Task Outline

3. Task Summary

Your task is to critically analyse the empirical support for the central claims presented in an online article. You will also be required to develop a search strategy to identify scholarly articles that support or counter the claims made in the article. You are then required to present and explain the relevance of the presented evidence in relation to the primary issue in the article and comment on the credibility of the claims made by the author. Finally, you must adhere to scientific writing conventions to clearly articulate your argument. This includes your ability to construct a logical, well-structured, and well-supported argument.

4. Central Claims of the Article

The central claim of the source article is that sleep helps us store recently learned memories, and this can help us to learn a language. Your task is to evaluate the veracity of these claims using scholarly, empirical evidence. You can evaluate these claims using direct evidence (e.g. research showing humans learning words during sleep), or indirect evidence (e.g. studies using animal models). You should target 2-3 claims.

5. Stimulus article to be critiqued

The stimulus article to be critiqued is called “Can you learn a language in your sleep? Research says you can!” and can be accessed from the following URL: https://bilingualkidspot.com/2018/07/16/can-you-learn-a-language-in-your-sleep/

6. Background to stimulus article

The source article discusses the possibility that humans can learn a new language while they sleep. Specifically, it is discussed how sleeping after a period of studying vocabulary of a foreign language results in significantly better memory for the studies words. Supposedly, the sleeping brain is better able to “store” recently learned knowledge better than the waking brain. Hence, sleeping after a period of study might boost memory. One specific application of this might be helping us learn a new language.

For your assignment, you should choose 2-3 major claims from the article and find research that relates to those claims. Based on your findings, decide whether each claim is supported or not.