Multilingualism and Cognition

6 ECTS credits
150 h study time

Offer 1 with catalog number 4020085ENR for all students in the 1st semester at a (E) Master - advanced level.

Semester

1st semester

Enrollment based on exam contract

Impossible

Grading method

Grading (scale from 0 to 20)

Can retake in second session

Yes

Taught in

English

Partnership Agreement

Under interuniversity agreement for degree program

Faculty

Faculty of Languages & Humanities

Department

Linguistics and Literary Studies

External partners

Universiteit Gent

Educational team

Esli Struys (course titular)
Mathieu Declerck

Activities and contact hours

13 contact hours Lecture
13 contact hours Seminar, Exercises or Practicals
75 contact hours Independent or External Form of Study

Course Content

This course focuses on the mental processes that are involved in understanding, producing, and controlling multiple languages in the multilingual individual. The first part of this course will provide an overview of the four main approaches involved in the study of language and the brain: 1) the behavioural approach; 2) the neuroimaging approach; 3) the clinical approach; 4) the computational approach. In the second part, we consider the mental processes involved in multilingual word recognition and production. In the third part, the important concept of bilingual language control is introduced, to conclude with a fourth part which will involve a discussion whether or not these control processes are specific to the language domain or domain-general. In this final section, the current bilingual advantage debate is used as an illustration as to how knowledge is constructed in the field of multilingualism and cognition. Special attention is given to the variety of different types of individual multilingualism that in interaction with society may shape cognitive processing in the multilingual brain.

This course makes use of the principles of blended learning which means that students prepare the classes on their own or in group based on provided content, and then elaborate on this content during the lectures by means of interactive class discussions.

Course material

Digital course material (Required) : Powerpoint slides in pdf and ppt are made available, aangereikt door de docent

Additional info

Esli.Struys@vub.be

Learning Outcomes

Algemene competenties

Students know and have insight into the main theoretical frameworks about language and cognitive processing in multilingual individuals and they can explain the mutual relationships between these frameworks.

Students can provide an evidence-based contribution to ongoing debates on the relationship between multilingualism and cognition.

Students can critically reflect on a recent research article in the field of multilingualism and cognition and they can communicate their reflections in a written report.

Grading

The final grade is composed based on the following categories:
Written Exam determines 100% of the final mark.

Within the Written Exam category, the following assignments need to be completed:

Paper with a relative weight of 20 which comprises 100% of the final mark.

Note: Paper with a critical reflection on a chosen article in the domain of multilingualism and cognition

Additional info regarding evaluation

All information regardig evaluation will be announced timely on the online learning platform. The student is responsible for ensuring that he/she is registered on the online learning platform. If the student encounters problems with the registration on the online learning platform, he/she is expected to notify the teacher as soon as possible by email.

The student will be graded for each evaluation component. If the student has not participated to one or more of the evaluation components, he/she will be given an ‘absent’ score. The paper will be evaluated with the assistance of software for detecting plagiarism. Students will have to assess other group members and themselves on a number of criteria. This will result in an individual score that will be used to modify the group score (= the intrinsic value of the group paper) for each individual group member. This individual modification will be executed by multiplication of the group score by the individual score. This modified score will have a weight of 100% in the final score for the whole course. If a student does not fill out the peer assessment within the set deadline, the teacher may decide to grant a null score to the student for that specific evaluation component. The teacher has the final say in this whole process and thus may decide to strengthen, weaken, or even not to take into account the obtained scores if they turn out to be unreliable. This decision will only be taken in exceptional circumstances, and must always be based on clear arguments, analyses, and/or additional observations/conversations.

The evaluation components are the same for the first and the second session. The results of individual components may, upon written request of the student via email, be transferred to the next exam session.

Allowed unsatisfactory mark

The supplementary Teaching and Examination Regulations of your faculty stipulate whether an allowed unsatisfactory mark for this programme unit is permitted.

Academic context