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Vzájemné ovlivňování angličtiny a druhého cizího jazyka a jejich vliv na jazykovou úroveň studentů na českých středních školách
Humhalová, Tereza ; Mikuláš, Martin (advisor) ; Dvořák, Bohuslav (referee)
My diploma thesis is concerned with the possible effects of linguistic transfer between a Czech grammar school students' acquired languages, namely English and French or German, on their performance in these languages. The thesis is written on the backdrop of the Czech Education System. The System of Curricular Documents and the related documents which predetermine the students' language development are introduced, and their most important implications for the development of the students' L2 and L3 are listed out. The foreign languages which this thesis is predominantly focused on, namely English, French and German, are analysed diachronically, synchronically and typologically to establish their main principles, their similarities, and differences, which may serve as the possible sources of linguistic transfer. Cognitive processes underlying the development of L2 and L3 systems in the context of the Czech Education System and relevant theories are introduced, including the variables which determine to a significant degree the development of these languages and may have implications for the possible instances of linguistic transfer. Hypotheses and research questions which arise from the theoretical research are then proposed, the answers to which I intend to provide by means of a...
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The use of authentic materials in English language lessons in Czech lower secondary school
Šišková, Veronika ; Dvořák, Bohuslav (advisor) ; Mikuláš, Martin (referee)
The diploma thesis deals with authentic materials and the use of authentic materials in English language teaching. It is divided into two main parts. The theoretical part focuses on the definitions of authentic materials and authenticity in the context of language classroom. Different views on the subject matter are compared and summarized. The link between the real- world impact and the use of authentic materials and its influence on the motivation of the pupils is briefly discussed as well. Followingly, the thesis contains a classification of the authentic materials and advantages and potential shortcomings of their use. Each material type includes a number of activities usable in English lessons. The research for the practical part was conducted at an elementary school. The practical part thus consists of two main sections, specifically designing, piloting and observing lessons where different kinds of authentic materials were employed as well as a questionnaire filled by pupils. The questionnaire inquires the learners firstly about the lessons they attended. Furthermore, it also focuses on attitudes of the pupils towards the use of authentic materials in English lessons in general, their use in pupils' free time and their preferred authentic English material kinds. The survey results are...
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The effectiveness of mind-mapping learning strategy to extend vocabulary knowledge among elementary students
Šnevajsová, Helena ; Mikuláš, Martin (advisor) ; Kacafírková, Petra (referee)
Knowledge of vocabulary is an essential part of linguistic competence. Many students learn English vocabulary by translation and rote memorisation of vocabulary lists, which can result in the inability to use the words in well-formed sentences and appropriate contexts. Some students may find rote memorisation monotonous. This study examines the effectiveness of using the mind-map learning strategy to extend English vocabulary. Thirty-one elementary school students (15 men and 16 women) from two different elementary schools completed a short test before vocabulary instruction to obtain baseline data. Vocabulary instruction with the use of mind maps learning strategy followed. The recall was measured at the end of the lesson and one to two weeks after vocabulary instruction. A subjective assessment of the mind map learning strategy to learn vocabulary was taken. The results show that the knowledge of vocabulary items improved compared with the baseline. Moreover, students retained similar knowledge even after one to two weeks. New information was moved to the long-term memory of the students. Students were able to recall vocabulary from a medium- term perspective. Subjective assessment of the learning strategy showed that students enjoy learning vocabulary with mind maps more than writing vocabulary...
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The effect of teaching spelling on the ability to predict pronunciation in Czech lower-secondary learners of English
Fuková, Kateřina ; Červinková Poesová, Kristýna (advisor) ; Mikuláš, Martin (referee)
The aim of this thesis is to investigate whether teaching spelling-to-sound correspondence rules improves learners' ability to predict pronunciation. The theoretical part is divided into two sections. After explaining the basic concepts, the correspondences between graphemes and phonemes in English are listed and clarified, briefly followed by historical reasons for their seemingly unclear contemporary relationship. It is then examined how these ambiguities in English correspondences affect learners of English and what approach to teaching pronunciation prediction is recommended by current methodology. The practical part consists of a collection of appropriate activities for teaching pronunciation rules and describes a seven-week teaching intervention that sought to develop this skill for the letters <c>, <g>, <s> and <o> in Czech lower-secondary learners of English. Twenty-six students and twenty-two members of the control group participated in a recorded reading of 18 real a nd 18 pseudowords before and after the teaching intervention. The test group showed an overall improvement between the two readings which was also statistically confirmed. This progress was fairly evenly distributed across all letters, as well as real words and pseudowords. KEYWORDS spelling instruction, pronunciation...
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Three ways of expressing future time in modern British fiction and non-fiction (will/shall + infinitive, to be going to + infinitive, present prograsive)
Mikuláš, Martin ; Jančovičová, Ivana (advisor) ; Pípalová, Renata (referee)
This diploma thesis analyses three selected ways of expressing futurity in modern English: will/shall + infinitive; the to be going to construction; and the present progressive tense. The expression of futurity is explored in fiction and non-fiction separately. However, this thesis concentrates only on written English. In Part One, several approaches to the phenomenon of futurity are introduced. In Part Two, the selected expressions of futurity are presented and analysed as to their meaning, distribution, syntactic and Contextual factors. Attention is paid to the proportion of occurrence of these expressions, their meanings, and how these are affected by context (situation, subject, negation, voice) and style. Analysis is made separately for fiction and non-fiction corpus; their comparison is included in the last chapter. The frequency of the occurrence of future expressions and their meanings in the two registers are summarised in tables at the end of the work and in graphs included in the text. Powered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org)
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Pragmatic and stylistic aspects of expressions of futurality in professional economic text and their didactic consequences
Mikuláš, Martin ; Pípalová, Renata (advisor) ; Povolná, Renata (referee) ; Malá, Markéta (referee)
The dissertation surveys the use of expressions of futurality in professional economic texts (the linguistic part). In addition, it investigates didactic aspects of futurality in the process of English as a second language acquisition, focusing on undergraduates in the study programme B 6208 - Economy and Management (the didactic part). The topic was chosen on the basis of the author's empirical experience and the results of pre-tests in the target group. The research is based on a corpus-based linguistic study. Seven representative monographs written by native speakers were selected as a source of relevant information about the use of futural constructions in a written economic text. All the sources were explored by means of corpus query software and instances of selected futural constructions (will, shall, be going to, be about to, be on the point of, be (due) to and the present tense) were excerpted. Functions of the futural constructions were elaborted on the basis of the numerous excerpts and confronted with English for specific (economic) purpose textbooks that are used widely at Czech economic universities. To prove or disaprove their mutual interdependence, the correlation of general language and specific language proficiencies of undergraduates from two universities was measured....
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Effectiveness of teaching the English passive voice in distance learning at an upper-secondary school
Dobrylovská, Klára ; Mikuláš, Martin (advisor) ; Uličná, Klára (referee)
The diploma thesis investigates the measurable progress in the ability of upper-secondary school students to form and use the passive voice after having been exposed to two online lessons on this grammar item. The theoretical part describes distance education, its varieties, and the tools that are assumed to make it effective. The empirical part of the thesis is based on the analysis of the two online lessons,the analysis of the students' development based on short pre- and post-tests developed to evaluate the students' knowledge, and an interview with two of the students.The thesis will attempt to reach a conclusion on whether there is a measurable development in students' understanding of the subject matter when taught in an online environment.The thesis proved that despite the distance form of education of the two lessons, the acquisitionof the grammar item was successful.
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