Krátká příručka hornolužické srbštiny stručná mluvnice, rozhovory a korespondence

Mode of access: Internet.

Why Don't Students Talk? Causes of Foreign Language Communication Apprehension in English Classes: A Comparison of High Apprehensive and Low Apprehensive Upper Secondary Students.

OBJECTIVES. Oral foreign language skills are an integral part of one's social, academic and professional competence. This can be problematic for those suffering from foreign language communication apprehension (CA), or a fear of speaking a foreign language. CA manifests itself, for example, through feelings of anxiety and tension, physical arousal and avoidance of foreign language communication situations. According to scholars, foreign language CA may impede the language learning process significantly and have detrimental effects on one's language learning, academic achievement and career prospects. Drawing on upper secondary students' subjective experiences of communication situations in English as a foreign language, this study seeks, first, to describe, analyze and interpret why upper secondary students experience English language communication apprehension in English as a foreign language (EFL) classes. Second, this study seeks to analyse what the most anxiety-arousing oral production tasks in EFL classes are, and which features of different oral production tasks arouse English language communication apprehension and why. The ultimate objectives of the present study are to raise teachers' awareness of foreign language CA and its features, manifestations and impacts in foreign language classes as well as to suggest possible ways to minimize the anxiety-arousing features in foreign language classes. METHODS. The data was collected in two phases by means of six-part Likert-type questionnaires and theme interviews, and analysed using both quantitative and qualitative methods. The questionnaire data was collected in spring 2008. The respondents were 122 first-year upper secondary students, 68 % of whom were girls and 31 % of whom were boys. The data was analysed by statistical methods using SPSS software. The theme interviews were conducted in spring 2009. The interviewees were 11 second-year upper secondary students aged 17 to 19, who were chosen by purposeful selection on the basis of their English language CA level measured in the questionnaires. Six interviewees were classified as high apprehensives and five as low apprehensives according to their score in the foreign language CA scale in the questionnaires. The interview data was coded and thematized using the technique of content analysis. The analysis and interpretation of the data drew on a comparison of the self-reports of the highly apprehensive and low apprehensive upper secondary students. RESULTS. The causes of English language CA in EFL classes as reported by the students were both internal and external in nature. The most notable causes were a low self-assessed English proficiency, a concern over errors, a concern over evaluation, and a concern over the impression made on others. Other causes related to a high English language CA were a lack of authentic oral practise in EFL classes, discouraging teachers and negative experiences of learning English, unrealistic internal demands for oral English performance, high external demands and expectations for oral English performance, the conversation partner's higher English proficiency, and the audience's large size and unfamiliarity. The most anxiety-arousing oral production tasks in EFL classes were presentations or speeches with or without notes in front of the class, acting in front of the class, pair debates with the class as audience, expressing thoughts and ideas to the class, presentations or speeches without notes while seated, group debates with the class as audience, and answering to the teacher's questions involuntarily. The main features affecting the anxiety-arousing potential of an oral production task were a high degree of attention, a large audience, a high degree of evaluation, little time for preparation, little linguistic support, and a long duration.

English as the target language : A literature study on teachers’ and L2 learners’ language use in the upper elementary classroom

Even though English is a subject where Swedish pupils do well compared to pupils in other countries, research indicates that pupils are not always motivated to learn in the English classroom. Therefore, the aim of this study is to find research relating to the use of the target language in classrooms for pupils at the upper elementary level, particularly language learners in Sweden. The focus of this thesis is to find out what benefits and challenges accompany the use of the target language during English lessons, as well as what pupils’ opinions are on the consistent use of the target language in the classroom. This literature review of five research articles shows that it is beneficial for pupils’ language development to have lessons where mainly the target language is used. It is for example beneficial for pupils’ ability to speak, their pronunciation, vocabulary and ability to use language strategies. The results show that there are challenges as well, especially for the teachers, since use of the target language presumes that the teacher has good language skills and is capable of scaffolding each pupil at their individual level and in their zone of proximal development. Furthermore, there are challenges like differences in pupils’ skill level, creating tasks that both motivate and stimulate, and creating a safe learning environment. Even though the results in this thesis are limited, it is still obvious that it is an important area, where more research is necessary in order to assist teachers in how to teach English as effectively as possible.

Authentic Texts in English Language Teaching : An empirical study on the use of and attitudes towards authentic texts in the Swedish EFL upper elementary classroom

International assessments indicate that Swedish students achieve high results in reading, writing and understanding English. However, this does not mean that the students display oral proficiency, despite an emphasis on functional and communicative language skills in the current English Syllabus. While a previous literature study by this researcher has shown that authentic texts are a way to increase these skills, most of the results shown are from an international viewpoint. Thus an empirical study was conducted within Sweden with the aim to examine the use of authentic texts in the Swedish EFL upper elementary classroom. Twelve teachers have answered a questionnaire on how they use authentic texts in their language teaching, as well as their opinions about these as a teaching tool. Additionally, 37 students have answered a questionnaire on their attitudes about authentic texts. Results indicate that all of the teachers surveyed see authentic texts as an effective way to increase students’ communicative competence and English language skills; however, only a few use them with any frequency in language teaching. Furthermore, this seems to affect the students’ attitudes, since many say that they read authentic texts in their free time, but prefer to learn English out of a textbook at school. These findings are based on a small area of Sweden. Therefore, further research is needed to learn if these opinions hold true for the entire country or vary dependent upon region or other factors not taken into consideration in this study.

