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Czech Primary Teachers' Approach to English Pronunciation Teaching
Jirsová, Emma ; Červinková Poesová, Kristýna (advisor) ; Müller Dočkalová, Barbora (referee)
The aim of this diploma thesis is to ascertain the current state of English pronunciation teaching at primary schools in the Czech Republic by researching Czech teachers' approach to it. The thesis comprises a theoretical and practical part. The theoretical part first describes the importance, aim, and content of pronunciation teaching as well as the effectiveness of pronunciation instruction and reasons for neglecting it. Furthermore, it characterizes young learners, gives recommendations for teaching pronunciation to them, describes an integrative approach to pronunciation teaching, and looks into how pronunciation is taught at primary schools in different European countries. The practical part of this diploma thesis presents, analyzes, and discusses the findings of a survey completed by 108 Czech primary teachers focusing on their approach to pronunciation teaching. The results of the survey describe the teachers' pronunciation pedagogy training, their perspectives on pronunciation teaching, the way they implement it into their English lessons at primary schools, the reasons why some educators teach pronunciation spontaneously, and the changes which would facilitate systematic pronunciation teaching. Keywords English pronunciation teaching, primary level, young learners, English as a Foreign Language
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The use of drama as a means of increasing students' engagement in speaking activities
Šmídová, Kristýna ; Müller Dočkalová, Barbora (advisor) ; Uličná, Klára (referee)
This thesis deals with the use of drama techniques in order to improve students' speaking skills. The purpose of the study is to determine whether the use of fictional situations and characters can provide students with the incentive and motivation to speak and help them with their willingness to communicate. The main indicator for this will be the extent to which the students who otherwise rarely volunteer to engage in oral communicative activities speak during a lesson. The thesis is divided into two parts. The theoretical part first provides a brief introduction to teaching speaking, an overview of reasons why some students might be more reluctant to speak than others, and a summary of recommendations of various authors on the topic of teaching speaking skills and how to increase student talking time. It then further looks into the findings from existing research on communication breakdowns and the use of drama as a motivation for students to speak. The practical part describes an action research project conducted by the author with seventh-grade pupils of a private primary school, where she teaches. The research was motivated by difficulties the author was facing when teaching speaking, when several students in the class were being shy or were repetitively refusing to participate in speaking...
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Using podcasts to teach English to young learners
Hoppejová, Diana ; Müller Dočkalová, Barbora (advisor) ; Uličná, Klára (referee)
This bachelor thesis deals with podcasts as a way of teaching the English language, mainly focused on children aged 5-7 years before the start of their school education. The podcasts are designed to introduce the English language to children with the help of their first language through spoken audio fairy tales without the help of visual aids. The aim of the thesis is to find out whether systematic use of the first language in audio material for beginning young learners can have a positive impact on their motivation and willingness to listen. The aim of the theoretical part was to gain the necessary knowledge to prepare such podcasts effectively. It therefore explores effective ways of teaching English to young learners, the use of stories to teach English, and the role of the first language in foreign language learning. The practical part reports on research conducted among parents of Czech and Slovak children who had not enjoyed listening to English audio materials prior to the research. The parents agreed on testing a series of the author's original podcasts with their children, and observing their reactions. The aim was to verify or reject the hypothesis that even children who otherwise refuse to listen to English audio materials will be motivated to listen to English fairy tale podcasts where...
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Effectiveness of teaching synthetic phonics to EFL students
Urbanová, Lucie ; Uličná, Klára (advisor) ; Müller Dočkalová, Barbora (referee)
The effectiveness of teaching synthetic phonics to EFL students Abstract The diploma considers the effectiveness of systematic and explicit Synthetic Phonics teaching methods in the EFL learning environment. The theoretical section examines foreign language methodology - the field of reading acquisition in young learners, especially English language pronunciation. It studies how systematic explicit Phonics approach can help in learning how to read and pronounce words correctly. It explores the similarities and differences between teaching Synthetic and Analytic Phonics, and compares them. Furthermore it discusses whether synthetic phonics is useful not only for native English speakers, but also for EFL students. The practical part focuses on testing two groups of children who have different experiences of phonics. The data were collected in Prague and the Hradec Králové region. There were 62 students tested out of whom 33 were in a control group and 29 were taught using a systematic Phonics approach. A specially designed test consisting of two different activities was applied. It tested word reading, non-word pronouncing and sight word recognition. The aim of the research was to find out whether explicit Synthetic Phonics teaching instruction helps not only native English speakers, but also EFL learners in...
