Office: Mason 10
Phone: 607-1602 (x71602)
Email: robert.thornton@pomona.edu
Course website: http://www.linguistics.pomona.edu/thornton/lgcs185c.html
Class meeting: Tuesday & Thursday, 2:45pm-4:00pm
Office hours: Mon and Fri 2:00-3:30pm and by appointment
Textbook and readings
Adams, M. J. (1990). Beginning to read: Thinking and learning about print. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
In addition to readings from the text, selected articles will be distributed in class, distributed electronically, or on reserve at the library.
Course description: Cognitive Science is an exciting field because we are blessed with a host of open questions as well as the tools to empirically address them. Our goal this semester is to use those tools to critically examine open questions related to skilled adult reading and the development of literacy in children, and evaluate current data, theory, and practice. The first half of the course will focus on current theories of visual word recognition and the second on the normal development of reading skills, dyslexia, and the political controversy over how best to teach children to read.
Course Requirements: Your grade will be determined by your score on 10 short reaction papers, a midterm exam, a final research/position paper, and your contributions to class discussion. In order to receive full credit, all work must be turned in at the beginning of class on the dates indicated on this syllabus.
Reaction papers (30%): There will be 10 short papers, based on your reactions to the readings. These papers should have two parts. First, you should provide brief answers to 1-2 questions that I will pose about the readings. Keep in mind that these questions will focus on broad issues; generally there will not be right or wrong answers. Second, you should pose 1-2 questions of your own about the reading. What I will be looking for is your ability to extract the core ideas from the readings and understand their implications. Although there are no formal page requirements, I would think that 1-3 pages (8.5 x 11 in, single-spaced, 12pt font) would be appropriate.
Midterm (30%): There will be a mid-term, composed of short answer questions. These questions will cover central issues brought up in class discussion. The purpose of the midterm, other than giving you the opportunity to demonstrate your understanding of the course material, is to help us synthesize material across the readings.
Final Paper (30%): You will be responsible for a final research-based paper, which takes a position on one of the issues raised in the course. The two debates that, in my opinion, would make good position paper topics are (a) bilingualism in education and (b) the phonics vs. whole language debate in reading instruction. There are no length requirements, but your paper should convincingly support the position you take and cite relevant research to support it. Papers should conform to APA format. You should discuss your proposed topic with me by the week of November 18-22. The paper is due by 2pm on December 19 , and should be handed in to me in my office (Mason 10).
Class Attendance/Participation (10%): Class meetings will consist of both lecture and discussion. Although the exact mix will depend on the topic at hand, discussion is encouraged whenever any of us would like it. The focus of discussion should be collaborative rather than adversarial. That is, we should strive to deepen each others understanding of the issues, rather than take a position and strictly defend it. Of course, debates can (and should) arise, but our goal should be to think critically and teach each other rather than prove ourselves right. If you know ahead of time that you will miss a class meeting, please let me know. Additionally, one other way to participate in discussion is to email me, before the relevant class meeting, questions that you focused on in reading the assignment (whether included in your reaction paper or not). Doing so is not formally required, but will be considered in evaluating your participation.
