course title
Current issues in sentence comprehension research
instructor
Shravan Vasishth
dates and location
Mondays 1415-1545,
Golm campus, Haus 08, Room 0.13
what this course is about
This is a graduate level course on some of the current issues that are of interest in the sentence comprehension literature.
prerequisites
None, except that the students have to be graduate students.
grading
Grading will be based on the grades of homework assignments and class discussions.
Grading will be based on homework assignments (70%) and class participation (30%).
Homework will begin with the second part of the course, and will involve the following. For each paper assigned to the class, every student must write down at least three questions that relate to the issues discussed in the paper. These questions should be a product of your having critically thought about the paper and its claims. Questions like "I didn't understand X" don't count; such questions can be raised in class or in the moodle forum. I will grade you on the thoughtfulness of your questions. I will provide examples of good and bad questions. For each reading a group of students will be assigned to summarize the discussion. This involves (a) collecting together all the questions; (b) organizing them into themes, and (c) discussing these themes in class (this part will involve everyone, and will especially involve me). A final issue: in order to allow the summarizing group to have enough time to prepare the summary, all submissions for a paper must be delivered on moodle \textbf{one week} in advance of discussion of the paper. So, if a paper is to be discussed next Monday, your submission is due on moodle Monday of this week.
Final
scores will be based on the following mapping described in the
Studienordnung: 95-100%=1,0 (A);90-94=1,3 (A-);85-89=1,7
(B+);80-84=2,0 (B);75-79=2,3 (B-);70-74=2,7 (C+);65-69=3,0
(C);60-64=3,3 (C-);55-59=3,7 (D+);50-54=4,0 (D);45-49=5,0 (F). If a
student's score falls between the cracks, it will be treated as
falling in the higher bin. The EMCL group has a different grading scheme; if there are any EMCL students in the class I will adjust the grades to match their Studienordnung.
Students are expected to attend class regularly. If a
class is missed, the student is responsible for finding out what the
assignment was, what readings were assigned, and what material was
covered.
conduct in the classroom
Please do not engage in private conversations during class.
All cell phones must be switched off (except by permission from me).
Please do not surf the web or read email while the class is on.
Please do not walk into class after it starts, unless you have a really good reason to be late (example: Deutsche Bahn screwed up yet again). 14:15 is the deadline to be ready for class.
Questions to the instructor are actively encouraged.
rough schedule
Please sign up on moodle to get the reading material, slides, assignments, etc.
Sign up here.
| topic |
dates |
slides, readings, in-class exercises |
presenter |
| Part 1: Introduction to sentence comprehension |
April 19 (approximately 6 lectures) |
to be provided on moodle
|
Shravan
|
Part 2: Readings |
Roughly around May 17 onwards |
to be provided on moodle
|
Shravan
| |
June 14 |
Eberhard et al
|
Shravan
| |
June 21 |
Wagers et al
|
Shravan
| |
June 28 |
Haussler and Bader
|
Shravan
| |
July 5 |
Staub
|
Shravan
| |
July 12 |
Kazanina et al
|
Shravan
| |
July 19 |
Aoshima et al
|
Shravan
| |
July 23? (date open for discussion) |
Lau et al, Staub and Clifton
|
Shravan
|