National Repository of Grey Literature 84 records found  1 - 10nextend  jump to record: Search took 0.00 seconds. 
Errors in the Usage of Prepositions in Advanced EFL Learners with Spanish as L1
Todorova, Mina ; Gráf, Tomáš (advisor) ; Luef, Eva Maria (referee)
The aim of this bachelor thesis is to carry out a contrastive interlanguage analysis of advanced learner English of speakers with Spanish as L1, more specifically of the errors these speakers commit when using the prepositions "in", "at" and "on". The data is drawn from the Spanish subcorpus of LINDSEI, which contains 50 interviews with higher intermediate to advanced speakers. The concordance AntConc was used to extract all instances of the aforementioned words and the results were exported into an Excel file in which the coding was subsequently carried out. Having determined which uses of the prepositions to include in our study and which of those were erroneous, we analyzed them and tried to determine to what extent they stemmed from L1 transfer. The criterion was the existence of a literal parallel structure in Spanish. In doing so, we obtained the following error rates: "in" - 11.1%, "at" - 8.5%, "on" - 41.2%, misuse being always considerably more prevalent than overuse. We furthermore confirmed that the three prepositions are often mixed up among themselves, largely due to the influence of the learners' mother tongue. That interference is strongest in the case of "on" and weakest in that of "at". We noticed several recurring errors committed by a variety of students. Although not particularly...
A Longitudinal Study of Receptive Mid-Frequency Vocabulary Knowledge in Czech Advanced Learners of English
Buchal, Kryštof ; Gráf, Tomáš (advisor) ; Luef, Eva Maria (referee)
The thesis deals with the knowledge and development of receptive mid-frequency vocabulary in 18 Czech learners of English, described by their teachers as advanced and more proficient in English in comparison to their other English class peers. For the purposes of the study, a serial multiple-choice vocabulary test was used. The test consists of 96 lexical items belonging to four frequency bands. The participants took the test three times within 1 year with approximately 6-month intervals between the individual test sessions. Globally, the learners showed better knowledge of more frequent words. However, only a minority of the learners had a sufficient command of the vocabulary in the individual frequency bands except for the most frequent level, where mastery was reached by at least a half of the learners in all the three sessions. As for lexical development, generally there was a significant improvement in the knowledge of less frequent words. Some of the participants reached gains stronger than 10% over the 1-year period, others showed gains weaker than 10%, some even reached lower scores in the final session. Given the amount of time that the students spend in English classes at school, more of them could be expected to show a significant improvement. Nevertheless, the results of the study...
Motivation in ELT of Advanced Learners
Hubinová, Veronika ; Gráf, Tomáš (advisor) ; Luef, Eva Maria (referee)
(in English): The thesis aims to explore the role of motivation and demotivation in advanced English learners on their journey to make further language progress. Further, the thesis looks at the difference between advanced learners who are studying English major at university (EM) and advanced learners who are not pursuing any academic goals (NEM). The data were drawn from an anonymous online survey (n = 77) and four interviews conducted with two EM respondents and two NEM respondents. Next, the data was coded, and thematic categories were developed. First, the data was analysed together to establish patterns and next, the EM and NEM data was compared. For the quantitative analysis several statistical tests were employed. The interviews were coded based on the emergent themes and subsequently compared with the results from the questionnaires. The findings show that most advanced learners feel either the desire to consciously maintain their level of English or want to improve the weak aspects they observe in their language. Respondents were significantly motivated by intrinsic motivators, such as the wish to fulfill their inner satisfaction, or the desire to feel integrated into the foreign-language culture. As for demotivation, there was no prevailing factor found. However, many respondents...
Measuring Vocabulary Knowledge of Advanced Learners of English using a Multiple-Choice Test
Sobolevská, Simona ; Gráf, Tomáš (advisor) ; Luef, Eva Maria (referee)
This paper is focuses on comparing the reliability and validity of two test formats, a traditional multiple-choice format and a newly developed serial multiple-choice format. The aim of the thesis is to find out whether the two formats are equivalent tests of receptive, meaning- recognition knowledge of mid-frequency English words. Two tests were distributed among advanced students of English at Czech secondary schools, one in the multiple-choice format, one in the serial multiple-choice format. The analysis of 87 test responses revealed that the tests are not equivalent. The serial multiple-choice test was significantly more difficult than the multiple-choice test. The results of this study suggest that the serial multiple-choice format partially suppresses the participants' ability to apply test strategies and guessing. The data indicates that the serial multiple-choice test took longer to sit. However, neither test caused the participants more stress. This study shows that the wording of options on the serial multiple- choice format should be treated differently than on the typical multiple-choice format. The findings of this study may inform teachers about the advantages and disadvantages of the serial multiple-choice test format. Keywords: multiple-choice test, serial multiple-choice test,...
Past Tense in L1 Acquisition: Elicitation Strategies and Gestures
Svobodová, Aneta ; Cilibrasi, Luca (advisor) ; Gráf, Tomáš (referee)
The aim of this thesis is to observe how children (age 2;5-3;9) use past tenses in spontaneous communication with their caregivers. Video recordings from the Tommerdahl corpus, available in the CHILDES database, are used for the analysis; the recordings comprise parent-child interactions in which the parent is instructed to initiate a conversation that would prompt the child to use past tense verb forms. Strategies parents use for this purpose are observed in this thesis, as well as their impact on children's use of past tenses. The thesis also observes whether parents and/or children use any gestures that might be associated with past tense production. The theoretical part of the thesis provides an overview of the language acquisition process in the first three years of life based on the usage-based approach, especially focusing on verb acquisition, past tense acquisition and gesture use in the language acquisition process. Human conceptualization of time is discussed as a possible link between past tenses and gestures associated with them. The analysis identifies three main strategies parents used to elicit past tenses in the analysed material: talking about past happening that the child participated in, talking about past happenings that the child did not participate in, and talking about what...
