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This study reports on the comparison of the students’ achievement and their attitudes towards the use of paper-pen peer-correction and wiki-based peer-correction within English language lessons and CLIL Social Science lessons at the higher secondary school in Prague. Questionnaires and semi-structured interviews were utilized to gather information. The data suggests that students made considerable use of wikis and showed higher degrees of motivation in wiki-based peer-correction during English language lessons than in CLIL Social Science lessons. In both cases wikis not only contributed to developing students’ writing skills, but also helped students recognize the importance of collaboration.

As any other area of human lives, current state of foreign language education has been greatly influenced by the latest developments in the modern information communication technologies. The paper focuses specifically on the incorporation of artificial intelligence (AI), which includes a wide range of technologies and methods, such as machine learning, adaptive learning, natural language processing, data mining, crowdsourcing, neural networks or an algorithm, into foreign language learning and teaching. First, the paper is concerned with changes brought to foreign language education specifically through the application of AI-powered tools and discusses ICALL (intelligent computer assisted language learning) as a subset of CALL. Second, it summarizes eight types of AI-powered tools for foreign language education and related results of the existing research, however scarce it is. Third, it discusses the frame for effective preparation of foreign language teachers in order to integrate AI-powered tools into their teaching to make it easier, less time-consuming and more effective. The author argues for reconsideration of the existing frames of requirements for CALL teachers., [KEGA 001TTU-4/2019]

This study is informed by the observation of some dangerous threats to faith’s missionary and human developmental goals as well as Salvationist stance. The alarm has been sounded that fanaticism of any colour at all is not only inimical to the raison detre of faith’s cardinal objectives but more tellingly, constitutes a serious endangerment of humanity, particularly the Nigerian enterprise. Deploying exemplifications from Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart (1958) and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Purple Hibiscus (2006) in an eclectic combination of a body of qualitative instances drawn from the Islamic and the Christian faiths the paper underscores the danger inherent in bigoted faith both to faith itself and to the society. The paper urges the painstaking reification/inculcation of the principles of tolerance and patriotism in children in their formative years through literary creativity, the precepts of inter and intra religious tolerance respecting the West African sub-regional stance for secular imperatives and egalitarian. This is to enthrone lasting peace in the African sub continent and the world a piece.

Activities and questions to assess knowledge in English for medical purposes were designed to incorporate terminology, academic vocabulary and grammar items in computer-based tests for bachelor students in Dentistry at Medical University - Varna. During the two-semester study course identification of key words, core lexical patterns, specific collocations and emphasis on their recurrent use were the selected strategies for student retention of specialized language and improved learning outcomes. Medical terms as single-word lexical units with straightforward definitions are easy to learn compared to collocations and multi-word terms including polysemous adjectives. In the present paper we concentrate on the process of formation of structures containing attributive adjectives which can be quite a problematic and error-generating area for second language learners. The aim of the on-going research study is to extract current lists of the sub-technical vocabulary and the terminological units in specialized medical domains as linguistic resources. The collection of assessment materials into a test bank for specific educational purposes is a customizable electronic resource, imported into the University platform to facilitate the process of compilation and creation of new tests. By implementing corpus linguistic tools into test design, the instructor aims at providing an authentic e-assessment environment based on the idea of key words in context, concordances, and lexical patterns as per the contents of the selected textbooks and teaching materials during the course. The paper highlights some strategic issues about creating test resources in EMP such as the adherence to a set of selected linguistic items and grammatical structures based on their frequency in the domain.

Pronunciation plays an indisputable role in communication; even more so in communication between native and non-native speakers of English. The goals for pronunciation teaching have shifted from accent-free or native-like pronunciation to comprehensibility and teaching practices aimed at non-native English learners vary and are often based on teachers’ opinions rather than research findings. The paper aims to present the current topics in twenty selected research papers dealing with pronunciation teaching (teaching practices in the English language classrooms, selected segmental and suprasegmental features). The analysed papers indicate that a teacher’s good theoretical background can raise students’ awareness and the overall performance of pronunciation phenomena, whether at the segmental or the suprasegmental level. Students may benefit from different strategies applied to pronunciation learning, but traditional teaching methods are still prevalent in the contemporary English language classroom. The contribution presents partial results of the research project KEGA 001TTU-4/2019.

