The development of communicative competence
Winter 2022: CHDV 38950, PSYC 38960, LING 38951, EDSO 38950
Tuesdays and Thursdays 14.00-15.20 Chicago time
Office hours: Tuesdays 15.30–16.30 in Rosenwald 318A or by appointment
Instructor: Marisa Casillas (mcasillas@uchicago.edu)
This course examines the emergence of communicative skills in humans. We will discuss the proposed cognitive, developmental, and evolutionary roots of communicative behaviors, with a focus on current gaps in our knowledge and possible pathways forward. The course will consider these issues from multiple perspectives including linguistics, psychology, and linguistic anthropology, and will cover a wide range of methods used to analyze communicative cognition. It is expected that, by the end of the course, students will able to think and write critically about how human communication and human language are intertwined in both adults and children.
Grading
Students enrolled in this course will be graded on the following basis:
| Component | Percentage |
|---|---|
| Reading notes | 45% |
| Transcription mini-project | 15% |
| Research proposal | 20% |
| Participation | 20% |
Reading notes (45%)
Students are expected to submit digital notes summarizing and reacting to each assigned reading (~1/2 page+ each). Dr. Casillas will evaluate each student’s notes for each reading: tips for effective note-taking will be covered in the first class. There are a total of 36 assigned readings, but notes are only required for 30 of them, and students may pick which 30 readings to submit notes for (i.e., students earn 1.5% for each reading with satisfactory notes).
- 30 x 1.5 point for every reading with notes
Transcription mini-project (15%)
Students will incrementally add annotations to a small collection of interaction clips over multiple weeks. Each time they submit new annotations, they are expected to submit short written reflections on their progress (200–500 words). The submission of annotations and reflections takes place four times (up to 3% for all four submissions). Students will also propose a mini research question that can be addressed by additional annotations of the data (up to 2%) and after executing these additional annotations, will present their findings to the class (up to 1%).
- 4 x 3 points for every annotation + reflections submission
- 1 x 2 points for proposal of mini research question
- 1 x 1 points for flash presentation of findings
Research proposal (20%)
Students will propose a research project relevant to topics covered in class; proposals can be in the form of follow-up studies or a new line of research (10–15 single-spaced pages). Students will give a flash presentation of their proposed research in class (up to 2%). Full proposals are due the Tuesday of finals week (up to 18%).
To ensure timely completion of a high-quality proposal, please take advantage of the optional deadlines in the schedule below for initial drafts of the outline, design, and literature review). Dr. Casillas will give early feedback for initial drafts submitted at these deadlines so that students can improve the proposal before their final submission.
- 1 x 2 points for flash presentation of the proposed research
- 1 x 18 points for the full proposal of research project
Participation (20%)
This is a discussion-based class and students are generally expected to come to class and actively participate in discussion. By default, students are expected to attend class, ask at least one question, and respond to at least one question (max 1% per class). If the student cannot make it to class in person, but can join remotely, they should contact Dr. Casillas with a brief explanation and make use of the course Zoom link. If the student cannot join either the in-person or remote class, they should contact Dr. Casillas with a brief explanation and submit one thoughtful question and response(s) to all activities and questions posed in the lecture materials to her within two days, unless noted otherwise. The last 2% of participation credit is earned by making contributions to each class debate (up to 1% each).
- 18 x 1 point for active attendance at each class
- 2 x 1 point for contributions to the debate and the turn-taking “feature” presentation
Course schedule
Foundational concepts for interaction study
Week 01: Tuesday, 11 January 2022
Pre-class reading
Levinson, S. C. (1995). Interactional biases in human thinking. In E. N. Goody (Ed.), Social intelligence and interaction (pp. 221-260). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. pdf
Clark, H. H. (1996). Joint Actions. In Using Language (pp. 59–91). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. pdf
Levinson, S. C. (2006). On the human “interaction engine”. In N. J. Enfield, & S. C. Levinson (Eds.), Roots of Human Sociality: Culture, Cognition and Interaction (pp. 39-69). Oxford: Berg. pdf
Assignments due
None!
