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Children with developmental speech disorder of no known aetiology constitute a heterogeneous group, both in their presenting difficulties, which can include additional language and speech perception difficulties, and in the developmental course of the disorder. This thesis examines this heterogeneity from a developmental and psycholinguistic perspective. Using a longitudinal design, speech processing and language skills are explored over three years in a group of children with speech difficulties (n=47) and an age- and nonverbal IQ-matched longitudinal control group (n=47), mean age 4;06 - 6;07. Other measures were of developmental history, family history, psychosocial status and therapy input. Key areas of investigation were: the proportion of children whose speech later resolves; uncovering the 'resolving' and 'persisting' profile; the role of input processing in speech development, in particular, the role of accent variability; and the occurrence of dissociable speech processing patterns on matched word/nonword repetition and on speech input tasks. Group characteristics were examined through an analysis of patterns of dissociation on tasks across the group and an examination of patterns of association on speech and language measures (in comparison to the control group) in order to establish the developmental relationships between different aspects of speech processing. Thus concurrent and longitudinal relationships were examined using descriptive statistics, prospective and retrospective subgroup analyses and multiple regression analyses. A 'persisting' speech profile was identified as a pervasive speech processing and language difficulty and/or more severe speech output problems. A 'resolved' profile was confined to early, moderate, specific speech difficulties. Apart from nonword repetition, there was no evidence that speech outcome was related to different rates of speech or language development. Using evidence from normal and atypical development, an interactive view of speech development is outlined. Despite the need to understand development as interactive, speech output performance is argued to be the main factor mediating and constraining change between the ages of 4-6 in children with speech difficulties. An emerging discrepancy between word and nonword repetition, with nonword repetition not improving at similar rates to word repetition in some children with persisting speech difficulties, is cited as additional evidence that speech output, in particular, motor programming deficit, is the core characteristic of a persisting speech disorder.

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Despite the potential and increased availability of media technology, including advanced technologies such as computers and CD-ROM multimedia, teachers' actual use of technology, and particularly of the advanced technologies, in FLT/L in higher education in Korea still tends to be limited. The purposes of this study were, therefore: 1) to investigate the current patterns and contexts of teachers' (and for reference, students') use of media technology and their attitudes towards its use in FLT/L at university level in Korea; 2) to examine the cause of problems and the possibilities of improvement in its use in FLT/L; and 3) based on these findings, to suggest some solutions and strategies for applying them to the Korean context. Quantitative and qualitative research methods were adopted, i.e., questionnaires, interviews, and classroom observations were used to collect the data required for this study. The subjects consisted of forty-eight teachers who teach English (and 535 students) at twelve universities in the central districts in Korea. In addition, workshopbased experiments were carried out to gather additional data on teachers' opinions and to evaluate the implications of the study. This study shows that the majority of Korean teachers (and students) have positive attitudes towards the use of media technology in FLT/L, with generally no significant gender and years of teaching experience (and academic years) differences, although they make little use of it. The study suggests that the availability of media technology equipment and appropriate materials in particular, teachers' knowledge of it, and proper teacher training have a positive impact on teachers' attitudes towards its use, and are, in addition to their positive attitudes, the other main factors influencing its successful implementation in FLT/L. It is concluded that to provide the teachers with sufficient knowledge of the capabilities of media technology and to encourage wider use, more access to hardware and software is necessary, and training to familiarise teachers with the hardware and software and its potential for language teaching is essential. Therefore, suggestions are made for the effective use of existing facilities, and for a model that could be adopted for teacher training courses.

