Syllabus

BCSC 259: Syllabus

Fall 2025

Time & Location

Tues/Thurs 11:05am - 12:20pm
Dewey 2110E

Personnel

Instructor: Erin Campbell
Office Hours: Tues 12:30-1:30pm, Thurs 10:30-11am

Teaching assistant: Lillian Ravikoff
Office Hours: Monday 5-6pm and one flex hour/week

About This Class

In the beginning, we are little bundles of flesh that cry when we are uncomfortable - and that’s just about the extent of our communicative skills! But within a few short years, typically developing children are fully participating members of the language community. This is remarkable, because human language is an incredibly complex system. In this course, we ask the question: How do we acquire a system of such incredible complexity in such a short period of time? We will consider the steps children take along the path to learning language, including how they learn about sounds, words, higher-level sentence structure, and how to communicate effectively. We will also explore factors within the child and the child’s environment that make this remarkable feat possible.

Learning Objectives

Students in this class will:

  1. gain knowledge about the importance of language in the overall cognitive development in early developmental stages.
  2. learn different levels of linguistic representations (e.g., phonology, semantics, syntax, pragmatics) and how they interact with each other in children’s language development.
  3. develop basic abilities to conduct a psycholinguistic study by forming a hypothesis, designing a task, and collecting and analyzing data.

Course Materials

All required readings will be drawn from journal articles, which will be freely available on Blackboard.

Assignments

  1. Exams and Quiz (42% of your total grade)
    • Details:
      • Four exams (10% each) and one quiz (5%) throughout the semester.
      • Exams will include multiple-choice and short-answer questions based on lectures, readings, and discussions.
      • A class study guide will be co-created for each exam to support your preparation.
    • Make-Up Policy:
      • No make-up exams except for documented University-sanctioned reasons or emergencies.
      • Requests for alternative exam dates must be made at least two weeks in advance.
  2. Research Exercises (20% of your grade)
    In-class exercises will introduce tools and methods for analyzing language data. You’ll apply these skills and propose research studies based on the exercises.
    • In-Class Exercises Schedule:
      • February 13, February 27, March 6, and April 8.
      • Bring a laptop to class (laptops can be borrowed from the IT Lending Library).
    • Expectations for Study Ideas:
      • After each exercise, propose two research studies including:
        • A research question and hypothesis.
        • A description of your method.
        • An explanation of how the study contributes to our understanding of language development.
    • Grading: Each exercise is worth 2.5%.
  3. Final Project (30% of your total grade)
    You will write a literature review paper on a language development topic of your choice and present your findings in a group presentation.
    • Components:
      • Project Proposal (2%): Due March 20, including your topic and five relevant articles.
      • Final Paper (20%): An individual submission summarizing your topic’s literature.
      • Group Presentation (6%): Present with classmates working on related topics, combining findings into a cohesive presentation.
        • Grading:
          • Individual grades assess your contribution to the presentation
          • Group grades assess how well topics are integrated.
  4. Reading Track Assignments (10% of your grade)
    Students in this course have a range of academic backgrounds and interests – which is an asset! While I wish we could go in depth on a variety of topics, it’s unfortunately not feasible over the course of one semester. I don’t want anybody drowning in readings. In addition to the class-general readings, you will each choose a “track”, which will come with several additional readings, sprinkled throughout the semester. You will be responsible for reading these articles associated with your chosen track and updating your classmates on the content of the studies. I’ll make the slides. You’ll do the explaining.
    1. Brains
    2. Bilingualism
    3. Deafness & ASL
    4. Language Disorders
    • Responsibilities:
      • Present one article from your track to the class (5% of the final grade).
      • Add a summary to the class study guide (5%).
      • Focus on the research question, methods, findings, and implications.

Policies

Late Assignments: 20% deducted per day late.

Attendance: Strongly encouraged but not graded. Exams, quizzes, presentations, and certain assignments will occur during class time on certain days (see schedule for details). If you miss class, you are responsible for reviewing the lecture materials (posted after class), obtaining notes from classmates, and completing any missed in-class assignments.

Late penalty will apply to in-class assignments that are missed without a university sanctioned absence.

Course Expectations

As my students, I expect that you will complete all assignments and participate in the course through regular attendance and engagement in class discussion. I also expect you to respect yourself and your fellow students by only submitting work that is your own.

As your instructor, you can expect me to provide an engaging classroom environment, to promote a friendly, respectful atmosphere for discussion, and to provide ample opportunities for you to ask questions or receive help if you need it. You can also expect me to be open to your feedback throughout the course.