Week 01: Thursday, 13 January 2022
Pre-class reading
Sacks, H., Schegloff, E. A., & Jefferson, G. (1974). A simplest systematics for the organization of turn taking for conversation. In Studies in the Organization of Conversational Interaction (pp. 7-55). Academic Press. pdf
Stivers, T. (2013). Sequence Organization. In J. Sidnell and T. Stivers (Eds.), The Handbook of Conversation Analysis (pp. 191–209). Blackwell Publishing Ltd. pdf
Stivers, T., & Rossano, F. (2010). Mobilizing response. Research on Language and Social Interaction, 43(1), 3-31. pdf
Assignments due
- Reading notes for both January 4th and 6th.
- Fill out data protection mini tutorial
- Start thinking about which interaction clips you want to annotate
Comparative interaction studies
Week 02: Tuesday, 18 January 2022
Pre-class reading
Stivers, T., Enfield, N. J., Brown, P., Englert, C., Hayashi, M., Heinemann, T., … & Levinson, S. C. (2009). Universals and cultural variation in turn-taking in conversation. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 106(26), 10587-10592. pdf
Dingemanse, M., Roberts, S. G., Baranova, J., Blythe, J., Drew, P., Floyd, S., Gisladottir, R. S., Kendrick, K. H., Levinson, S. C., Manrique, E., Rossi, G., & Enfield, N. J. (2015). Universal Principles in the Repair of Communication Problems. PLOS ONE, 10(9): e0136100. pdf
*Kendrick, K. H., Brown, P., Dingemanse, M., Floyd, S., Gipper, S., Hayano, K., Hoey, E., Hoymann, G., Manrique, E., Rossi, G., & Levinson, S. C. (2020). Sequence organization: A universal infrastructure for social action. Journal of Pragmatics, 168, 119–138. pdf
*Enfield, N. J., Stivers, T., Brown, P., Englert, C., Harjunpää, K., Hayashi, M., … & Raymond, C. W. (2019). Polar answers. Journal of Linguistics, 55(2), 277-304. pdf
* = Optional
Assignments due
- Reading notes
- Choose/make your interaction clips for annotation; notify Dr. Casillas
Week 02: Thursday, 20 January 2022
Pre-class reading
Pika, S., Wilkinson, R., Kendrick, K. H., & Vernes, S. C. (2018). Taking turns: bridging the gap between human and animal communication. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 285(1880), 20180598. pdf
*Fröhlich, M., Kuchenbuch, P., Müller, G., Fruth, B., Furuichi, T., Wittig, R. M., & Pika, S. (2016). Unpeeling the layers of language: Bonobos and chimpanzees engage in cooperative turn-taking sequences. Scientific Reports, 6, 25887. pdf
* = Optional
Assignments due
- Reading notes
- Annotations: Diarization (due by Sunday, January 23rd 13.59 Chicago time)
- Reflection paragraph: In what ways did the organization of turns in your clips align with the ideas we have covered so far? In what ways did it deviate from expectations? (due by Sunday, January 23rd 13.59 Chicago time)
Week 03: Tuesday, 25 January 2022
Pre-class reading
Ratner, N., & Bruner, J. (1978). Games, social exchange and the acquisition of language. Journal of Child Language, 5(3), 391-401. pdf
Gaskins, S. (2006). Cultural perspectives on infant-caregiver interaction. In N. J. Enfield, & S. C. Levinson (Eds.), Roots of Human Sociality: Culture, Cognition and Interaction (pp. 279-298). Oxford: Berg. pdf
Bornstein, M. H., Putnick, D. L., Cote, L. R., Haynes, O. M., & Suwalsky, J. T. (2015). Mother-infant contingent vocalizations in 11 countries. Psychological Science, 26(8), 1272-1284. pdf
Assignments due
- Reading notes
Cognitive models of interaction
Week 03: Thursday, 27 January 2022
Pre-class reading
Levinson, S. C., & Torreira, F. (2015). Timing in turn-taking and its implications for processing models of language. Frontiers in Psychology, 6: 731. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2015.00731. pdf
Pickering, M. J., & Garrod, S. (2004). Toward a mechanistic psychology of dialogue. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 27(2), 169-190. pdf
Assignments due
- Reading notes
- Annotations: First-pass transcription (due by Sunday, January 30th 13.59 Chicago time)
- Reflection paragraph: What does transcription miss about interaction? How would you propose to maximize the benefits of transcription while minimizing missed information? (Be practical.) (due by Sunday, January 30th 13.59 Chicago time)
Week 04: Tuesday, 01 February 2022
[slides] [no recording today—in-class work session]
Pre-class reading
Bögels, S., & Torreira, F. (2015). Listeners use intonational phrase boundaries to project turn ends in spoken interaction. Journal of Phonetics, 52, 46-57. pdf