Previous research has demonstrated the importance of the qualities of the teacher-child relationship on children’s development. Close teacher-child relationships are especially important for children at risk. Positive relationships have been shown to have beneficial effects on children’s social and academic development (Birch & Ladd, 1997; Pianta & Stuhlman, 2004). Children with language difficulties are likely to face increased risks with regard to long term social and academic outcomes. The purpose of the current research was to gain greater understanding of the qualities of teacher-child relationships for young children with parent reported language concerns. The research analyses completed for this thesis involved the use of data from the public-access database of Growing Up in Australia: The Longitudinal Study of Australian Children (LSAC). LSAC is a longitudinal study involving a nationally representative sample of 10,000 Australian children. Data are being collected biennially from 2004 (Wave 1 data collection) until 2010 (Wave 4 data collection). LSAC has a cross-sequential research design involving two cohorts, an infant cohort (0-1 year at age of recruitment) and a kindergarten cohort (4-5 years at age of recruitment). Two studies are reported in this thesis using data for the LSAC Kindergarten Cohort which had 4983 child participants at recruitment. Study 1 used Wave 1 data to identify the differences between teacher-child relationship qualities for children with parent reported language concerns and their peers. Children identified by parents for whom concerns were held about their receptive and expressive language, as measured by items from the Parents’ Evaluation of Developmental Status (PEDS) (Glascoe, 2000) were the target (at risk) group in the study (n = 210). A matched case control group of peers (n = 210), matched on the child characteristics of sex, age, cultural and linguistic differences (CALD), and socio-economic positioning (SEP), were the comparison group for this analysis. Teacher-child relationship quality was measured by teacher reports on the Closeness and Conflict scales from the short version of the Student-Teacher Relationship Scale (STRS) (Pianta, 2001). There were statistically significant differences in the levels of closeness and conflict between the two groups. The target group had relationships with their teachers that had lower levels of closeness and higher levels of conflict than the control group. Study 2 reports analyses that examined the stability of the qualities of the teacher-child relationships at Wave 1 (4-5 years) and the qualities of the teacher-child relationships at Wave 2 (6-7 years). This time frame crosses the period of the children’s transition to school. The study examined whether early patterns in the qualities of the teacher-child relationship for children with parent reported language concerns at Wave 1 predicted the qualities of the teacher-child relationship outcomes in the early years of formal school. The sample for this study consisted of the group of children identified with PEDS language concerns at Wave 1 who also had teacher report data at Wave 2 (n = 145). Teacher-child relationship quality at Wave 1 and Wave 2 was again measured by the STRS scales of Closeness and Conflict. Results from multiple regression models indicated that teacher-child relationship quality at Wave 1 significantly contributed to the prediction of the quality of the teacher-child relationship at Wave 2, beyond other predictor variables included in the regression models. Specifically, Wave 1 STRS Closeness scores were the most significant predictor for STRS Closeness scores at Wave 2, while Wave 1 STRS Conflict scores were the only significant predictor for Wave 2 STRS Conflict outcomes. These results indicate that the qualities of the teacher-child relationship experienced prior to school by children with parent reported language concerns remained stable across transitions into formal schooling at which time the child had a different teacher. The results of these studies provide valuable insight into the nature of teacher-child relationship quality for young children with parent reported language concerns. These children experienced teacher-child relationships of a lower quality when compared with peers and, additionally, the qualities of these relationships prior to formal schooling were predictive of the qualities of the relationships in the early years of formal schooling. This raises concerns, given the increased risks of poorer social and academic outcomes already faced by children with language difficulties, that these early teacher-child relationships have an impact on future teacher-child relationships. Results of these studies are discussed with these considerations in mind and also discussed in terms of the implications for educational theory, policy and practice.

