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Non-profit organizations in the education of pupils with a different mother tongue
Hanáková, Karolína ; Sherman, Tamah (advisor) ; Prokšová, Hana (referee)
The diploma thesis deals with the topic of education of pupils with a different mother tongue in the Czech Republic; the target group are children in the age of compulsory education (approx. age 6 to 15), the target location is Prague. The topic is elaborated from the perspective of the actors of language management - state institutions, elementary schools and non-profit organizations. In the theoretic part, those subjects are characterized; the focus concentrates on the current legislation, the possibilities of funding of teaching Czech as a second language, the methodical support from the state. Non-profit organizations are characterized more in detail and their general role in civil society is explained. The practical part of the thesis describes and analyses the current situation: it identifies problems each actor is dealing with and mostly it captures their positions in the system and mutual interaction. The structure of this part is based on the activities of the non-profit organizations - their offer of the extracurricular, language-education courses for pupils with a different mother tongue, support of elementary schools and people working with this target group as well as communication with the Ministry of Education and active effort to improve the current support. The semi-structured...
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Dialogical and linguistic aspects of the interactions of YouTubers and rappers in the publication of musical/audiovisual creative material
Novotný, Tomáš ; Sherman, Tamah (advisor) ; Homoláč, Jiří (referee)
This paper aims to introduce a concept called digital dialogical network. This concept is inspired by a similar concept called medial dialogical network, which was elaborated in past sociolingustic research. Whereas the concept of medial dialogical network is used to describe dialogical interactions, which may take place in a sequence of published media contributions, the concept of digital dialogical network aims to describe similar interactions which may take place in a series of language contributions published on the internet. Furthermore, this paper shows some language behaviour similarities between rappers and youtubers. Those are also social groups, language of which has been used as a primary language data source.
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Linguistic Identity in the English as a Lingua Franca Communication: Changing Perceptions on English Non-nativeness in the Context of an Erasmus Community of Practice
Klánová, Aneta ; Janáč, Jiří (advisor) ; Sherman, Tamah (referee) ; Sonkoly, Gábor (referee)
The standard ideology, embedded in discourses of traditional language teaching, has been found to have an influence on non-native speakers' linguistic identities. It manifests itself in their preoccupation with grammatical correctness and accent, and consequently in shaping negative self-perceptions, by focusing on the lacks in proficiency relative to the native speaker model. Some of the recent studies, however, reported contrasting findings. They reveal a weakening of this influence, which stems mainly from the current role of English as a global lingua franca. The ultimate goal of this study is to explore the English non-native students' perceptions of their English, as it served as a main shared resource for socializing within their community, in order to find whether and how this decentralization, combined with the "real life" use of English within an informal environment of an Erasmus community of practice, might impact their linguistic identities. The theoretical part of this study consists of three sections. Firstly, it provides a description of the concept of English as a lingua franca and its development. The second part explicates the relation between ELF and linguistic identity whereas the third part introduces the community of practice approach, which has been employed both as a...
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Language management in historic buildings with guided tours
Hanušová, Kateřina ; Sherman, Tamah (advisor) ; Nekvapil, Jiří (referee)
The presented thesis studies the language management of six historical objects currently maintained by the National Heritage Institute (NHI). With each, several different aspects were studied. Firstly, the aspect of organized language management, particularly the use of language when communicating with visitors, presenting the object publicly and organizing tours. The linguistic landscape analysis focused primarily on the visitor information system of each of the heritage objects. This provided crucial data for the study of the spatial use and distribution of languages. Furthermore, the matter of language ideologies and their influence on the language hierarchies was addressed. The last, aspect to be scrutinized, was the organizational structure of the NHI, particularly the levels responsible for language-related decisions. The thesis aims to describe the workings of such heritage sites from the aforementioned viewpoints, thus illustrating the language management process in the tourist industry.
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Acquisitional interference of English and Czech in prepositional constructions
Peřestá, Gabriela ; Křivan, Jan (advisor) ; Sherman, Tamah (referee)
The paper Acquisitional interference of English and Czech in prepositional constructions concerns itself with the influence of the first language on acquisition of certain prepositional constructions in learners of English and Czech as a second language. It is based on evidence of frequent erroneous uses of prepositions that has been acquired through professional experience. Its main goal is to examine the influence of negative first language transfer during production of prepositional constructions which in the target language require different marking than a translation equivalent of its marking in the first language. To identify these types of constructions a detailed analysis of functions of selected prepositions is carried out, and endorsed by a graphic illustration. A prediction is made on the conditions under which negative first language transfer will occur, in native speakers of Czech as well as English during production of their target language. This prediction is tested using an elicitation questionnaire based on differences and similarities in marking of prepositional functions in the speakers' first and target language. Both groups of respondents translate a semantically identical list of sentences from their first to their target language. Their answers are recorded, then analysed....
