The Future of Education
From Survival to Communication: Effective Strategies for Teaching Czech to Erasmus+ Students
Pavla Kocourková, Institute of Applied Language Studies, University of West Bohemia in Pilsen (Czech Republic)
Abstract
The aim of this article is to present methods and practical tips for teaching Czech to students coming to the Czech Republic for one or two semesters as part of the Erasmus+ program. The Czech Republic presents a specific linguistic environment in which communicating in everyday situations solely in foreign languages can be challenging, especially outside major tourist hubs. It is therefore essential to equip students with basic socio-cultural knowledge and language skills so they can cope with everyday situations in the Czech environment. To identify the specific situations in which students need Czech, we conducted a questionnaire survey between 2021 and 2025 with 163 respondents. The findings suggest that the Survival Approach, utilizing formulaic language, best meets the identified needs of incoming students by effectively supporting their willingness to communicate (WTC). At the level of specific teaching units, we found the Scaffolded Language Emergence (SLE) approach to be particularly useful. SLE not only encourages WTC but also minimizes the reliance on an intermediary language (typically English), addressing a common issue in Erasmus+ language courses.
Keywords: Czech as a foreign language; Erasmus+; Survival Approach; formulaic language; Scaffolded Language Emergence
REFERENCES
[1] MacIntyre, P. D., Clément, R., Dörnyei, Z., & Noels, K. A. (1998). Conceptualizing willingness to communicate in a L2: A situational model of L2 confidence and affiliation. The Modern Language Journal, 82(4), 545–562.
[2] Wray, A. (2002). Formulaic language and the lexicon. Cambridge University Press.
[3] Převrátilová, S. (2019). Proměny motivace k učení se češtině: pohled studentů v kurzech češtiny při studijním pobytu v ČR [Changes in motivation to learn Czech: Perspective of students in Czech courses during study stays in the CR] (Doctoral dissertation, Charles University).
[4] Kiraly, D. (2017). Scaffolded Language Emergence in the Classroom: From Theory to Practice. Frank & Timme.
