Literature, while perceived as beneficial, is not widely used in the ESL arena. This study set out to investigate proven benefits of using literature in ESL through a review of the current research, at the same time establishing a link between literature and narrative based on `story grammar' which biological determinism claims the human brain is hardwired to use as a language learning tool. Hypothesizing that there would be no correlation between theory regarding the presence and application of literature in ESL as presented in the current research and the practice as found in the prominent ESL course, New Headway, the study set out to identify narrative input in New Headway's Elementary, Intermediate and Advanced Levels and analyzing the way in which narrative is used to teach language skills and communicative competence. Contrary to expectations a surprisingly high level of narrative was found and the narrative was exploited in full accordance with suggestions made in the current research. The findings indicate that the incorporation of narrative in New Headway is a pedagogically informed decision by the authors to exploit the benefits of literature while at the same time catering to a very heterogeneous audience of international ESL learners. Key terms: literature, narrative, story, biological determinism, ESL course books, New Headway / English Studies / M.Ed.

<p>Predmet ove disertacije je analiza potreba kao neophodni &ndash; prvi korak, pre izrade kursa engleskog jezika za oblast tehnolo&scaron;ke i inţenjerske struke. Kako je sa razvojem nastave jezika struke do&scaron;lo do objedinjavanja vi&scaron;e faktora u samom procesu analize potreba &ndash; analize jezika struke, analize ciljne situacije, analize trenutnog nivoa znanja polaznika kao i analize nastavnog konteksta, analiza potreba je u ovoj disertaciji sagledana sa svih pomenutih aspekata, a istraţivanje je obavljeno u dve faze. U prvoj fazi je ispitana analiza trenutnog stanja u vezi sa upotrebom i nastavom engleskog jezika sa aspekta studenata i predavaĉa engleskog jezika na tehnolo&scaron;kim fakultetima u Srbiji. S druge strane, sprovedena je i analiza potreba u vezi sa upotrebom engleskog jezika zaposlenih inţenjera tehnologije. Rezultati, koji su obraĊeni kvantitativnom metodom su pokazali nedovoljnu zastupljenost engleskog jezika struke i sa aspekta studenata i sa aspekta predavaĉa. Kada je u pitanju upotreba engleskog jezika zaposlenih inţenjera, rezultati su ukazali na potrebu za ĉestim kori&scaron;ćenjem engleskog jezika za potrebe svog posla, kao i na vaţnost znanja engleskog jezika radi veće uspe&scaron;nosti u poslu, posebno istiĉući jeziĉke ve&scaron;tine ĉitanja i usmene i pismene komunikacije.<br />Uzimajući u obzir dobijene rezultate analize potreba, pristupilo se izradi kursa engleskog jezika za potrebe studenata tehnologije, koji je trebalo da bude usklaĊeniji sa ispitanim potrebama budućih tehnologa i koji je bio ponuĊen eksperimentalnoj grupi studenata. Provera efikasnosti i svrsishodnosti<br />novog kursa izvr&scaron;ena je u drugom delu istraţivanja, sa jedne strane kvantitativnom metodom, poreĊenjem rezultata testa postignuća izmeĊu studenata iz eksperimentalne i kontrolne grupe, a sa druge strane kvalitativnom metodom iz intervjua sa studentima. Rezultati testa postignuća su pokazali znaĉajno veću uspe&scaron;nost kumulativnog broja poena studenata iz eksperimentalne grupe (ukupna ocena 8,8) u odnosu na kontrolnu grupu studenata (6,77), &scaron;to je potvrĊeno i poreĊenjem pojedinaĉnih kriterijuma gde je u svim sluĉajevima ustanovljena statistiĉki znaĉajna razlika (p&lt;0,0001). Rezultati, dobijeni kvalitativnom metodom, su potvrdili vaţnost jezika struke u nastavi na fakultetu, posebno ukazujući na faktor motivacije, koji je u direktnoj vezi sa zastupljenosti jezika struke. &Scaron;to se tiĉe efikasnosti novog kursa, studenti su ukazali na vaţnost nastavnog materijala koji je neophodno da bude usmeren ka njihovoj budućoj struci, veću uĉestalost provere napretka studenata kao i na vaţnost afektivnih faktora (nastavnik, rad u grupama, atmosfera na ĉasu). Studenti su istakli ulogu nastavnika kao nekoga ko ih vodi kroz gradivo, a da pri tome nema dominantnu ulogu; rad u malim grupama im je omogućio veću slobodu da iznesu svoje mi&scaron;ljenje i uĉestvuju na ĉasu, a poţeljnu atmosferu na ĉasu su opisali kao opu&scaron;tenu a pri tome ipak radnu. Rezultati istraţivanja su pokazali da kursevi koji su bazirani na sprovedenoj analizi potreba daju bolje rezultate na testu i pokazuju veću motivaciju i veće jeziĉke kompetencije kod studenata, &scaron;to je jo&scaron; jedna potvrda teze o neophodnosti analize potreba kao koraka koji prethodi izradi EJS kursa.</p> / <p>This dissertation deals with needs analysis as a<br />necessary, first step before EST course design. Since<br />ESP teaching development covers numerous factors<br />in needs analysis &ndash; target situation analysis, discourse<br />analysis, present situation analysis and teaching<br />context analysis, needs analysis in this dissertation is<br />viewed from all of the mentioned aspects while the<br />research is conducted in two phases.<br />In the first phase, present situation analysis is<br />performed regarding use and teaching process from<br />the point of view of technology students and English<br />teachers. In parallel, needs analysis concerning the<br />English language use is also performed from the<br />employed technology engineers. The results obtained<br />and processed by quantitative methods showed poor<br />frequency of English for specific purposes in the<br />teaching process from the aspect of students and<br />English language teachers. Concerning English<br />language use by the employed technology engineers,<br />the results showed frequent English language use for<br />professional purposes as well as the importance of<br />English language competence for better performance<br />at work, especially emphasizing reading,<br />communicative and writing skills.<br />By taking into account the obtained needs<br />analysis results, a new course is designed for<br />technology students&rsquo; purposes more adapted to the<br />needs of future technologists, which was<br />subsequently offered to experimental group of<br />students. The assessment of the efficiency and<br />purposefulness of a new course is performed in the<br />second phase of the research, first by the quantitative<br />method, comparing the achievement test results of<br />experimental and control group of students, and then<br />by qualitative method from student interviews.<br />The results of the achievement tests showed<br />significant success in cumulative points of students<br />in experimental group (total grade 8,8) in relation to<br />control group (6,77), which was also confirmed by<br />the comparison of individual criteria in which<br />statistical significant difference is obtained<br />(p&lt;0,0001).<br />The results obtained by the qualitative method<br />confirmed the importance of English for specific<br />purposes in the teaching process at the faculty,<br />pointing out a motivation factor in direct relation to<br />frequency of English for specific purposes.<br />Regarding the efficacy of the new course, the<br />students emphasized the importance of teaching<br />material that should necessarily be focused on their<br />future profession, more frequent student achievement<br />tests as well as the importance of affective factors<br />(teacher, group work, class atmosphere). The<br />students also emphasized the teacher&rsquo;s non-dominant<br />role as a facilitator; as well as group work that<br />provides them more freedom to express their opinion,<br />and the preferred class atmosphere relaxed yet also<br />hard-working.<br />The research results showed that the courses<br />based on performed needs analysis give better results<br />at the achievement test, better motivation and higher<br />language competences of students that confirm the<br />thesis of necessary needs analysis as a pre-course<br />procedure.</p>

