The thesis deals with a topical and at the same time controversial isssue in the pre- shool education - the very early foreign language learning. The aim of the thesis is to outline the conditions of English language learning in pre-school facilities in the Czech Republic (more precisely in Prague) and analyse and compare selected methods used for teaching English. The thesis consists of the theoretical and the practical part. The theoretical part focuses on early language learning in the Czech and European context, on curriculum conditions and teachers' qualification in the Czech Republic and on the individual particularities of a pre-school child in relation to the early language acquisition. The summary will offer various opinions and results of researches in the field of early foreing language learning in the pre-school age. The aim of the practical part is to compare two methods for teaching English and survey the present conditions of English learning in selected pre-school facilities in Prague. The research will focus on the methods and their evaluation, on the pre-school facilities' experience with teaching English and on the contributions and disputable questions rising from the early English language learning from the point of view of the directors, parents and and speacialist in the...

This thesis reports on a study, which investigated the process of early foreign language learning in a classroom context and the functions of multi-word units of language known as formulaic sequences in the oral language production of young foreign language learners. A classroom with 11 students in the age range 9 to 11 years was observed and video recorded for 16 sessions (90 minutes per session). The observations were accompanied by two elicitation tasks. 10 sessions out of the 16 sessions of the collected speech samples were transcribed chronologically. In the next step, formulaic sequences were identified based on pre-established criteria, which were further developed during the analysis. The data was analyzed in order to identify the functions of formulaic sequences in learners’ oral language production in addition to the inter-learner variations in the application of formulaic sequences for different functions. The results revealed evidence of incidental learning of formulaic sequences from input; the language input provided instances for the learners to learn multi-word units. In addition, formulaic sequences played different roles in the language production of the learners. These sequences helped young language learners to overcome their lack of knowledge, to improve their fluency, and to enjoy some language play. Formulaic sequences were used as a strategy to economize effort on processing and also to buy time for processing. The findings of the study suggested that language users might introduce dis-fluency in the production of their sequences in order to buy time for further processing. Moreover, the data provided examples illustrating communicative functions of formulaic sequences where the use of formulaic sequences was affected by the relationship between the speaker and listener. The analysis revealed that although all the learners applied formulaic sequences in their language production, there was a great variation among individual learners in their intention and the extent of the application of formulaic sequences. Some learners used these sequences to be able to extend their utterances and produce more of the language, whereas other learners used them to avoid further language production. In sum, it seemed that individual learners' different personalities, needs or limitations served as explanation for the application of formulaic sequences in different contexts.

As the English language holds the status of a Lingua Franca, being able to master it has become necessary in our globalised society. In Sweden, the English subject has been assigned a place along with Swedish and Mathematics as a core subject. However, of these three subjects, only English does not have specified knowledge requirements at the end of third grade. This has led to the start of English instruction varying around the nation. This thesis investigates the factors involved in the decision-making processes regarding the start of English instruction and what attitudes lower primary school teachers have regarding the age at which the English instruction should start. An empirical study was carried out by interviewing a few stakeholders in the context of schools and sending out questionnaires to lower primary school teachers. The results indicate that a large majority of the participants were in favour for early English instruction, as according to many of them, an early start results almost exclusively in advantages for the young children. However, the results also imply that the English subject, in some cases, might be less prioritised, due to the lack of specified knowledge requirements. Based on these results, further research on how different schools interpret these non-specified knowledge requirements is suggested. / <p>Engelska</p>