Psychology of Language

Student´s goals:
. To be able to read and accurately summarize scientific literature on Psychology of Language.
. To know and appreciate the theoretical and experimental diversity of Psychology of Language.
. To learn research designs and become acquainted with the use of the typical experimental procedures and tasks of Psycholinguistics.
. To be able to produce experimental reports for the practical exercises of the subject.
. To develop a genuine interest in Psycholinguistics.
. To be able to work not only efficiently, but also optimally.

1. Concepts on Psychology of Language.
• Fundamentals of Psycholinguistics.
• First steps in Psycholinguistics.
• Human language and animal language.
• Research methods in Psycholinguistics.

2. Central questions in Psychology of Language.
• Linguistic processing system.
• Bottom-up and top-down processes.
• Modularity.
• Autonomy or interaction in the processes.

3.Speech perception.
• Introduction. Spectrograms.
• General features of the speech perception.
• Categorical perception.
• Theories of speech perception.
• Effects of context in the speech perception.

4. Word recognition.
• Perception of written language.
• The mental lexicon
• Experimental effects.
• Models of word recognition.
• Theories of meaning.

5. Sentence comprehension.
• Sentence processing.
• The structural perspective.
• The functional perspective.
• The semantic and pragmatic perspective.

6. Comprehension of texts and discourses.
• Introduction
• Emergent phenomena in discourse
• Theories of discourse processing.

7. Language production.
• General characterization of production.
• Data sources: pauses and speech errors.
• Processing levels in language production.
• Models of oral production.


Interactive sessions: Seminar (IS) & Lab sessions (PL).

1. The challenges of Psycholinguistics.(unit 1 & 2).
2. Speech perception. (unit 3).
3. Models of word recognition. (unit 4).
4. Word processing: frequency and lexicality effects. (unit 4)
5. Resolving syntactic ambiguity: how do we decide who was on the balcony? (part I, unit 5).
6. Adjunction strategies in processing ambiguous relative clauses. (unit 5).
7. Resolving syntactic ambiguity: how do we decide who was on the balcony? (part II, unit 5).

Basic readings

CARROLL, D.W. (2006 [2004]). Psicología del lenguaje. Madrid: Thomson.

*CUETOS, F., GONZÁLEZ, J. y de VEGA, M. (2015). Psicología del Lenguaje. Madrid: Editorial Médica Panamericana. (e-book available)

de VEGA, M., CUETOS, F. (1999). Psicolingüística del español. Madrid: Trotta.

*FERNÁNDEZ-REY, J., FRAGA, I., REDONDO, J., ALCARAZ, M., PARDO-VÁZQUEZ, J.L. (2010, 2ª ed.). Procesos psicológicos básicos II. Manual y cuaderno de prácticas de memoria y lenguaje. Madrid: Pirámide.

*Text books

Supplementary readings

BELINCHON, M., RIVIERE, A., IGOA, J. M. (1992). Psicología del lenguaje. Investigación y teoría. Madrid: Trotta.

FRAGA, I. (1997). Psicología del lenguaje: Aspectos teóricos y metodológicos. Santiago: Tórculo.

HARLEY, T.A. (2009 [3ª ed. orig. 2008]). Psicología del Lenguaje. De los datos a la teoría. Madrid: McGraw-Hill.

PINKER, S. (1995, [1994]). El instinto del lenguaje. Cómo crea el lenguaje la mente. Madrid: Alianza.

- COMPETENCES OF THE PROGRAM TO WHICH THE SUBJECT CONTRIBUTES:

* To know the contributions and limitations of the diverse theoretical models for
Psychology.

* To know the basic laws of psychological processes.

* To be able to identify the most relevant traits of individuals, groups, organizations and
contexts by using appropriate psychological techniques and instruments.

* To be able to select and apply adequate and specific psychological intervention procedures
and instruments.

* To elaborate psychological reports addressed to professionals and other recipients in the
different professional fields.

* To conform with the deontological duties of Psychology.




- SPECIFIC COMPETENCES OF THE COURSE:
* To know and understand the basic principles underlying language processing, as well as the contributions and shortcomings of the models used to explain them.
* To be able to relate such knowledge to the topics taught in other subjects and to other basic psychological processes.
* To become acquainted with the typical experimental procedures and tasks of Psycholinguistics.
* To be able to analyse and interpret qualitative and quantitative data from Psycholinguistic research.
* To be able to think about the role of language in human knowledge.

