Issues in the development of language intervention programmes.

An attempt has been made in this paper to address some issues involved in the development of language intervention programmes. The relative neglect of 'language' in the paper is justified by the importance of more general issues. After cursory attention to prescriptiveness in programmes, the concentration has been on the 'training of the trainers' and the need for an adequate and effective instructional model. Particular attention is given to evaluation and the need for a design which while acknowledging the practicalities of life in the field can nevertheless assist in determining the effects of the intervention (with a nod in the direction of casting the net sufficiently wide to encompass possible unintended effects). Finally, there is discussion of implementation, covering guidelines to bear in mind the developing the intervention and stressing that without successful implementation even the most effective programme fails, as it disappears like water in to the sands of the desert.