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The management of language maintenance and shift in the Czech language community in Chicago
Štěpánová, Marie ; Sherman, Tamah (advisor) ; Dittmann, Robert (referee)
The Master's thesis The management of language maintenance and shift in the Czech language community in Chicago examines (based on the analysis of the transcript of more than twenty hours of recordings of testimonies of thirteen speakers from Czech-speaking areas of western peripheries of American Chicago who have been living outside the Czech countries for more than forty years) the issues of language maintenance, transmission to future generations, and language shift in the expatriate community. The work analyses the environment and diverse situations of possible contact with the Czech language, reflected by the speakers, as well as the importance of national institutions (such as expatriate associations, minority schools, Czech parishes, etc.) for language maintenance of individuals. Respondents reflect also the conditions under which they were able to pass the Czech language to succeeding generations." It analyses testimonies of Czech Americans on what reactions they have received on language features showing their origin (such as foreign accent and name) and what assimilation strategies they used to moderate such stigma. The project examines, from the perspective of simple language management, how bilingual skills and the identity of respondents interact in a research interview.
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Back to our Roots: Language and Sociocultural Management of Young Vietnamese in the Czech Republic
Ngo, Quynh Nga ; Sherman, Tamah (advisor) ; Adamovičová, Ana (referee)
A common phenomenon among migrants is called language attrition, or the partial loss of language skills caused by changes in the active use of the language. This phenomenon occurs in the Czech Republic, where numerous young Vietnamese are often praised (especially by teachers) for their quick acquisition of the Czech language in the school environment, but experience shortcomings in their Vietnamese language and socio-cultural competence during early adulthood, on the basis of which they begin to go "back to their roots." The main topics of research in this thesis are 1) the experience of loss of the Vietnamese language and socio-cultural competence by individual Vietnamese and by the Vietnamese community in the Czech Republic, 2) adjustment designs to remedy these deficiencies and 3) the (non-)implementation of these adjustment designs by both individuals and organizations in the Czech Republic. The theoretical- methodological framework is a Language Management Theory (Neustupný 2002) and the main methodological approaches are language biography (Nekvapil 2004) and ethnography. The results of the analysis indicate the critical points to be addressed in incentives for Vietnamese language teaching methodology for young Vietnamese, as well as in the experience and reflection of their personal identities.
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Teaching bilingual adolescents for whom English is a heritage language or who have lived in an Anglophone country, and who are studying in Czech secondary school English classrooms: the students' perspective
Jirásková, Anna ; Gráf, Tomáš (advisor) ; Klégr, Aleš (referee)
(in English) The present thesis explores the issue of teaching heritage language learners and returnee students in English as a foreign language (EFL) classes in Czech secondary schools. The aim of the thesis is to examine the experiences of heritage language learners and returnees in the EFL classroom, their strengths and weaknesses in English, their attitude towards English language learning in terms of potential anxiety and motivation, as well as heritage language learners' wishes in relation to language instruction. These issues are investigated from the perspective of the students themselves. The theoretical part reviews the relevant literature on heritage language acquisition and teaching, and on the effects of experience abroad on language acquisition. Moreover, it is complemented by discussions of differentiated instruction and language education for the gifted, two areas which can prove helpful in terms of finding suitable solutions to the problems encountered by the target population in foreign language classes. The empirical part is qualitative and consists of the analysis of in-depth semi-structured interviews with three participants, gymnázium students from Prague. Insights are provided about the interconnectedness of the students' life experiences, their general beliefs about language...
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