ECTS credits ECTS credits: 4.5
ECTS Hours Rules/Memories Student's work ECTS: 74.2 Hours of tutorials: 2.25 Expository Class: 18 Interactive Classroom: 18 Total: 112.45
Use languages Spanish, Galician
Type: Ordinary Degree Subject RD 1393/2007 - 822/2021
Departments: Social, Basic and Methodological Psychology
Areas: Basic Psychology
Center Faculty of Psychology
Call: Second Semester
Teaching: With teaching
Enrolment: Enrollable
Student´s goals:
. To be able to read and accurately summarize scientific literature on Psychology of Language.
. To know and appreciate the theoretical and experimental diversity of Psychology of Language.
. To learn research designs and become acquainted with the use of the typical experimental procedures and tasks of Psycholinguistics.
. To be able to produce experimental reports for the practical exercises of the subject.
. To develop a genuine interest in Psycholinguistics.
. To be able to work not only efficiently, but also optimally.
1. Concepts on Psychology of Language.
• Fundamentals of Psycholinguistics.
• First steps in Psycholinguistics.
• Human language and animal language.
• Research methods in Psycholinguistics.
2. Central questions in Psychology of Language.
• Linguistic processing system.
• Bottom-up and top-down processes.
• Modularity.
• Autonomy or interaction in the processes.
3.Speech perception.
• Introduction. Spectrograms.
• General features of the speech perception.
• Categorical perception.
• Theories of speech perception.
• Effects of context in the speech perception.
4. Word recognition.
• Perception of written language.
• The mental lexicon
• Experimental effects.
• Models of word recognition.
• Theories of meaning.
5. Sentence comprehension.
• Sentence processing.
• The structural perspective.
• The functional perspective.
• The semantic and pragmatic perspective.
6. Comprehension of texts and discourses.
• Introduction
• Emergent phenomena in discourse
• Theories of discourse processing.
7. Language production.
• General characterization of production.
• Data sources: pauses and speech errors.
• Processing levels in language production.
• Models of oral production.
Interactive sessions:
1. Introduction: the methods of Psycholinguistics.
2. Speech perception.
3. Visual word recognition.
4. Word processing: frequency and lexicality effects.
5. Resolving syntactic ambiguity: sentence processing models.
6. Schema activation during text comprehension and memory.
7. Project Presentation.
Basic readings
CARROLL, D.W. (2006 [2004]). Psicología del lenguaje. Madrid: Thomson.
*CUETOS, F., GONZÁLEZ, J. y de VEGA, M. (2021). Psicología del Lenguaje. Madrid: Editorial Médica Panamericana. (e-book available)
de VEGA, M., CUETOS, F. (1999). Psicolingüística del español. Madrid: Trotta.
*FERNÁNDEZ-REY, J., FRAGA, I., REDONDO, J., ALCARAZ, M., PARDO-VÁZQUEZ, J.L. (2010, 2ª ed.). Procesos psicológicos básicos II. Manual y cuaderno de prácticas de memoria y lenguaje. Madrid: Pirámide.
*Text books
Supplementary readings
BELINCHON, M., RIVIERE, A., IGOA, J. M. (1992). Psicología del lenguaje. Investigación y teoría. Madrid: Trotta.
FRAGA, I. (1997). Psicología del lenguaje: Aspectos teóricos y metodológicos. Santiago: Tórculo.
HARLEY, T.A. (2009 [3ª ed. orig. 2008]). Psicología del Lenguaje. De los datos a la teoría. Madrid: McGraw-Hill.
PINKER, S. (1995, [1994]). El instinto del lenguaje. Cómo crea el lenguaje la mente. Madrid: Alianza.
- COMPETENCES OF THE PROGRAM TO WHICH THE SUBJECT CONTRIBUTES:
* To know the contributions and limitations of the diverse theoretical models for
Psychology.
* To know the basic laws of psychological processes.
* To be able to identify the most relevant traits of individuals, groups, organizations and
contexts by using appropriate psychological techniques and instruments.
* To be able to select and apply adequate and specific psychological intervention procedures
and instruments.
* To elaborate psychological reports addressed to professionals and other recipients in the
different professional fields.
* To conform with the deontological duties of Psychology.
- SPECIFIC COMPETENCES OF THE COURSE:
* To know and understand the basic principles underlying language processing, as well as the contributions and shortcomings of the models used to explain them.
* To be able to relate such knowledge to the topics taught in other subjects and to other basic psychological processes.
* To become acquainted with the typical experimental procedures and tasks of Psycholinguistics.
* To be able to analyse and interpret qualitative and quantitative data from Psycholinguistic research.
* To be able to think about the role of language in human knowledge.
In order to ensure meaningful acquisition of the above-described knowledge and competences, students must attend lectures and read the recommended literature. To this end, lectures will be followed by interactive sessions intended to help students solve their conceptual doubts, complete short questionnaires, produce tree diagrams and orally deliver some of the more relevant contents of each unit. In these sessions, students will be encouraged to work as a team in order to develop cooperative, solidary attitudes. This strategy substantially increases motivation and leads to solid, lifelong learning outcomes.
In addition, the students will have access to a series of materials (exercise manual and book, computer software, statistical packages) use of which will allow them to learn the main experimental factors, analyse and interpret results, and report the information derived from the process in appropriate experimental reports.