Wilson, M., & Wilson, T. P. (2005). An oscillator model of the timing of turn-taking. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 12(6), 957-968. pdf
*Bögels, S., & Levinson, S. C. (2017). The brain behind the response: Insights into turn-taking in conversation from neuroimaging. Research on Language and Social Interaction, 50, 71-89. pdf
* = Optional
Assignments due
- Reading notes
- Outline for presentation on turn-taking feature
Week 04: Thursday, 03 February 2022
Pre-class reading
Bögels, S. (2020). Neural correlates of turn taking in the wild: Response planning starts early in free interviews. Cognition, 203:104347. pdf
Lelonkiewicz, J. R., Gambi, C., Weller, L., & Pfister, R. (2020). Action-effect anticipation and temporal adaptation in social interactions. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 46(4), 335–349. pdf
*Rabagliati, H., Robertson, A., & Carmel, D. (2018). The importance of awareness for understanding language. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 147(2), 190. pdf
* = Optional
Assignments due
- Reading notes
- Presentation on turn-taking feature
Visible conversation
Week 05: Tuesday, 08 February 2022
Pre-class reading
Holler, J. & Levinson, S. C. (2019). Multimodal language processing in human communication. Trends in Cognitive Sciences 23(8), p. 639–652. pdf
De Vos, C., Torreira, F., & Levinson, S. C. (2015). Turn-timing in signed conversations: Coordinating stroke-to-stroke turn boundaries. Frontiers in Psychology, 6:268. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2015.00268. pdf
*Holler, J., Kendrick, K. H., & Levinson, S. C. (2018). Processing language in face-to-face conversation: Questions with gestures get faster responses. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 25(5), 1900-1908. doi:10.3758/s13423-017-1363-z. pdf
* = Optional
Assignments due
- Reading notes
- Second-pass transcribe conversation clips
- Reflection paragraph: What did you neglect to notice when you first transcribed the clips? What do you think you would discover if you made a further correctional pass?
Week 05: Thursday, 10 February 2022
Pre-class reading
Hömke, P., Holler, J., & Levinson, S. C. (2018). Eye blinks are perceived as communicative signals in human face-to-face interaction. PLoS One, 13(12): e0208030. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0208030. pdf
Pouw, W., Proksch, S., Drijvers, L., Gamba, M., Holler, J., Kello, C., Schaefer, R. S., & Wiggins, G. A. (2021). Multilevel rhythms in multimodal communication. _Philosophical Transactions B, 376:_20200334. pdf
*Latif, N., Alsius, A., & Munhall, K. G. (2018). Knowing when to respond: the role of visual information in conversational turn exchanges. Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics, 80(1), 27-41. pdf
* = Optional
Assignments due
- Reading notes
Conversation with child interactants
Week 06: Tuesday, 15 February 2022
[slides] [no recording—class canceled]
Pre-class reading
Snow, C. E. (1977). The development of conversation between mothers and babies. Journal of Child Language, 4(1), 1-22. pdf
Casillas, M., & Hilbrink, E. (2020). Communicative act development. In K. P. Schneider, & E. Ifantidou (Eds.), Developmental and Clinical Pragmatics. De Gruyter Mouton. pdf
Assignments due
- Reading notes
- 500 word (maximum) proposal for additional analysis on the conversation clips
Week 06: Thursday, 17 February 2022
Pre-class reading
Stivers, T., Sidnell, J., & Bergen, C. (2018). Children’s responses to questions in peer interaction: A window into the ontogenesis of interactional competence. Journal of Pragmatics, 124, 14-30. pdf
Shatz, M. (1978). On the development of communicative understandings: An early strategy for interpreting and responding to messages. Cognitive Psychology, 10(3), 271-301. pdf
*Shatz, M., & O’Reilly, A. W. (1990). Conversational or communicative skill? A reassessment of two-year-olds’ behaviour in miscommunication episodes. Journal of Child Language, 17(1), 131-146. pdf
* = Optional
Assignments due
- Reading notes
Language meets interaction in development
Week 07: Tuesday, 22 February 2022
Pre-class reading
Hilbrink, E., Gattis, M., & Levinson, S. C. (2015). Early developmental changes in the timing of turn-taking: A longitudinal study of mother-infant interaction. Frontiers in Psychology, 6:1492. pdf
