Language and Cognition

This course is an introduction to the study of human language processing, language acquisition, and developmental or acquired language disorders. Students will become familiar with the main theories, methods, and results in contemporary psycholinguistics and neurolinguistics. Instruction will build on recent evidence from recent research on specific languages of interest (e.g., English and Norwegian), as on diverse populations, such as multilingual speakers, atypically developing individuals, and neurological patients.

Knowledge

Candidates who have passed this course

• are familiar with the main theories, methods and results in psycholinguistics and neurolinguistics.

Skills

Candidates who have passed this course

• understand and correctly define and apply basic concepts used in psycholinguistics and neurolinguistics;
• understand and can clearly formulate basic research questions in these fields;
• can apply knowledge about cognitive aspects of language in professional contexts, such as teaching or language counselling.

General competence

Candidates who have passed this course

• are able to read and summarize a research paper on language and cognition;
• are able to critically assess theories and research results;
• are able to critically assess the relevance and applicability of specific empirical methods to given research questions.

Lectures and seminars. Students are required to use the course learning platform regularly.

Students should expect that this 7.5 credit course equates with approximately 10 hours of work per week, including teaching time.

The required readings are in English and classes will be taught in English. Students admitted to an English program shall, as a general rule, do the obligatory assignments in English. Students admitted to a Norwegian/Scandinavian studies program shall, as a general rule, do the obligatory assignments in Norwegian.

Obligatory assignments

Oral presentation of a research paper or book chapter in groups (2-4 students) at the weekly seminar.

Approved obligatory assignments are valid for 2 semesters (the semester in which the approval is given, plus the following semester).