|
|
The acquisition of prepositions through gaming
Marková, Daniela ; Cilibrasi, Luca (advisor) ; Gráf, Tomáš (referee)
The present study deals with the acquisition of the six most common prepositions in the English language through the employment of a video game specifically designed for this purpose. The thesis features a theoretical overview of the literature relevant to language acquisition, acquisition of function words (more specifically prepositions), game-based acquisition and instruction and its various aspects. The practical part contains a description of the game's design which endeavours to combine the relevant (S)LA theories together with the research on learning through gaming. The game consists of five separate tasks and the mechanics of which are then combined in the final task to elicit the correct responses of the subject. The language used in the game is adjusted for the subjects' level of proficiency, the game is fully voiced and offers a degree of customization. An experiment was conducted on 24 pupils from an elementary school, aged 12-13, who were assessed before and after playing the game. The results revealed that the game did advance the subjects' performance in prepositional structures containing the six most frequent English prepositions at the A1-A2 level of proficiency. Special attention was given to the performance on the preposition to compared to its particle counterpart to. Results...
|
|
|
Syntactic Complexity in the Speech of Learners of English: Issues in Operationalization
Bulantová, Barbora ; Gráf, Tomáš (advisor) ; Brůhová, Gabriela (referee)
The thesis analyses syntactic complexity of monologic tasks of 10 B2 and 10 C1 speakers of English with Czech as their L1. The data derives from LINDSEI_CZ (Gráf 2017). The transcripts of the recordings were segmented into AS-units (Foster et al. 2000) and adapted for the purposes of the analysis. Syntactic complexity was calculated using following measures: mean length of AS-unit, mean length of clause, clauses / AS-unit. These were complemented by fine-grained indices of structural complexity, comprised of ratios of subordinate clause types and coordinate verb phrases per total number of clauses (Vercellotti & Packer 2016) and a weighted complexity scale designed by Vercellotti (2018). The results of the quantitative analysis showed no significant effect of proficiency on syntactic complexity of the speakers. In fact, all speakers irrespective of language proficiency level produced very similar complex structures as opposed to lower-proficiency structures. This indicates that more fine-grained indices should be incorporated into spoken complexity research. At the same time, scores of each measure varied considerably within groups, pointing at the importance of inter-speaker variability in this research. The thesis thus produced outcomes that are largely methodological, in that it has identified...
|
|
|
Advanced Learners and Native Speakers in Czech ELT Classes
Fojtík, David ; Gráf, Tomáš (advisor) ; Šaldová, Pavlína (referee)
Keywords: Advanced learners, bilingual students, vocabulary, student vocabulary size, case study, receptive vocabulary, productive vocabulary Secondary-school teachers at Czech schools are encountering an increasing number of students who are significantly ahead of their peers. These students are either bilinguals or advanced learners. Regardless of the students' proficiency, the Czech education system enforces these students to keep attending further English classes, which often positions their teacher before a burdening question of what to teach these students. Scientific research postulates that a potential weakness of the said type of students could be vocabulary. This hypothesis was verified in this thesis, with the aid of Paul Nation VLT and Laufer & Nation Productive Vocabulary tests. The second goal of this thesis was to set a typical profile of advanced-learner and bilingual student through a survey. Results from the tests confirmed a significant deficiency in all of twelve test-subjects' productive vocabulary. Receptive vocabulary tests nonetheless revealed large receptive vocabulary size with eleven of tested subjects. Based on these findings, the recommended method for students this advanced is to allow them more autonomy, particularly through extensive reading, and to assign them...
|
|
|
Fluency markers in the speech of advanced learners of English before and after a study stay in an English-speaking country
Sobolevská, Simona ; Gráf, Tomáš (advisor) ; Cilibrasi, Luca (referee)
This thesis analyses productive fluency of advanced learners of English and the aim is to find out if study abroad causes changes in the productive fluency of advanced learners of English. The first part deals with definition of fluency, operationalization of productive fluency by performance phenomena: repeats, false starts, and self-corrections; and with the research done so far in the field of study abroad fluency improvement. The data used for the analysis are 14 interviews with seven advanced learners of English conducted before and after studying abroad in an English-speaking country for 1 semester. 1,464 instances of performance phenomena were identified and tagged. The research revealed that the use of repeats and false starts has not changed after studying abroad, while the use of self-corrections dropped significantly after studying abroad. It was also found that certain speakers produced more performance phenomena before studying abroad and maintained the higher rates after studying abroad, suggesting that performance phenomena are employed as a speech management strategy by advanced learners of English. The results of this paper may serve as an impulse for further study of performance phenomena in learner English, and more research of study abroad linguistic gain. Keywords: learner...
|
|
|
Measuring lexical complexity in L2 speech with word frequency lists
Rálišová, Diana ; Gráf, Tomáš (advisor) ; Vašků, Kateřina (referee)
and Key Words The linguistic concept of complexity as a component of the CAF triad is used to describe the complexity of texts, either spoken (transcribed) or written, and to describe speaker advancedness not only in L1, but also in L2 research. On the most basic level, lexical complexity and syntactic complexity can be distinguished, however, complexity is a multidimensional concept and many different descriptions and operationalisations exist; there is an even wider gap in terms of measuring lexical complexity of L2 oral speech with lexical frequency wordlists as studies on lexical sophistication have yielded inconsistent and sometimes inconclusive results; the majority of studies on lexical sophistication, one of the subdivisions of lexical complexity, have been carried out on written learner production. For this reason, this thesis focuses on measuring lexical complexity in L2 speech with word frequency lists; more specifically, it presumes that C1 speakers would produce more of complex vocabulary (low-frequency vocabulary) than B2 speakers in our sample; this thesis also attempts to correlate word frequency list results with English Vocabulary Profile results and compare the individual speakers. For this analysis 10 B2 and 10 C1 Czech speakers of English were selected from the LINDSEI spoken...