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Teaching Differences between British and American English in Lower-secondary EFL Classes
Stelzerová, Pavlína ; Müller Dočkalová, Barbora (advisor) ; Matuchová, Klára (referee)
Presented thesis deals with teaching differences between British and American English. Its aim is to suggest a suitable way of teaching selected vocabulary differences between these two English varieties in EFL classes. The theoretical part of the presented thesis summarizes the knowledge background gained by studying relevant researches and professional publications. On that study the author's original teaching materials are based. The practical part consists of a brief research; original materials were used in five EFL classes, and consequently their efficiency and utility was examined. The main goal of this thesis is to propose this topic as a kind of useful enrichment of English lessons and to examine the way it could be included in a lesson plan without affecting it or burdening teachers with an extra preparation. Key words: American English, British English, differences, teaching EFL classes
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Content and Language Integrated Learning with ICT using the Interactive Whiteboard
Drápalík, Michal ; Ženíšek, Jakub (advisor) ; Müller Dočkalová, Barbora (referee)
The main goal of the diploma thesis "Content and Language Integrated Learning with ICT using the Interactive Whiteboard" is to provide a comprehensible assessment of the potential benefits of employing CLIL during ICT lessons. The thesis focuses on the recent history of CLIL and its roots as well as the official support it receives from the European Union. This work also takes a look at the advantages CLIL has to offer and why anybody should consider using it. This work goes on to suggest some basic questions a teacher should ask him/herself when considering whether to employ CLIL or not. The Practical Part is focused on creating a series of activities that may serve as an example of using CLIL during ICT lessons while making use of the Interactive Whiteboard, one of the new tools that is available to an increasing number of schools. The Practical Part also includes sample files to be opened on the Interactive Whiteboard, the age range of learners for whom the activity is intended, their learning context, aims and expected learning outcomes for each activity as well as the kinds of tasks included in each activity and the expected problems. Key Words: CLIL, Content and Language Integrated Learning, ICT, Information and Communication Technology, IWB, Interactive Whiteboard, second language,...
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Drama techniques in soft CLIL lessons in a lower-secondary class
Wirnitzerová, Jitka ; Žďárek, Karel (advisor) ; Müller Dočkalová, Barbora (referee)
This diploma thesis is focused on acquiring communicative competence in teaching the English language as a foreign language. It is based on the presumption that students are not aware of some components of communication which partake in understanding when communicating in a foreign language (context of situation, nonverbal communication, paralinguistic features). This assumption is being verified via questionnaires. The theoretical basis describes the grounding and benefits of drama techniques used in teaching a foreign language and The Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) method. Both these approaches are used for preparation of three experimental lesson plans which are put into practice. Video recordings are made which, along with information from students and their teacher, serve as a detailed analysis of the whole experiment.
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Differentiation in English language teaching at the elementary school
Juránková, Martina ; Uličná, Klára (advisor) ; Müller Dočkalová, Barbora (referee)
- v anglickém jazyce This diploma thesis called 'Differentiation in English language teaching at the elementary school' deals with employing differentiated instruction in a fifth-grade class at an elementary school in order to make learning more effective by balancing the stronger and the weaker students' needs. The theoretical part focuses on topics of learning and effective learning with an emphasis on English language teaching, mixed ability classes, learner differences and differentiated instruction. The final chapter of this part proposes a set of example activities and ideas that might be used in mixed-ability classes. The practical part uses action research to determine whether differentiate instruction was employed successfully. The outcomes of the research are discussed at the end of this part. The assumption is that after the research is finished, the situation in the class will improve since all students will feel adequately engaged in the lessons.
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Raising Phonetic Awareness at Primary Level
Skočdopolová, Petra ; Červinková Poesová, Kristýna (advisor) ; Müller Dočkalová, Barbora (referee)
The theoretical part of the thesis scrutinizes the principles of awareness raising and noticing in language teaching. Furthermore, it focuses on their implementation in pronunciation teaching and examines the possible limitations to these approaches imposed by learners' age and level of cognitive development. The practical part presents a research which consists of designing a battery of pronunciation activities promoting noticing and awareness raising, followed by their pilotage in five different groups of elementary school pupils. The aim of the research is to determine whether the piloted activities result in young learners noticing the target pronunciation features. The results of the research suggest positive impact of the noticing and awareness raising activities even among the pupils at lower stage of cognitive development. Key words: young learners, teaching pronunciation, consciousness raising, noticing, cognitive development, learners' involvement
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