5 ABSTRACT The present paper deals with the development of reading skills of adult learners of Chinese as a foreign language (CFL) in Czech language schools and its support provided by three different Chinese language course books. Even though there are various Chinese language course books available on the market, the attention these pay to reading comprehension and its development, is still rather limited. The present master thesis proposes classroom techniques which might be used to address this problem during CFL lessons. The first chapter presents findings and recommendations based on research into the development of foreign language reading skills in general, which are, in the second chapter, subsequently followed by a summary of research findings focusing specifically on teaching reading in CFL. The demands on course books raised by researchers in both fields are then applied to reading texts and accompanying exercises included in three pre-intermediate level CFL course books, New Practical Chinese Reader (Liu et al., 2002), Boya Chinese (Lǐ et al., 2005) and Discover China (Qi et al., 2010). The outcome of the the thesis consists of 21 designed lesson plans which propose solutions to some of the issues raised in the theoretical part of the thesis. The lesson plans indicate how course book texts...

This diploma thesis is focused on the issue of using songs in German language teaching. Its aim is to contribute to tackling the issue of using songs in lessons of the German language as a second foreign language. The theoretical part introduces the position of the German language in the current Czech educational system, presents crucial methodical concepts of German teaching relevant to the chosen topic and also describes some difficulties with using music while teaching a foreign language in terms of pedagogy and psychology. The subject matter of the practical part is a research among students and teachers of lower-secondary and secondary schools. The aim of the research is to ascertain and describe the current use of songs in German lessons and detect when and why the songs are used for teaching German as a foreign language. On the basis of the results collected by a questionnaire survey and semi-structured dialogues with experts, a collection of nine worksheets and methodic sheets for working with songs during German lessons has been created. The sheets present diverse activities and methods suitable for A1, A2 and B1 levels according to the CEFR.

This study investigates the patterns in nonword repetition performance of children with a developmental language disorder and bilingual children. It has been shown by previous research that both children with developmental language disorder and bilingual children tend to perform poorly in nonword repetition tasks. As these tasks are one of the tools often used for diagnosing markers of DLD in young children, diagnosing bilinguals with DLD proves to be difficult, since both of the groups exhibit a poor performance. An analysis of the patterns found in NWR performance of bilingual children and children with DLD might shed more light onto the issue. The study focuses on analysing the performance in a widely used assessment task - The Children's Test of Nonword Repetition. Three samples of data were analysed. The first sample of data consisted of monolingual English-speaking children diagnosed with a developmental language disorder. The second sample of data consisted of Czech-English bilingual children from international schools in Prague who started acquiring English at the time of birth, i.e. simultaneous bilinguals. The third and final sample consisted of Czech- English bilingual children from international schools in Prague who started acquiring English after one year of age, i.e. sequential bilinguals....

Diploma the 'is deals wi th the research of effect of biofeedback in the form of electrotactile stimulation of tongue in the patients with balance disorders eaused by the cerebellar lesion. For the therapeutic program 4 patients with cerebellar ataxia at the age of38 - 74 years were chosen. Subjects have partieipated in the therapeutic program with the application of biofeedback, they were training postural stability while visual control was excluded and they were using electrotacti le signal on the tongue for orientation. I used neurological tests BESTest and Dynamic Oait Index, questionnaire The Activities- Specific Balance Confidence (ABC) Scale, Dizziness I Tandicap Inventory (D ll) a Visual Analogue Scale (VAS), and examination by stati posturography for evaluation of postural stability in the patients. I supposed that therapy by biofeedback in the form of electrotactile stimulation of tongue improves postural stability in the patients with balance disorders caused by cerebellar lesion. Powered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org)

INTRODUCTION This graduation theses considers with the influence of rehabilitation by electrotactile stimulation of the tongue on stability of stance and gait in patients with degenerative cerebellar ataxia. Electrotactile stimulation of the tongue is an innovative method based on biofeedback principle, which uses additive sensory information about the position of the head to train the postural stability METHOD We used this method in six patients (four men and two women) with this disease. Patients went through intensive twelve-day therapy. The duration of the lessons was 30 minutes twice a day. We examined postural stability of the patients by using clinical evaluations (Balance Evaluation Systems Test, Dynamic Gait Index), posturography (modified Clinical Test of Sensory Interaction for Balance) and questionnaires (Activities -specific Balance Confidence, Dizziness Handicap Inventory) before and after the therapy. RESULTS The patients showed significant improvement in both clinical tests after the therapy. The results of posturography measurement are not so definite - the significant improvement was achieved only in some measured parameters. Both questionnaires did not show significant improvement. CONCLUSION The results of this study show, that electrotactile stimulation tongue could have a...