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English as a Lingua Franca in Europe and Asia: teaching policy on the ground
Morejon, Stefanie ; Sherman, Tamah (advisor) ; Gráf, Tomáš (referee)
The present thesis considers the topic of English as a Lingua Franca as it is perceived and experienced by three groups: the ELF research community, ELT professionals, and ELF users themselves. This thesis first presents an overview of the theoretical foundations of ELF research, identifying key topics with which the ELF research community has grappled in recent decades. In order to determine how much closer the ELT community has gotten to aligning teaching policy, practices, and goals to students' specific needs and expectations, sociolinguistic research in the form of seven semi-structured interviews was conducted with L2 English speakers who use ELF to live, work, and study in their daily lives, and the ELT professionals tasked with developing their English skills in the classroom. The content of these interviews is then analyzed with regard to the specific needs and expectations of ELF users and the concerns of ELT professionals, followed by a discussion of the key issues uncovered in these interviews in light of the theoretical background of ELF research. The author provides suggestions for further research aimed at improving the ELT community's role in developing ELF proficiency in the expanding circle. Keywords: English as a Lingua Franca, English Language Teaching, Expanding Circle, ELF...
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The Name Change Process in the Czech Republic
Stuchlá, Anna ; Sherman, Tamah (advisor) ; Kopecký, Jakub (referee)
Personal names are one of the few areas of language regulated by law in the Czech Republic. Name change then represents an often complicated process that is dealt with on various levels of social interactions. Language Management Theory is based on differentiation between language and metalanguage activities. These metalanguage activities are the subject of study, and are often called language management (Nekvapil, 2009: p. 1, 2). In language management research, theory also considers processes happening on micro-level of daily interactions, on macro-level of language-planning institutions, the way these levels interact with each other and even the linguistic, communicative and sociocultural dimensions of metalanguage activities. This is why it was chosen as a research method to describe the name change process, which is the major aim of this thesis. My research is based on an analysis of current laws and interviews with seven respondents who changed their names. The comparison of these two levels showed that the current norms are not based on common communication and may cause problems in everyday interactions. These problems are more related to communicative and sociocultural management, and therefore discussion with experts from these fields seems to be appropriate.
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Family Language Management in Czech-English Families in Lancashire
Baštová, Kateřina ; Sherman, Tamah (advisor) ; Bozděchová, Ivana (referee)
This thesis presents a research of a family language management in four Czech-English families in Lancashire. Using in-depth semi-structured interviews, it examines various aspects of language ideology and language policy, language use, and the way of teaching and language acquisition of Czech language within the families. The first chapter introduces theoretical findings and essential ideas for the research. The second chapter describes the process of the research, provides information on the examined families, and presents the research questions. The third chapter describes the processing and analysis of interviews, and the fourth presents research results and answers the research questions. The aim of this thesis was to describe and analyse the mentioned aspects of family language management and based on this analysis show how the families approach bilingual education of their children.
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Language biographies of the third generation of the Greek minority in the Czech Republic
Zahálková, Tereza ; Sherman, Tamah (advisor) ; Jílková, Lucie (referee)
This thesis explores the processes and mechanisms of the acquisition and use language as described by the third generation of Greek political immigrants living on the territory of the Czech Republic. It also deals with how the respondents talk about the questions of code switching and their ethnic self- identification. The text is divided into two main parts, theoretical and empirical. In the theoretical part, an introduction to the history of Greek refugees and the causes of their immigration in the context of their simultaneous maintenance of identity and language is elaborated. The methods available for this type of research are then described. In the empirical part, based on recorded interviews, the language behaviour of narrators was analysed and interpreted by using the language biography method. The main finding is that although the group is adapted to the Czech environment, it tends towards the Greek community and still learns the language of its ancestors. Though the respondents had been learning Greek since childhood, the main development of their competence in it began with the period of their adolescence. Within intergenerational communication, it was found that interactions between parents and their children were more homogeneous than in the relationship between grandparents and grandchildren....
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English as Lingua Franca in Cyprus after 2003: Questions of identity
Savoglu, Mustafa ; Ira, Jaroslav (advisor) ; Czoch, Gábor (referee) ; Sherman, Tamah (referee)
As a multilingual and multicultural island, Cyprus has been segregated based on religion, identities, communities, and nationalities. In 1974, this segregation became a physical division of the island. After twenty-nine years of division, in 2003 April 23rd , the borders or in other words, the check-points were opened, and the two biggest communities of the island; Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots, have been put in contact again. The phenomenon that the both communities were put in contact again also brought the question of language along with. This thesis investigates the evolution of the language policies and planning (LPP) in Cyprus. This research has found that since the beginning of the first crossings, English language has been functioning as Lingua franca, and being spread across the divide. The research analyzes the evolution of the LPP under three categories; A) Politics and Language Policies and Planning in Cyprus, B) Civil Society and Language Policies and Planning in Cyprus, C) Education and Language Policies and Planning in Cyprus. The results of the research have shown that the both sides (North and South) are willing to achieve a Greek and Turkish bilingual Cyprus, whereas the current situation points out that the lack policies and planning along with cooperation between the two...
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