Relationships of attitudes toward homework and time spent on homework to course outcomes: The case of foreign language learning

In previous studies of homework in core academic subjects, positive student attitudes toward homework were linked to higher achievement, whereas time spent on homework showed an inconsistent relationship with achievement. This study examined the generalizability of these findings to foreign language learning by analyzing 2,342 adult students' attitudes toward assigned homework, time spent on assigned homework, and achievement outcomes in a variety of foreign language courses. Student ratings of the relevance of homework, the usefulness of feedback provided on homework, and the fairness of homework grading were positively correlated with teacher-assigned grades and standardized proficiency test scores in listening, reading, and speaking. Reported time spent on homework, however, was negatively correlated with these measures. In hierarchical regression analyses, all homework-related variables emerged as significant predictors of outcomes after controlling for potential covariates such as language learning aptitude, demographic variables, and affective factors. Thus, these results provide evidence that language course outcomes are positively associated with attitudes toward homework but negatively associated with time spent on homework. Possible interpretations of these findings are discussed. We suggest that the negative association follows in part from the opportunity cost of time spent on assigned homework, which decreases time spent on individualized study that may be more beneficial for improving language course outcomes

A practical approach to adult-onset white matter diseases, with illustrative cases

Aim. To evaluate five illustrative cases and perform a literature review to identify and describe a working approach to adult-onset white matter diseases (WMD).State of the art. Inherited WMD are a group of disorders often seen in childhood. In adulthood, progressive WMDs are rare, apart from the common nonspecific causes of hypertension and other cerebrovascular diseases. The pattern of WMDs on neuroimaging can be an important clue to the final diagnosis. Due to the adoption of a combined clinical-imaging-laboratory approach, WMD is becoming better recognised, in addition to the rapidly evolving field of genomics in this area.Clinical implications. While paediatric WMDs have a well-defined and literature-based clinical-laboratory approach to diagnosis, adult-onset WMDs remain an important, pathologically diverse, radiographic phenotype, with different and distinct neuropathologies among the various subtypes of WMD. Adult-onset WMDs comprise a wide collection of both acquired and inherited aetiologies. While severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) neurological complications are emerging, we are as yet unaware of it causing WMD outside of post-anoxic changes. It is important to recognise WMD as a potentially undefined acquired or genetic syndrome, even when extensive full genome testing reveals variants of unknown significance.Future directions. We propose a combined clinical-imaging-laboratory approach to WMD and continued exploration of acquired and genetic factors. Adult-onset WMD, even given this approach, can be challenging because hypertension is often comorbid. Therefore, we propose that undiagnosed patients with WMD be entered into multicentre National Organisation for Rare Diseases registries to help researchers worldwide make new discoveries that will hopefully translate into future cures

Situating Speech: A Rhetorical Approach to Political Strategy

Ideas are increasingly acknowledged as factors in explaining political behaviour. But often they are treated as inert resources rather than dynamic instances of action in themselves. The latter, I propose, requires reflection on the character of speech – as the medium of ideas – in responding to and refiguring a prevailing situation. I undertake such reflection by setting out a rhetorical approach to political strategy. Building upon ‘interpretive’ advances in political science I shift the focus from stable cognitive frames to the dynamics of argumentation where ideas work expressively. I then explore the rhetorical aspect of strategising with attention to the way speech serves to orient audiences by creatively re-appropriating a situation. That approach is shown to be consistent with a ‘dialectical’ political sociology that emphasises the interaction of structure and agency. Finally, I sketch a method for undertaking rhetorical analysis and indicate how it might be applied to a concrete example

Defending the indefensible: Obama’s rhetoric in the aftermath of the torture report

This article offers an analysis of Obama’s response to the publication of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) torture report. Using rhetoric as its mode of inquiry, the article demonstrates how Obama employed epideictic discourse to define and redefine national ethos, to reconstruct and restore acts and actors and to avoid deliberation about further investigation and prosecution. The article discusses the political implications of epideictic rhetoric, the genre of speech considered the least pertinent to political life, and proposes that epideictic rhetoric can be an effective tool for political actors. Obama, the article argues, by using epideictic rhetoric shifted topic from a political issue, the accountability of members of the executive branch and the CIA, to an ethical issue, ‘who Americans are’. Despite avoiding political rhetoric, Obama’s epideictic affirmed torture as policy choice and left the possibility open for the use of similar practices in the future