The thesis discusses the issues of communication of young people with mental disabilities. The theoretical part of the diploma work defines mental retardation. It shows the life of a mentally-disabled young person and explains the educational and employment opportunities of such young people. The theoretical part further focuses on the speech of persons with intellectual disabilities. It provides information about the development of speech and about impaired communication abilities. The work outlines the possibilities of speech therapy, its diagnostics and intervention. A diagnostic test oriented on the communication of young people with mental disability in selected situations of daily life was created within the practical part of the thesis. The speech of pupils was analysed on the basis of a test used in a selected two- year practical primary school, and on the basis of available documents and interview with the class teacher. A proposal of communication development was created for every pupil, which can be used in the preparation of the pupil's individual education plan. The contribution of the thesis is in the created proposal of measures for the development of communication of pupils at two-year practical schools, which is consistent with the school curricular documents. KEYWORDS...

In our diploma thesis we deal with mistakes in written discourse of Russian speakers. We are trying to explore the mistakes of Russian speakers on the materials of the Czech language and create several lingvodidactic recommendations about how to interpret the topic and how to prevent mistakes. We indtroduce a plentifully used communicative method for teaching foreign languagues and discribe four basic language skills. Key words: communicative method, basic language skills, written discourse, written communication, mistake, classification of mistakes, causes of mistakes, evaluation of mistakes.

The diploma thesis Classroom Instructions in Teaching English aims at presenting basic principles of giving instructions during English lessons and their practical use. The thesis is divided into a theoretical and a practical part. The latter is further separated into a list of textbook instructions and a list of instructions used in classes. The theoretical part describes an important relation of instructions and the classroom situation as well as the dependence on the immediate response from the students. The ensuing part deals with applying the theoretical principles in practice. The author gathered instructions used in the third edition of New Headway series textbooks and instructions used by teachers in English lessons at various types of schools (the age of the observed students ranged from 7 to 18 years old) not only to illustrate usage of the theoretical principles in practice but also to show the differences between textbook and classroom instructions and to present a sample of instructions that are used at several schools in the Czech Republic. Powered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org)

The thesis deals with possible progress in writing in German of students at secondary schools by the use of didactic games. The theoretical part sets writing in context of language didactics and describes its significant aspects such as development, functions, and contribution to teaching a foreign language. It also focuses on conception of writing in the school educational plan of secondary school, at which the research was done. Then, it introduces games as a possible activating teaching method aimed at development of writing and describes their evaluation, roles of teacher, purpose, and classification. The practical part is devoted to the actual research. Firstly, it depicts writing games that are divided into three parts - preparing, building, and structuring, and designed to gradually develop writing of students. From these writing games, six were chosen to be practically verified at the secondary school. For this verification, two methods were selected, an experiment and a questionnaire. The aim of the thesis was to find out whether the selected writing games contributed to the development of writing of students at the secondary school. The results show clearly that the writing games contributed to the development of writing of the students at selected school. KEY WORDS German as second...