Text-book of English grammar : a treatise on the etymology and syntax of the English language ... : for the use of students in training colleges and the upper classes in national and other elementary schools /

Mode of access: Internet.

Upper Secondary Students’ Beliefs About Learning English as a Foreign Language : A contrast between the students’ beliefs and the Swedish curriculum

Learning English as a foreign language (EFL) entails different factors. Language learners use different strategies in order to make their language acquisition successful. Motivation and self-regulated learning are other factors that influence how successful the EFL learner is. This paper aims to analyze the beliefs of upper secondary students in a Swedish school about learning EFL, as well as how their beliefs relate to what is specified in the Swedish curriculum. An analysis of the differences between students’ beliefs and what is stated in the curriculum was done. A survey was conducted on a total of 54 students who were enrolled in the social sciences program. The results showed that students believed that motivation and self-regulated learning were important factors for a successful learning. For them, the language skill of reception is more important than production, which does not correspond with what it is stated in the national curriculum. First and second year students’ beliefs were similar in most of the cases, but not all of them.

Upper Darling: Brewarrina to Bourke : Talking fish - making connections with the rivers of the Murray-Darling Basin

To say ‘Back o’ Bourke’ means ‘miles from anywhere’ to most Australians, however the Barwon and Darling Rivers that pass by the townships of Brewarrina and Bourke, respectively, are at the heart of the Murray‐Darling Basin. These are the traditional lands of the Ngiyampaa, Murawari and Yuwalaraay peoples (refer Aboriginal language groups in the Bringing back the fish section at the back of this booklet). They fished the river and surrounding waterways and hunted the wetlands. The Ngiyampaa, Murawari and Yuwalaraay people have seen their land and the rivers change...

Thinking as if you are another : drama, persuasive language and pretexts

Using Shaun Tan’s picture book Rules of Summer (2013) as a pretext, this practical session will explore how primary teachers can engage middle and upper primary students in drama-based activities that support student learning and assessment outcomes in both English and The Arts (with a particular emphasis on drama and media arts). The session will explore notions of persuasive text (written and oral), points of view, devised storytelling and embodied learning.

Cross-cultural adaptation, reliability and validity of the Spanish version of the upper limb functional index

Background The Upper Limb Functional Index (ULFI) is an internationally widely used outcome measure with robust, valid psychometric properties. The purpose of study is to develop and validate a ULFI Spanish-version (ULFI-Sp). Methods A two stage observational study was conducted. The ULFI was cross-culturally adapted to Spanish through double forward and backward translations, the psychometric properties were then validated. Participants (n = 126) with various upper limb conditions of >12 weeks duration completed the ULFI-Sp, QuickDASH and the Euroqol Health Questionnaire 5 Dimensions (EQ-5D-3 L). The full sample determined internal consistency, concurrent criterion validity, construct validity and factor structure; a subgroup (n = 35) determined reliability at seven days. Results The ULFI-Sp demonstrated high internal consistency (α = 0.94) and reliability (r = 0.93). Factor structure was one-dimensional and supported construct validity. Criterion validity with the EQ-5D-3 L was fair and inversely correlated (r = −0.59). The QuickDASH data was unavailable for analysis due to excessive missing responses. Conclusions The ULFI-Sp is a valid upper limb outcome measure with similar psychometric properties to the English language version.

Bilingual Notaries in Hellenistic Egypt : A Study of Language Use

The impact of Greek-Egyptian bilingualism on language use and linguistic competence is the key issue in this dissertation. The language use in a corpus of 148 Greek notarial contracts is analyzed on phonological, morphological and syntactic levels. The texts were written by bilingual notaries (agoranomoi) in Upper Egypt in the later Hellenistic period. They present, for the most part, very good administrative Greek. On the other hand, their language contains variation and idiosyncrasies that were earlier condemned as ungrammatical and bad Greek, and were not subjected to closer analysis. In order to reach plausible explanations for those phenomena, a thorough research into the sociohistorical and linguistic context was needed before the linguistic analysis. The general linguistic landscape, the population pattern and the status and frequency of Greek literacy in Ptolemaic Egypt in general, and in Upper Egypt in particular, are presented. Through a detailed examination of the notaries themselves (their names, families and handwriting), it became evident that there were one to three persons at the notarial office writing under the signature of one notary. Often the documents under one notary's name were written in the same hand. We get, therefore, exceptionally close to studying idiolects in written material from antiquity. The qualitative linguistic analysis revealed that the notaries made relatively few orthographic mistakes that reflect the ongoing phonological changes and they mastered the morphological forms. The problems arose at the syntactic level, for example, with the pattern of agreement between the noun groups or a noun with its modifiers. The significant structural differences between Greek and Egyptian can be behind the innovative strategies used by some of the notaries. Moreover, certain syntactic structures were clearly transferred from the notaries first language, Egyptian. This is obvious in the relative clause structure. Transfer can be found in other structures, as well, although, we must not forget the influence of parallel Greek structures. Sometimes these can act simultaneously. The interesting linguistic strategies and transfer features come mostly from the hand of one notary, Hermias. Some other notaries show similar patterns, for example, Hermias' cousin, Ammonios. Hermias' texts reveal that he probably spoke Greek more than his predecessors. It is possible to conclude, then, that the notaries of the later generations were more fluently bilingual; their two languages were partly integrated in their minds as an interlanguage combining elements from both languages. The earlier notaries had the two languages functionally separated and they followed the standardized contract formulae more rigidly.

