The Psychology of Reading, Writing and Bilingualism

The first part of this psychology course focuses on the principles of reading and writing. We trace the process the brain employs to interpret written texts and investigate different forms of written language. We examine the characteristics present in different types of text and study the mental processes involved in the comprehension of different languages.

The course then delves into orthography, or spelling systems. We discuss barriers to reading and writing like dyslexia and trace their impact on people’s psychology and learning experience. We look at how people compose written texts and establish what it takes to develop something fully from a writer’s standpoint.  

Being able to speak two languages is a skill that many people across the world possess or are forced to acquire. Irish people were forced to learn English alongside their native Gaelic, most Finnish can speak Swedish fluently and the people of Nigeria swing in and out of different dialects on a daily basis. This course studies the ways that our brains develop the ability to read, write and speak languages and suits anyone who is interested in the mental processes at play. This course can benefit students of linguistics and psychology and probes the processes we employ to make sense of the world around us.