This thesis begins with the assertion that there are serious inadequacies in the academic writing of Japanese students of English studying at the post-secondary level in Japan. To substantiate this claim, Chapter 1 presents a preliminary profile of student writing, based on a survey of the literature, the testimony of established authorities, and representative samples of student compositions, establishing baseline parameters of infelicity in their written work and identifying key features that characterize such writing. This survey also reveals numerous problems inherent in the research carried out to date, including the fact that terminological confusions are widespread and findings tend to be impressionistic and anecdotal. Chapter 1 concludes with a statement of the basic premise of this thesis, claiming that given effective instruction, based on an integrated approach to composition pedagogy, Japanese EL2 students are capable of making significant improvements in their academic writing skills. Although purely descriptive, taxonomic approaches to the analysis of written discourse, such as the profile of student writing presented in Chapter 1, are often a useful initial heuristic, they also have a number of important limits, especially in accommodating cross-language linguistic evidence, and in providing a suitable basis for understanding the origins of students' writing difficulties. Such issues cannot be resolved at this level of analysis and need to be addressed within a framework of applied linguistic theory. Chapter 2 establishes this framework, exploring the evolution of research models in contrastive rhetoric and examining the influence of related areas of investigation in contrastive linguistics and discourse linguistics. Based on the assumption that language learners will transfer the rhetorical features of their native language to the target language, causing interference in second language writing, contemporary theories in contrastive rhetoric have moved beyond the boundaries of text itself to include the cognitive and sociocultural dimensions of language transfer, in particular the context in which text is produced, both situational and cultural. This research paradigm provides the theoretical basis for the investigations that follow, defining the conceptual parameters of the present study. Although contrastive rhetoric has been strongly influenced by movements within applied linguistics, it also has a direct relationship with both classical and modem rhetoric. Chapter 3 explores this relationship, examining the evolution of rhetoric and discourse education in the western tradition in an investigation designed to clarify the standards, norms, and conventions that define the writing canon of modem English prose, and to identify the historical antecedents of modem-day disciplines such as discourse analysis, text linguistics, and composition pedagogy. While the study of rhetoric helps specify the qualities that define effective writing in English, how they originated, and why they continue to be valued, the vi goal of research in composition pedagogy is to develop approaches, methods, and techniques for the classroom which will tell us how such writing should be taught. Chapter 4 provides an overview of composition pedagogy in both Li and L2 contexts, investigating the multiplicity of approaches to teaching writing cuffently proliferating in the field and the theoretical assumptions that underlie them. Chapters 5 and 6 provide a roughly parallel descriptive framework for Japanese rhetoric along cultural, historical, and educational dimensions, for if rhetorical transfer from Japanese can be presumed to be one the main reasons for students' writing difficulties in English, then it is essential to have a rigorous accounting of Japanese rhetorical conventions, including the cultural and educational contexts from which they arise. Chapter 5 defines the principal characteristics of Japanese rhetoric from a sociohistorical perspective, identifying formative elements in the culture that influence rhetorical values and preferences, while Chapter 6 assesses the educational environment in which writing skills are acquired in Japan in a survey of Li and L2 composition instruction and practice in Japanese schools. Building on the conclusions drawn from these investigations, Chapter 7 sets forth a proposal of pedagogic action designed to offer solutions to the writing difficulties of Japanese EL2 students in an approach to L2 composition instruction which integrates research in contrastive rhetoric, applied linguistic theory, and general pedagogic principles. This proposed pedagogy is tested in an empirical study of student writing based on a pretestlposttest, experimental/control group design, and the results are discussed in terms of the importance of integrating approaches to composition pedagogy along diachronic, synchronic, and human dimensions.

A review of the related literature revealed that international students face specific academic challenges. The goal of this research was to investigate the effect of international student peer advising sessions on English as a Second Language (ESL) international students' perceptions of their language skills and strategies for dealing with academic tasks. The research design included a control and an experimental group with a pretest and a posttest administration of the Strategy Inventory for Language Learning (SILL) and the Xu International Student Academic Language Needs Assessment (ISALNA-2) instruments. Qualitative data was also collected. The participants in the study were upper-intermediate level international students in an intensive English program at a large metropolitan university. Scores (n = 23) on the SILL and the ISALNA-2 were used to investigate the changing perspectives of students receiving similar information from different sources, classroom teachers and peer advisors or only classroom teachers. Peer advising sessions were provided to the experimental group of students. The focus of the sessions was advice and direction in language skills (reading, writing, listening, and speaking) for university academic tasks. A split-plot analysis of variance was employed to analyze the quantitative data obtained from pre- and posttest administrations of the instruments. Analysis of the data did not reveal a statistically significant effect of the peer advising sessions as regards the improvement of scores on the SILL and ISALNA-2. Qualitative data (n = 29) indicated that the experimental participants were positively impacted in understanding the necessary language skills necessary for academic success. Interviews with the peer advisors revealed that they had enhanced their understanding of university expectations and had developed a higher level of confidence as a result of their participation in the advising sessions. Qualitative data revealed positive attitudes by the peer advisors in giving language skills information and by the ESL international students involved in receiving that information. The study format could contribute to future studies and may have implications for the development of international peer advising for English language instruction, foreign student orientation programs, host family programs, and programs linking foreign students with American student study partners.

