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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...
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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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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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Effect of time of exposure to L2 on the comprehension of relative clauses in primary school children
Brabcová, Alžběta ; Cilibrasi, Luca (advisor) ; Gráf, Tomáš (referee)
This study investigates the impact of second language age of onset on the development of syntactic competence in bilinguals. Forty-five bilingual children were tested using a picture- matching task with relative clauses. In this paradigm, children are aurally presented with relative clauses of various kinds and are asked to match what they hear with the appropriate picture (out of four choices) on the screen. More specifically, our experiment compared the comprehension of subject- vs. object-extracted center-embedded relative clauses and contained sentences with noun phrases (NPs) that did or did not match in number (both NPs singular or plural = match, one NP singular, one NP plural = mismatch). We compared the performance of a group of Simultaneous bilinguals (two languages since birth), Early sequential bilinguals (first exposure to L2 - English between the ages of 1 to 4) and Late sequential bilinguals (first exposure to L2 -English after the age of 4 but latest at the age of 6 - primary school). The mean age of the participants at the time of testing was approx. 10 years of age. The results show that there is a varied pattern in the comprehension strategies used among the three bilingual groups. The group of Simultaneous bilinguals showed more reliance on the syntactic information contained in...
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Learner goals and attitudes to mistakes from an ELT and ELF perspective
Dunková, Jiřina ; Quinn Novotná, Veronika (advisor) ; Gráf, Tomáš (referee)
The present research focuses on students' attitudes and preferences towards English language learning at Czech private language schools. In essence, the thesis focuses on unearthing the relationship and attitudes of students towards language mistakes, goals, and creativity. The study approaches language learning from more and less norm-bound perspectives and the English as a Lingua Franca (ELF) paradigm is introduced. In connection with the main focus of the research the intention is also to detect tendencies that could hint at the suitability of integrating knowledge about ELF into English Language Teaching (ELT). To obtain original data from the selected target group I conducted a mixed-method research (a questionnaire survey and in-class observations). The key concepts discussed are: mistakes, learner goals, learner needs, accuracy and language creativity (or 'languaging'). Key words: EFL, ELF, learner goals, accuracy, language creativity, languaging.
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The role of metalanguage in ELT
Masopustová, Lucie ; Gráf, Tomáš (advisor) ; Šaldová, Pavlína (referee)
(in English) The thesis deals with the topic of the role of metalanguage and metalinguistic terminology in English Language Teaching at Czech grammar schools. The concepts of metalanguage and metalinguistic terminology are viewed as one of the potential educational tools in the field of learning and teaching English grammar. The theoretical part of the thesis focuses, among other things, on benefits and limitations of the use of metalanguage, and on the suitability of conditions for the use of metalanguage, i.e. on the variables which may affect the educational process are discussed in this part as well. Moreover, an overview of the approaches to teaching grammar in relation to the use of metalanguage and metalinguistic terminology is provided in this chapter together with the summary of findings obtained from the studies concerned with learners or teachers knowledge of metalinguistic terminology. The empirical part is based on the questionnaire survey among Czech grammar school students and teachers. The main areas examined in the research are: learners' and teachers' attitudes to and beliefs about learning and teaching English and English grammar, learners' and teachers' attitudes to metalinguistic terminology as well as learners' knowledge of the terminology and teachers' awareness of the...
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N-grams in the speech of Czech and native speakers of English
Zvěřinová, Simona ; Gráf, Tomáš (advisor) ; Tichý, Ondřej (referee)
The diploma thesis is concerned with the analysis of recurrent word-combinations in the speech of advanced Czech speakers of English and native speakers of English. The data used for the analysis is extracted from two corpora, learner corpus LINDSEI and native speaker corpus LOCNEC. The aim of the thesis is to compare the two groups of speakers, determine differences in their use of recurrent word-combinations and compare the findings to previous studies involving speakers of different languages. The quantitative analysis is performed on a sample of 50 speakers from each corpus and the frequency data is used to compare the two groups as to the number of types of word-combinations they use and how frequently they do so. The qualitative analysis is performed on a sample of 15 speakers from each corpus to determine functional differences. Four categories of word-combinations are determined in the analysis. In the conclusion, the quantitative and qualitative findings are compared to previous research involving speakers of different languages. Keywords: spoken language, learner language, n-grams, n-gram analysis, recurrent word- combinations, lexical bundles, learner corpus
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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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Mistakes: curse or blessing? The ELF perspective
Dunková, Jiřina ; Quinn Novotná, Veronika (advisor) ; Gráf, Tomáš (referee)
The present research focuses on students' attitudes and preferences towards English language learning at Czech private language schools. The study approaches language learning from two perspectives, the English as a Foreign Language (EFL) paradigm and the English as a Lingua Franca (ELF) paradigm. The key concepts discussed are: mistakes, re-labelled modifications, learner goals, learner needs, language models, accuracy and language creativity (or 'languaging'). Key words: EFL, ELF, learner goals, language models, accuracy, language creativity, languaging
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