BEHV 3019 Psychology of Language

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Credit Points 10

Legacy Code 100023

Coordinator Liquan Liu Opens in new window

Description This unit acquaints students with major issues in the psychology of language. Through a series of online modules, it examines different approaches to research and theory on questions such as: the acquisition and development of language; the relationship between language and thought; bilingualism and multilingualism; speech perception and production; sign language; reading and writing; the neurophysiological underpinnings of language; patterns of language breakdown and communication disorders; social aspects of language; language in non-human animals. The tutorials take a hands-on approach, where students learn new skills, such as reading and producing phonetic symbols, creating stimuli for use in psycholinguistic research, and analysing children's speech.

School Psychology

Discipline Psychology

Student Contribution Band HECS Band 4 10cp

Check your HECS Band contribution amount via the Fees page.

Level Undergraduate Level 3 subject

Restrictions Successful completion of 120 credit points.

Assumed Knowledge

Solid understanding of perception, cognitive processes, and experimental design and analysis in psychology and/or a solid understanding of linguistics and research methods in linguistics.

Learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this subject, students should be able to:

Identify major issues, theories, and research findings in psychology of language (APAC Graduate Attribute 1).
Critically evaluate the various theories that have been proposed in a sub-topic of psychology of language (APAC GA 3).
Use principles of experimental psychology and/or knowledge of major issues, theories, and research findings in psychology of language to create a research proposal or critical essay in a sub-topic of psychology of language (APAC GA 6).
Create stimuli for an experiment in psychology of language (APAC GA 2 and 5).
Analyse spoken language using phonemic transcription.

Subject Content

This subject acquaints students with major issues in the psychology of language. All students will complete a set of core modules:
1.???? What is language?
2.???? How is language described?
3.???? How does language relate to psychology?
This will be followed by an opportunity for students pursue study in a range of subtopic areas. A subset of modules will be offered each year, in topics such as:
1.?????? The social basis of language
2.?????? The biological basis of language
3.?????? Bilingualism
4.?????? Second language acquisition
5.?????? Sign language
6.?????? Perception of speech
7.?????? Spoken word recognition
8.?????? Production of speech
9.?????? Reading and spelling
10.???? Visual word recognition
11.???? Writing
12.???? Comprehension
13.???? Language development
14.???? Language disorders
15.???? Language testing
16.???? The relationship between language and thought
17.???? Can non-human animals learn language?
18.???? Understanding the structure of sentences
19.???? Semantic processing

Assessment

The following table summarises the standard assessment tasks for this subject. Please note this is a guide only. Assessment tasks are regularly updated, where there is a difference your Learning Guide takes precedence.