Lydie Kárníková Ideology in the Language of Media Diploma thesis 2011 Abstract The thesis scrutinizes the ways in which three Czech nationwide print media process the same news topics. Through analysis of three thematic discourses it studies the differences in approaching and presenting reality. The main focus lies in the argumentative and language aspects of the media texts with the aim to find implicit references on sets of values and beliefs typical for the perspective of the particular news media title and for the society in general. Implicit sets of values woven into the media contents have a form of an ideology: These ideological ideas can be very different across the society due to the number of opinion groups present within the whole society. In modern democratic countries with opinion plurality there are different ideological ideas neighbouring within the media market. The news as a genre does not allow expressing one's own opinion or approach explicitly: the news media thus embed their opinions into the structures of language. The core hypothesis of this thesis is the ability of language to create meanings. With the help of methodology that combines argumentative approach with analysis of syntactic and lexical modes of expressions the thesis tries to get into the language structure, looking for...

This thesis is concerned with structural iconicity and its effects on possessive classification. The Iconicity-of-distance hypothesis argues that the linguistic distance between a possessor and a possessum reflects the conceptual distance, and is therefore smaller in inalienable possession. The role of distance iconicity in language processing was tested using the artificial language learning paradigm. An experiment was designed to investigate whether speakers of Czech will learn an iconically structured grammar better. The experiment conducted with 40 participants did not show significant differences between the two experimental groups. However, the evidence is inconlusive and the data suggest that structural iconicity could influence processing. The results also suggest that speaker of Czech are able to use alienability as a category of language.

TITLE: Teaching English to Pupils With Dysorthography AUTHOR: Bc. Monika Reslerová DEPARTMENT: Department of English Language and Literature SUPERVISOR: Mgr. Klára Uličná, Ph.D. ABSTRACT: The thesis relates the issue of dysorthography in connection to EFL instruction with a special attention paid to lower secondary schools. The theoretical part of the text contains basic information on special educational needs, followed by a chapter on Specific Learning Difficulties, their causes and symptoms. The concept of dysorthography is explained and its possible consequences on acquisition of English spelling and grammar described, followed by a list of recommended approaches, methods, techniques and aids which can be useful for teaching English to dysorthographic pupils. The practical part of the text gives an account of a multiple-case study which was carried out among experienced English teachers at schools that pay special attention to children with SEN. The research is focused on the teachers' experience and know-how and compares the obtained data to the recommendations given in the theoretical part. KEYWORDS Specific Learning Difficulties, Dyslexia, Dysorthography, Teaching English as a Foreign Language, grammar, spelling

This thesis outlines the problem of the influence of English language development in preschool articulation. The theoretical part is devoted to the development of speech and articulation, as I present a comparison between the formation of Czech and English sounds. The third chapter describes the problems of articulation disorders including articulation problems most common in preschool children. Conclusion theoretical part consists of chapter, which deals with teaching English in kindergarten. Evaluates the pros and cons of this teaching. As part of the research in the practical part of the thesis I focused on the examination of language pre-school children. Important was also the interview with the English teacher. The aim of my thesis was to evaluate the level of articulation in preschool children receiving instruction in English language. Survey I conducted twice at intervals of six months. The results rather confirmed my suspicion that the development can be influenced by the pronunciation of English teaching at preschool age.

In the scope of this thesis, we designed a language for programming education. At first, we described eight existing tools for learning programming and identified key features in the learning process. Second, we designed an educational domain-specific language Eddie. Eddie is suitable for teenagers and adults who want to learn programming. It uses a domain based on Karel the Robot language, where users can control a robot character in a two-dimensional grid. We implemented a prototype of Eddie using the MPS Language Workbench and its projectional editor. The Eddie language gradually introduces loops, conditionals, variables, functions, and objects. Eddie programs can be created, executed and visualized in the Eddie Studio IDE. Powered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org)