HBES 2403 PSYCHOLINGUISTICS

ASSIGNMENT (60% WEIGHTAGE)

SEPTEMBER 2022 SEMESTER

GENERAL INSTRUCTIONS

1. Use Times New Roman or Arial, 12-point font, with 1.5-line spacing in A4 format.

2. Ensure that the assignment you submit is paginated.

3. The cover sheet of your assignment must contain the following information: Course code
and name / Semester / Your full name and student number / Your email address and
mobile number.

4. Where relevant, your responses to the tasks must have a “Works Cited” section. Only
works cited in the body of your assignment should be listed in this section.

5. Present your responses to the tasks in a single portfolio file (PDF or Word format).
Adhere to the following structure:

i. Cover sheet
ii. Response to Task 1
iii. Response to Task 2
iv. Response to Task 3

6. Any assignment detected to have been plagiarised will be marked down, failed outright,
and/or referred to the University’s disciplinary committee for further action. To learn more
about avoiding plagiarism, consult such sites as https://style.mla.org/plagiarism-and-
academic-dishonesty/

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 COURSE LEARNING OUTCOMES & SUMMARY OF TASKS

COURSE LEARNING OUTCOMES

The tasks set herein are designed to help you meet the following course learning
outcomes (CLOs):

CLO1: Explain the key terms, concepts, and theories related to the study of language and the
mind [C4, PLO1] 40%

CLO2: Analyse the relationships between language and the mind, and how these relationships
are signalled through language [C4, PLO2] 50%

CLO3: Examine the various research methods and related empirical evidence related to
language and the mind [C4, PLO2] 10%

Note that the above CLOs supersede earlier versions listed elsewhere.

CLOs ADDRESSED IN THIS ASSIGNMENT

CLO2: 50 marks

CLO3: 10 marks

SUMMARY OF TASKS

Task 1 [CLO2]: Child Language Acquisition [25 marks]

Task 2 [CLO2]: Bilingualism and the Brain [25 marks]

Task 3 [CLO3]: Evidence in Psycholinguistics [10 marks]

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 TASK 1 [CLO2]

CHILD LANGUAGE ACQUISITION [25 MARKS]

A key area of interest in psycholinguistics is “child language acquisition”, which is concerned

with how babies and children acquire a language or languages. This is undoubtedly a
subject that virtually all of us can relate since we, too, learned our mother tongue and
perhaps even a second language from birth.

To help you dig deeper into this fascinating subject, begin by watching the TED talk by
Patricia Kuhl titled “The Linguistic Genius of Babies.” The video is accessible here:

https://www.ted.com/talks/patricia_kuhl_the_linguistic_genius_of_babies#t-538485

Feel free to watch the video more than once if it helps you to better understand the talk. You
may also make use of the transcript provided.

Then, in your own words, provide short answers to the following questions:

You are encouraged to go beyond the video and to read and cite other academic/scholarly
works, including your course textbook by Steinberg and Sciarini, to come up with stronger
answers.

1. “To preserve a language, one needs to speak it to babies rather than adults.” What
does this mean, and why is it so? [max. 100 words]

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2. What is the theory behind the “critical period” for learning a language? [max. 100
words]

3. “We’re culture-bound listeners,” according to Kuhl. But who are “we”, and how and
why are we “culture-bound”? [max. 100 words]

4. When the babies in the experiment were exposed to Mandarin sounds coming from
either a television set or an audio source, no learning took place. What does Kuhl
mean when she concludes from the experiment that “It takes a human being for babies
to take their statistics”? How does she account for that? [max. 100 words]

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 TASK 2 [CLO2]

BILINGUALISM AND THE BRAIN [25 MARKS]

Most Malaysians and an overwhelming number of people around the world are fluent in
more than one language. But what does being bilingual do to the brain? Is the brain of a
bilingual different from the brain of a monolingual?

