Abstact This thesis relates to logopedic theme. It is focused on the issue of expressive vocabulary in preschool age. The main goal is an analysis of this area in children with specific language impairment and in intact children. In the research survey the analysis of the expressive vocabulary is carried out by using a test which was created for this intent. The test contains three subtests focused on different parts of speech. These are nouns, verbs and adjectives. With this test the evaluation of a range of expressive vocabulary and quality of expression is possible. The resulting data show that within the quality of expresion there is a greater difference between proband groups than in the range of expressive vocabulary. The thesis also describes in detail the differences in range of expressive vocabulary depending on individual parts of speech and on ways of inquiring about test entries which are different in individual parts of subtests. The research also includes the analysis of influence of a few chosen social aspects on range of expressive vocabulary and on quality of expression. In the group of intact probands the length of preschool education and number of siblings seems to be a statistically significant factor in relation to the range of expressive vocabulary. The quality of expression correlated...

Cochlear implantation of prelingually deafened adults is a contentious issue and information about the outcomes of late-implanted prelingually deafened (LIPD) adults is still largely undocumented. The question this study set out to answer, is what impact a late cochlear implantation has on the communication-related outcomes, both self-reported and objectively measured, of prelingually deafened adults. Consequently, this investigation determined the auditory, language, speech-intelligibility and quality of life outcomes of a group of LIPD adults. A combined qualitative and quantitative cross-sectional research approach was utilized for this multiple case study investigation. A semi-structured interview, audiological test battery and communication assessments were conducted using seven LIPD adults of a well-established cochlear implant program in South Africa. The results of the study indicated that the LIPD adults’ objectively assessed auditory, language and speech intelligibility outcomes are poorer than would be expected from good cochlear implant users, but the self-reported outcomes indicated that they experienced the cochlear implant as worthwhile and positive. The findings of this study provide more in-depth information regarding the communication-related outcomes of this population, and this information may be used by audiologists and speech-language therapists during counselling of prelingually deafened candidates to ensure appropriate expectations. Copyright / Dissertation (MCommunication Pathology)--University of Pretoria, 2010. / Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology / Unrestricted

Our research follows up longitudinal study of doc. PhDr. Gabriela Seidlová Málková, Ph.D. on Faculty of humanities, Charles University. In the years 2010-2012 four subsequent research of 127 preschool children age 3,5 - 5,5 years took place. In 2017 we succeeded in searching for 40 children attending at that time 5th class in elementary school. We captured current abilities of that children, especially reading. Our interest was to investigate decoding and reading comprehension. In agreement with previous research results we found out, that reading comprehension relates statistically significantly to decoding skill, listening comprehension, vocabulary, language awareness and nonverbal intelligence (all in elementary school). Based on the tests in nursery school, we divided children to three groups, and we described two outer - more (Comparative group) and less (Deficit group) language equipped. We traced reading profiles of these two groups in elementary school (5th grade). Keywords: language skills, reading literacy, reading comprehension, reading abilities, diagnostics of reading, development of reading skills, decoding

This study investigates Swedish upper-secondary teachers’ views and reported practices regarding pronunciation instruction in the English-as-a-foreign-language classroom. It adopts a mixed-method design, analysing qualitative data collected from a focus-group interview (N=4) and quantitative data collected from an online survey (N=54).  To investigate the views and reported practices of teachers, the following research questions were posed:  1. What are the views and attitudes of English teachers in the Swedish upper-secondary school regarding pronunciation and pronunciation instruction?  2. How do English teachers in the Swedish upper-secondary school describe their own practices in pronunciation instruction?  Results indicate that teachers generally value comprehensibility as the most important aim of pronunciation instruction. However, a native-like accent still seems to be highly valued, and nativeness norms still seem to affect teachers’ views and practices to some extent. Finally, our findings indicate that teachers spend very little time on pronunciation teaching in general, and they highlight that other aspects of language instruction are more important.

The main idea of my thesis is to describe the influence of institutional care and education on the early development of a child. The theoretical part analyzes a child younger than three years, especially the child's personality development. Special attention is devoted to the development of communication and language skills of a child of this age, also the basic terms are defined there. The thesis observes the early age institutional care and education in the Czech Republic and abroad, describes its historical background and current situation. Related research studies and future trends and visions are also included. The aim of the research is to compare a group of children in early institutional care with a group of children growing exclusively in a family environment and check if the stay in the institutional care has positive effects on the development of communication skills.

Eva Richterová - Early reading skills development in children with specific language impairment This study investigated the development of early reading skills in children with specific language impairment within a psycholinguistic framework. The investigation is based on theories concerning linguistic and cognitive skills which play a crucial role in the development of reading skills. This approach is utilized to identify groups which are at risk of difficulties in literacy acquisition as a result of language impairment. Theoretical background of reading development in children with SLI is presented, in addition to current knowledge about the relationship between language and reading skills. Studies on SLI highlight the need of longitudinal investigations, which enable better understanding of the relationship between literacy development and preliteracy skills. The aim of the study was to provide a systematic description of the reading skills development in children with SLI from first to fourth Grade. A group of 25 children with SLI was repeatedly investigated in terms of their reading skills (decoding and reading comprehension) and preliteracy skills. Assessment of language and cognitive skills was also carried out and involved phonological awareness, rapid authomatised naming, and letter...