In order to ensure meaningful acquisition of the above-described knowledge and competences, students must attend lectures and read the recommended literature. To this end, lectures will be followed by seminars intended to help students solve their conceptual doubts, complete short questionnaires, produce tree diagrams and orally deliver some of the more relevant contents of each unit. In these tutorial sessions, students will be encouraged to work as a team in order to develop cooperative, solidary attitudes. This strategy substantially increases motivation and leads to solid, lifelong learning outcomes.
In addition, the students will have access to a series of materials (exercise manual and book, computer software, statistical packages) use of which will allow them to learn the main experimental factors, analyse and interpret results, and report the information derived from the process in appropriate experimental reports.
In summary, attendance of lectures and interactive classes should be preceded and followed by individual work by the students. This requires sustained dedication and the production of self-made glossaries, schemes and summaries in order to facilitate comprehension and the identification of doubts to be resolved in the tutorials or lectures.

The assessment of this subject is based on three types of activities:
A ) Continuous-assessment tasks: during or after the interactive seminar sessions, different types of tasks will be carried out. They are conceived as a whole and in the end they will result in a single mark, which will constitute the 30% of the final grade. Systematic work, active participation in seminars as well as the quality of these interventions, ability to organize information, clarity and mastery in handling the terminology of the discipline will be assessed. Among the proposed tasks, it will be imperative to pass the subject having made at least the 70%. If, in the end, the student gets a score lower than 4,5, he/she will have to pass that part of the subject again the following year.

B) Lab practices reports: students’ performance during the Lab practices will be assessed via correction of reports. Besides, attendance, involvement and autonomy shown during their development will be also taken into account. The final mark obtained out of the practices will contribute a 30% to the final grade. In any case, in order to pass the subject it will be a prerequisite to perform at least two of the three lab sessions. In the case of obtaining a score lower than 4,5, the student will have to redo these tasks again in the following year.

C) Final exam of the subject: Finally, an official exam on the whole contents of the subject will be carried out on the date set.

El examen (tipo test) constará de 40 preguntas con tres alternativas de respuesta, de las que solamente una será correcta. La nota mínima requerida en el examen para poder superar la materia será de 5. La nota del examen contribuirá un 40% a la calificación final.

The exam (multiple-choice test) will consist of 40 questions with three possible answers, of which only one is correct. The minimum score required to pass the subject amounts to 5. The exam will contribute a 40% to the final grade.

In order to pass the subject, the final score calculated adding up the results of the previously mentioned activities must be at least 5.

The students will have the possibility of participating in laboratory experiments, thus obtaining up to 0.8 points, which will be added to the final grade once the subject is already passed.

Any student who begins the continuous evaluation will have a certain qualification at the end of the semester. Honors can only be obtained if the student has completed all continuous-assessment tasks and all Practices sessions reports. The grades of the continuous-assessment tasks and Practices will be saved for the following year, if that is necessary.

In addition to the text-book, students exempt from class attendance will receive the instructions and documents necessary to do the interactive and practical tasks. Once the minimum required tasks have been completed, the same evaluation criteria as the rest of the students will be applied.

The time required to fulfil the objectives and acquire the competences ultimately leading to passing the subject is estimated to be 112.5 hours, which should be allocated as follows:
. Acquisition of the theoretical contents will require attendance of lectures (22 hours) and interactive laboratory classes (8 hours), in addition to out-of-class work to prepare classes and read the recommended literature (40 hours), and complete assessment tests (10 hours).
. Practical work will include in-class (6 hours) and out-of-class activities (9.5 hours). The latter will include preparation of the chapters of the exercise manual and the subsequent production of the corresponding reports.
. Finally, students are estimated to require about 15 hours of study to prepare their exams of the subject.

Students are advised to work in a sustained manner on this subject throughout the term. Teachers will guide, supervise and assess their work in a continuous manner. At the start, students will be provided with a general learning guide and a specific guide for each unit. The guides describe the basic contents and recommended literature for each unit, as well as the activities to be performed in the interactive classes and an overview of the key concepts.

Language Psychology is especially suitable for actively approaching knowledge through the development of the four linguistic skills underlying the contents of this subject and providing the basis for human comprehension and communication: speaking, listening, reading and writing.