Bilingualism: Mind and Context

3 Credits · Level: Undergraduate

The course covers external factors as they relate to bilingualism, including language policy and bilingual education as well as internal, cognitive factors and the relationship between both. Readings focus on individual and societal bilingualism in Latin America, Spain, and the US. The course fulfills one of the two linguistics requirements for the major and the College Social Science requirement. ***This course counts towards the Social Sciences requirement in the College.*** Course Goals: 1.Identify common patterns and differences among Spanish bilingual speech communities in the US, Latin America, and Spain. 2.Understand the external conditions, including language policy and bilingual education, that determine the development of individual bilingualism. 3.Understand the relationship between cognitive development and cognition and the individual’s ability to speak two languages. 4.Critical thinking, Research Methods: Develop students’ abilities to critically review the literature in the area, generate a hypothesis, and design an empirical study to test said hypothesis. 5.Language Skills: Develop students’ academic Spanish, both oral and written, with special attention to the development of descriptive and argumentative abilities and manuscript preparation following APA guidelines. Topics covered: Bilingualism in Latin America, Spain, and the US Language Policy: Language revival and reversal Bilingual education: Types & effectiveness (1) Bilingual Education, multiculturalism and antiracism Cognitive theories of bilingualism Individual variables: level of bilingualism, biliteracy, and aptitude The cognitive neuropsychology of bilingualism Multilingualism: Learning a third language and beyond Texts & Readings: Textbooks: Montrul, S. (2013). El bilingüismo en el mundo hispanohablante. Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell. A collection of book chapters and articles will be available in pdf format on Blackboard.