Comparison Of The Verbal Category Of Tense In German And English

Jana Ondrakova

doi:10.15405/epiceepsy.20111.15

Abstract

English has become the first foreign language taught at schools in the Czech Republic and the whole European Union. In comparison with other foreign languages taught at Czech schools, English seems relatively easy at the early stage of learning. Problems can arise when German, whose grammar system is much more complicated, is taught and learnt as the second foreign language. The text of the paper is based on previous research conducted at the Faculty of Education, University of Hradec Králové (Czech Republic), whose main objective was to find ways how to improve the effectiveness of teaching and learning English and German in the Czech educational environment. In the authors´ point of view, it is necessary to make pre-service foreign language teachers aware of the fact that the knowledge, skills and experience which their learners acquired during the process of learning their first foreign language can be effectively used in the process of teaching and learning other foreign languages. This approach is nowadays taken not only by the authors of the text. The paper presents and comments on similarities and differences occurring in the system of Czech, English and German verb forms. The comments focus both on potential positive transfers and on negative impacts of language interference.

Highlights

Teaching of foreign languages is a sphere which is paid a great attention to in the Czech Republic
Andrášová (2012) draws attention to this fact when quoting Hufeisen and Krumm, who draw attention to young peoples sharply declining motivation to learn other foreign languages, and who claim that “those individuals who began to learn English as their first foreign language often mistakenly believe that their foreign language communication skills are sufficient and that they do not need another foreign language for their lives
The purpose of this study is to present the findings resulting from our research into the impact of English on learning and teaching other foreign languages

Summary

Introduction

Using English, people can successfully communicate in Europe, but all over the world. Being aware of this fact, numerous young people have come to the opinion that their knowledge of English is sufficient for making themselves universally understood, and they are no longer sufficiently motivated to learn other foreign languages. Andrášová (2012) draws attention to this fact when quoting Hufeisen and Krumm, who draw attention to young peoples sharply declining motivation to learn other foreign languages, and who claim that “those individuals who began to learn English as their first foreign language often mistakenly believe that their foreign language communication skills are sufficient and that they do not need another foreign language for their lives. If studentsfirst foreign language is not English, they are sufficiently motivated to learn English as well”

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