The Communicative Approach to Second Language Teaching in Current Textbooks of Czech for Foreigners Jarmila Valková Abstract The general part of the thesis reviews the background, current understanding and key principles of the Communicative Approach to second language teaching with regard to their foundation in the Direct Oral Method. The objective, usual teaching techniques and textbook components of Communicative Language Teaching are compared to the ones used in the Grammar-Translation Method to show the essential difference between the direct and indirect language approaches to language acquisition and their implications for the character of textbook components. The research part of the thesis examines selected textbooks of Czech as a second language which are supposed to epitomise the following tendencies in the area of contemporary writing of textbooks of Czech for foreigners: a) consistent use of the strategies and textbook components based on the Grammar- Translation Method, b) eclectic application of Grammar-Translation strategies and components together with certain features of the Communicative Approach, c) coherent implementation of the Communicative Approach with related techniques and textbook components. Existence of the above mentioned tendencies in current textbooks of Czech as a second...

The subject of this master’s thesis is elaboration of selected parts of the building tech-nology project of residential building Stepnice in Uherske Hradiste. Part of the project is technical report, estate road layout, studies of major technological stages, project of site equipment, design of major machines and mechanisms, technological regulations and control and test plans for prefabricated ceiling and masonry system. Attachment of this master´s thesis is drawings of site equipment, selected construction details, working safety, instructions for using the building, budget by items and a time plan. The aim of the project is to design appropriate and economically effective procedure for realization of the building.

The topic of this master thesis is dealing with selected parts of the constructional and technological project of laboratoty pavilion for technology of AS in Brno. Thesis is mainly focused for technological instructions of ground works, support of next building and solving of city center problems. Components of this thesis are evaluation plans and work place safety protocols. Next content of thesis are study of main technological phases, time and finanical plans, items budget, selected details, construction site equipment and design and verification of tower crain.

As the basis of this diploma thesis served a project of a flat house in Nezvalova Street. This flat house is designed as 7 floors high building with undergrounds garages and commercial space in the ground floor. Foundation of this building is done using reinforced concrete pilots, continued by monolithic reinforced concrete scelet. Both circumferential casing and internal walls are built using ceramic concrete blocks Porotherm, on top of which is a layer contact insulation system from EPS. Roofing of this building is done using asphalt bands into flat roof; one part of the roof is designed as “green roof” and is covered by soil substrate. This diploma thesis covers building technology preparation of construction. It includes time schedule of construction, accessibility to the building site, technical report and blueprints of building site equipment, risk plan, draft of main tools and processes for construction, instructions on how to use housing units. The main aim of this diploma thesis is around building a monolithicreinforced concrete scelet, for which a technological manual was created, control and probationary plan and blueprints of formwork for vertical and horizontal constructions. Additionally this thesis covers roofing using flat roof and asphalt belts.

The aim of this master's thesis is the construction-technological project of the entire building focusing on major construction building - Multifunctional house, which is based on large-diameter piles. The main part of thesis are budget of object and time schedules of construction. Part of the thesis is organization of construction and design of the site eguipment, technological regulation of selected work, quality control and solving transport relations including oversize cargo. It also deals with the design of mechanical assemblies, health and safety, safety of environment and design of instructions for use of building.

The Information Technology (IT) as subject taught in South African secondary schools is considered to be a very perplexing subject. The IT as a subject has four learning outcomes which are E-Communication (weight 10%), Social and Ethical Issues (weight 10%), Hardware and Systems Software (weight 20%) and Programming and Software Development (weight 60%). The Programming and Software Development enjoys the highest weight as outcome of IT and it is believed to be the main cause of the difficulty of IT. The number of Grade 9 learners willing to offer IT as a subject in Grade 10 is decreasing and the number of learners pursuing IT until Grade 12 is declining in every school in South Africa annually. The aim of this research is to investigate methods that enhance teaching and learning Information Technology at a selected high school focusing on Grade12 learners. Although this work investigated many teaching and learning methods, it has come to be known that the hybrid system or method is the best to adopt and apply in teaching and learning of IT in high schools especially in the relevant target high school. Thirty (30) participants were sampled. Three (3) data collection instruments, which were questionnaires, interviews and observations were used. Results that were obtained from the use of these data collection instruments were recorded and analysed. Results from these instruments were compared and conclusions drawn. A major finding was that the hybrid system that combines both teacher-centered and learner-centered teaching approaches was able to enhance the teaching and learning of IT. / Science and Technology Education / M. Ed. (Natural Science Education)