The modern world, in which we live, is regarded as the period of postmodernism. In this period it is hard to perceive the reality in a right way. So are Harold Pinter’s plays. Mostly they are somewhere between reality and absurdity. Based on his writings, he is considered to be, one of the first postmodernist authors. The simplicity of the dialogues makes the feeling that the play is easy to understand, but after reading/watching all the relationships between the characters you feel a bit confused. Nothing is real, and exactly this is the reality of their world, not to be real. And not only the relationships but the characters themselves do not know who they are in reality and it is hard for them to identify their own personality. As it has been already mentioned above, in Pinter’s plays, we can easily find the elements of postmodernism. In the given papers this idea will be expressed depending on the play “The Homecoming”, where Pinter presents us so-called “family”, the group of people, and shows us their emptiness from the family relationships. Even relationships between father and sons, and wife and husband are not real. All this are presented with the very simple language and this is also the essential characteristic of the postmodern world, also the difficulty of understanding each other, and almost meaningless words. Pinter uses other forms of communication such as pauses and silences, in a manner typical of postmodernism. There should be also noted that “the homecoming” the title itself, makes the reader/audience confused, the expectation about perceiving the title at the beginning does not coincide the perception of it in the ending part. The aim of this paper is to highlight the key elements of postmodernism in Harold Pinter’s play “The Homecoming” and to show us once again, that Pinter’s works are really important in our postmodern world.

The paper concentrates on the problem of developing imagination understood as human trait and virtue. To realize the challenge educators have to face huge difficulties as a tendency to flatter the world and its inhabitants dominates and becomes more and more powerful. A musical fairy tale is presented as a valuable and effective school practice. From one side it refers to perennial human custom of listening, telling, and creating stories, fables, and sagas. They may base on real life or refer to imaginary situations. Thus creation may have various realizations, depending on personal knowledge, skills, life experience, cognitive horizon, individual interests and virtues. From the other side the idea of the fairy tale shown in the paper refers to the music and its uncountable possibilities of describing the world. Everything depends only on one’s imagination. The last part of the paper presents the effects of students’ work on musical fairy tales. Those students apart of being instrumentalists and vocalists of the Music Academy of Lodz, Poland plan to become music teachers in compulsory general education.

The aim of the paper is to make an attempt of theoretical synthesis connected with the idea of reception studies. It presents major aspects which are crucial for understanding the reception studies, especially for the reception of antiquity in Victorian literature (for instance chosen critical approaches to literature, contemporary tools for conducting the research like intertextuality). The paper also presents definitions of classics, classical tradition and reception and tries to explain why Victorian times and literature are a perfect research material to examine the reception of antiquity.

Continuous improvement of the teaching process requires teachers to constantly think, analyse and evaluate their own work and try to improve its quality. The paper deals with the introduction of quality management in the teaching process, since one way of improving the quality of education is to build a quality management system at primary schools, focusing exclusively on schools with Hungarian language of instruction. The paper includes the climate survey of the school class aiming at verifying the current state of the social climate of the class in the subject of Slovak language and Slovak literature. When teaching this subject at the primary level of education, attention has to be paid to the fact that pupils in the first year of primary school with Hungarian language of instruction come with different linguistic and speech competences.

Phonological awareness is considered a key phenomenon having crucial position among abilities and processes which are important and responsible for the development of reading and writing (initial literacy). The paper deals with the significance and level of development of selected cognitive functions of a child in relation to the abilities of phonological awareness. The child’s current cognitive development is a predictor for certain level of phonological awareness. The paper is focused on a description of speech perception, language, oral vocabulary and phonological memory of children in preschool age. It is an output of the research project VEGA no. 1/0637/16 Development of a Diagnostic Tool to Assess the Level of Phonemic Awareness of Children in Preschool Age.

