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CLIL. Content and Language Integrated Learning
Tejkalová, Lenka ; Hofmannová, Marie (advisor) ; Novotná, Jarmila (referee)
Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) is a contemporary trend in education. It refers to every situation where a subject or its part is taught in a foreign language. The focus of this work is Mathematics in English. My aim was to confirm or reject the hypothesis of CLIL being motivating for the students and possible to implement in the Czech educational system. In the first part of this work, I focused on methodology related to CLIL, analyzing the language-teaching and general educational theories, methods and strategies used in CLIL lessons. The second part consisted of a minor survey on CLIL implementation in Prague and related opinions and attitudes of the school representatives. The third part presented detailed description of a CLIL lesson plan and reflection on my four teaching experiments. The CLIL lesson proved to be motivating for the students and seen as beneficial by the teachers, the methods chosen were appreciated; however, there are several issues that need to be dealt with in terms of successful CLIL implementation in the Czech Republic.
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Multiculturalism and Multicultural Education: Multiculturalism Education in the Czech Environment
Bouchnerová, Renata ; Higgins, Bernadette (advisor) ; Hofmannová, Marie (referee)
The work deals with the issue ofMulticulturalism and multicultural education in the Czech Republic, however, the world context is taken into consideration as well. The aim of the work is to present both the theoretical background of multicultural education and its practical realization in the Czech Republic with a focus on the possibilities of using English learning as a tool for its development. Based on the results of two pieces of research carried out in Czech primary and secondary schools, a sample handbook was put together to help English teachers to include multicultural education in their lessons. KLÍČOVÁ
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Common mistakes Czech students make in English and their Remedial Treatment
Ganev, Ondřej ; Dvořák, Bohuslav (advisor) ; Hofmannová, Marie (referee)
Common mistakes Czech students make in English represent the main topic of the presented master thesis. The theoretical part mainly deals with the presentation of various TEFL (Teaching English as Foreign Language) methods. Moreover, they are discussed from several perspectives, including techniques, strategies and principles while using the particular method, the role of the teacher, his or her relationship with students, and especially the response to errors within each of the methods. The purpose of presenting TEFL methods is to show also the connection between mistakes and methods themselves. Concerning the area of mistakes and their corrections, we focus on the classification of mistakes and their division. The practical part is based on various illustrations of mistakes from students' writing assignments. These mistakes are divided into four major classes, including grammar, spelling, wrong word and word order. The thesis also deals with the remedial treatment which may hopefully reduce the number of possible mistakes. The aim of the thesis is to compare the level of students' English language knowledge at the Secondary School of Tourism in Prague where the author works as an English teacher.
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Learning English: Exceptional ways and needs of exceptional children
Urban, Petr ; Hofmannová, Marie (advisor) ; Fořtíková, Jitka (referee)
This diploma thesis has outlined the issues of gifted education and the problems which this whole area of education faces. It introduced the basic topics related to the gifted population such as the gift itself, its division etc. In addition, it described the basic forms of work with gifted students, with emphasis on the importance of teacher training and introduced (using interviews) the personal characteristics of teachers which are considered by the gifted students important. Furthermore it presented specific training needs of gifted students and showed the possibilities in helping the gifted. In its second part, this diploma thesis also presented some of the unusual methods which can be used in the process of teaching and which are usually highly effective when presented to gifted students. Individual methods were analysed and possible applications of each of those were described. For a better understanding, each of the methods was accompanied by an example. During the research I realized even more that the issue of gifted children and gifted individuals in general in the Czech Republic is not sorted out adequately. There are still many challenges to solve before talented individuals will be given the space for their education and also the following application at work and in life. Therefore,...
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Current Approaches to English Teacher Education as Reflected in Trainees'Teaching Practice
Holý, Tomáš ; Hofmannová, Marie (advisor) ; Voňková, Hana (referee)
This work deals with the English language teacher training approaches administered at the Department of English Language and Literature of the Faculty of Education, Charles University in Prague. The work seeks answers to which aspects of teacher competence are developed by each of the approaches. As almost half of the trainees involved in the research had a previous teaching experience, the role of teaching experience on the development of teaching skills is also examined. Teacher trainees' written reflections on their teaching practice are analyzed using a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods. The results are related to current trends in teacher education.
