Upper Secondary School Teacher Education in English Language and Literature

Graduates of this degree programme will be qualified to teach English as a foreign language at various types of Czech upper-secondary schools. They will be well-grounded in the theory and practice of teaching English to adolescents and young/emerging adults.

It is expected that the students who enter the programme possess a sound knowledge of English linguistics, literary theories and the literatures and cultures of English-speaking countries, and that their written and spoken proficiency in English corresponds to the CEFR C2 level. These capacities will make it possible for the students to understand the educational reality of language teaching and develop their professional knowledge, skills, attitudes and beliefs in the field of teaching English as a foreign language, including professional ethics.

More specifically, the graduates will be able to perform activities that manifest their professional competences in the following fields: planning (of lessons, series of lessons, courses), learning environment, learning processes, assessment and evaluation, reflection on their own teaching, school development and collaboration with colleagues, collaboration with parents and wider community, and their professional development. They will have read and critically assessed studies from up-to-date professional publications. Furthermore, the graduates of the single-subject and major studies will be able to design, conduct and evaluate classroom research.

The added value of this programme lies in:

(1) Small numbers of students and intensive interaction with individual students,

(2) Focus on specific aspects of teaching English in upper-secondary education, such as working with materials used in upper-secondary schools, with higher proficiency levels, dealing with (inter)cultural and literary topics, English for specific purposes, maturita examination and certificates, dealing with the specifics of adolescents and young/emerging adults.

(3) Teaching practice. Teaching practice takes place within the Internal and External teaching practice. During the Internal Teaching Practice, students teach and observe in onsite English as a foreign language courses, analyze and reflect on their performance and do research. During External Teaching Practice students collaborate with their mentors and faculty members, take part in their mentor’s everyday activities. They also analyze and reflect upon their performances and observations with their mentor and faculty members. Close collaboration of the faculty and mentors at selected upper-secondary schools make the teaching placement an important and invaluable step in the career of a novice teacher.

(4) Research skills. Students have many possibilities to learn about and contribute to the research activities conducted at the Department by the faculty members, who are active researchers (e.g. students can discuss research findings in seminars, take part in more specialized research seminars, analyze data with researchers, do empirical research in their diploma theses). Students also conduct classroom research within the teaching practice component of the programme.

(5) International dimensions of the programme. Students can spend a semester abroad at one of many universities, the academic staff at the Department include native speakers of English, the academic staff have extensive experience of participating in international conferences, collaborate with foreign experts and publish in international journals.

After successfully completing his/her studies the graduate is able to:

• 1. understand the concept of intercultural communicative competence as a goal of language teaching, analyze the components of (intercultural) communicative competence and relate them to various types of activities, content and aims
• 2. explain and discuss the linguistic and psychological aspects of various methods and approaches in English language teaching, understand the historical development of the field and the current state of the art
• 3. understand, observe, assess/diagnose and, to some extent, accommodate the different ways in which adolescent and young/emerging adults learn and use a foreign language
• 4. select and use appropriate methods and techniques when teaching the language systems and developing the four skills, cultural awareness and learning strategies in upper-secondary education
• 5. linguistically analyze samples of learner language as well as the content of English as a foreign language lessons; draw conclusions and implications for English language teaching
• 6. independently conduct English as a foreign language classes, manage and organize the class, understand the processes of classroom interaction
• 7. make appropriate decisions in lesson and course planning and teaching; prepare, teach and evaluate a series of lessons within Czech upper-secondary education, including analysis and critical evaluation of curricular documents; design courses
• 8. analyze, critically evaluate, select, adapt and use published teaching materials (including textbooks, worksheets, Internet resources, etc.), design, use and evaluate activities for authentic materials, cultural artifacts and literary texts
• 9. design an assessment and evaluation plan for a course; select, design, analyze, administer and evaluate suitable tests
• 10. reflect on his/her in-class experience and seek ways of further professional development
• 11. communicate with colleagues, parents and the wider community; participate in everyday school activities and is an active member of the professional community
• 12. design, conduct and evaluate classroom research
• 13. read and critically assess studies from up-to-date professional publications in the field of English language teaching

As a graduate of this

Master's programme, you will be fully qualified to teach English as a foreign

language in Czech secondary schools. You can also teach in language schools.

Graduates are also prepared to work in adult English language teaching, on educational

projects, in educational policy and educational NGOs, as well as in a wide

range of public institutions. You will also be prepared to go on to a PhD in

applied linguistics or foreign language pedagogy.

• Secondary school teacher

The internship is an integral part of this teacher education

program. Students undertake three semesters of teaching observation and

practice.

You will be guided to prepare, evaluate and

reflect on your English teaching and lesson delivery, and also to become

familiar with the day-to-day activities of a secondary school teacher. The

teaching practice is complemented by a series of tasks in which you will learn

to relate knowledge of English didactics to the realities of English language

teaching through a variety of methods (e.g. observation of teaching, collection

and analysis of student language, analysis of video recordings of your own

teaching). You will discuss your experiences in reflective seminars.

Foreign language teaching is both a theoretical and practical field. Diploma theses are an integral part of the programme through which the students should gain deeper insights into a selected area of language teaching and learning. This means that theory (or principles, concepts and conceptualizations, methods etc.) has to be connected with practice.

The diploma theses written within the ELT programme should therefore be of empirical nature (in the broad sense). This means that the students should show that they can implement the following three steps:

1) Select an issue in ELT and study relevant literature (i.e. theory).

2) Collect relevant data in the practice of ELT (which may or may not include their own teaching).

3) Seek meaningful connections between theory (step 1) and practice (step 2), which will help them gain deeper insights into an issue of their choice.

The empirical nature (and thus the focus of the empirical/practical part) may be one of the following:

a) Action research, i.e. students select an issue, study relevant literature, prepare an intervention for a group of learners, do the intervention, evaluate what happened, suggest improvements for future interventions (including evidence/recommendations in literature) and go through the cycle several more times.

b) Evaluation research, i.e. students select an issue, study relevant literature, prepare an intervention for a group of learners, do the intervention and evaluate its impact (e.g. how the learners reacted, what they learnt etc.)

c) Empirical research that uses relevant methods from research in education, linguistics, sociology, etc., to address a selected issue in foreign language teaching and learning.

In each case (a–c) the students should demonstrate that they can see the links between theory and practice. Theses that focus solely on theoretical aspects (e.g. review of relevant literature, conceptual issues in ELT, etc.) are possible, provided that the thesis, to a satisfactory extent, meets standards related to theoretical or review studies normally published in academic journals in the field.

The topics should be related to teaching EFL, ideally in the context of upper-secondary education. If students have access to other settings, this is alright, but they should at least discuss their findings in relation to ELT in upper-secondary settings, which is their field of study.

Graduates can go on

to doctoral studies such as English Linguistics with specialization in

Experimental and Applied Linguistics (FF MU) or Didactics of Foreign Languages

(FF MU).