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Linguistic theories have always played an important role in understanding language disorders. For its part, the study of language disorders can contribute significant insights to theoretical debates in linguistics and other disciplines. This paper aims to highlight these mutually beneficial exchanges by examining four topics in clinical linguistics which address theoretical issues. These topics concern developments at the language levels of phonology, syntax, semantics and pragmatics. Optimality theory and relevance theory have been applied to the study of phonological disorders and pragmatic disorders, respectively. Language impairments in genetic disorders such as Williams syndrome are at the centre of debates in linguistics and developmental psychology about the relationship between language and cognition. Semantic impairments in adults with acquired neurological disorders have enabled investigators to construct and test models of semantic memory. The theoretical significance of each of these topics will be considered. These topics are not exhaustive of theoretical developments in clinical linguistics. However, they illustrate for the reader the type of theoretical inquiry which is integral to this linguistic discipline.

The dominant position of neo-liberal monolingual medium of instruction practices has created myths and fallacies about the utility of English as the sole language of skills development and training in South Africa. With a specific focus on Further Education and Training (FET) colleges, this position paper motivates for multilingual medium of instruction models as an alternative that aligns with a progressive agenda for South African skills development. The paper challenges those conventional and predominant approaches that inform the FET college skills development system in South Africa. In their stead, this paper suggests epistemological imaginations that take into account the social fabric and the diverse skills needs of the wider South African society.

This paper is a conceptual replication of Leeser and DeMil (in press) and examines the effectiveness of Processing Instruction, Traditional Instruction, and no instruction for primary and secondary effects with a primary target form (Spanish accusative clitics) and a secondary form (Spanish dative clitics) (N = 134). Leeser and DeMil (in press) failed to find gains in production similar to previous research. The present study differs in design from the original study in terms of the production measures (type and number of opportunities for production) and more closely resemble those used in previous secondary effects research. In part, the findings show that significant gains for PI were found for primary and secondary form interpretation, whereas the gains for TI were less robust. As such, we discuss the theoretical and methodological ramifications of these findings.

This study examines teaching practices of ESL teachers in the Ontario elementary school system. The goal is to identify potential areas for improvement in teacher training as well as the most common and efficient manner in which to deliver teacher education. Specifically, the study seeks to answer the following questions: (1) Which ESL teaching methods and activities do most ESL teachers use? (2) Which ESL classroom materials do most ESL teachers prefer? (3) Are there any improvements that could be made for ESL teachers, the elementary school system, and ESL teacher education? The results of the study show that, while several teachers are comfortable with the most established methods, new models of ESL instruction are preferred by participants. Participants also reported that a variety of influences inform their teaching practice, which highlights the importance of context in informing teaching practice.

Linear Unit Grammar (LUG) (Sinclair & Mauranen, 2006) is claimed to accommodate both written and spoken English. However, there have not so far been any studies which use the LUG analysis. This paper is probably one of the first studies using LUG since its publication. It demonstrates the use of LUG in the investigation of discourse markers, which are distinctive in spoken English. One of the difficulties in investigating discourse markers is their ambiguous syntactical roles. Another is the lack of a generally-accepted system to describe their positions in utterances. This paper is motivated by the need for describing the positions of discourse markers and for distinguishing the non-discourse use of the words and phrases (i.e. in different part of speech and in subject + verb structure) from discourse use (i.e. discourse markers). The LUG analysis is first introduced and the two difficulties in the analysis of discourse markers and the uses of LUG are discussed, followed by the assessment of LUG, pointing to its usefulness and weaknesses. This paper concludes with some possible applications of LUG.