Casillas, M., Bobb, S. C., & Clark, E. V. (2016). Turn taking, timing, and planning in early language acquisition. Journal of Child Language, 43, 1310-1337. pdf
*Lindsay, L., Gambi, C., & Rabagliati, H. (2019). Preschoolers optimize the timing of their conversational turns through flexible coordination of language comprehension and production. Psychological Science. pdf
* = Optional
Assignments due
- Reading notes
- 3-min flash talk on reasoning, methods, and results of added annotations
- Peer grades of flash talks (due same day by 23.59 Chicago time)
- Final annotation files, with instructions attached for how to add annotations (due same day by 23.59 Chicago time)
Week 07: Thursday, 24 February 2022
Pre-class reading
Casillas, M., & Frank, M. C. (2017). The development of children’s ability to track and predict turn structure in conversation. Journal of Memory and Language, 92, 234-253. pdf
Clark, E. V. (2020). Conversational repair and the acquisition of language. Discourse Processes, XX, 1–19. pdf
Chouinard, M. M., & Clark, E. V. (2003). Adult reformulations of child errors as negative evidence. Journal of Child Language, 30(3), 637-669. pdf
Assignments due
- Reading notes
Conversational “input”
Week 08: Tuesday, 01 March 2022
Pre-class reading
Rowe, M. L. (2012). A longitudinal investigation of the role of quantity and quality of child‐directed speech in vocabulary development. Child Development, 83(5), 1762-1774. pdf
Donnellan, E., Bannard, C., McGillion, M. L., Slocombe, K. E., & Matthews, D. (2020). Infants’ intentionally communicative vocalizations elicit responses from caregivers and are the best predictors of the transition to language: A longitudinal investigation of infants’ vocalizations, gestures and word production. Developmental Science, e12843. pdf
*Romeo, R. R., Leonard, J. A., Robinson, S. T., West, M. R., Mackey, A. P., Rowe, M. L., & Gabrieli, J. D. (2018). Beyond the 30-million-word gap: Children’s conversational exposure is associated with language-related brain function. Psychological Science, 29(5), 700-710. pdf
Assignments due
- Reading notes
- OPTIONAL: Draft of research proposal outline
Week 08: Thursday, 03 March 2022
Pre-class reading
Dunn, J., & Shatz, M. (1989). Becoming a conversationalist despite (or because of) having an older sibling. Child Development, 399-410. pdf
Brown, P. (2011). The cultural organization of attention. In A. Duranti, E. Ochs, & B. B. Schieffelin (Eds.), The Handbook of Language Socialization (pp. 29-55). Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell. pdf
Barton, M. E., & Tomasello, M. (1991). Joint attention and conversation in mother‐infant‐sibling triads. Child Development, 62(3), 517-529. pdf
Assignments due
- Reading notes
- OPTIONAL: Draft of research proposal study design
Wrapping up
Week 09: Tuesday, 08 March 2022
NO CLASS
Assignments due
- OPTIONAL: Draft of research proposal literature review
Week 09: Thursday, 10 March 2022
[no recording]
Pre-class reading
None!
Assignments due
- Research proposal flash talks
Finals week
DUE MARCH 15, 2022 AT 11.59 CHICAGO TIME: Full research proposal (10–15 pages; see rubric)
Contact
Email: mcasillas@uchicago.edu
Office: Rosenwald 318A
Office hours: Tuesdays 15.30–16.30 in Rosenwald 318A or by appointment
If you require any accommodations for this course, as soon as possible please provide your instructor with a copy of your Accommodation Determination Letter (provided to you by the Student Disability Services office) so that you may discuss with him/her how your accommodations may be implemented in this course. The University of Chicago is committed to ensuring the full participation of all students in its programs. If you have a documented disability (or think you may have a disability) and, as a result, need a reasonable accommodation to participate in class, complete course requirements, or benefit from the University’s programs or services, you are encouraged to contact Student Disability Services as soon as possible. To receive reasonable accommodation, you must be appropriately registered with Student Disability Services. Please contact the office at 773-834-4469/TTY 773-795-1186 or gmoorehead@uchicago.edu, or visit the website at disabilities.uchicago.edu. Student Disability Services is located in Room 233 in the Administration Building located at 5801 S. Ellis Avenue.