This article presents an innovative approach to teaching English tenses, more precisely to teaching the grammar of questions and negative sentences. It describes, analyses and compares the innovative top-down approach with the traditional methods. It introduces the reader to the theoretical concept of the English predicate structure, on which the new approach is based. Consequently, the paper explains how the theoretical approach may be beneficial in practice, i.e. in English language teaching. Compared to the traditional methods, the paper shows that the grammar of questions and negatives of all tenses can be explained using three simple rules. Finally, the paper lists the advantages and disadvantages of the new method and suggests suitable target students.

This theoretical review paper investigates the role of first language (L1) in the mainstream scholarship of second/foreign (L2/FL) language education in the context of language learning, teaching, and bilingual education. The term ‘mainstream’ refers here to the scholarship that is not informed by sociocultural theory in general and Vygotskian sociocultural theory in particular. The paper later explains a Vygotskian perspective on the use of L1 in L2/FL language education and discusses how the perspective may help content teachers in (a) employing L1 in teaching L2/FL content and (b) helping L2/FL students to become self-regulative users of the target language.

This paper shows that the experimental group who are exposed to DVD Video Lesson that uses code switching language has an average mean score in the pretest of 1.56, and this increased to an average mean of 3.50 in the posttest. The control group that uses DVD Video Lesson that uses purely English language got an average mean of 1.06 in the pretest and increased to 1.53 in the posttest. Based on the results of the performance posttest taken by the two groups, the experimental group has a dramatic increase in scores from the pretest to posttest. Although both groups had increased in their performance scores from pretest to posttest, the experimental group (code switching language) performs well in the posttest than the control group. As revealed in this findings , there is a significant difference in the posttest scores between the experimental group who are exposed to DVD lesson that uses code switching as a medium of instruction and the control group who are exposed to DVD lesson that uses English. The students who are exposed to the Video Lesson that uses code switching perform well than those students who are exposed in DVD video lesson that uses purely English language. DVD Video lesson that uses code switching as a medium of instruction in teaching social dance is the useful approach in teaching Grade 10 Special Program in the Art students. The language used (code switching) is the powerful medium of instruction that enhances the learning outcomes of the students to perform well. This paper could be an eye opener to the Department of Education to inculcate the used of first language/local language or MTB-MLE, not only in Grade I to III but all level in K to 12 programs, since education is a key factor for building a better nation.

This paper, from the perspective of language learning as a meaning-making process, presents a critical review of the existing research on how pre-use, in-use, and post-use evaluation has investigated the relationship between English language teaching textbooks’ content and learners’ academic literacy development. The paper shows that previous research on these three types of evaluation examined English language teaching textbooks’ effect on English learners’ academic literacy development in an unprincipled and macro way. The research gap identified in these previous studies calls for an improved textbook evaluation framework that integrates a principled learning theory while simultaneously emphasizing macro-constructs (e.g., context) and micro-linguistic features needed for academic literacy development. To this end, this paper proposes a framework informed by Systemic Functional Linguistics-related constructs (e.g., genre, register, meta-meanings, and lexico-grammar system) to optimize the evaluation of English language teaching textbook content.

There has been a growing interest in describing higher education academic literacy. In our study, literacy is conceived as multi-layered phenomena, multiple in its character, denominated “multiliteracies” (Cope & Kalantzis, 2013). Furthermore, within the multiliteracies frame, multilingual literacies (Martin-Jones & Jones, 2000) are distinguished and discussed in the present paper, in particular the development of biliteracy in local academic settings. This paper explores connections between the teachers’ perceptions on literacy, teachers’ own biliteracy development as publishing authors and researchers. The research draws on the data obtained through a questionnaire applied in the first phase of the project to 100 participants from three public universities from northern, central and southern part of Mexico, which was completed by analysis of narratives gathered through interviews from a reduced sample of participants (31). The results seem to indicate that language teachers-researchers perceive their L2 literacy in wider terms, beyond mere reading-writing skills development and decodification of the text, which seems to be apparent in academics with higher academic credentials.