Samhället och skolan i Sverige är idag mångkulturellt och flerspråkigt. Lärarna möter elever som har olika förutsättningar att lära sig svenska. Det finns barn som växer upp i så segregerade miljöer att de sällan eller nästan aldrig kommer i kontakt med svenska språket. Att tillägna sig svenska i skolan är en förutsättning för att kunna fungera väl i samhället och att inte hamna i ett underläge från början. I ljuset av detta sammanhang är det generella syftet att undersöka hur lärare beskriver arbetet med flerspråkiga elevers läsförståelse på andraspråket svenska i en mångkulturell skolmiljö.Uppsatsen utgår från tre olika teoretiska perspektiv – det fenomenologiska, Cummins (2017) The Literacy Engagement Framework, samt det sociokulturella perspektivet. Metodansatsen är fenomenologisk och undersökningsmetoden kvalitativ i form av intervjuer med åtta mellanstadielärare.Resultatet beskriver exempel på strategier och arbetssätt som informanter med viss variation använder sig av. Vidare synliggör resultatet de utmaningar som dagens skola möter för att tillgodose flerspråkiga elever den utbildning de enligt Språklagen har rätt till. Exempel på dessa utmaningar är bland annat brist på resurser och påverkan av yttre faktorer, vilket gör att flerspråkiga elevers läsförståelse och ordförrådsutveckling i en mångkulturell skolmiljö är otillräcklig. Slutsatsen är att skolan i nuläget inte kan garantera likvärdig tillgång till det svenska språket för alla elever. / <p>Svenska</p>

Title: Reading as an Instrument for Education of Critical Reading at Lower Secondary School Level Author: Renata Bromová Department: Department of English language and ELT Methodology, Faculty of Arts, Charles University Supervisor: Prof., PhDr. Bohuslav Mánek, CSc. Abstract This thesis deals with the topic of reading as an instrument of critical reading; which enables training of critical reading within teaching English as a part of lower secondary education. Critical reading is consired to be an important part of general education due to the fact that critical reading and thinking as the highest form of work with information gathered from written texts are included in school curriculum and they work as key competences. Research of the thesis maps experience of teachers as well as students with critical reading within English language education and consequently verifies efficiency of systematic work with foreign language text as the means of critical reading. The research is divided into two parts. The quantitative part submits implementation rate of critical reading methods in the English lessons and the qualitative part introduces methodical materials prepared for practical realisation of critical reading practice including mentoring and evaluation of this methodical material. Data collection of both...

Gabriela Čanigová Teaching focused on the development of foreigners` language skills - benefits and disadvantages at work with class in Science in 2nd grade ABSTRACT The work will deal with the development of language skills of pupils with different mother tongue and evaluation of the possible benefits of including such focused activities in teaching the whole class. As many research surveys show, weakened language skills in the mother tongue are not only for pupils with a different mother tongue. Adjusting teaching to pupils with different foreigners language could enrich other pupils as well. On the other hand, it is possible that these activities will be too simple for most pupils, which could lead to a loss of interest. Another possible risk appears to be time consuming, which could lead to the need to reduce the scope and possibly the content of education. The research will be carried out in two research groups in the form of experimental teaching of selected topics of the subject Prvouka. In the experimental group the teaching (explanation, work with text, etc.) will be adapted to the language skills of pupils with different foreigners language. Such oriented education will emphasize an increased level of graphic visualization of the content of teaching and creation of space for communication and...

Spanning over 2 000 years, teaching languages through drama is nothing new. Despite promising international research on the topic of teaching English as a second language (ESL) through drama, few to no studies have been conducted to assess its pedagogical value in the Swedish elementary school context. The national curriculum in Sweden promotes playful learning, with drama being included as a viable teaching activity for English in grades 4-6. Through five semi-structured interviews, this study explores how teachers in Sweden employ drama and role-play-based methods, but also how they perceive these method’s impact on students’ language skills. A thematic analysis of the teacher interviews suggests that drama and role-play can have positive effects, both in terms of academic skills development and in terms of affective factors related to the English subject. However, the teachers express concern that drama can give rise to unwanted behavior and bullying, which underlines the importance of a safe and supportive classroom environment before implementing drama-based tasks. Overall, the results seem to be in line with previous research on the topic and may thus be of relevance to the Swedish educational context. This study’s main limitation is its sole reliance on teachers who have a positive attitude towards drama and role-play. Therefore, further research could involve teachers who have used drama-based methods but found dissatisfying outcomes.