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Language is a unique skill used by humans to communicate thoughts and feelings. For most individuals, language is understood through different sensory modalities--for instance, hearing auditory words relies on audition, while perceiving visual speech via lipreading and reading written text both utilize the visual system. Although these different ways to perceive language are often discussed as distinct systems in the brain separated by modality, there are considerable cross-modal interactions between language modalities (e.g., learning to read new words by reading aloud, or the simultaneous audiovisual speech processing during face-to-face conversations). As a result, there must exist neural pathways that connect language systems separated by modality to reflect cross-modal processes. These integration pathways should exist even during uni-modal processing (i.e., during silent reading, hearing auditory words, and silent lipreading). To test hypotheses on cross-modal integration, for instance how regional activation and networks differ for stimuli in different language forms (i.e., written, auditory, and visual forms), studies would need to investigate not only responses in specific regions-of-interest (ROIs), but also delineate stimulus-driven connections between regions. Furthermore, it is crucial to examine cross-modal interactions beyond traditional language regions like the posterior superior temporal cortex (pSTC) and the inferior frontal cortex (IFC), as integration may occur in other areas. Traditional functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies are also limited in the use of group ROIs, which do not account for the substantial variability in the locations of language-related regions nor accurately represent individual selectivity. To address these methodological concerns, the current dissertation leveraged data from several datasets to examine cross-modal interactions during reading, spoken language, and visual speech processing. Specifically, I used functional localizer scans to define language-ROIs for each individual subject and examined cross-modal coupling. In Chapter 2, I investigated cross-modal coupling between reading and spoken language processing by analyzing the activation and connectivity between ROIs during written and auditory word processing. Then in Chapter 3, I delineated how visual speech processing involves integration with pathways associated with spoken language processing. Altogether, the extensive findings from my dissertation provide a better understanding of cross-modal mechanisms underlying language processing in the brain. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]

Language sample analysis (LSA) represents a venerated and ecologically valid method for diagnosing, identifying goals, and measuring progress in children with developmental language disorder (DLD). With many LSA measures available, previous research offers limited guidance on which measures should be prioritized based on their robust reliability, validity, and clinical utility. This dissertation examined psychometric properties and clinical use of selected LSA measures within four dominant LSA frameworks: Computerized Language Analysis (CLAN), Systematic Analysis of Language Transcription (SALT), Sampling Utterances and Grammatical Analysis Revised (SUGAR), and finite verb morphology composite (FVMC), using three related individual studies. Study 1 examined the reliability of LSA measures in shorter, 25- and 50-utterance sample cuts from children aged 5-7 years with and without DLD. Study 1 results showed acceptable relative reliability ([rho] [greater than or equal to] 0.85) in 50-utterance samples compared to 100-utterance samples for 22 of 30 LSA measures. Using the same study sample, Study 2 examined the diagnostic accuracy of those 22 LSA measures for identifying cases of DLD using four DLD reference standards, including a standardized omnibus language test, clinical markers, a parent checklist, and clinical identification. Study 2 results showed acceptable diagnostic accuracy (LR+ [greater than or equal to]4 and LR- [less than or equal to]0.4 with at least two of four DLD reference standards) for Developmental sentence scoring (DSS) sentence points for 5-year-olds, the SALT subordination index, omissions and errors, and percent grammatical utterances (PGU) for 6-year-olds, and MLUCLAN and MLUSUGAR for 7-year-olds. Study 3 examined the clinical use of LSA measures using survey data from practicing SLPs in the United States (n = 337). Results indicated 60% of SLPs used LSA in the past year. LSA skill level, training, and serving preschool or elementary school children predicted LSA use, while workplace, caseload, and years of experience were not significant predictors. Most SLPs reported using self-designed LSA protocols (62%), followed by SALT (23%), and SUGAR (12%) protocols. SLPs who did not use LSA reported limited time (74%), limited resources (59%), and limited expertise (41%) as barriers and identified additional training on LSA computer programs (52%) and access to automatic speech recognition programs (49%) as facilitators to their adoption of LSA. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]