In summary, attendance of lectures and interactive classes should be preceded and followed by individual work by the students. This requires sustained dedication and the production of self-made glossaries, schemes and summaries in order to facilitate comprehension and the identification of doubts to be resolved in the tutorials or lectures.
The assessment of this subject is based on two types of activities:
A ) Tasks carried out in the interactive sessions: during or after the interactive sessions, different types of tasks will be carried out, which will result in one single grade, which, in turn, will constitute 50% of the final grade. More precisely, the students’ performance in sessions from 2 to 6 will be assessed based on correcting the corresponding reports (the students will hand in 3 reports for correction), for which the students can obtain up to 4 points (40% of the final grade). For the project presentation (session 7), up to 1 point can be earned (10% of the final grade).
For the assessment, attendance, involvement, and autonomy shown during the sessions, systematic work, participation in the session, and the quality of the interventions, as well as the ability to organize information, clarity of exposition, and mastery in the use of adequate terminology of the discipline will also be taken into account. If the student scores lower than 4.5, this part of the subject will have to be passed again the following year.
B) Official subject exam: there will be an exam on the contents of the subject on the official date(s) set. The exam (multiple-choice) will consist of 40 questions with three answer alternatives, of which only one will be correct. The minimum score required in the exam to pass the subject is 5. The exam grade will contribute 50% to the final grade.
In order to pass the subject, the final score, which is derived from the two previously mentioned grades, must be at least 5.
The students may participate in laboratory experiments, obtaining up to 0.8 points with their participation, which will be added to the final grade once the subject is passed.
Any student who begins the continuous evaluation will have a grade at the end of the semester. Honors can only be obtained if the student completes all the interactive session tasks. The grades for the activities of the corresponding interactive will be saved for one more course.
In addition to the subject manual, students exempt from class attendance will receive the necessary instructions and documents to complete the interactive tasks. Once the minimum required tasks have been completed, the same evaluation criteria will be applied as for the rest of the students.
The time required to fulfill the objectives and acquire the competences ultimately leading to passing the subject is estimated to be 112.5 hours, which should be allocated as follows:
• For the preparation of the theoretical contents, in addition to the attendence to the 22 hours of lectures and the 14 hours of in-person interactive classes, the student will have to dedicate 40 hours to the preparation of the topics and the realization of individual reading, and about 19.5 hours to the completion of interactive activities, the previous reading of the material for each session and the posterior elaboration of the corresponding reports.
• For the preparation of the exam, it is estimated that the student will need to study an average of 15 hours.
Students are advised to work in a sustained manner on this subject throughout the term. Teachers will guide, supervise and assess their work in a continuous manner. At the start, students will be provided with a general learning guide and a specific guide for each unit. The guides describe the basic contents and recommended literature for each unit, as well as the activities to be performed in the interactive classes and an overview of the key concepts.
Language Psychology is especially suitable for actively approaching knowledge through the development of the four linguistic skills underlying the contents of this subject and providing the basis for human comprehension and communication: speaking, listening, reading and writing.
Isabel Fraga Carou
Coordinador/a- Department
- Social, Basic and Methodological Psychology
- Area
- Basic Psychology
- Phone
- 881813787
- isabel.fraga [at] usc.es
- Category
- Professor: University Professor
Jaime Mauro Redondo Lago
- Department
- Social, Basic and Methodological Psychology
- Area
- Basic Psychology
- Phone
- 881813905
- j.redondo [at] usc.es
- Category
- Professor: University Lecturer
Marcos Diaz Lago
- Department
- Social, Basic and Methodological Psychology
- Area
- Basic Psychology
- Phone
- 881813791
- marcos.diaz [at] usc.es
- Category
- Professor: Intern Assistant LOSU
Ana Isabel Ribeiro Fernandes
- Department
- Social, Basic and Methodological Psychology
- Area
- Basic Psychology
- anaisabel.ribeiro [at] usc.es
- Category
- Ministry Pre-doctoral Contract
| Tuesday | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| 12:00-13:00 | Grupo /CLE_02 | Spanish | Classroom 6 |
| 13:00-14:00 | Grupo /CLE_01 | Spanish | Classroom 5 |
| 05.25.2026 12:30-15:00 | Grupo /CLE_02 | Classroom 3 |
| 05.25.2026 12:30-15:00 | Grupo /CLE_01 | Classroom 3 |
| 05.25.2026 12:30-15:00 | Grupo /CLE_02 | Classroom 5 |
| 05.25.2026 12:30-15:00 | Grupo /CLE_01 | Classroom 5 |
| 05.25.2026 12:30-15:00 | Grupo /CLE_02 | Classroom 6 |
| 05.25.2026 12:30-15:00 | Grupo /CLE_01 | Classroom 6 |
| 05.25.2026 12:30-15:00 | Grupo /CLE_01 | Classroom 7 |
| 05.25.2026 12:30-15:00 | Grupo /CLE_02 | Classroom 7 |
| 06.26.2026 12:30-15:00 | Grupo /CLE_02 | Classroom 3 |
| 06.26.2026 12:30-15:00 | Grupo /CLE_01 | Classroom 3 |
| 06.26.2026 12:30-15:00 | Grupo /CLE_01 | Classroom 6 |
| 06.26.2026 12:30-15:00 | Grupo /CLE_02 | Classroom 6 |
| 06.26.2026 12:30-15:00 | Grupo /CLE_02 | Classroom 7 |
| 06.26.2026 12:30-15:00 | Grupo /CLE_01 | Classroom 7 |