Raná výuka cizích jazyků v České republice na přelomu 20. a 21. století

Mgr. Petr Najvar, Ph.D.

Doctoral thesis

Teaching Foreign Languges to Young Learners in the Czech Republic at the Turn of the 20th Century

Abstract:

Prezentovaná práce se věnuje tématu rané výuky cizích jazyků v kontextu České republiky. Jsou v ní představeny české i zahraniční pohledy na problematiku osvojování cizích jazyků v raném věku, včetně nejčastějších argumentů pro zavádění cizojazyčné výuky do kurikula primární školy. Současně jsou prezentovány konkrétní kroky, jež vedly ke snížení počátku povinné cizojazyčné výuky v České republice ze 4. do 3. ročníku základní školy. Součástí práce je zpráva o výzkumu, jež k tématu rané výuky angličtiny provedl autor práce. Práce se nevyjadřuje k problematice osvojování nemateřských jazyků v přirozeném prostředí (bilingvismus, imigrace); v otázce efektivity formální rané výuky cizích jazyků ve školním prostředí v České republice na přelomu 20. a 21. století však vyznívá skepticky. Nedostatečná kvalifikace učitelů a neucelená kurikulární koncepce rané výuky způsobují, že výuka angličtiny a dalších cizích jazyků ve velmi raném a raném věku nenese výsledky, jež se od ní očekávají.

Abstract:

This work concentrates on the topic of teaching foreign languages to young and very young children. Especially, it brings together arguments for and against including English as a compulsory component of pre-primary and primary school curriculum in the Czech Republic in the beginning of the 21. century. There are a number of lay arguments for teaching foreign languages from a very early age. Typically, these include: • Starting early is good, because children learn the foreign language in the same way as they learn their mother tongue • Starting early does no harm – bilingual children learn two languages at an early age and they are always successful. • Children in immigrant families very often learn the new language faster and easier than their parents. • Attempts to learn a foreign language as an adult are painful, time-consuming and not always lead to success. In the first chapter, these and other arguments are confronted with a body of empirical research. Various situations in which languages are acquired are discussed. Various concepts, theories and hypotheses are introduced which seek to describe and explain the complex phenomenon of learning a language. Toward the end of the chapter it becomes evident that it is essential to distinguish different contexts and situations when trying to understand the processes of leaning and acquisition of foreign languages; the processes differ when taking place in natural environment as opposed to the formal environment of the classroom. In the second chapter, concrete steps in implementing foreign languages to the primary curriculum are discussed, the example being taken from the current Czech curricular reform. It is demonstrated how unsystematic and perfunctory a change it was to lower the beginning of compulsory foreign language education from the fourth to the third grade. In the third chapter, a research project is introduced that was carried out by the author. The effects of early foreign language instruction on the sample of over 200 lower-secondary pupils were analysed using a combination of quantitative and qualitative research methods. A number of hypotheses about the influence of early foreign language instruction on the lower-secondary school pupils’ language competences and motivation were formulated of which research data confirmed none. The data also indicate that early foreign language teaching in the Czech Republic suffers – among other things – from poor continuity between individual stages (pre-primary – primary – secondary). The results are consistent with empirical findings from other European research projects. Even though it is wisely considered of utmost importance to promote foreign language learning as a means of raising cultural awareness and fighting xenophobia, it is wrong to pinpoint an early start as an easy way of achieving widespread high language awareness. Without quality curricula, qualified teachers and adequate learning conditions there can be no hope for an early start in foreign language learning to bring desired effects.

Keywords

raná výuka cizích jazyků, výuka anglického jazyka, primární vzdělávání, sekvenční kombinování, kvantitativní přístup ke zkoumání, kvalitativní přístup ke zkoumání

Language used: Czech

Date on which the thesis was submitted / produced: 9. 5. 2008

Thesis defence

• Date of defence: 29. 5. 2008
• Supervisor: doc. Mgr. Světlana Hanušová, Ph.D.
• Reader: doc. PhDr. Michaela Píšová, M.A., doc. PhDr. Gabriela Lojová, Ph.D.

Masaryk University

Faculty of Education

Doctoral programme / field:
Education / Education