Students found to be sharing the content of tests, quizzes or exams online will be referred to the Dean’s office for academic misconduct.
Make-up test format: students requiring a make-up examination may receive a different format exam from the original. These make-up exams cover a similar breadth and depth of the assigned material but using an alternative format such as essay questions. This is because we cannot assure exam confidentiality when tests are administered online.
Rounding policy
Exam and final grades will not be rounded
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
Weekly Quizzes 10% of final mark
Midterm Examination 45% of final mark
Final Examination 45% of final mark
Formats
Quizzes are multiple choice and short answer, timed using universal design to accommodate students requiring extra time to complete assessments
Midterm/Final exams will be mixed format: multiple choice, short answer and long answer questions. Exams will be open-book. I do not use Proctortrack or similar software for synchronous cheating detection. However, your answers must be your own. I will use offline tools (e.g., answer analysis, plagiarism detection software) to detect collaboration and other types of cheating.
Students found to be sharing the content of tests, quizzes or exams online will be referred to the Dean’s office for academic misconduct.
Make-up test format: students requiring a make-up examination may receive a different format exam from the original. These make-up exams cover a similar breadth and depth of the assigned material but using an alternative format such as essay questions. This is because we cannot assure exam confidentiality when tests are administered online.
Rounding policy
Exam and final grades will not be rounded
7.0 CLASS SCHEDULE
Class is taught asynchronously, and each week’s materials will be posted online on Tuesdays
|
Date |
Week |
Topic |
Reading |
|
Sept 9 |
1 |
Introduction/Overview |
Chapter 1 |
|
Sept 15 |
2 |
Biology of Language, |
(Chapter 1 continues) |
|
Sept 22 |
3 |
The Science of Language, |
Chapter 2 |
|
Sept 29 |
4 |
Speech Perception |
Chapter 3 |
|
Oct 6 |
5 |
Infant Speech Perception and Statistical Learning |
|
|
Oct 13 |
6 |
Speech Production |
Chapter 4 |
|
Oct 19, 12 pm |
|
Midterm 1 – Covers all materials from weeks 1-6 |
|
|
Oct 20 |
7 |
Turning Speech Into Words: Morphology and Semantics |
Chapter 5 |
|
Oct 27 |
8 |
Sentence Processing |
Chapter 6 |
|
Nov 10 |
9 |
Reading and Writing |
Chapter 8 |
|
Nov 17 |
10 |
Bilingualism |
Chapter 9 |
|
Nov 24 |
11 |
Signed Language |
Chapter 10 |
|
Dec 1 |
12 |
Language and Mind |
Chapter 12 |
|
(TBA) |
|
Final Exam, non cumulative |
|
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
Computer-marked multiple-choice tests and/or exams may be subject to submission for similarity review by software that will check for unusual coincidences in answer patterns that may indicate cheating.
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:
- Submitting a Self-Reported Absence form (for circumstances that are expected to resolve within 48 hours);
- 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
- 2020-2021 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.
