Course info

Bilingualism and multilingualism are ubiquitous in today’s world. As our joint class research project conducted with the 2019 group of MA students shows, there are no monolinguals among Polish university students. Everybody in the current population of students uses English and/or other languages in the digital environment for real-life purposes, i.e. communicating on the social media, looking up information or recreationally. Also, demographic processes, including mobility within the EU and influx of migrants from outside the EU, contribute to the changing landscape of language use in the Polish population, posing various challenges, for example, for the system of education.

Bilingualism has been the focus of research interest for almost a century. The question of the relationship between bilingualism and general cognitive processes has been central since the very beginning. Are bilinguals more (or perhaps less) intelligent than the general population? Are there any general cognitive benefits of knowing and using another language? Is there a health benefit? Do bilinguals see the world the same way monolinguals do? Are bilingual concepts and understanding of the world different? How are the two languages of a bilingual processed in the mind? Are there any costs of knowing more than one language? What happens to the bilingual’s native language? These are only some of the questions asked by bilingualism researchers at various points. In addition, we know of a multitude of factors influencing bilingual development and cognitive outcomes, ranging from L1 proficiency to the amount of daily code-switching.

Just as bilingualism research has always been interdisciplinary, in this seminar we will focus on the different perspectives in the study of bilingual language use and bilingual cognition. This construction of the field allows for a broad range of prospective MA research project topics related to bilingual language acquisition, processing and use, depending on the specific interests of class participants.

Course outline and credit requirements: Our work throughout the course will be divided into stages leading up to the preparation of a research-based thesis. During the first semester a brief overview of the topic will be provided. By the end of this semester the participants will be expected to choose the general topic of their thesis and conduct a basic reference search. A detailed research project with specific research questions and procedures will be expected by the end of the second semester. Throughout the next year the participants will be expected to conduct the research and report on it. Guidance on research methods and individual tuition will be provided throughout the course. Course evaluation will be progress-based and will include both classroom activities and thesis-related work.