Progress in the Cognitive Aspects of Communication and Language
Code: 45531 ECTS Credits: 6| Degree | Type | Year |
|---|---|---|
| Trastornos de la Comunicación y del Lenguaje | OP | 1 |
Contact
- Name:
- Melina Aparici Aznar
- Email:
- melina.aparici@uab.cat
Teachers
- Mario Figueroa González
- Alondra Camus Torres
- Daniela Viviana Mieres Maldonado
Teaching groups languages
You can view this information at the end of this document.
Prerequisites
No prerequisites for enroling in this course.
Objectives and Contextualisation
The goal of this course is to delve into the mutual influences between cognitive aspects and linguistic and communicative aspects.
On the one hand, the basic aspects of cognitive functioning and its development, as well as its evaluation, will be presented.
On the other hand, we will work on a series of topics that recent research has found relevant in the explanation of linguistic and communicative development and functioning, both typical and altered, and that, therefore, are of special interest in the evaluation, stimulation and intervention of linguistic and communicative skills: the relationships between memory and language, between executive functions and language, and between sociocognitive development and communicative skills, and the relationships of the socioeconomic and sociolinguistic environment with features of cognitive and linguistic development.
Learning Outcomes
- CA07 (Competence) Clearly communicate conclusions and advanced knowledge about the cognitive aspects of communication and language to specialist and non-specialist audiences.
- CA08 (Competence) Make decisions and solve problems autonomously on the cognitive aspects of communication and language.
- KA08 (Knowledge) Acquire more profound knowledge of the processes involved in language acquisition
- KA09 (Knowledge) Acquire more profound knowledge of the cognitive aspects of communication and language
- SA11 (Skill) Use the evidence on the cognitive aspects of communication obtained by other professionals in scientific disciplines.
- SA12 (Skill) Intervene in the facilitators of the cognitive aspects of communication
- SA13 (Skill) Use documentary sources to obtain relevant information on the cognitive aspects of communication.
Content
1. Cognitive processes: Models and assessment
2. Cognitive development
3. Linguistic and cognitive development in diverse contexts
4. Memory and language
5. Executive functions and language
6. Sociocognitive development
Activities and Methodology
| Title | Hours | ECTS | Learning Outcomes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Type: Directed | |||
| Lessons, with activities on cases, papers or other materials | 31.5 | 1.26 | CA07, KA08, KA09, SA12, SA13, CA07 |
| Type: Supervised | |||
| Group work preparation | 14.5 | 0.58 | CA07, CA08, SA11, SA13, CA07 |
| Type: Autonomous | |||
| course work preparation | 25 | 1 | CA07, CA08, SA11, SA13, CA07 |
| Reading and study | 76 | 3.04 | KA08, KA09, SA11, SA13, KA08 |
The course will be carried out combining lessons and the implementation of participatory activities in the classroom where problem solving, case studies, and discussions of papers or other materials will take place.
Annotation: Within the schedule set by the centre or degree programme, 15 minutes of one class will be reserved for students to evaluate their lecturers and their courses or modules through questionnaires.
Assessment
Continous Assessment Activities
| Title | Weighting | Hours | ECTS | Learning Outcomes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| EV1 - Exam | 50% | 2 | 0.08 | KA08, KA09 |
| EV2- Evaluation of participation in the lessons | 25% | 0 | 0 | CA07, KA08, KA09, SA12 |
| EV3- Presentation of a team work | 25% | 1 | 0.04 | CA07, CA08, SA11, SA13 |
The evaluation is carried out based on three pieces of evidence:
- An individual and written evaluation test (EV1), which will have a weight of 50% of the final grade.
- Participation in class sessions (in the discussions and activities that will be proposed in class) (EV2), which will have a weight of 25%.
- An oral presentation in a small group of a work on one of the topics that will be proposed (EV3), which will have a weight of 25%.
Feedback: For EV1 it will be offered, if requested, orally and individually in a tutoring session, once the grades are published. For EV2, feedback will be oral and in group, and will be carried out in the classroom or through a digital tool (as the case may be), in the same session or in the following session (depending on the type of activity carried out). For EV1, feedback will be offered, if requested, orally and in a small group, in a tutoring session, once the grades are published.
A student will be considered evaluable if he or she has delivered evidence of learning with a weight equal to or greater than 40% of the course’s grade (4 points).
The course will be considered passed if the student has carried out the three evidences and has obtained a grade equal to or greater than 5 as a result of the weighted sum of the evidences; otherwise, the maximum grade in the course will be 4.5.
Those students who exceed the grade of 3.5 but do not obtain a 5, and who have completed at least 2 of the course evidences, will be eligible for recovery. In this case, it will be necessary to recover the evidence that was not passed to obtain the maximum rating of 5. The EV2 cannot be recovered.