Literature, while perceived as beneficial, is not widely used in the ESL arena. This study set out to investigate proven benefits of using literature in ESL through a review of the current research, at the same time establishing a link between literature and narrative based on `story grammar' which biological determinism claims the human brain is hardwired to use as a language learning tool. Hypothesizing that there would be no correlation between theory regarding the presence and application of literature in ESL as presented in the current research and the practice as found in the prominent ESL course, New Headway, the study set out to identify narrative input in New Headway's Elementary, Intermediate and Advanced Levels and analyzing the way in which narrative is used to teach language skills and communicative competence. Contrary to expectations a surprisingly high level of narrative was found and the narrative was exploited in full accordance with suggestions made in the current research. The findings indicate that the incorporation of narrative in New Headway is a pedagogically informed decision by the authors to exploit the benefits of literature while at the same time catering to a very heterogeneous audience of international ESL learners. Key terms: literature, narrative, story, biological determinism, ESL course books, New Headway / English Studies / M.Ed.

The purpose of this study is to examine the player’s experiences and perspective of the massively multiplayer online role playing game World of Warcraft. This study wants to find out the effects on the players psychological and social well-being through interviewing 10 World of Warcraft players between the ages of 18-32. This has been done through a thematic analysis. The reason behind this study is because a lot of scientific studies and the media has portrayed World of Warcraft players in a negative light where they are described as lone wolfs. This study wants to find out how the players themselves talk about the game and how it has affected their lives. The findings of this study have shown that players describe World of Warcraft as a meaningful occupation where it has given them better confidence, self-awareness, language skills, social skills but also build a social network inside the game. The social interactions that the players have with their friends have given them a platform to be open about their lives but also problems that affect them in the real world. The conclusion of this study is that the picture that a lot of the scientific studies and the media are portraying is a dishonest one. They judge players as single group where they do not look at the bigger picture or through the perspective of the World of Warcraft player.

This diploma thesis focuses on foreign language teaching to children with specific learning difficulties (LD) at Czech lower secondary schools. It aims to define learning difficulties and describe their causes and manifestations in developing individual foreign language skills and sub-skills. Moreover, the work with these children in the school environment is mentioned and the Czech system of educating them is compared to the French one. The practical part surveys the opinions of foreign language teachers on this subject and analyses the techniques they use with these pupils. Special attention is paid to the differences in the approach of teachers at schools with classes specialized in the tuition of children with LD, schools with extensive language teaching and schools with no specialization. The results indicate that the majority of teachers agree with the integration of pupils with LD into mainstream schools and they favour their exemption from second foreign language study. The individual types of schools differ mainly in the approach towards the presentation of new grammar, in the types of exercises used for the development of communication skills and in the forms of testing and evaluation. Only negligible variations were discovered in other areas of research. KEYWORDS specific learning...

The purpose of this study was to determine the English language skills of minority language children (experimental group) in a early total French Immersion program by comparing them with those of English-speaking children in French Immersion (English control group), and with those of minority language children in a regular English program (minority control group). Ten grade one children comprised each of the three groups of children. Listening comprehension of English was assessed using two standardized tests of English comprehension (the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test and the Token Test for Children). English speaking skills were assessed using the Clark-Madison Test of Oral Language (a standardized test) and a ten to fifteen minute language sample. English metalinguistic skills were assessed with a phoneme deletion task used by Rosner & Simon (1971) and with two tasks used by Pratt, Tunmer & Bowey (1984): a morpheme correction task and a word order correction task. Questionnaires were used to assess attitudes towards the minority language and culture and to determine the children's home and language background. It was hypothesized that the English language skills of the experimental group would be at least as good as those of the English control group and the minority control group. The results supported the hypotheses. The experimental group did as well as the English control group on all of the measures of English comprehension and production tested. The minority control group scored lower than the English control group on all measures of English comprehension and production. They scored lower than the experimental group on the comprehension of complex commands and on the Clark-Madison Test of Oral Language. The three groups scored similarly on all of the metalinguistic tasks except on the morpheme correction task, where the minority control group scored lower than the English control group. Results support the suitability of early total French Immersion for minority language children who have their first language and culture valued and maintained. / Medicine, Faculty of / Audiology and Speech Sciences, School of / Graduate