In-class pronunciation of Czech secondary school English teachers
Fischer, Ondřej ; Skarnitzl, Radek (advisor) ; Gráf, Tomáš (referee)
The present thesis examines in-class pronunciation of Czech secondary school English teachers in relation to the international debate about goals and models of English pronunciation teaching. The theoretical part of the work briefly describes the phenomenon of a foreign accent, its sociolinguistic significance, and factors influencing its degree. Subsequently, it delineates segmental and suprasegmental aspects of English pronunciation relevant to Czech foreign accent, and discusses selected accents of English regarding their status in the eyes of non-native speakers and their suitability as models of pronunciation. The core of our study is an auditory analysis of pronunciation, based on recordings of speech of ten Czech secondary school teachers of English, obtained directly in class at four Czech secondary schools - two in Prague and two in Opava - using a lavalier microphone. The results of this analysis are compared to the results of questionnaires focused on these teachers' convictions and attitudes concerning pronunciation teaching. Our findings indicate that while the phonemes /r/, /w/ and /θ/ are easy for Czech teachers to realise in a standard manner, it seems that learners typically cannot acquire standard pronunciation of /ð/ and /æ/ only through listening to their teacher's...
Teacher's attitudes and beliefs regarding English grammar teaching
Čížková, Lucie ; Gráf, Tomáš (advisor) ; Malá, Markéta (referee)
(in English) This diploma thesis focuses on teachers' attitudes and beliefs regarding English grammar teaching at Czech high schools. The thesis is based on the assumption that teachers' decisions and actions in ESL and EFL teaching are motivated by what teachers know, think and believe. It takes the concept of teacher cognition as a starting point. The research part ot the thesis is based on a questionnaire survey among Czech high-school teachers. It aims to observe teachers' beliefs about English grammar teaching and learning and to describe the way Engligh grammar is taught at Czech high schools. The main areas which the research focuses on are grammar teaching approaches, grammar practice, grammatical error correction, the use of L1 in teaching grammar and the use of coursebooks. Moreover, the thesis observes teachers' position towards the concept of method with respect to the recent trend discussed in ELT research - the post-method condition which redefines the relationship of 'method' and a teacher who is understood as a critical and creative strategic thinker.
Linguistic aspects of translating informal/slang expressions in American TV series subtitles
Vaňková, Marie ; Klégr, Aleš (advisor) ; Gráf, Tomáš (referee)
The present study treats the problem of translating American slang and informal vocabulary into Czech. Its aim is to explain why this kind of vocabulary can be difficult to translate and to compare two different approaches to the task. It works with material excerpted from the subtitles of an American TV series, the official and the unofficial version of its translation. The experimental part brings information on the incidence of different types of mistakes and it identifies the main tendencies of the translators in dealing with various problems. The final part characterizes the strategies of individual translators, commenting on their strong and weak points.
Current trends in teaching listening
Vognarová, Jana ; Gráf, Tomáš (advisor) ; Quinn Novotná, Veronika (referee)
The present thesis is concerned with the current trends in teaching listening as they have been presented through a number of articles in various journals and mainly in the book by John Field: Listening in the Language Classroom who urges for a process approach, and ascertaining if these new methodological recommendations are finding their way into the classroom practice nowadays through an analysis of a number of frequently used language textbooks. The approach to teaching listening has been developing as a part of many methods used for teaching foreign languages over the years and it has gone from a completely omitted skill through a position of a rather neglected one up to its today status of causing major problems to students who complain that the speakers on the recordings speak too fast or that they cannot understand every single word. It is often the case that students manage to master listening in the confines of the language classroom, learn to cope with typical textbook listening exercises and understand their teachers and classmates, but when confronted with real-life listening outside the classroom, they frequently run into a kind of glasswall and are simply not able to deal with it. The analytical part is based on the analysis of the listening exercises in the very first and newest...
Language and content integration models in ELT
Synková, Blanka ; Gráf, Tomáš (advisor) ; Klégr, Aleš (referee)
The thesis focuses on the topic of language and content integration in ELT in a broad sense, i.e. it discusses not only CLIL but also other models of content-based teaching, viz. ESP (English for Specific Purposes), EAP (English for Academic Purposes), and EMI (English-medium Instruction). In the theoretical part of the thesis, these models are described as regards their history, typical features, teachers, learners, as well as benefits and negatives. The empirical part of the thesis explores the current practice of language and content integration at Czech general secondary schools ("grammar schools"). The research is based on case studies of five teachers who teach various courses belonging to this category. The preliminary research investigated what courses are currently being offered at grammar schools in Prague; they are mostly elective courses. Our research findings suggest that language and content integration in the form of elective courses is a rather common practice, although often unconscious. Teachers tend to act on the basis of their intuition rather than their knowledge of theory and practice of language and content integration. Generally, it seems that more emphasis is put on content than language in these lessons. Content-based English lessons may be beneficial for learners for...

National Repository of Grey Literature : 84 records found   1 - 10nextend  jump to record:
Interested in being notified about new results for this query?
Subscribe to the RSS feed.