After completion of the course, students should be able to discuss recent psychological, neuroscientific, and linguistic developments in the domain of multilingualism. They should also understand the rationale underlying recent studies in terms of their methodological, theoretical, and modelling aspects. Finally, the course will train skills of critical reflection on the literature by requiring essay questions and an in-depth oral presentation with respect to one specific research theme.

In the first part of the course, neuroscientific and (psycho)linguistic approaches to multilingualism are considered to characterize how multilinguals read, listen, speak, and learn foreign languages. Processes and representations are described at sublexical (phonemic and syllabic), lexical, syntactic, semantic, and dialogue levels. The focus of the course lies on a still-unresolved but central question: Since languages sometimes help each other and sometimes fight each other during processing, what determines the balancing act between the various languages in the multilingual mind? An in-depth understanding of this issue requires a consideration of the types of stimulus materials and research techniques in use, the effects of age of acquisition, and the available bilingual models of language (non)selective access and executive control. Complex issues like word translation and foreign-accented speech are informative here as well.
The second part of the course deepens the student's knowledge of multilingualism and second language acquisition with respect to a chosen theme or application by means of one or more relevant articles. The gist of what the student has read and understood is presented to fellow students and incorporated in a written report that is made available to others (and limited in size).