Course Description
In this workshop we will begin by asking what language is and whether the capacity for language is specific to human beings. We will consider what the properties of language are, and will focus particularly on its capacity for symbolic representation. We will then distinguish between spoken and written language and will examine the typical process of development of both of these abilities. In the latter part of the workshop, we will move on to examining different kinds of impairments in reading and language, and will explore in depth some current issues and controversies in this domain.
Format
The workshop will be in the format of a series of lectures/seminars. However, the classes will be designed to be highly interactive, with lots of questions and discussion being encouraged throughout.
Lecture Outline
| Lecture | Topic |
|---|---|
| 1 | What is language? |
| 2 | Is language specific to humans? |
| 3 | Language acquisition in children |
| 4 | Language acquisition in atypical populations |
| 5 | Learning to read |
| 6 | Disorders of reading acquisition |
Presenter
Professor Anne Castles
Presenter Biography
Anne Castles is Research Professor of Psychology at the Macquarie Centre for Cognitive Science in Sydney, Australia. She completed her PhD on varieties of developmental dyslexia at Macquarie University in 1993 and was a teaching and research academic in the Department of Psychology at the University of Melbourne from 1994 to 2006. She has a strong research interest in variability within the reading-impaired population, and in the causes of different types of dyslexia, including genetic, perceptual and language factors. She is also interested in the process of normal reading development and in particular in the mechanism by which whole-word recognition skills are acquired by children learning to read. She is an Associate Editor of the Journal of Research in Reading and serves on the editorial boards of Scientific Studies of Reading and the European Journal of Cognitive Psychology.