Resources For You

YOUR Teaching Team: Please take advantage of our office hours! I am also happy to help you with your questions on the discussion board or via email, but please respect our time and expect a 24hr email turnaround time on weekdays, and a 48hr one on weekends (that is, please don’t want until the last minute!). If you write with questions via email, make them as specific as you can - if you write something like “I didn’t understand Chapter 2”, it’s going to be very hard for us to know how to help you!

CENTER FOR EXCELLENCE IN TEACHING AND LEARNING: CETL offers learning support to students with all kinds of GPAs and academic records. They have study skills groups, tutors and workshops that you may find helpful. In this class, we respect and welcome students of all backgrounds and abilities, and I encourage you to talk to me about any concern or situation that affects your ability to successfully complete the course. If you require accommodations (e.g. extra time for exams), make sure that you contact me about them via CETL so that I can accommodate you appropriately.

Other Important Information

ACADEMIC HONESTY: Bottom line: don’t cheat, don’t plagiarize. Cases of suspected misconduct will not be evaluated directly by me, but will be referred to the College Board on Academic Honesty. I take this policy VERY seriously. If you are unsure of something, please ask me - I am always happy to help you! You MUST complete the homework and quizzes independently. Our exams are open book. The use of books, notes, etc. during exams is permitted - the only things NOT allowed at your desk during an exam are a computer, a tablet, and a cellphone (including any watches and other wearable devices that can transmit information.)

INSTRUCTOR EVALUATION: I want this to be the best possible learning environment for you, and so I encourage you to comment at any time about how the class is going, what you would like to see more or less of, or anything else that would make this a more instructive and supportive environment for you. To this end, I will post class/instructor feedback surveys on Blackboard throughout the semester to find out how things are going - but I also encourage you to talk to me about any issues you’re having. I’m always happy to have visitors during my office hours!

College Credit Hour Policy: This course follows the College credit hour policy for four-credit courses. This course meets two times weekly for three academic hours per week. The course also includes independent out-of-class assignments for an average of one academic hour per week. In this course, students will complete their homework assignments and brainstorming activities in preparation for their final class projects.

SCHEDULE OF TOPICS, ASSIGNMENTS, AND READINGS: On the schedule page, you’ll find a schedule of topics and associated readings and assignments; readings/viewings must be completed BEFORE the date listed on the syllabus. This schedule is subject to change; I hope to hold as closely to it as possible, but want to retain flexibility so that we can ensure the class best meets your needs. I will make an announcement both in class and on Blackboard if I need to make changes to either the topics or the readings.

Guidelines for ethical and transparent AI use

With respect to our use of AI technologies in this course, I adopt a general policy of "Unless I Say No," meaning that students are encouraged to use generative AI when it is helpful, unless specifically prohibited for a particular assignment, activity, or other student work. In doing so, we follow the disclosure policy of “Citation and Description” (see an example below). If you have used AI to edit or modify your work product, please submit both an original and an edited version (see Example 2). Note that you will NOT be penalized for using generative AI technologies as long as you clearly and honestly disclose your use. Failure to do so may be considered a violation of academic policy. In case of doubt, I reserve the right to ask for more information or to ask you to reproduce the work product without using AI.

  • Citation + Description: Include a citation along with a sentence or two stating how generative AI was used in the student work.
    • Example 1: I generated this text, code, or image in part with ChatGPT-3.5. It was used to identify, calculate and interpret the correct Excel formula.
    • Example 2: I generated a draft of this text (attached) and used the browser version of DeepL to edit it. I incorporated the edits and added further edits to the submitted version.

Because all AI technologies are in their nascent stages, it's impossible for me to provide a finite list of do's and don'ts. I would like to invite you to explore their possibilities in creative ways, while being mindful of ethical concerns. I ask you to be transparent in your use and mindful of copyright and intellectual property regulations. Below are general considerations provided by the Simon School of Education. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact me directly.

  • Cautionary Note About Hallucination in Generative AI: Generative AI tools, while immensely powerful, sometimes generate outputs that are inaccurate, made up, or not reflective of reality. Students need to critically analyze AI-generated content and vet for factual errors and inconsistencies. Students remain accountable for the accuracy, integrity, and ethical use of the information in their work.
  • Data Privacy: Special care must be taken regarding data privacy. Using generative AI grants the use of the data to the AI tool. Data or documents that are copyrighted should not be uploaded into AI without permission from the copyright holder. Students remain accountable for the accuracy, integrity, and ethical use of the information in their work.
  • Data Bias: Special care must be taken regarding data bias. Some of the information provided via generative AI may be biased. Examples of bias include racial, gender, nationality, religion, etc. Students remain accountable for the accuracy, integrity, and ethical use of the information in their work.