Part of Module 2 of the CTS-Academic course run by SeltAcademy. Session written by Dr. Simon Phipps.

1. Dr. Simon Phipps
dr.simon.phipps@gmail.com
Session 9-10: Psycholinguistics
1. Introduction to Psycholinguistics
2. A Processing Approach to L2
3. Implications for teaching and learning

2. WHAT IS PSYCHOLINGUISTICS 1
(the study of language use in order to understand the nature and structure
of the human mind)
oldest science
newest science
=
=
astronomy
psychology
‘the mind itself…is the least amenable to objective study’ (Scovel 1998:3)
4 subfields of psycholinguistics




How language is
acquired
produced
comprehended
lost
1. Development of language (in L1)
(common stages, different rates of language development)
Crying
Gurgling/Cooing
2 months
Babbling
6 months
Babbling in L1
8 months
su
Words
1 year
(Holophrastic words)
Baba
2 words
2 years
gel
14,000 words
6 years

3. WHAT IS PSYCHOLINGUISTICS 2
2. Production of Language
4 stages;
 Conceptualisation

Formulation
 Articulation

Self-monitoring
Speech production is a parallel two-way system
 output
 monitoring and editing
Communication is an interactive process
 with others
 with self
Communication is a highly complex process
 we often only see this when it breaks down
 ‘slips of the tongue’

4. WHAT IS PSYCHOLINGUISTICS 3
3. Comprehension of Language
of sounds
 individual sounds and whole
 phoneme restoration
 voice onset timing
 of words
 parallel distributed processing
 spreading activation networks
 schemata
 of sentences
 predict next word
 garden-pathing
 of texts


top down processing
4. Loss of Language (Aphasia)
 Broca’s area - production
 Wernicke’s area
- comprehension
2 hemispheres – neuroplasticity, localisation of functions

5. http://thebrain.mcgill.ca/flash/d/d_10/d_10_cr/d_10_cr_lan/d_10_cr_lan.html

6. GARDEN PATH SENTENCES
The baby pop star wants to
adopt arrives in London.
The complex houses married and single students
and their families.
The cotton clothing is usually made of
grows in Mississippi.
Fat people eat
accumulates.
I convinced her children
are noisy.

7. Scrambled words
“AOCCDRNİG TO RSEEARCH AT AN ELİNGSH
UİNERVTİSY, İT DEOSN’T MTTAER İN WAHT
OREDR THE LTTEERS İN A WROD ARE, THE OLNY
İPRMOATNT TİHNG İS TAHT THE FRİST AND LSAT
LTTEER İS IN THE RGHİT PCLAE.
THE RSET CAN BE A TOATL MSES AND YOU CAN
SİTLL RAED İT WOUTHİT A PORBELM. TİHS İS
BCUSEAE WE DO NOT RAED ERVEY LTETER BY
İSTLEF BUT THE WROD AS A WLOHE.”

8. IMPLICATIONS FOR TEACHING
Personalisation
 Prediction
 Pronunciation
 Collocation
 Production
 Comprehension
 Rehearsal, practice
 Tolerance


9. PSYCHOLINGUISTIC PROCESSES OF
LEARNING
Human beings are limited in their capacity to consciously
attend to more than one task at a time
Memory
speed
Limited processing capacity,
but
Memory is unlimited
 Processing capacity is limited

we cannot attend to all language
 some language is automatic

vast memory capacity

10. PSYCHOLINGUISTIC PROCESSES OF
LEARNING
Dual-coding system
Rule based system
R
E
Rules
Exemplar-based system
Examples of language
• individual words
• chunks of language
Most language we use is not new
 Working memory vs LTM




The more we use language, the more automatic it becomes
The more automatic it becomes, the less we need rules
L2 learners typically use the rule system more;
 because they don’t have enough exemplars stored
 so, they are less fluent
from Skehan, P. (1998). A Cognitive Approach to Language Learning. Cambridge: OUP.