| Date | Topic | Reading Assignment | Due |
| 09/03 | Intro, overview | ||
| 09/05 | Nature of Orthography | Rayner & Pollatsek, Ch. 2 | |
| 09/10 | Eye movements | Rayner (1997) | |
| 09/12 | Methodology & Factorology | Baltoa (1994) | |
| 09/17 | Theoretical Models | Seidenberg (1995) | Reaction 1 |
| 09/19 | Priming | Nealy (1991) | |
| 09/24 | Phonology | Frost (1998) | Reaction 2 |
| 09/26 | Morphology | Seidenberg & Gonnerman (2000) | |
| 10/01 | Ambiguity | Simpson (1994) | Reaction 3 |
| 10/03 | Text Reading | Myers & O'Brien (1998) | |
| 10/08 | Brain Bases | Fiez et al. (1999) | Reaction 4 |
| 10/10 | MIDTERM | ||
| 10/15 | Reading Development Overview | Adams Ch 1-2 | |
| 10/17 | Goals of Instruction | Adams Ch 10 | |
| 10/22 | NO CLASS; FALL RECESS | ||
| 10/24 | Preliterate Skills | Adams Ch 4 | Reaction 5 |
| 10/29 | Spelling | Trieman (1997) | |
| 10/31 | Teaching Reading | Adams Ch 13 | |
| 11/05 | Phonics vs. Whole Language I | Adams Ch 2-3 | Reaction 6 |
| 11/07 | Phonics vs. Whole Language II | Adams Ch 11,15 | |
| 11/12 | Bilingualism I | Bialystok (2002) | Reaction 7 |
| 11/14 | Bilingualism II | no reading | |
| 11/19 | Dyslexia I: Overview | Snowling (1991) | Reaction 8 |
| 11/21 | NO CLASS; OUT OF TOWN | ||
| 11/26 | Dyslexia II: Temporal Deficits? | Studdert-Kennedy (2002); Klein (2002) | |
| 11/28 | NO CLASS; THANKSGIVING BREAK | ||
| 12/03 | Dyslexia III: Computational Modeling | Harm & Seidenberg (1999) | Reaction 9 |
| 12/05 | Dyslexia IV: Remediation | Bus & Ijzendoorn(1999) | Reaction 10 |
| 12/10 | Discussion: What does all this mean? | ||
| 12/19 | FINAL PAPER DUE BY 2PM |
Balota, D. A. (1994). Visual word recognition: The journey from features to meaning. In M. A. Gernsbacher (Ed.), Handbook of psycholinguistics (pp. 303-358). San Diego, CA: Academic Press.
Bialystok, E. (2002). Acquisition of literacy in bilingual children: A Framework for research. Language Learning, 52, 159-199. [pdf version]
Bus, A. G., & Ijzendoorn, M. H. van. (1999). Phonological awareness and early reading: A meta-analysis of experimental training studies. Journal of Educational Psychology, 91, 403-414.
Fiez, J. A., Balota, D. A., Raichle, M. E., & Petersen, S. E. (1999). Effects of lexicality, frequency, and spelling-to-sound consistency on the functional anatomy of reading. Neuron, 24, 205-218. [pdf version]
Frost, R. (1998). Toward a strong phonological theory of visual word recognition: True issues and false trails. Psychological Bulletin, 123, 71-99.
Harm, M. W., & Seidenberg, M. S. (1999). Phonology, reading acquisition, and dyslexia: Insights from connectionist models. Psychological Review, 106, 491-528. [pdf version]
Klein, R. M. (2002). Observations on the temporal correlates of reading failure. Reading and Writing, 15, 207-232. [pdf version]
Myers, J. L., & O'Brien, E. J. (1998). Accessing the discourse representation during reading. Discourse Processes, 26, 131-157.
Nealy, J. H. (1991). Semantic priming effects in visual word recognition: A selective review of current findings and theories. In D. Besner & G. W. Humphreys (Eds.), Basic processes in reading: Visual word recognition (pp. 264-336). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Rayner, K. (1999). What can we learn by recording eye movements during reading? In R. Klein & P. McMullen (Eds.), Converging methods for studying reading. Cambridge , MA : MIT Press.
Rayner, K., & Pollatsek, A. (1989). The Psychology of Reading . Hillsdale , NJ : Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Seidenberg, M. S. (1995). Visual word recognition: An overview. In J. L. Miller & P. D. Eimas (Eds.), Handbook of perception and cognition: Speech, language, and cognition (pp. 137-179). San Diego, CA: Academic Press.
Seidenberg, M. S., & Gonnerman, L. M. (2000). Explaining derivational morphology as the convergence of codes. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 4, 353-361. [pdf version]
Simpson, G. B. (1994). Context and the processing of ambiguous words. In M. A. Gernsbacher (Ed.), Handbook of psycholinguistics (pp. 359-374). San Diego, CA: Academic Press.
Snowling, M. J. (1991). Developmental reading disorders. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 32 , 49-77.
Studdert-Kennedy, M. (2002). Deficits in phoneme awareness do not arise from failures in rapid auditory processing. Reading and Writing, 15, 5-14. [pdf version]
Treiman, R. (1997). Spelling in normal children and dyslexics. In B. Blachman (Ed.), Foundations of reading acquisition and dyslexia: Implications for early intervention (pp. 191-218). Mahwah , NJ : Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.