Syllabus

BCSC 261: Syllabus

Fall 2024

Personnel

Instructor: Florian Jaeger
Office hours: by request

Prerequisites

Prior coursework in psycholinguistics (e.g., BCS 152 or equivalent) is strongly encourage but feel free to contact the instructor if you might be interested in the class, and are not sure whether you have the necessary background.

Course Description

This course explores the cognitive mechanisms used to speak and understand language. We will focus, in particular, on the relation between social cognition and language. This includes questions about how social perception can affect how we understand speech, or how we express ourselves, depending on who we are talking to---for example, subconscious alignment or anti-alignment in speaking styles, pronunciation, and lexical choices. We will also ask how our brain manages to map sound (or sign) onto meaning given that even speakers of the same dialect can differ starkly in the physical (acoustic) signals they produce. Please have a look at the schedule for a list of topics.

This is an advanced seminar in the cognitive/neuroscience of language. It is intended to let you explore research topics in more depth than is possible during introductory lectures. Learning how to approach, explore, and discuss scientific topics in this manner can prepare you for graduate/med school, or can simply be fun.

Required readings are uploaded to Blackboard. Please be sure to read them before each class. Announcements will also be made via Blackboard when new materials are posted. This course follows the College credit hour policy for four-credit courses, including independent out-of-class assignments (completion of the required readings) for at least 1 academic hour per week.

Course Requirements and Grading

Final grades will be based upon the following scale:

  • A 93 -100
  • A- 90 - 92
  • B+ 87 - 89
  • B 84 – 86
  • B- 80 - 83
  • C+ 77 – 79
  • C 73 – 76
  • C- 70 – 72
  • D+ 67 – 69
  • D 63 – 66
  • D- 60 – 62
  • E below 60

Scores will be based on (1) class participation, (2) a class discussion you will lead, and (3) a final project, which is either a manuscript of a scientific outreach video. In more detail:

  1. Participation (30%): Active participation in discussions and class activities are expected. Completion of the required readings and your active participation in discussion are crucial in your effective learning in a seminar. Everyone should contribute at least one insightful comments/questions to each reading by posting the questions on Slack by midnight on the day before class. You can also participate by trying to answer questions that are posted on Slack.
    I recognize that different people have different communication preferences. While I will actively elicit your participation in class, you can alternatively provide your thoughts via Slack. Grading is based on the overall quality and participation, regardless of whether it happens over Slack or in class. Regardless of whether in class or over Slack, I would like all of us to approach this class without fear of being wrong. One of the most effective ways to learn is to express our ideas, understanding, hypotheses, etc. and then correct and revise them based on the feedback we receive.
    Participation is graded the following way: For each class meeting, I assign separate scores for Slack and in-class participation. The scoring system is simple: absent or present but no participation (0), participated at least once (1), actively participated, making a few solid contributions (2), made particularly valuable contributions (3; this will be rare and should be seen as similar to an A+). I then take the higher of these two numbers (in-class & Slack) and that’s your participation score for that day. Then I add a small bonus (0.3) if you participated both over Slack and in class. At the end of the semester, I average all daily participation scores, and normalize them so that they range from 0 for (an average score of 0) to 100% (for an average score of 2). In other words, if you actively participate over Slack or in class, and occasionally go beyond the expected, you will have an A for participation.
  2. Leading one class discussion (30%). A discussion organizer will be assigned for each class (starting the third week). The discussion leader should (1) post the reading(s) at least one week in advance of the class. If you want to you can assign more than one reading but make sure that the total reading load for each student is not more than around 20 pages. If you want to, you can assign different readings to different students—that can be a nice way to stimulate discussion in class, as different students will bring complementing background. (2) Based on feedback from previous classes, it’s highly recommended that you post reading guidelines along with the reading. These guidelines should state what sections to focus on, which sections can be skipped, and they might also introduce some of the most critical terminology (e.g., by linking a Wikipedia article, Youtube video, etc. (3) Make sure to read comments/questions about the readings prior to the class, and reply to them on Slack and/or select some of them for further discussion in class. (4) Prepare a 10- to 15- minute presentation that summarizes the reading for that class (slides are strongly recommended). And (5) facilitate the discussion during the class.
    There are many different ways to organize a successful discussion session, and you have leeway in finding your personal style (e.g., you might be more comfortable giving a lecture, or you might prefer a highly interactive approach; you might focus on one paper and discuss it in depth, or you might aim for an overview of several papers but in less depth; etc.)
  3. For the remaining 40% of the grade, you will either submit a manuscript or a scientific outreach video (30%). You will receive feedback on the manuscript/video, and will resubmit it with revisions (10%).
    Written manuscripts are about 10 pages double-spaced plus bibliography. For this writing assignment, you have three options:
    1. A small project that involves some informal data collection from 5-10 people (e.g., speech perception, sentence comprehension, language production, computer-mediated communication, etc.)
    2. A research proposal: similar to option 1.) but without data collection. Instead, I will evaluate the clarity of the hypothesis that you propose to investigate, and the logical cohesion between the hypothesis and the way to propose to test it.
    3. A critical review of 1-3 research papers: read at least one and up to three journal articles on a similar topic and critically review them. You can compare the advantages and disadvantages of researchers’ choices regarding participant recruitment, materials, procedure, and/or analysis, as well as the way researchers interpret the results of their analyses. You can focus on a single article though often reading several closely related articles helps to understand the options researchers had because it allows you to compare across the different papers.

