Search the digital library catalog

Abstract: There is a growing need for the development of at least some academic vocabulary in students of EFL (studying English for teaching and non-teaching purposes), if one of the main aims of EFL study is to produce competent users of English. Students are expected to read and understand advanced professional texts, not simply to successfully complete their degrees but to become a part of educated society, and to be able to meet the demands placed upon their knowledge in a prefessional environment. The reading and understanding of professional texts can be a highly demanding activity because of the number of academic and professional terms such texts include. This paper exemplifies the usefulness of a gap-fill exercise, as one among a range of options for developing and testing academic vocabulary in a professional context. The exercise was compiled with AWL gapmaker based on a professional review text, which includes academic items of vocabulary. The gap-fill exercise was used with two groups of EFL students in the same year of study and installed at two difficulty levels for two reasons: to test students' existing knowledge of academic vocabulary, and to enrich it through the analysis of words in context/co-text relation using a concordancing program. The paper compares the answers of both groups to determine the most problematic entries (incorrect answers), and to provide the possible reasons for them. Further, contextual clues are taken into consideration as a helpful source for determining correct entries, and tested with the concordancing program. Besides the emphasis on the usefulness of such gap-fill exercises combined with corpus for the development and enrichment of academic vocabulary, the paper also emphasizes the importance of guiding students in how to search for different grammatical and other contextual clues to make correct inferences, and how to use concordances to support or reject the claims.
Keywords: English, foreign languages, scientific language, scientific vocabulary, academic vocabulary, corpus linguistics, academic teaching, didactics
Published in DKUM: 18.05.2017; Views: 1942; Downloads: 445
Full text (788,40 KB)
This document has many files! More...

Abstract: The aim of this master’s thesis was to research the emphasis that is given on assimilating new vocabulary in the chosen textbooks, which were approved by the Ministry of Education, Science and Sport and are currently being used to teach/learn English as a foreign language in the ninth grade of primary schools. In the theoretical part the focus has been given on different methods for learning or teaching new vocabulary, the appropriate amount of new vocabulary regarding the level of students’ language competences, the effect of methodology on vocabulary learning and communication, the role of repeating and refreshing of new vocabulary and the role of a textbook in foreign language learning. The empirical part of the thesis includes two separate analyses of the questionnaire conducted among ninth grade students and teachers of English as a foreign language in the ninth grade of primary school. 48 students and 73 teachers participated in the research. With the help of these analyses we tried to establish whether the texts in the chosen textbooks are authentic enough to enhance automatic learning of vocabulary, whether the method for expanding vocabulary, which was named as the most successful in the theory, is also used in the textbooks that were analyzed and whether the textbooks include sufficient exercises to assimilate and refresh new vocabulary. The research showed that the texts in the coursebooks are at least nearly authentic pieces of language according to students and teachers of English as a foreign language. However, slight adaptations of the texts are possible and also approved by the researches. One of the most successful methods for expanding vocabulary is, according to literature, reading. The analysis has also proven it in practice, since teachers named it as the most successful one. The results of the analysis showed that the textbooks include sufficient exercises to assimilate and refresh new vocabulary.
Keywords: expanding vocabulary, methodology, reading, repeating, ELT textbooks, primary school, ninth grade
Published in DKUM: 06.02.2017; Views: 1926; Downloads: 96
Full text (1,38 MB)

Abstract: The thesis presents a topic that is nowadays very current in the field of education, even though it takes places outside of school, and that is individualized learning a foreign language. More and more children need additional help with acquisition and understanding of a foreign language and for this reason, the purpose of this thesis was to present individualized learning, to explore different approaches and methods of language teaching, which have evolved over the years and have been the subject of research and opinions of various authors. For learners, certain elements presented a big obstacle in learning a foreign language, which is why the thesis also presents different techniques of learning vocabulary and grammar according to various authors, which are also compared with our personal experiences, gained from individualized learning. The empirical part was based on a research, where we compared English examination tests of two learners, who attended individualized learning through all four years of secondary school. In each year, we made an analysis of both tests individually, compared learners’ mistakes and progress, and gave solutions to improve learners’ knowledge and understanding of a foreign language. Furthermore, we compared our personal experiences based on individualized learning with experiences and suggestions of other authors in connection with the use of different methods and approaches, and with learning vocabulary and grammar. Through theory and research, where the descriptive and comparative research method was used, we discovered that individualized learning was and will remain a very useful and effective tool in learning a foreign language, which gave learners excellent results at school, enriched their experience with the foreign language and most importantly, it raised their self-confidence in using a foreign language.
Keywords: individualized learning, learners, approaches, methods, grammar, vocabulary
Published in DKUM: 02.09.2016; Views: 1336; Downloads: 111
Full text (9,81 MB)

Abstract: Research suggests that many ESL teachers either modify or supplement the set textbooks they use in class, or develop their own materials for classroom use. Indeed, in recent years, the internet in particular has opened up a rich and at times perhaps baffling array of resources for those ESL practitioners who wish to incorporate authentic materials into their teaching. While the benefits of authentic materials are well-documented, their use is, however, not entirely unproblematic, and as research into the field of material (authentic or otherwise) development grows, this raises a number of issues as to the form these materials should take and how they can best be employed. This article presents a set of vocabulary building activities for future nursing staff; these activities are in use at the Faculty of Health Sciences in Maribor. The article explains the rationale behind them in light of the theoretical framework of language acquisition that underpins them.
Keywords: ESL teachers, vocabulary acquisition, authentic materials, trainee nurses, theoretical framework
Published in DKUM: 10.07.2015; Views: 1257; Downloads: 101
Full text (105,48 KB)
This document has many files! More...

Abstract: Language changes constantly. It has been changing for centuries and it will be changing in the future. Changes happen on all levels of a particular language: in spelling, in grammar, in meaning, and in pronunciation. Most of the language changes are changes which appear independent of the wills of the speakers of the language. When we study the language change we must not concentrate only on one particular geographical area where this language is spoken. We must try to research language as an entirety. The reason for this is that, although people speak the same language, some changes happen only in one special geographical area or only among one group of people.
Keywords: language, changes, vocabulary, development, linguistic varieties, who, whom
Published in DKUM: 02.10.2014; Views: 1520; Downloads: 139
Full text (851,74 KB)