Winâ Foy : functional object-oriented programming language

This thesis will introduce a new strongly typed programming language utilizing Self types, named Win--*Foy, along with a suitable user interface designed specifically to highlight language features. The need for such a programming language is based on deficiencies found in programming languages that support both Self types and subtyping. Subtyping is a concept that is taken for granted by most software engineers programming in object-oriented languages. Subtyping supports subsumption but it does not support the inheritance of binary methods. Binary methods contain an argument of type Self, the same type as the object itself, in a contravariant position, i.e. as a parameter. There are several arguments in favour of introducing Self types into a programming language (11. This rationale led to the development of a relation that has become known as matching [4, 5). The matching relation does not support subsumption, however, it does support the inheritance of binary methods. Two forms of matching have been proposed (lJ. Specifically, these relations are known as higher-order matching and I-bound matching. Previous research on these relations indicates that the higher-order matching relation is both reflexive and transitive whereas the f-bound matching is reflexive but not transitive (7]. The higher-order matching relation provides significant flexibility regarding inheritance of methods that utilize or return values of the same type. This flexibility, in certain situations, can restrict the programmer from defining specific classes and methods which are based on constant values [21J. For this reason, the type This is used as a second reference to the type of the object that cannot, contrary to Self, be specialized in subclasses. F-bound matching allows a programmer to define a function that will work for all types of A', a subtype of an upper bound function of type A, with the result type being dependent on A'. The use of parametric polymorphism in f-bound matching provides a connection to subtyping in object-oriented languages. This thesis will contain two main sections. Firstly, significant details concerning deficiencies of the subtype relation and the need to introduce higher-order and f-bound matching relations into programming languages will be explored. Secondly, a new programming language named Win--*Foy Functional Object-Oriented Programming Language has been created, along with a suitable user interface, in order to facilitate experimentation by programmers regarding the matching relation. The construction of the programming language and the user interface will be explained in detail.

Computational Structure of Human Language

The central thesis of this report is that human language is NP-complete. That is, the process of comprehending and producing utterances is bounded above by the class NP, and below by NP-hardness. This constructive complexity thesis has two empirical consequences. The first is to predict that a linguistic theory outside NP is unnaturally powerful. The second is to predict that a linguistic theory easier than NP-hard is descriptively inadequate. To prove the lower bound, I show that the following three subproblems of language comprehension are all NP-hard: decide whether a given sound is possible sound of a given language; disambiguate a sequence of words; and compute the antecedents of pronouns. The proofs are based directly on the empirical facts of the language user's knowledge, under an appropriate idealization. Therefore, they are invariant across linguistic theories. (For this reason, no knowledge of linguistic theory is needed to understand the proofs, only knowledge of English.) To illustrate the usefulness of the upper bound, I show that two widely-accepted analyses of the language user's knowledge (of syntactic ellipsis and phonological dependencies) lead to complexity outside of NP (PSPACE-hard and Undecidable, respectively). Next, guided by the complexity proofs, I construct alternate linguisitic analyses that are strictly superior on descriptive grounds, as well as being less complex computationally (in NP). The report also presents a new framework for linguistic theorizing, that resolves important puzzles in generative linguistics, and guides the mathematical investigation of human language.

The shape and tempo of language evolution

There are approximately 7000 languages spoken in the world today. This diversity reflects the legacy of thousands of years of cultural evolution. How far back we can trace this history depends largely on the rate at which the different components of language evolve. Rates of lexical evolution are widely thought to impose an upper limit of 6000-10,000 years on reliably identifying language relationships. In contrast, it has been argued that certain structural elements of language are much more stable. Just as biologists use highly conserved genes to uncover the deepest branches in the tree of life, highly stable linguistic features hold the promise of identifying deep relationships between the world's languages. Here, we present the first global network of languages based on this typological information. We evaluate the relative evolutionary rates of both typological and lexical features in the Austronesian and Indo-European language families. The first indications are that typological features evolve at similar rates to basic vocabulary but their evolution is substantially less tree-like. Our results suggest that, while rates of vocabulary change are correlated between the two language families, the rates of evolution of typological features and structural subtypes show no consistent relationship across families.