Formatting requirements: All written assignments should follow the same format: 1" margins, double-spaced, 12-pt Times New Roman. The course number and your name should be stated at the top of the document.

For every single written assignment, be sure to properly cite your resources. Citation should follow one commonly accepted format (e.g., APA format), This is most easily done by use of a reference manager like Zotero, Mendeley, EndNote (free license provided by the university), or alike.

Outreach videos are short (usually 2-5 minutes) videos on a research topic related to the class. They should use accessible but accurate language, be engagingly narrated, and use audio-visual materials effectively. You can see examples on the kinderlab website. By choosing to submit an outreach video, you give permission to host that video for free on the BCS department webpage and/or Prof. Kurumada’s Kinderlab webpage for at least 5 years.

If you choose this option, it is obligatory (and recommended) that you meet with The BCS library expert Ms. Andrea Kingston, who will inform you about copyright regulations and ethics of scholarly communication. You are allowed use any movie editor of your choice (a very intuitive one to which we can provide free access is https://www.moovly.com/). You are also allowed to use AI generated voices for the narrative, which makes it much easier to deliver the content. More detailed instructions, and a storyboard template that will help you organize your video project will be provided upon request.

Revisions of manuscript/video: If necessary, revisions can add additional content. Revisions will be graded based on how well you integrated feedback—an essential skill for scientific writing and collaboration.

Due dates: If you’re leading a class discussion in the first half of the semester, the writing assignments/video is due 11/30. If you’re leading a class discussion in the second half of the semester, the writing assignments/video is due 10/30. Revisions are due 1 week after you receive feedback. If you submit your writing assignment/video at least a week before the deadline, this will result in a 5% bonus on your score for that submission.

Class Policies

  1. Academic misconduct. Please read the policy posted online
  2. Diversity and inclusion: Please read the statement posted online.
  3. Special accommodation: If you need special accommodation, please let me know. I will do my best to accommodate your needs (and will, of course, follow CETL recommendations).
  4. COVID-related policy:
    1. If are not feeling well (even just with some mild symptoms), are waiting for COVID test results, have been in close contact with COVID patients, or need to take care of someone, just let me know by sending me an email. Don't worry about missing classes/assignments – your health is way more important than the coursework. We can discuss how to make up your missed work. If you suspect that you might have COVID or have close contact with someone who has COVID, please carefully follow the instructions and procedures to report to the UHS
    2. You must follow current university guidelines.
  5. Attendance determines a large part of your grade (see above).
    1. Exceptions for religious holidays or events of comparable cultural or personal significance will always be granted, provided you bring them to the instructor’s attention at least 2 weeks in advance
    2. Emergency exceptions due to documented medical reasons, family emergencies, or alike will also always be granted.
    3. All other missed classes result in an E for participation for that day (the semester has many days, so that’s not the end of the world).
  6. Mobile devices: While the class is ongoing, mobile phones, laptops, etc. should only be used as required for class (e.g., to take notes, present slides, look back through papers). Let’s make the best out of the time we have available to learn. If you are expecting urgent messages that require you to monitor your phone, please let the instructor know at the beginning of the class.