EL7039 - Psychology of Language

The module will be delivered through a combination of interactive lectures and seminars. Sessions will mainly be delivered face to face, with some blended learning where appropriate (where learning and teaching involves the interaction of online and face-to-face activities). Key research themes, topics, and concepts will be introduced in lectures, supported by seminars that allow further group working, discussion and debates. Lectures will provide you with a broad understanding of the subject and enable you to contextualise the more specific research and data presented and discussed in seminars. Seminars will be devoted to more in-depth consideration of theoretical and methodological problems in Psycholinguistics, which will enable you to a demonstrate deeper understanding of the relationship between theory and data and encourage critical reflection.

In addition to learning during taught hours with the module tutor, you will be expected to undertake both directed and independent learning. Directed learning generally will take the form of suggested weekly readings, relevant to that week’s research topic, and preparation for seminars where you will be expected to contribute to group work and full class discussion. Seminars will also contribute to the development of intellectual, transferable and practical skills. Independent learning generally will take the form of further reading and investigation, the consolidation of seminar notes, and revision/preparation for the assessment of the module.

All learning materials, tasks and readings will be posted on the eLP (e-learning portal) to facilitate full participation in the module. Additionally, you will receive formative feedback from both your peers and tutors throughout the course of the module. The module’s final, summative assessment will also provide an opportunity for learning.

The module will be taught by a mixture of interactive lectures and seminars designed to develop your academic knowledge and skills, and expand your critical understanding of different, and often competing theoretical and empirical perspectives within psycholinguistic enquiry. Lectures, seminars and tasks will develop your academic knowledge and skills, to help you attain the module learning outcomes. Your academic development will also be facilitated through engagement with the academic literature and by talking with your peers and the module tutor about your understanding of this literature (i.e. reading around the topic and discussing and reflecting upon what you have read).

The module handbook provides details of lectures, seminars, reading lists and assessment criteria. The module materials will be available on the eLP (see above). The module tutor will be available in lectures and seminars, as well as in ‘Feedback and consultation hours’ (i.e. ‘office hours’) and on email, to discuss any queries or concerns you have about how to excel academically on the module. Formative feedback will be on-going in class throughout the course of module.

In addition, you have a designated Guidance Tutor throughout the entire duration of your programme. The academic side of the Guidance Tutor’s role includes: monitoring your ongoing academic progress; helping you to develop self-reflection skills necessary for continuous academic development; directing you to further available services which can help them with their academic skills (e.g. Library’s Skills Plus). You are advised to see your Guidance Tutor at least twice each semester to review your academic progress.

All modules at Northumbria include a range of reading materials that students are expected to engage with. Online reading lists (provided after enrolment) give you access to your reading material for your modules. The Library works in partnership with your module tutors to ensure you have access to the material that you need.

Knowledge & Understanding:

1. To develop and consolidate knowledge of the theoretical associations and relationships between language and mind.
2. Examine empirical evidence and demonstrate understanding as to how this is used to support or refute particular theories in order to reach potential solutions to complex theoretical problems.

Intellectual / Professional skills & abilities:

3. Present orally and writing complex ideas as the basis for engagement in intellectual debate and establish and justify your own position within complex debates and arguments.
4. Demonstrate a critical understanding of the theoretical and research issues that relate to psycholinguistic enquiry, including methods of data collection, analysis, and theoretical interpretation

Personal Values Attributes (Global / Cultural awareness, Ethics, Curiosity) (PVA):

5. Demonstrate intellectual openness to different theoretical approaches, research strategies and methods of analysis

Formative assessment
1. You will present your ideas during seminars and will receive formative feedback from the module tutor and peers on any perspectives you share. Such formative will enable you to assess and form your own understanding of key issues and debates in Psycholinguistics.

2. Group presentation
You will deliver a small group presentation in a specified seminar towards the end of the module sessions, providing a critical overview of a seminal article in the field of Psycholinguistics related to the summative assessment (see below). You will receive formative feedback on this talk, from both peers and the module tutor. Formative assessments address MLOs in ‘Knowledge and Understanding’, ‘Intellectual/Professional skills & abilities’, and ‘Personal Values Attributes’.

Summative (graded) Assessments
3. 4000-word academic essay
You will write an essay in response to a set of questions provided by the module tutor. You will be expected to demonstrate clear engagement in relation to current issues and debates and important empirical research findings in Psycholinguistics. The essay questions crosscut the lecture topics, so that you will have to read widely in order to fully address the essay question. The aim here is to ensure you get to grips with theoretical positions and concepts, while expressing your arguments in a format with which you should now be familiar.

The essay assessment will be part of the learning process, and addresses all five MLOS.

Feedback will be provided using the Programme template and comments on the script.

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This 20-credit module will develop your awareness and understanding of the field of Psycholinguistics. You will critically analyse, by means of lecture input and seminar discussion, the main research themes in the field. You will take a problem-solving, interactive approach to exploring the key principles, arguments, and research methods connected with the relationship between language and the mind. As such, you will pay particular attention to a range of key theories within the field of Psycholinguistics and you will develop your knowledge and understanding of how data from empirical investigation relates to theory by honing your ability to use evidence to defend or refute different lines of argumentation.