This study investigates the politeness strategies employed by Saudi EFL teachers when expressing their disagreements on Twitter. It examines the factors affecting Saudi EFL teachers' choice of politeness and disagreement strategies. It compares Saudi EFL teachers' disagreement expressions with those of American ESL teachers on Twitter. Four instruments were utilized to collect the data: retrieving the corpus of tweets, observing the thread of tweets (for Saudi EFL and American ESL teachers), using an open-ended questionnaire, and follow-up interviews (for Saudi EFL teachers). This study finds that the on-record strategy was the most frequently used among Saudi EFL teachers, as found in the corpus and thread of tweets. However, Saudi EFL teachers employed negative politeness more than positive politeness strategies in the corpus of tweets. At the same time, they utilized positive politeness more than negative politeness strategies in the thread of tweets. The main factors influencing Saudi EFL teachers when expressing their disagreements on Twitter are the severity of the topic, linguistic proficiency, and the differences in cultural norms between their first and target languages. Also, this study finds that Saudi EFL and American ESL teachers were similar in their performances of disagreements; they employed aggravated disagreements the most in the corpus of tweets, whereas they frequently used disagreement nor mitigated or strengthened in the thread of tweets. In contrast, Saudi EFL and American ESL teachers differ in their employment of the politeness strategies; Saudi EFL teachers performed positive and negative politeness strategies, while American ESL teachers employed mostly positive politeness and rarely used negative politeness strategies. This study calls for further examination of disagreements to extend the pragmatics literature of disagreement speech acts across languages and cultures. This study recommends integrating adequate pragmatic knowledge in EFL textbooks in Saudi schools. This study aims to contribute to the fields of sociopragmatics and CMC. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]

This dissertation examines reported speech production among undergraduate college students with a history of developmental language disability (DLD) compared to controls with a history of typical language development (TD). 59 people participated across two separate studies. Study 1 involved a reanalysis of previously recorded in-person dyadic interview data to assess reported speech (RS), and compare direct and indirect RS production in spontaneous speech, alongside syntactic and lexical complexity, and hesitation phenomena such as "uh," "um" and pauses. Study 2 was conducted online and in addition to an adapted online DLD screener, involved a task to produce various forms of complex syntax alongside RS (the adult version of the Peer Conflict Task which I developed based on the preexistent child version created by Nippold et al. (2009)), and a task that specifically elicited RS constructions from participants with three conditions: neutral, direct RS bias, and indirect RS bias. Similarly to Study 1, syntactic and lexical complexity, and hesitation phenomena were also evaluated. I analyzed participants' language production both using quantitative comparisons, and a qualitative approach using a performance studies framework, specifically Bauman (2004)'s investigation of performance limitations. Participants in the DLD group showed patterns of RS production that were not only distinct from controls', but also distinct from their general performance in the domain of complex syntax. I discuss how the three tasks of spontaneous speech, peer conflict descriptions and sentence elicitations form a continuum of increased abstraction / control and decreased ecological validity, and how these factors affect participants' strategies in handling task demands -- as present in both qualitative and quantitative analyses of the same dataset. Participants in the DLD group optimized their utterances in multiple ways during the performance of relatively restrictive tasks: on the structural, sentence level, adjusting other elements of the utterance to make the production of RS easier; on a more utterance-level pragmatic way by using specific constructions to get around the need to produce RS; and on a general discourse level by using disclaimers of performance. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]

