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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...
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Teaching Future Tenses to University Students of English Philology
Šteflová, Hanna ; Malá, Marcela (advisor) ; Klégr, Aleš (referee) ; Betáková, Lucie (referee)
1 Abstract This thesis deals with teaching the following seven future forms: the Future Simple, Be going to, the Present Simple and the Present Continuous with a future reference, the Future Continuous, the Future Perfect Simple and the Future Perfect Continuous to students of English Philology. The deductive and inductive approaches to teaching grammar were employed to teach these future forms. The quantitative part of the study had two main objectives. The first objective was to revise and improve the students' knowledge of the seven future forms taught by the study. The results revealed that out of all the seven future forms, the students' knowledge of the Future Continuous, the Future Perfect Simple and the Future Perfect Continuous was the least satisfactory, and these tenses required further explanation and practice. The participants' knowledge of the rules of use for all seven future forms was rather low in general and required significant improvement. The second objective was to investigate which approach to teaching grammar, the deductive or inductive approach, was more effective for teaching future tenses. The deductive approach proved to be more effective for teaching all seven future forms. The difference between the results of the pre-test and the post-test for the Future Continuous, the Future...
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Accuracy and fluency in the speech of the advanced learner of English
Gráf, Tomáš ; Klégr, Aleš (advisor) ; Šebesta, Karel (referee) ; Betáková, Lucie (referee)
The thesis analyses the accuracy and fluency exhibited in the spoken advanced-learner English of Czech students of English philology. It draws its data from a learner corpus comprising fifty 15-minute interviews with these learners and from a parallel native-speaker corpus of forty-nine 15-minute interviews. As regards accuracy, the learner data is analysed using techniques of error analysis. Salient features of advanced learner English are identified and the subsequent quantitative analyses reveal that throughout the entire group of students (which is characterized by what revealed itself to be a wide proficiency span) two groups of error types are found to be much more frequent than any other, namely errors in the use of articles and tenses. For the fluency measurements a small selection of variables has been chosen to describe speed fluency (speech rate) and breakdown fluency (the frequency of unfilled and filled pauses), and the results are compared with those for the parallel native-speaker corpus. The analysed native speakers are found to produce speech at a generally much higher rate than the majority of the learners. There does not appear - at least in the light of the given sample - to be any direct correlation between fluency and the frequency of errors. Moreover, the learners are found...
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Self-study language learning software for upper-intermediate (B2) adult learners of English: do existing products meet the requirements?
Janeček Keller, Maurice ; Mothejzíková, Jarmila (advisor) ; Klégr, Aleš (referee)
This thesis examines comprehensive self-study software packages for upper-intermediate (B2) learners of English, in the context of adult language learning and computer-assisted language learning. The aim is to provide a holistic perspective. To determine whether contemporary self-study software is likely to deliver on its producers' promises, a list of evaluation criteria is elaborated and used to evaluate the newest versions of four products that are available on the Czech software market: Anglicky efektivne a Anglicka gramatika by the Czech company Landi, Anglictina Elements pro sti'edne pokroCile by Langmaster Intemational which is a Czech based company as well, Tell Me More Anglictina 3 by the French company Auralog and adapted for Czech leamers by the Czech publishing house Leda, and finally Rosetta Stone U.K. English Level 3 by the American company Fairfield Language Technologies. In addition to the theoretical evaluation, one ofthe products (Tell Me More) was subjected to a one-month trial in an authentic context. Although, each program has its strong points, it is pointed out that success can not be expected from leaming that relies exclusively on these self·study materials. The thesis concludes by proposing improvements with which learning software could be successfully used in self-study settings...
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Structures of directive speech acts and strategies of politeness associated with them in the late medieval and early modern private epistolary English prose: a synchronic and diachronic perspective
Palivada, Katsiaryna ; Čermák, Jan (advisor) ; Klégr, Aleš (referee)
In this paper I have carried out a synchronic and diachronic analysis of the structural variations of directive speech acts in relation to politeness strategies involved in them. In my research I have employed both function-to-form and form-to-function methods of linguistic mapping, or, in other words, I combined a careful manual selection of samples from a limited study material (the collection of the Paston and Stonor family letters) and an automatic corpus-based research carried out on the material presented by the PCEEC. The work with the Paston and Stonor family letters was mainly devoted to the synchronic qualitative analysis of directives, whereas the corpus-based research was concerned with the quantitative presentation of the development of certain directive strategies throughout the 15th-17th centuries. In both synchronic and diachronic analysis I have tried to correlate different structural classes of directives with politeness strategies mentioned in the theory of politeness as postulated by Brown and Levinson (1987). When making judgements on the level of politeness of particular directive structures I also paid attention to the contextual and situational appropriateness of certain forms of directives in each particular case (Watts 2003), their conformity with the temporal variations in the...