The aim of this paper is to compare two English language film adaptations (by Steven Soderbergh and Ari Folman) with each other and with the books they are based on. Stanisław Lem’s novels - The Futurological Congress and Solaris - were translated into English and the directors of the films mentioned above were able to work with them. However, while one translation was appreciated by many, including the author of the original, the other one did not get much credit and features many inaccuracies, which will be presented below. The question of how much the quality of translation influences the intersemiotic translation, which adaptation is believed to be, will be examined in the paper. As, according to translation scholars, preliminary interpretation is vital for any translations, it seems justified to state that without being able to refer to the author’s original thoughts the film-makers cannot produce a good adaptation. This will be revised on the basis of comparing examples from the books and films. The analysis will be drawn on an account of translation and film adaptation theories together with the outlining of cultural background for each work.

The paper focuses on one’s perception of factuality in selected online news media. A group of university students of English were approached and presented with ten statements about Sweden and asked to evaluate their truthfulness. Half of the group (informed respondents) were then advised on the ways media use to infer a narrative onto the reader, potentially influencing the way they view events, while the other half (uninformed respondents) were not made aware of this fact. The respondents were then presented with a news report describing a specific event that took place in Sweden; however, half of each group were asked to read its tabloid description while the other halves were shown the event as reported by a broadsheet (both online). They were then asked to reevaluate the statements they were presented with before and decide whether their opinions changed based on the article they had just read. The results suggest that one is inclined to believe what they read, regardless whether the source seems reliable and whether they are aware of the fact media might manipulate their audiences.

The paper provides an overview of the forms in which translation is used in foreign language education. A tentative classification is suggested which differentiates between facilitative translation as a supporting process that helps to overcome learning constraints, deliberate translation as an independent task with a predetermined objective that targets learners’ foreign language competence and skills, and simulated translation as an activity from which additional pedagogical benefits regarding learners’ foreign language proficiency can be derived. From the side of the learner, facilitative translation constitutes a complex learning strategy that can be applied for a variety of strategic purposes (memory-related, cognitive, compensatory, metacognitive, affective, and social), while from the side of the teacher it represents a scaffolding tool that can be consolidated into a fully-fledged teaching technique. Deliberate translation can further be differentiated according to the specifics of pedagogical focus. Language-focused translation, targeting learners’ grammatical accuracy or vocabulary range and control, and skill-focused translation, targeting one of the four basic communicative language skills, can be used for both instruction-related and diagnostic purposes. The focus on the holistic use of the available linguistic repertoire results in the two complex uses of translation as an incentive for communication and as a communicative activity aimed at developing the skill of cross-language mediation. A particular type of simulated translation which appears to be particularly suited for the purposes of foreign language education is audiovisual translation.

An integral part of the Slovak cultural context is also Lowland Slovak literature, which includes certain areas of Hungary, Romania and Serbia. The paper outlines the partial development of Slovak youth literature in these regions. It gradually characterizes the most important aspects of diachrony of this segment of writing (in a certain chronotope that is bound to selected prototexts). Based on objective-subjective interpretations of three emblematic works of this context, it highlights - as a certain typology - not only the general / universal, but also the specific / particular (that is particularly relevant to the context) in intra- and intercultural relations. It accentuates the literary tradition, which is still a useful source of realistic short stories and novels for child percipients in these diasporas. It also traditionally and innovatively points out the typical features of teaching in individual national-minority schools in the mentioned countries. Methodologically (but also practically) it is, of course, based, on thematic, motif related, etc. aspects of the analyzed (selected) works and their possible reflection in school education and learning environment. Finally, the use of language / features / motifs / aspects / procedures is concretized in specific conditions outside the physical boundaries of the homeland as a kind of perspective on the correlation of the difficult process of cultural education itself.