|
|
|
Teaching English to Learners with Special Educational Needs at Higher Elementary Schools
Hubáčková, Iva ; Gráf, Tomáš (advisor) ; Cilibrasi, Luca (referee)
The thesis focuses on the knowledge, opinions and teaching strategies of Czech higher elementary school teachers in relation to learners who have special educational needs (SEN); more specifically to students with ADHD and specific learning difficulties (SpLD). The data were drawn from interviews with two less experienced and two experienced teachers, and an anonymous online survey. The interviews were coded, emergent themes for each teacher were identified and broad thematic categories were developed; the categories were then further refined. Next, the themes for the two pairs of teachers - experienced and less experienced - were compared and contrasted in order to find shared patterns. Lastly, the four teachers were analysed jointly to find out whether the themes for the younger and the more experienced teachers differed. As for the survey, the data were analysed using qualitative, as well as quantitative methods. The qualitative methods included coding of the responses to the open- ended questions. The quantitative analysis was performed using several statistical tests. The findings show that most teachers seem to possess at least some degree of knowledge about the problems SEN students experience, and the strategies they can use to facilitate the learning process for them. Especially teachers...
|
|
|
Mentoring in the EFL Practicum
Jedličková, Kamila ; Gráf, Tomáš (advisor) ; Jiránková, Lucie (referee)
Keywords: Teaching practicum, mentors, mentoring, qualitative research, multiple case study Abstract The teaching practicum is an integral part of teacher education and a key role is played by teacher trainers - mentors. The aim of this thesis is to determine their perception of the practicum, evaluation of their own degree of preparedness, and attitude to the tasks which the role of the mentor involves. The theoretical part describes the roles of the mentor, models of mentoring, concrete mentoring tasks, and also mentors' motivation as well as important skills. It further discusses selected issues in the EFL practicum, namely feedback and self-reflection, observations, preparedness of mentors, and the length of the practicum. The empirical part is comprised of the results of qualitative research in the form of a multiple case study. Five case studies have been carried out in total and data have been processed through the process of coding. The paper then goes on to analyse the findings with regard to the theoretical concepts discussed earlier in the study, and outlines potential research and pedagogical implications. The main findings of the study include mentors' high motivation for their roles and friendly attitude to teacher trainees, as well as their lack of specialised education for teacher trainee...
|
|
|
Swearing in English: Language Attitudes in L1 and L2 Speakers
Salačová, Eva ; Gráf, Tomáš (advisor) ; Tichý, Ondřej (referee)
Researching language taboo is still considered taboo - as such, little research is done into topic. Even less is known about swearing in a second language. The goal of this thesis is to discover whether native and non-native speakers of English perceive swearing in English differently. This was done by the distribution of an anonymous online questionnaire, which was filled out by 43 native and 178 non-native speakers. These were all university students in Prague. The questions belonged into four thematic parts: metadata; replication of previous research concerning the self-reported behaviour of respondents Dewaele (2017) and offensiveness ratings Beers Fägersten (2007); furthermore general language attitudes; and finally respondents' opinions regarding the inclusion of swearing in curriculums for Foreign Language Teaching. Based on the results, we have come to the conclusion that the varying results of the two groups can have adverse consequences for non-native speakers, because they could lead to their misuse of swearing in English. This may reflect negatively in various parts of their lives. Because of this, and the support for this idea among the respondents themselves, the thesis argues for the inclusion of swearing in FLT. key words: swearing, language taboo, language attitude, first language,...
|
|
|
Errors in the use of articles in Czech advanced learner English
Pazderová, Tereza ; Gráf, Tomáš (advisor) ; Vašků, Kateřina (referee)
The thesis analyses errors in the use of articles in advanced learner English and the aim is to determine the type of nominal reference which is the most problematic to L1 Czech speakers. The first part deals with the classification of article and reference types. The research draws its data from the learner corpus LINDSEI_CZ, which consists of 50 15-minute interviews, the speakers of which demonstrated quite a wide span of proficiency levels. The 265 errors found in the corpus were tagged and subsequently categorized according to the forms of the articles and types of reference. The research revealed that the most error-prone area of nominal reference is the non-generic, indefinite type. The majority of the errors consisted in the complete omission of the article, a feature which may be assigned to L1 transfer. However, another problematic area was revealed to be connected to the generic reference, in the case of which the tendency of the speakers was to overuse the definite article. These results may serve as a starting point for further research, which would provide answers to the questions this study could not answer, and, perhaps, offer more pedagogical implications. Keywords: learner language, spoken language, error analysis, articles, reference
|
|
|
Cohesive devices and their counterparts in music
Hubinová, Veronika ; Gráf, Tomáš (advisor) ; Dušková, Libuše (referee)
This bachelor thesis deals with the similarity between a text and a short musical composition. Particularly, whether there are relationships in the musical composition that could be considered as parallels to linguistic cohesive devices. In linguistics these devices ensure the text's surface linkage and its overall connectedness. Therefore, this thesis considers the question whether musical composition contains ties that function on similar principal. The first chapters summarize the definition of cohesion and cohesive devices and subsequently demonstrate them on a textual analysis. Then the thesis discusses the similarities between text and music and by means of musical analysis attempts to find if linguistic cohesive devices are applicable to musical composition and also if they establish its overall unity. During the analysis, the obvious difference between the semantics in text and in music was observed. This resulted in many difficulties when trying to distinguish cohesion and coherence in music but also when trying to find counterparts to word functions or word classes. The analysis confirmed that not all counterparts are able to be found and also that the same quantitative overview as in a text is not possible to be done. It was stated that musical counterparts to cohesive devices do exist and that...
|
guest ::