The main contens of the thesis is solving a construction-technological project substructure and the upper shell construction of a polyfunctional building in Pardubice. Excavation and foundation work are done in section A and B1 and B2. Drilled piles are foundation of a polyfunctional building. Drilled piles are support of reinforced concrete grillage, which are from strips foundation and foundation pads. Cast-in-place concrete frame is a form of load-bearing structure, which contens plate ceilings, pillars and walls. Peripheral masonry is from hellow clay blocks, which are between cast-in-place concrete frame. Diploma thesis includes technical report, plan of building side, schedule and the budget of the building, technological instructions, radon prevent, control and testing plan, safety, balance resources, selected constructional details, machinery composition, bill of quantities.

This dissertation interrogates the deficit assumptions about English proficiency of skilled immigrants who were recruited by Canadian governments between the late 1990s and early 2000s. Through the lens of literacy as social practice, the eighteen-month ethnographic qualitative research explores the sequential experiences of settlement and economic integration of seven well-educated Chinese immigrant professionals. The analytical framework is built on sociocultural approaches to literacy and learning, as well as the theories of discourses and language reproduction. Using multiple data sources (observations, conversational interviews, journal and diary entries, photographs, documents, and artifacts collected in everyday lives), I document many different ways that well-educated Chinese immigrants take advantage of their language and literacy skills in English across several social domains of home, school, job market, and workplace. Examining the trans-contextual patterning of the participants’ language and literacy activities reveals that immigrant professionals use literacy as assistance in seeking, negotiating, and taking hold of resources and opportunities within certain social settings. However, my data show that their language and literacy engagements might not always generate positive consequences for social networks, job opportunities, and upward economic mobility. Close analyses of processes and outcomes of the participants’ engagements across these discursive discourses make it very clear that the monolithic assumptions of the dominant language shape and reinforce structural barriers by constraining their social participation, decision making, and learning practice, and thereby make literacy’s consequences unpredictable. The deficit model of language proficiency serves the grounds for linguistic stereotypes and economic marginalization, which produces profoundly consequential effects on immigrants’ pathways as they strive for having access to resources and opportunities in the new society. My analyses illuminate the ways that language and literacy create the complex web of discursive spaces wherein institutional agendas and personal desires are intertwined and collide in complex ways that constitute conditions and processes of social and economic mobility of immigrant populations. Based on these analyses, I argue that immigrants’ successful integration into a host country is not about the mastery of the technical skills in the dominant language. Rather, it is largely about the recognition and acceptance of the value of their language use and literacy practice as they attempt to partake in the globalized new economy.

This dissertation interrogates the deficit assumptions about English proficiency of skilled immigrants who were recruited by Canadian governments between the late 1990s and early 2000s. Through the lens of literacy as social practice, the eighteen-month ethnographic qualitative research explores the sequential experiences of settlement and economic integration of seven well-educated Chinese immigrant professionals. The analytical framework is built on sociocultural approaches to literacy and learning, as well as the theories of discourses and language reproduction. Using multiple data sources (observations, conversational interviews, journal and diary entries, photographs, documents, and artifacts collected in everyday lives), I document many different ways that well-educated Chinese immigrants take advantage of their language and literacy skills in English across several social domains of home, school, job market, and workplace. Examining the trans-contextual patterning of the participants’ language and literacy activities reveals that immigrant professionals use literacy as assistance in seeking, negotiating, and taking hold of resources and opportunities within certain social settings. However, my data show that their language and literacy engagements might not always generate positive consequences for social networks, job opportunities, and upward economic mobility. Close analyses of processes and outcomes of the participants’ engagements across these discursive discourses make it very clear that the monolithic assumptions of the dominant language shape and reinforce structural barriers by constraining their social participation, decision making, and learning practice, and thereby make literacy’s consequences unpredictable. The deficit model of language proficiency serves the grounds for linguistic stereotypes and economic marginalization, which produces profoundly consequential effects on immigrants’ pathways as they strive for having access to resources and opportunities in the new society. My analyses illuminate the ways that language and literacy create the complex web of discursive spaces wherein institutional agendas and personal desires are intertwined and collide in complex ways that constitute conditions and processes of social and economic mobility of immigrant populations. Based on these analyses, I argue that immigrants’ successful integration into a host country is not about the mastery of the technical skills in the dominant language. Rather, it is largely about the recognition and acceptance of the value of their language use and literacy practice as they attempt to partake in the globalized new economy.