Problems with staffing play a crucial role among factors influencing the quality of English language teaching at Czech primary and lower secondary schools. Since 1990 the shortage of teachers of English as a foreign language has been repeatedly reported by the Czech School Inspectorate. The shortage is largely caused by the reluctance of English language teacher education study programme graduates to accept teaching positions at primary and lower secondary schools. A drop-out syndrome in the early stages of the teachers’ career is another factor that may contribute to the lack of teachers of English. Unfortunately, it has not been researched in the Czech Republic and it has not been systematically monitored by the state. In the research study focusing on novice teacher drop-out, conducted in 2015–2017, we deal with the process of socialisation of novice teachers in schools and with external factors that influence the socialisation and that can be seen as predictors of novice teachers’ decision to stay in their current school or leave either the school or the teaching profession. The current paper presents partial findings related to drop-out intentions of novice teachers of English as a foreign language in comparison with teachers of other subjects. Our findings indicate that drop-out intentions are more frequent in teachers of English as a foreign language than for other teachers and that teachers of English evaluate their cooperation with colleagues and leadership at their schools more critically than other teachers.

Foreign language anxiety (FLA) is perceived as a negative factor influencing learners’ language achievement. Targeting Chinese overseas students, this paper investigates whether communicative confidence, fear of negative evaluation, attitude towards using English in workshops and trait anxiety are related to Chinese students’ speaking anxiety. The present study also aims to examine how students perceive their speaking anxiety and coping strategies both from teachers and students. The questionnaire and the semi-structured interview were adopted for data collection. 80 TESOL students at the University of Edinburgh were invited to complete the questionnaires, with 6 students participating in the interviews to get deeper insights into Chinese students’ perception of their speaking anxiety. Research findings revealed that communicative confidence, fear of negative evaluation, attitude towards using English in workshops and traits anxiety were strongly related to Chinese students’ speaking anxiety. In the interviews, 6 respondents commented that instructors’ characteristics, such as patience and humor, and their preparation before class can alleviate their speaking anxiety in workshops. It is hoped that the current study can contribute to a deeper understanding of Chinese students’ speaking anxiety in UK universities.

The present paper is founded on two pillars. Firstly, it is one of the current trends in education worldwide, i.e. to connect theory and practice. Secondly, it is the need to be interculturally competent speakers of a foreign language in today’s globalized world of massive migration flows and signs of increasing ethnocentrism. Based upon these two requirements, the ability to communicate in a FL effectively and interculturally appropriately in the tourism industry is a must, since being employed in whichever of its sectors means encountering other cultures on a daily basis. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to find out undergraduate tourism students’ opinion on the importance of intercultural communicative competences for their future profession as well as their self-assessment in the given field. The findings of the research, which are to be compared to employers’ needs, revealed that there is considerable difference between the respondents’ views on the significance of the investigated issues and their self-esteem.

This paper reports on an experimental study that investigates the influence of the disparity between English and Arabic on second language acquisition, namely the phenomenon of the acquisition of the English dative alternation by Arab learners. The disallowance of certain Arabic verbs to occur in the double object dative structure causes difficulty for Arab learners to acquire English as far as the acquisition of the dative alternation is concerned. The experiment is devised to examine whether Arab learners are sensitive to syntactic and semantic properties associated with the English dative alternation. The experiment involved picture tasks with two structures: the prepositional dative structure and the double object dative structure. Overall, the results of the experiment show that the L2 learners failed to acquire the double object dative structure which does not exist in their L1. Based on these results, it is argued that L1 has an important effect on the acquisition of L2.

The present time places considerable demands on the process of foreign language education both in the field of communication and information transfer. Teachers, occupying a pivotal role in this process, are not able to proceed with simple, lay approaches and methods. It has become more and more important to apply sophisticated approaches and methods in teaching which are based on primary and secondary researches. This paper discusses the Dynamic Model of Speech Production as a specific approach to EFL teaching. Furthermore, the application of activating methods in the process of teaching English as a foreign language is examined from the standpoint of gender, country, length of teaching practice, and type of university. The data was collected using a questionnaire about the use and the frequency of occurrence of activating methods, which was completed by 82 university teachers from the Slovak Republic and the Czech Republic.