Languages tend to have three major clause types (declaratives, interrogatives, imperatives), dedicated to three main speech acts (assertions, questions, commands). However, the particular forms that these clause types take differ from language to language, and have to be learned. Previous experimental results suggest that by 18 months old, children differentiate these clause types and associate them with their canonical speech act. This dissertation investigates how children learn to identify different clause types and speech acts. To learn clause types, children need to identify the right categories of clauses (the "clustering problem") and figure out what speech act they are canonically used for (the "labeling problem"). I investigate the extent to which learners need to rely on pragmatic information (i.e., knowing what speech act a given utterance of a sentence is conveying), to solve not just labeling, but the clustering itself. I examine the role of pragmatics computationally by building two Bayesian clustering models. I find that morpho-syntactic and prosodic information are not enough for identifying the right clause type clustering, and that pragmatics is necessary. I applied the same model to a morphological impoverished language, Mandarin, and found that the model without pragmatics performs even worse. Speech act information is crucial for finding the right categories for both languages. Additionally, I find that a little pragmatics goes a long way. I simulate the learning process with noisy speech act information, and find that even when speech act information is noisy, the model hones in on the right clause type categories, when the model without fails. But if speech act information is useful for clause type learning, how do children figure out speech act information? I explore what kind of non-clause type cues for speech act information are present in the input. Even if children must rely on clause type information to figure out speech acts, they could have access to additional information that is unrelated to clause typing, but informative for recognizing speech act type. When speakers perform speech acts, because of the conventional functions of these speech acts on the discourse, the performance might be associated with certain socio-pragmatic features. For example, because of questions' response-elicitation function, we might expect speakers to pause longer after questions. If children are equipped with some expectations about the functions of communication, and about what questions do, they might be able to use these socio-pragmatic cues to figure out speech act. I explore two cues that could potentially differentiate questions from other speech acts: pauses, and direct eye gaze. I find that parents tend to pause longer after questions, and attend to the child more when asking questions. Therefore it is in principle plausible that there are some socio-pragmatic features that children can use, in addition to their growing knowledge of clause types to infer the speech act category of an utterance. This little bit of information about speech act could then be used to provide the information that the child needs in order to get the clause type clusters identified accurately. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]

Looking at hearing loss through the WHO-ICD model for disability reveals that auditory interventions do not necessarily address all of the components of auditory disability. Auditory training has been proposed as a solution to address activity-level deficits. The purpose of this study was to examine structure- and activity-level changes as the result of auditory training for normal hearing individuals training in the presence of noise. Thirty adults with normal hearing were placed into three experimental groups: A group engaging in active auditory training in noise, a group listening to speech material in noise, and a control group that performed no activity in noise. Measurements were taken of the rate and errors made for the auditory training. Performance measures on a word recognition task in noise (the QuickSIN), electrophysiological changes on an analysis of portions of the frequency following response (FFT), and self-reported measurements from the Speech and Spatial Qualities of Sound (SSQ), were all measured before and after to monitor changes as the result of training. Results show significant improvement on the auditory training task in terms of both rate and number of errors made. ANOVA's reveal a significant effect of test condition on performance on the QuickSIN. There were mixed results in analyses of the differences in the electrophysiological measurements. There were no significant effects of training condition on answers to the SSQ. Similar to other Auditory training studies, results are mixed. This research serves as a proof-of-concept on normal-hearing subjects. The next step is to examine disordered populations. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]

The majority of the extant literature claims that native Arabic speakers are typically more indirect in their refusal strategies, a specific speech act, than are native English speakers. The present study examined the level of directness in the refusal strategies of native Arabic speakers, living in the United States and the Middle East, compared to that of native English speakers using Matsugu's (2014) multiple-choice discourse completion test. The role of refusing in Arabic compared to refusing in English, for native Arabic speakers, was also examined. It was predicted that native Arabic speakers would be significantly less direct in their refusal strategies in English than would native English speakers. It was also predicted that native Arabic speakers, living in the United States and the Middle East, would be significantly less direct in their refusal strategies in Arabic compared to in English. Finally, it was predicted that native Arabic speakers living in the Middle East would be significantly less direct in their refusal strategies in English and Arabic than would native Arabic speakers living in the United States. The findings of this study challenge previous research, in that as a whole there were no significant differences in the directness of the refusal strategies used by native Arabic speakers, in English and Arabic, and those used by native English speakers. Therefore, the present study supports the importance of studying speech acts as small units of discourse and not making generalizations about the communication style of a culture/language. The results of this study indirectly show the need for continuous instruction of pragmatics throughout a course. Moreover, this study recommends that future research examine similar research questions with a larger sample size of participants and using multiple methods to assess the directness of speech acts. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]