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Testing English collocations in Czech learners of English
Vaňková, Lenka ; Klégr, Aleš (advisor) ; Čermák, Jan (referee)
The present study focuses on English collocations and their testing in Czech learners of English. Since the importance of collocations and phraseology as a linguistic discipline has not been recognised until recently, these concepts are introduced from the general point of view. First, the attention is given to the history of phraseology and its underlying principles as well as to the major approaches to it. Second, phraseological units are described from the point of view of their categorisation and of some influential typologies of these units. The main focus of interest is collocations, particularly major approaches to them as well as criteria commonly used to describe and delimit collocations from other types of prefabricated units and their definition and classification. Previous research on collocations in learner English is also outlined. The analytical part (based on Granger's (1998) study) analyzes the results of testing English collocations in Czech learners of English. The main focus is on whether these results confirm or deny the results of Granger's study, as well as on the learners' knowledge of and ability to use collocations, particularly on their (non)attaining the native "ideal."
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Utilization of general rhythm metrics for differentiation of Slovak English from Slovak and English
Kaprál, Jakub ; Volín, Jan (advisor) ; Klégr, Aleš (referee)
The purpose of the present thesis is to analyze Slovak English from the perspective of speech rhythm in relation to its native (Slovak) and target (English) language. The first part contains theoretical background for the study of language rhythm, history of its research, and describes rhythmically relevant features of English and Slovak phonetic systems. It is concluded by summary of rhythmical differences between the two languages and hypotheses are proposed. The experimental part uses rhythm metrics for determination of phonetic properties of rhythm in Slovak English. It is based on recordings of one English and two Slovak representative radio reporters along with six recordings of Slovak students of English studies. The rhythm metrcis results for Slovak English closely approximate the results for native English but due to inconsistency of the results the question of aplicability of rhythm metrics to L1, let alone L2, remains open. Keywords: Slovak English, speech rhythm, rhythm metrics, prosody, second language acquisition
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Introduction to ELT Methodology
Gráf, Tomáš ; Mothejzíková, Jarmila (advisor) ; Klégr, Aleš (referee)
The thesis presents a theoretical framework for a portfolio for the course Teorie a praxe jazykové akvizice pro uèitele angliètiny (didaktická propedeutika). This preparatory course in didactics serves as an introduction to the subject for future teachers of English in secondary schools, whom it should equip with a basic level of understanding of the general principles of learning, language acquisition and language learning. The work presents a course syllabus, and in its individual chapters it describes the theoretical background for each seminar. The themes introduced in the course are: theories of learning and their application to language teaching, language identity, theory and description of first and second language acquisition, learner variables (age, gender,aptitude, intelligence, motivation, affective filter, learning styles, multiple intelligences, learner beliefs, the role of brain and memory in language acquisition, methods of teaching foreign languages, interlanguage, linguistic errors, levels of proficiency, communication and learning strategies, learner autonomy, the theory of a good language learner and teacher. The thesis includes an appendix containing handouts for each seminar and a student evaluation form for the assessment of the quality of the seminar.
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Introduction to ELT Methodology - Learning Languages
Gráf, Tomáš ; Mothejzíková, Jarmila (advisor) ; Klégr, Aleš (referee)
The thesis presents a theoretical framework for the preparation of a portfolio for the course Didaktická propedeutika pro studenty angliètiny na FF UK. This preparatory course in didactics should serve as an introduction to the subject for future teachers of English in secondary schools, whom it should equip with a basic level of understanding of the general principles of learning, language acquisition and language learning. The work presents a course syllabus and in its individual chapters it describes the theoretical background for each seminar. The themes introduced in the course are: theories of learning and their application to language teaching, language identity, theory and description of first and second language acquisition, learner variables (age, gender, aptitude, intelligence, motivation, affective filter, learning styles, multiple intelligences, learner beliefs, the role of brain and memory in language acquisition, methods of teaching foreign languages, interlanguage, linguistic errors, levels of proficiency, communication and learning strategies, learner autonomy, the theory of a good language learner and teacher. The thesis includes an appendix containing handouts for each seminar and a student evaluation form for the assessment of the quality of the seminar.
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English translation equivalents of Czech prepositions "s" and "na" (in parallel electronic texts)
Pokorná, Petra ; Malá, Markéta (advisor) ; Klégr, Aleš (referee)
The aim of this study is to analyze and describe the English translation equivalents of two Czech prepositions 'na' and 's' (including its vocalized form 'se') in texts of contemporary Czech fiction and their English translations. The study is divided into three major parts: a theoretical overview, an analysis and a conclusion. The theoretical survey consists of two parts, in which the syntactic and semantic characteristics of prepositions in general are dealt with and the status of prepositions in Czech and English is compared. The first, syntactic part provides an overview of the syntactic functions of the prepositional phrases. The semantic part describes the treatment of prepositional meanings in Czech and English grammars and focuses on the meanings attributed to 'na' and 's' in Czech grammars and monolingual and bilingual Czech-English dictionaries. The analytical part of the present paper will be preceded by a brief specification of the data on which the analysis was based. The analysis itself is divided into two parts, each of which comprises two subsections. The first analytical part compares the syntactic functions of the Czech prepositional phrases and their English counterparts, the first subsection providing an analysis of the preposition 'na', the other examining the preposition 's/se'. In the...
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