This study arises out of the intention to examine the features of expert-lay interaction in a jury trial. The paper studies closing arguments constructed by legal experts as possible worlds which would be attractive for jurors. Theory of possible worlds is employed to present discourse practices as versions of the real world which may overlap, supplement or contradict one another. Legal experts construe and present possible worlds to jury members who deliver verdicts on the case, i.e. possess decisional power. Efficient involvement of jurors into the possible world constructed by the legal expert signals formation of discourse of concord. In order to make their own possible world more credible than the world of the procedural opponents, legal experts employ different interaction tools: description of legal concepts, empathy, appeals to social values, imperative and question utterances, personalization.

This paper is going to argue that while early childhood teachers seem to have positive perceptions about intercultural education, the in-question students seem to be compelled to adopt different cultural habits. Data were gathered through a questionnaire distributed in 9 areas of Thessaloniki, completed by 161 teachers. The results showed that most teachers feel that they have enough knowledge about the curriculum regarding intercultural education, perform activities regarding interculturalism and diversity; they believe that students from different cultures feel welcomed and equally treated and participate in all class activities. Teachers suggest that students from different cultures build good relationships with all their peers and there is positive communication between students from different cultures as well as between their parents and teachers. However, the suggestion of most of the sample that students are compelled to adopt Greek cultural habits constrains this positive picture. It is possible that teachers feel that they are achieving positive results regarding intercultural education. It may be possible to recommend that the approaches that teachers report as part of their current practice should continue or that teachers’ own recommendations should be explored further to determine what sort of approach to intercultural education is being adopted.

The aim of this study is to explore the relationships between team members and their influence on a team achievement during project work in an online environment. Thirty English language students (from an upper secondary school in Prague) worked in twelve teams on a detailed guided tour through one historical Prague district by means of an online tool wiki. The main aim of the research was to answer the questions: Does student’s sociability have an impact on team work, and if it does, to which extent? The methods of a post-questionnaire, a sociometric-rating questionnaire SORAD (Hrabal and Hrabal, 2002) and the analysis of students′ wiki contributions were used. Firstly, the paper deals with the terms sociability and sociometry, then the research is introduced and finally, the results are presented. The results show that student’s position in a class plays more important role in team cooperation and collaboration than their personal preferences or motivation.

Psychodidactic themes focused on the educational context have recently been resolved in both theoretical and research work. These themes are connected with general didactics, educational psychology, individual subject didactics, linguistics, philosophy, anthropology and neurosciences. Since the psychodidactic context of education is a widespectral and interdisciplinary topic, the present contribution deals with the issues of psychological aspects in the context of foreign language learning of adults. Good lecturers are looking for ways to help participants develop key competences. The support of lecturers has a chance to be successful especially when it is systematic and includes high-quality theoretical preparation. The aim of this paper is to attract attention, to a theoretical level, to using psychodidactic aspects during foreign language training of adults as well as to the building of competences necessary for the self- realisation of training course participants.

Vincent Šikula entered (also) children’s literature in the 1960s, i.e. during the years when crucial works of Slovak children’s literature were published. His works are interesting for children even nowadays because they are built on story-telling, interesting language, and, very often, quick action. Šikula’s poetics is based on not underestimating children. He did not determine in advance for whom his books are intended, since, in his opinion, they were appropriated by those whom they suited most. The paper discusses Šikula’s stories and fairy-tales with regard to the authorial narrative strategies.

