http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11956/96292 Issue 2 2026-04-12T14:14:15Z http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11956/97493 Dominant Discourses and Language Socialization in the Literacy Practices of a Spanish-Speaking Church; ; ; Over the years, research has investigated language in communities, schools and homes, community programs and to a lesser degree research investigates language use in religious communities. In particular, there is a lack of research on religious language and literacy practices in Hispanic communities, especially those in the United States, although incipient work has revealed the importance of religious literacy among women Mexican immigrants (Farr, 2000) and for the socialization of children into a Mexican identity (Baquedano-López, 1997). Given the hostile local sociopolitical environment of Spanish in the state of Arizona in the Southwestern United States, the church is one of the few contexts in which Hispanic communities maintain Spanish, especially Spanish literacy. The present study investigates a Spanish-speaking church in the Southwest of the United States through ethnographic and participant observation methods. Observations, field notes and transcribed audio-recordings of literacy practices in this context over the course of one year were analyzed based on dominant Discourses (Gee, 2008) and language socialization. The analysis demonstrates how a dominant Discourse of “holiness” is produced and reproduced within the community adherence to authoritative texts and socialization into specific community literacy practices such as scripture reading, directing worship services and interpretation of Biblical stories. 2016-01-01T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11956/97161 Baterie sémantických rysů: data získaná od dětí z třetích tříd základních škol — zpráva z pilotního sběru dat; The Semantic Features Bank: Data Collected from Children Attending Their Third Year of Primary School — A Report Compiled from the Pilot Data Collection ; ; The present text is focused on the pilot data collection which is the first part of the research on language acquisition in children. This acquisition research is aimed especially at semantic feature production and the acquisition of depth of meaning. The goal of the research is to collect a substantial amount of data to create a battery of semantic features in children. This battery is to become a tool for examining children’s vocabulary. The test group consists of children aged eight to nine. In a pilot data collection, children’s preferences for linear or nonlinear record of semantic features were tested. The second form (which is nonlinear and requires children to write semantic features in columns) is widely used in both Czech and foreign research environments. Three approaches to the data collection were tested. For the purpose of our research, some specific code rules were devised and designed to register the semantic information obtained. Some statistical calculations were made as well, which allows to create a notion about feature representations and also about relations between features and concepts. 2016-01-01T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11956/96971 Postavení obecné češtiny ve výuce češtiny pro cizince; The Role of Common Czech in Teaching Czech as a Second Language ; ; The paper discusses the competition between standard and non-standard varieties of Czech in teaching the language to foreigners, with a focus on two basic areas: first, there is the controversial question of colloquial speech as characterized by the increasing use of Common Czech, and second, there is the question whether and to what extent it is advisable to familiarize non-native students of Czech with nonstandard varieties of the language. The paper takes into account the fact that the internal diversity of Czech influences basic principles of how to present Czech to non-native speakers. The main goals are to discuss the appropriateness of using a non-standard language code when teaching Czech to foreigners, and to evaluate selected textbooks from this point of view. On this basis, the authors put forth methodological recommendations concerning the use of non-standard phenomena in language classes as well as their use in Czech textbooks for foreigners. Not only do these aspects have a considerable impact on practical teaching but they are also a central problem today in the spheres of Czech for foreigners and Czech as a foreign language. 2016-01-01T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11956/96846 Společný evropský referenční rámec pro jazyky a český znakový jazyk; Common European Framework of Reference for Languages and Czech Sign Language ; ; Sign linguistics have a relatively short history of approximately 20 years in the Czech Republic. Therefore, although we have some experience in Czech Sign Language (CzSL) teaching and learning, we have no research outputs or theoretical background in this area. At present, we do not possess any know-how in CzSL assessment. The Common European Framework of Reference for Languages: Learning, Teaching, Assessment (CEFR) could prove to be a very useful tool for us in our situation. The Czech Republic has taken part in the international project named PRO-Sign (Sign Languages and the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages. Descriptors and Approaches to Assessment) and has the opportunity to continue in this cooperation by participating in the follow-up project Pro-Sign 2. We intend to use the experience with and outcomes of these two projects in order to begin creating a CEFR for CzSL. It should be applicable mainly for CzSL as an L2 (for hearing students, parents, interpreters etc.), nevertheless it is conceivable that it could be applied to CzSL as an L1 (for Deaf children). 2016-01-01T00:00:00Z