An evaluation using a single, non-recoverable synthesis test is NOT foreseen for students in their 2nd or later registration.
Use of AI is strictly prohibited. In this course, the useof Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies is not allowed at any stage. Any work containing AI-generated content will be considered a breach of academic integrity and may result in partial or total penalties in the grade for the activity, or more severe disciplinary actions in serious cases.
Bibliography
Adamson, L. B., Bakeman, R., & Deckner, D. F. (2004). The development of symbol- infused joint engagement. Child Development, 75 (4), 1171–1187.
Adrien, T. V., Hirst, A., Tsai, A.-L., Chen, R., Hayes-Larson, E., Levy, S.-A., Zahodne, L., Crane, P. K., Peterson, R., Gilsanz, P., & Turney, I. (2023). 70 Childhood SES and Midlife CVD on Late-life Cognition. Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society, 29(s1), 375–375.
Aparici, M. (2011). Hi ha proves que les per sones que han adquirit un bon domini de dues llengües de manera precoç tenen avantatges cognitius, comparades amb les persones monolingües? A Strubell, M., Andreu, Ll. & Sintes, E. (coord.) (2011). Resultats del model lingüístic escolar català. L'evidència empírica. Linguamón-UOC.
Aparici, M. (2019). Desarrollo multilingüe. En M. Aparici & A. Igualada (2019). El desarrollo del lenguaje y lacomunicación en la infancia. Editorial UOC.
Costa, A. (2017). El cerebro bilingüe. La neurociencia del lenguaje. Debate.
Der Nederlanden, S. J., Schaeffer, J. C., Van Bakel, H. H. J. A., & Dirks, E. (2025). Socio-economic status and other potential risk factors for language development in the first year of life. Journal of Child Language, 52(1), 42–62.
D’souza, D., D’souza, H., & Karmiloff-Smith, A. (2017). Precursors to language development in typically and atypically developing infants and toddlers: the importance of embracing complexity. Journal of Child Language, 44(3), 591–627.
Hoff, E. & Core, C. (2015). What Clinicians Need to Know about Bilingual Development. Seminars in Speech and Language, 36(2), 89-99.
Im-Bolter, N., Agostino, A., Owens-Jaffray, K. (2016). Theory of mind in middle childhood and early adolescence: different from before? Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 149, 98–115.
Karmiloff-Smith, A. (1996). Más allá de la modularidad: Una perspectiva del desarrollo sobre la arquitectura de la mente. Cambridge University Press.
Luk, G., Anderson, J. A. E., & Grundy, J. G. (Eds.). (2023). Understanding Language and Cognition through Bilingualism (Vol. 64). John Benjamins Publishing Company.
Miller, S. E., & Marcovitch, S. (2012). How theory of mind and executive function co-develop. Review of Philosophy and Psychology, 3(4), 597–625.
Mundy, P., Block, J., Delgado, C., Pomares, Y., Van Hecke, A. V., & Parlade, M. V. (2007). Individual Differences and the Development of Joint Attention in Infancy. Child Development, 78(3), 938–954.
Nieva, S., Conboy, B., Aguilar-Mediavilla, E., & Rodríguez, L. (2020). Prácticas en logopedia infantil en entornos bilingües y multilingües. Recomendaciones basadas en la evidencia. Revista de Logopedia, Foniatría y Audiología, 40(4), 194-213.
Perszyk, D. R., & Waxman, S. R. (2018). Linking Language and Cognition in Infancy. Annual Review of Psychology, 69, 231–250.
Pickering, S. & Phye, G.D. (Eds.) (2008), Working Memory and Education (Educational Psychology). Academic Press.
Ruiz-Vargas, J.M. (2010). Manual de Psicología de la memoria. Síntesis.
Senter, R., & Chow, J. C. (2023). A Mixed-Methods Analysis of Speech-Language Pathologists' Executive Function Services. American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 32(6), 2734–2751.
Shokrkon, A., & Nicoladis, E. (2022). The Directionality of the Relationship Between Executive Functions and Language Skills: A Literature Review. Frontiers in Psychology, 13, 848696.
Smith, E. E. & Kosslyn, S. M. (2008). Procesos cognitivos: modelos y bases neuronales (M. J. Ramos Platón, Trad.). Pearson Prentice Hall.
Software
N/A
Groups and Languages
Please note that this information is provisional until 30 November 2025. You can check it through this link. To consult the language you will need to enter the CODE of the subject.
| Name | Group | Language | Semester | Turn |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| (TEm) Theory (master) | 1 | Spanish | second semester | afternoon |