As the prevalence of autism spectrum disorders (ASD) increases, it is important for practitioners to continue to improve evidence-based practices (EBP) for the treatment of ASD symptoms (i.e., impairments in social communication and repetitive behaviors and restricted interests; American Psychiatric Association [APA], 2013). It is estimated that 30-50% of individuals with autism do not acquire functional speech (Wodka, Mathy, & Kalb, 2013). These individuals would make appropriate candidates for Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC; Mirenda, 2003). One form of AAC is the speech-generating device (SGD). Over the last ten years, tablet-based technologies including iPad minis [registered trademark] have been emphasized in the SGD research (Lorah, Parnell, Whitby, & Hantula, 2014b). One of the limitations in the tablet-based technology literature is that there are few protocols using EBP for teaching verbal behavior using tablet-based technology as a SGD (Hedges & AFIRM Team, 2017). Practitioners working with SGD users require support in designing the screen layout, selecting the vocabulary, and determining effective teaching procedures for increasing verbal behavior. Therefore, the current study introduced the topic of motor planning with core vocabulary as considerations for use with tablet-based technology as SGDs to the behavior analytic literature. Because motor planning refers to the inner process of determining how to move, behavior analysts may be skeptical of using motor planning in practice. However, this study identified that motor planning is not an intervention but a strategy used in designing the screen layout or icon location. In addition, this study evaluated a basic protocol using motor planning with core vocabulary and a prompting package including within stimulus prompts and constant time delay with response prompts to teach manding using the iPad mini [registered trademark] and Proloquo2Go [trademark] as a SGD to three preschool aged children with ASD. This study also evaluated the effectiveness of the protocol on increasing vocal utterances throughout the session and decreasing problem behaviors during mand training. Results of the study indicated the protocol was effective in increasing a manding repertoire and that there were no effects on vocal utterances and problem behaviors. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]

This study sets out to examine the pragmatic competence of Cantonese adult learners of English possessing different levels of proficiency when performing the speech act of requesting for a formal purpose in writing. Pragmatic judgment--one of the two aspects of pragmatic competence--was examined by studying the most proficient group (i.e., native Cantonese-speaking EFL teachers at university), whereas pragmatic performance--the other aspect of pragmatic competence--was examined by studying the two weaker groups (i.e., university students at two language proficient levels). Both pragmatic judgment and pragmatic performance were examined by investigating the same four dependent variables (i.e., politeness, directness, formality and amount of information). Teacher data, collected through a Pragmatic Judgment Questionnaire completed and returned by sixteen EFL teachers (eight native Cantonese speakers and eight native English speakers) and by means of individual interviews, were analyzed quantitatively for responses to twelve questions and qualitatively for responses to an additional two questions. Student data, consisting of both experimental and authentic letters and e-mails, were analyzed quantitatively. Main research findings suggest: (1) It is possible for very proficient NNSs of English, (i.e., the EFL teachers in this study), to achieve native-like pragmatic judgments in most aspects, except for their views on several pragmatic considerations (i.e., "unnaturally polite" expressions, usefulness of "negative" words, supportive moves not to be used and writing plans preferred); (2) As the English proficiency of L2 learners improves from Grade E to Grade A/B (as determined by the Hong Kong A-level Examinations in the subject "Use of English"), their pragmatic performance shows improvement. For pedagogical reasons, a qualitative analysis was conducted for Questions 1 and 2 in order to generate examples of "unnaturally polite"/"impolite" expressions and to provide examples of inappropriate supportive moves in relation to three writing topics. (Contains 79 tables. Supplemental documents are provided in 31 appendices.)

This study examined the effects that a multi-component intervention had on play behaviors and mean length of utterance (MLU) of eight Head Start children at risk for language delays and social skill development. The intervention consisted of three components: (a) a planning period included reading a story book that illustrated the play theme and use of the social pragmatic communication strategies, practice using vocabulary to be used in play, and choosing roles for the thematic activity; (b) a 10-minute play session in which the interventionist coached children to interact while they played with the thematic related toys; and (c) a brief reporting period in which children reviewed their use of social pragmatic strategies and specific vocabulary. Increases in complex play and MLU were observed from baseline to intervention for all children. The increases however, were not consistent among dyads. (Contains 4 tables and 15 figures.)