This thesis is a critical examination of the „new vision‟ strategies that the Libyan government undertook in order to promote the deeper integration of the Libyan economy into the global economy of the Modern Orientalist World-System (MOWS). This process has been taking place since the lifting of the trade embargo on Libya by President Bush in April 2004. A crucial part of this new vision strategy was the promotion of human capital development amongst the Libyan population and with a particular emphasis upon English Language Acquisition (ELA). The argument, derived from neo-liberal thought, is that for Libya to transform itself it must embrace neo-liberal ideas that will see the government adopt the role of the enabling state, preparing Libyans for employment in a newly established private sector. ELA, the learning of what is called „global English‟, is the central part of the new vision human capital development goals. The assumption here is that by developing the English language skills of Libyans it will enhance their job prospects with foreign firms arriving in Libya. This strategy is being pursued in the aftermath of a state directed ban on the learning of English that was first decreed in 1986 and the consequences of which placed a significant obstacle in the way of the immediate employment prospects of a generation of young Libyan graduates. If the state developmental strategy now embraced by the Libyan government is to be successful then it must promote the rapid improvement in the second language skills of its young people (specifically „global English‟) if they are to take advantage of the opportunities offered by a newly opened economy. However, this strategy is fraught with dangers for the government as liberalising the Libyan economy weakens the control of the state over society. Thus the thesis addresses a number of key questions regarding the relationship between human capital (language skills) and the sociology of development; of human capital as a concept in the „modern Orientalist world-system‟; and the changing nature of state-society relations in Libya as the government attempts to integrate it more firmly into the MOWS. To what extent can the Libyan government transform its economy and society in a way that enhances its position in the MOWS rather than simply rendering it more dependent upon the power of the core?

The problem of this study was to compare the relative gains made in the development of oral language skills in two groups of first grade pupils when two different approaches to beginning reading instruction were used. The two approaches were: (a) the language experience approach, Approach A, and (b) the traditional basal reader approach, Approach B. The six aspects of oral language development considered were: extent of verbalization, spoken vocabulary, expressions of tentativeness, use of structural patterns, colorful and vivid expressions, and use of mazes.

Rationale: Research has repeatedly demonstrated that people have difficulty understanding their interrogation rights, as presented in an orally presented police caution. There has been a limited amount of research into possible means of improving understanding, with the application of linguistic, listenability, techniques to caution wording proving most effective amongst students. Methods: This thesis systematically reviewed research exploring verbal caution comprehension amongst adults involved in the criminal justice system, to isolate possible predictors of performance. It then assessed understanding of the Scottish police caution amongst people with an intellectual disability and if this can be improved using a modified (listenability) version. Results: IQ and verbal comprehension appear to have a positive association with understanding. However, the reviewed literature tends to use broad inclusion criteria that may increase confounding variables and reduce opportunity to isolate further possible predictors. People with intellectual disabilities performed poorly in assessment of their understanding of the Scottish police caution, even when the modified version was used. This was despite every participant claiming they had understood. Conclusions: The thesis questions whether the use of a verbal police caution fulfils the intention of communicating interrogation rights as required by law. It suggests more research into caution comprehension is required, with more specific inclusion criteria, to help better understand variables that predict understanding. The relationship between verbal ability and IQ suggest efforts to improve comprehension should be directed to people who have challenges in these abilities, such as people with intellectual disabilities. This should ensure any improvements can benefit a greater number of people. The thesis' empirical study suggests the method found effective amongst students does not extend to people with intellectual disabilities.