The Roma constitute an ideal case of educational injustice meeting linguistic difference, racism, social marginalization, and poverty. This paper asks whether human-rights or capabilities approaches are best suited to address issues related to the language education of Roma students in Europe. These children are disadvantaged by not growing up with the standard dialect of whatever language is preferred by the mainstream population, and by the low status of the Romani language, and non-standard dialect of the standard language they usually speak. We examine language education for Roma students in Croatia, the Czech Republic, and Bulgaria, describing similarities and differences across contexts. We explain weak and strong version of language rights arguments, and the ways these principles are expressed, and not expressed in education policies. Sen’s capabilities approach can be employed to generate contextualized visions of education reform that speak directly to disadvantages suffered by Roma children.

There is no doubt these days that knowledge of different forms of motivation and its implementation in the work environment is a prerequisite for improving the quality of work results and subsequent achievement of organizational goals. Every head teacher meets this phenomenon. A lack of motivation is behind a number of unfulfilled tasks, unwillingness to look for efficient work practices, absence, disloyalty to their own society, refusing overtime, not accepting necessary changes, ignoring requests for assistance, and more. It is not easy to find a way to solve these problems. However, theory and practice go hand in hand and together it creates the perfect symbiosis which looks at the ailments mentioned and gradually finds answers. Where to start in order to be successful in this quest? We should first recognize the meaning and importance of motivation in the work process. The role of the head teacher is to know teachers to have a positive impact on their behaviour and entrust them with such tasks corresponding to their knowledge and skills. Work motivation is focused on carrying out a work obligation and should lead to the required working behaviour. Motivation to work is also connected to the work environment and climate in which teachers work. In general, we can say that teachers’ satisfaction at work determines their personal relationships outside the workplace as well. For this reason, we decided to handle the theme on the specifics of the process of motivation occurring in the relationship between head teachers and foreign language teachers. The aim of this paper is to analyze the issues of the specifics of the process of motivation in the relationship between head teachers and foreign language teachers.

Currently various industries using translation services stress the necessity of analytical, critical and practical knowledge of 2 foreign languages, substantial skills of translation technologies, as well as transferable skills for professional translator performance. A changing translator profile causes a shift in translation study programmes towards the development of transferable skills along with translation-related skills. Therefore, the paper focuses on employers’ expectations in relation to the abilities and skills of professionally trained translators. The outcomes of this study reflect the overall situation in the country, still undergoing significant changes in the translation-related industry from the perspective of employers who agree that together with translation-related skills graduates of translation programmes should possess a range of transferable skills, which empower them to act professionally in a changing environment.

This paper reports on part of the research project in which instructor perspectives on the role of anxiety in an EFL speaking classroom and anxiety-coping strategies students employ when speaking English have been investigated. The existence of students’ speaking anxiety was revealed via a teacher interview. A total of 88 students from the intact classes also responded to an interview form for an analysis of anxiety-coping strategies they utilised when speaking English in class. The qualitative data from both instruments was analysed using the content analysis. The findings of the teacher interview data put forward that students of this study have experienced speaking-in-class anxiety. This anxiety may influence their grades, to some extent. Three factors that may hinder students’ development of oral skills emerge, including their lack of self-confidence, having poor English background and having neither intrinsic nor extrinsic motivation to use English. Using the target language as the medium of communication in class is viewed by the teachers as a must in theory, but flexibility is allowed in practice. Moreover, the results of the student interview data show a wide range of strategies employed to deal with anxiety (ie social, affective, meta-cognitive, compensatory, cognitive and memory-related strategies). Social strategies are the most frequently-used techniques. Suggestions for improvement in the overall oral English (ie vocabulary focus, audiovisual focus, self-practice, social focus, auditory focus, meta-cognitive focus, compensatory focus and affective focus) have also been given by the student participants. An increased repertoire of vocabulary is viewed as the most effective tool for such improvement.

