Comparative Czech-English analysis of written English (KAPA): Transforming linguistic expertise into a practical EAP course
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| Year of publication | 2014 |
| Type | Conference abstract |
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| Description | The paper proposes to present the design of a new course, the aim of which is concerned with the functional syntax and vocabulary in the English-Czech comparative approach. It offers students a functional comparison of the two languages in which they will be able to apply the knowledge acquired in the bachelor programmes of English studies against the background of their mother tongue, i.e. the Czech language. After completing the course the students will be able to functionally distinguish the main features of English and Czech (with the emphasis on syntactic and lexico-semantic plan in both languages) and to use this linguistic expertise practically in the production of written English or in translation. The paper outlines the key syntactic and lexico-semantic areas which were identified as potential causes of interferential problems and which thus compose the core of the course syllabus. Having focused on comparative study of these language phenomena, students should be able to adhere to typically English sentence structures, distinguish them from Czech patterns and select appropriate ways to emphasize a particular part of the sentence. Thus, they will succeed in achieving greater naturalness in English and consistent avoidance of their mother tongue. Students will also learn to pay attention to undesirable syntactic and lexical transfer from their native language into English concerning condensation, nominalization and formality, as well as to use internationalisms properly. Attention will also be paid to the context of the process of translation and stylistic aspects of the produced text and to possible didactic applications in ELT. |
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