Communication and Brain in Multilingual Aging
Research Course/MAcourse at MultiLing 2014-2015
(ILNMULTI4130, Specialization course B, exam V2015)
The course spans two terms – with one intensive teaching session in the fall of 2014 (October 20-28), and the other in the spring of 2015 (April 13-20).
The course is taught in English. Contact: frontoffice@iln.uio.no
NB! Masterstudenter som ikke var tilstede p? h?stens seminar, kan likevel melde seg til emnet v?r 2015, da emneansvarlig, Professor Hanne Gram Simonsen vil gjennomg? h?stens materiale i l?pet av 6-7 forelesninger. Se timeplanen for v?r 2015 for tid og sted.
Professor Loraine Obler, CUNY Graduate Center
loraine.obler@gmail.com
In this course, we will discuss what is known about how language production and comprehension change in bilingual adults across the later end of the lifespan. After a review of the brain changes associated with healthy aging, aphasia and dementia, and the language changes associated with healthy aging, we will consider the interactions of cognition with language in aging, then turn to aphasia diagnosis and treatment in older multilingual adults and language and communication in multilingual patients with the dementias and progressive aphasias.
In the Fall sessions of the course, students will present selected papers on the topics to be covered in a given day, and time will be reserved for discussion among all attendees of both the clinical and public policy implications of the research findings in the field. Students will select a topic to prepare as a literature review (for MA-students) or a research project design (for PhD-candidates) for the Spring sessions.
In the Spring sessions, students will present their papers to the group for discussion, and additional topics may be taken up as time permits.
Pre-requisites: some knowledge of Linguistics and/or Speech-Language Pathology
Requirements for students taking the course for credit:
-Presenting a paper in the fall
-Preparing for each Fall class session by reading at least one required paper
-Participating in class discussions
-Preparing a draft of a paper in the interval between Fall and Spring
-Presenting the paper orally in the Spring sessions
-Revising the paper to integrate useful suggestions made by attendees
-Handing the revised draft to a fellow student for editing by May 1
-Editing the draft of another student in the class by May 11th
-Submitting the paper by June 10th
Grading will be Pass/Fail, based on class participation (i.e., preparing readings for discussion, commenting on them, asking questions, contributing comments, presenting a paper, responding to others’ questions about the paper)
For each term: 6 double lectures (one double lecture 10.15-12 each day Monday-Monday) plus 1-hour seminar 4 times during the week 13.15-14.
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Overview of the Spring 2015 class: April 13-20
Time, place and topics: TBA
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Overview of the Fall 2014 class: October 20-27
(All lectures and seminars will take place in the MultiLing Meeting room. )
Topics for lectures, 10.15-12:
Oct. 20, Communication and Aging in Monolinguals
Oct. 21, Communication and Aging in Multilinguals
Oct. 22, Bilingual Cognitive Advantage
Oct. 23, Aphasia in Multilinguals
Oct. 24, Dementia in Multilinguals
Oct. 27, First-pass presentation of papers students plan to prepare for April class sessions
The 1-hour afternoon seminars (13.15-14), which will be a follow-up of the day’s lecture and presentations, will take place on Tuesday Oct 21, Wednesday Oct 22 and Friday Oct 24.
Each of the first 5 days of the class, students will all have read the assigned paper and be prepared to discuss
-the structure of the paper
-the main points of the paper
-the student’s critique of the strengths of and problems with the paper, generally and with respect to the multilingual situation in Norway.
As well, on Oct. 21-24, students taking the class for credit will present, for 10-15 minutes at the beginning of the morning class, a PowerPoint presentation on a paper.