Chris Bradford’s Young Samurai series, and his more recent Bodyguard Series draw on a strong sense of hegemonic masculinity to secure popularity for the protagonist. The success of these books is particularly interesting when one considers the gender agendas that are embraced by modern western society and the extent to which general opinion has altered in terms of the performance of masculinity. According to John Stephens in Ways of Being Male: Representing Masculinities in Children’s Literature and Film (2002, p. x), a problem for boys, both in narrative fictions and in the world, is that hegemonic masculinity ‘appears simultaneously to propose a schema for behaviour and to insist on their subordination as children, to conflate agency with hegemonic masculinity, and to disclose that, for them, such agency is illusory. These paradoxes are currently being increasingly dealt with as a theme in children’s literature and film’. My paper will discuss these apparent paradoxes in Chris Bradford’s novels in the context of a 21st century child readership.

Along with mastery of the grammar and vocabulary of a given language, contemporary students are also expected to acquire intercultural communicative competence (ICC), i.e., the ability to use the language efficiently with regard to the sociocultural background of the communicative situation. This requirement should also be reflected in FL course-books, which are considered to be fundamental didactic tools in FL education, even in an era of information communication technologies. Therefore, the aim of the present paper is to report the results of the research focused on the investigation of intercultural component in the New Opportunities Pre-Intermediate and Intermediate course-book packages. To validate the findings of the content analysis, as the main research method, the method of triangulation was used, i.e., the results of the course-book package analyses were compared with those of observation and interview analyses. The findings of the research revealed that in the investigated course-book packages only some aspects of the intercultural component could be considered relevant because they were suitably treated.

The paper discusses Romantic imagination in two, relatively distant, national literatures. The first part is concerned with the problems comparative literature has faced in recent decades. In the second part, the work of two Slovak Romantic writers, Ján Kollár and Janko Kráľ, is compared to the poetry of Lord Gordon Byron and William Wordsworth. By identifying certain affinities between the discussed literary works, the authors point to the importance of the concept of national literature which has not lost its role even in contemporary literary studies.

In my paper I would like to present the student and the teacher in educational space. I’d like to say about difficulties in communication between them and the search for a common language for dialogue. The context for this discussion will be the current socio- cultural space and the expectations of both the teacher and the student. The purpose of the text is to show the conditions through which the agreement between the student and the teacher is possible and identify a cultural experience of a common language. Considerations will be conducted from the perspective of the anthropological concept of education and subjective view of the student and the teacher.

The paper discusses experimental fiction of Rabih Alameddine, an American writer of Lebanese origin, whose literary pursuits subvert Orientalist discourse based on the East/West dichotomy by focusing on the commonalities of the two. The recurring motif of searching for one’s identity (while being trapped in-between two mutually distant and at the same time similar worlds) is reflected in the subversion of the traditional understanding of the narrative which is destined to a constant failure. Alameddine’s storytelling is, in reality, a “story-trying.“ By employing multiple narrators, intertwining plots, genres and languages, the author is striving hard to tell “hisstory” about American homophobia, Lebanese sectarianism as well as the physical and psychological outcomes of war - a story which turns up to be a narration of the thousand and one failed beginnings.

Phraseology is a domain of linguistic study which, to a certain extent, demonstrates the correlation between language and culture. At the same time, it is a source of information concerning the speakers’ world view. However, different phraseological units are used in different languages. Hence, when it comes to their understanding, it becomes particularly difficult to comprehend their meaning without the reference to their lexicographic description. The aim of this paper is to outline the treatment of selected idioms in several dictionaries in order to: (i) identify how idioms are lexicographically presented, (ii) find equivalence of some expressions of that kind in English/Polish, (iii) investigate how the recorded parallels correspond with the functional view of idioms proposed by Dobrovol’skij (2000).

Claims for the value of literature in EFL teaching and learning traditionally centre around three models: the cultural, language, and the personal growth model (Carter & Long, 1991). In the context of EFL teacher education, the core question is: can literature also contribute to the professional development of EFL trainee teachers and, if so, how? Based on the assumption that school-related English-language literature can be used for professional case-based work this paper reports a context-specific interdisciplinary model of literature in education which synthesizes case theory (Steiner, 2004) and the theory of dialogic aesthetic reading (Delanoy, 2002), thus providing an educational setting for both literary experience and professional learning in EFL teacher education.