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Analytical assessment of grammar school pupil's ESL writings
Šiprová, Hedvika ; Dvořák, Bohuslav (advisor) ; Hofmannová, Marie (referee)
The theoretical part of this diploma thesis provides a broader academic context for the research presented in the theoretical part and is concerned with the specifics of the writing assessment. It proposes reasons why writing should be assessed, describes methods of assessment and scoring, and also examines writing tests. At the end of the theoretical part, the presumed controlling idea, called the washback effect, which significantly influenced the course of the research in the practical part of the thesis, is presented. The practical part is divided into two parts. The first part focuses on the types of scoring ESL grammar school teachers employ for assessing grammar school pupils. The aim was to discover how many of them use analytical and/or multiple-trait scoring. It was revealed that analytical scoring the most used means of assessment. Holistic scoring was next, followed by multiple-trait and lastly primary-trait scoring. Other scoring procedures are rarely employed. The second part is a case study of assessment criteria of selected teachers which compares these criteria against those used in Cambridge English: Preliminary examination and the Czech state secondary school-leaving exam. The author of the thesis tried to identify criteria or descriptors which appear across these systems and could,...
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Integrating Environmental Education Topics into the EFL Class to Improve Students' Communication Skills
Brzá, Tereza ; Vallin, Petra (advisor) ; Hofmannová, Marie (referee)
This bachelor thesis aims to explore ways in which environmental topics might be integrated into the ESL classroom to improve students' communication skills. The theoretical part is concerned with teaching methods that combine content and language instruction, introduce relevant topics and create an authentic environment for language learning. It further analyses the content and main objectives of Environmental Education as a cross-curricular subject and identifies communication skills as an essential element of soft skills. The thesis examines their possible development through engaging students in discussions about environmental issues. The practical part consists of planning individual lessons whose content derives from topics of Environmental Education and emphasis is placed on communication activities. The lessons were thereafter implemented in an Elementary School ZŠ Drtinova and reflected on using Korthagen's ALACT model. Based on the teaching experience, the practical part contains recommendations for similar lessons. The thesis suggests that English language teachers are in a unique position to promote environmental awareness and improve students' language skills simultaneously.
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Czech-English cross-language mediation in EFL teaching and learning
Bartáková, Stanislava ; Dvořák, Bohuslav (advisor) ; Hofmannová, Marie (referee)
The aim of this thesis is to introduce the concept of cross-language mediation, which is well established in some countries abroad but is not widely used in the Czech environment, from various points of view. The work tries to show that cross-language mediation is an engaging, effective and interesting activity preparing the learners for real-life mediating situations employing both mother tongue and English. The work is enriching for its battery of mediation activities designed for the Czech context, mediation assessment criteria and a survey among Czech and foreign teachers summarizing their attitude towards mediation and its role in EFL lessons. KEYWORDS: cross-language mediation, translation, mother tongue in EFL teaching
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Developing Reading Skills Based on Reading the Bridge Articles
Paclíková, Gabriela ; Dvořák, Bohuslav (advisor) ; Hofmannová, Marie (referee)
This thesis deals with the development of reading comprehension in English language which is considered essential in the study and professional life. Its aim is to design practical activities based on reading articles from the Bridge magazine, to develop reading skills in learners on level B1 of CEFR. Theoretical parts of discussion reflect the need of the teacher to perceive different texts and the importance of the press for developing reading abilities in his/her everyday life to be able to develop pupils' abilities. It gives information about reading comprehension of pupils in their mother tongue, including international context. In developing reading skills in English as a second language, skills are specified and difficulties named. The method for my practical part is the lexical approach that was developed by Michael Lewis and Jane & Dave Willis, based on teaching chunks. In order to develop reading competence, work with dictionary material is developed that should be understood as an integral part for developing autonomic skills, continued by reading with prosody and finally making operations with meaningful chunks. Activities such as reading aloud and making operations with meanings proved effective. Making notes turned ineffective. KEYWORDS reading in english, competence, magazine...
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Continuing Beginner Learners in Adult EFL Classes
Mihulková, Šárka ; Hofmannová, Marie (advisor) ; Dvořák, Bohuslav (referee)
This thesis deals with the issue of teaching continuing beginners in adult EFL classes. It focuses on the description of factors that may influence the learning stagnation among these learners, and it attempts to ascertain the extent to which these factors take effect. Consequently, the thesis aims to characterize Czech continuing beginners as an independent group of learners and to provide scientific evidence which could clarify the assumptions, underlying the continuing-beginner concept. Lastly, but importantly, the thesis also intends to instigate further research in the field. The subject was investigated from the perspective of available pedagogical, andragogcial and psychological literature. Accordingly, four major factors, which may be at the root of continuing-beginner phenomenon, were identified: a mismatch between learning and teaching styles, insufficient study motivation, hindrances to learning and learning disabilities. These four areas were further focused on in a questionnaire survey, using rating scales to determine the importance of the individual areas. The study worked with three hypotheses. Firstly, continuing beginners were expected to report difficulties in at least two of the established areas. Secondly, it was presupposed that the rate of learning disabilities would be somewhat...
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