To get you started, watch the TED talk by Naja Ferjan Ramirez titled “Creating Bilingual
Minds”. The video is accessible here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bp2Fvkt-TRM

After watching the video and reading the relevant sections of your course textbook, provide
short answers to the following questions:

1. As a bilingual, how has the experience been for you personally? In what ways have
you benefitted from being able to speak at least two languages? Have there been
times when being bilingual gave you negative experiences? [max. 100 words]

2. The prefrontal cortex is a part of the brain (highlighted in green in the image below). It
is used to direct our attention, to switch back and forth between doing different tasks,
and to think flexibly. When exposed to language sounds, the prefrontal cortex of

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 monolingual babies and bilingual babies reacted differently. How were the reactions
different? And what does this indicate? [max. 100 words]

3. “Bilingualism causes confusion and slows language learning down for babies and
children.” How has science responded to this claim? [max. 100 words]

4. What is “code mixing”, and why is it a sign of “linguistic sophistication”, according to

Ramirez? [max. 100 words]

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 TASK 3 [CLO3]

EVIDENCE IN PSYCHOLINGUISTICS [10 MARKS]

In the field of linguistics, including psycholinguistics, evidence from careful studies is

required to build a theory. This task gives you an opportunity to consider certain linguistic
theories relating to animals and language, and to gather evidence that scholars have
produced on the topic.

To begin, read Chapter 5 of your course textbook by Steinberg and Sciarini. Explore, also,
other scholarly resources on the internet that discuss animals and language.

You may find the following video useful to help you gain a better understanding of the topic.
The video by Michele Bishop is titled “Do Animals Have Language”.

https://ed.ted.com/lessons/do-animals-have-language-michele-bishop

Once you are ready, answer the following questions:

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Animals may or may not be able to learn to communicate in any human language. But
do animals have their own language, and do they use their language to communicate
with one another?

Focus on specific animals that interest you and cite evidence that researchers have
found to substantiate your answer. (max. 500 words)

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 ASSESSMENT CRITERIA FOR ALL TASKS

1 2 Total
Marks
Rating / Criteria Task Response Language Use
/ Weightage
[Max. 20] [Max. 5] [Max. 25]

[Max. 5] [Max. 5] [Max. 10]

Excellent [17-20] [5] [25]

[5] [5] [10]

Substantively Full mastery of all

addresses all given aspects of
issues language use in
writing, including
All responses are grammar (incl.
concise and sentence formation,
penetrative, word order and
demonstrating form, tenses, etc.)
critical and and mechanics
rigorous (incl. spelling,
engagement punctuation).

Rare minor errors,

if present, occur
only as ‘slips’
Good [13-16] [4] [20]

[4] [4] [8]

Addresses most of General mastery of

the given issues all aspects of
well language use in
writing, including
Most responses grammar (incl.
are insightful, sentence formation,
demonstrating word order and
engagement form, tenses, etc.)
and mechanics
(incl. spelling,
punctuation).

Errors are few,

minor, non-
systemic, and non-
distracting

Satisfactory [9-12] [3] [15]

[3] [3] [6]

Addresses many of Satisfactory

the given issues, mastery of some
9 / 10
 although some may aspects of
be under-examined language use in
writing, including
Responses are grammar (incl.
generally sentence formation,
satisfactory, word order and
although some may form, tenses, etc.)
not be based on and mechanics
close engagement (incl. spelling,
punctuation).

Some errors may

be jarring and
distracting

Insufficient [5-8] [2] [10]

[2] [2] [4]

Insufficient Low mastery of

engagement with almost all aspects
the given issues; of language use in
some are not writing, including
addressed at all grammar (incl.
sentence formation,
Responses may be word order and
off-tangent, form, tenses, etc.)
reflecting potential and mechanics
misreading of task (incl. spelling,
punctuation).

Errors are plentiful

and distracting

Unsatisfactory [0-4] [0-1] [5]

[0-1] [0-1] [2]

Unsatisfactory
Unsatisfactory mastery of all
engagement with aspects of
the given issues; language use in
some are either not writing, including
addressed or are grammar (incl.
poorly addressed sentence formation,
word order and
Unsatisfactory form, tenses, etc.)
responses; and mechanics
responses are (incl. spelling,
mostly off-tangent, punctuation).
reflecting serious
misreading of the Replete with
task distracting errors

10 / 10