English language for Education

Topics for the state exam written test are based on areas covered and discussed in lectures and linguistics seminars taught during the bachelor studies. The written exam in linguistics checks both the theoretical knowledge of the students and their ability to apply it in practical language use. The test contains tasks of a similar nature as administered in individual courses in years 1-3.

You can look at a mock test with an answer key.

Students are expected to have studied from the following sources:

Compulsory Reading

Students are expected to have read the following reference books, to be aware of the definitions, views and approaches presented, and to be able to discuss them critically.

• Dontcheva-Navrátilova, O. (2005) Grammatical Structures in English: Meaning in Context. Brno: Masarykova univerzita.
• Greenbaum, S., Quirk, R. (1991) A Student’s Grammar of the English Language. London: Longman.
• Hladký, J., Chovanec, J. (2002) Úvod do studia anglického jazyka pro učitelské studium. Brno: Masarykova univerzita
• Roach, P. (2000) English Phonetics and Phonology. A Practical Course. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
• Svartvik, J., Leech, G. N. (1994) A Communicative Grammar of English. 2nd Edition. London: Longman.
• Gethin, H. (1992) Grammar in Context, Proficiency Level English. Nelson Collins Ltd.
• Yule, G. (1996) The Study of Language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Further Reading

Students are expected to have scanned the following reference books and to be aware of the scope of issues discussed there.

• Biber, D., Johansson, S., Leech, G., Conrad, S., Finegan, E. (1999) Longman Grammar of Spoken and Written English. London: Longman.
• Brown, G., Yule, G. (1983) Discourse Analysis. Cambridge Textbooks in Linguistics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
• Cruttenden, A. (1994) Gimson’s Pronunciation of English. Arnold.
• Crystal, D. (1995) The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
• Dušková, L. (1994) Mluvnice současné angličtiny na pozadí češtiny. 2nd ed. Praha: Academia.
• Halliday, M. A. K., Hasan, R. (1992) Cohesion in English. London: Longman.
• Hladký, J., Chovanec, J. (2002) Úvod do studia anglického jazyka pro učitelské studium. Brno: Masarykova univerzita
• Leech, G. N., Deuchar, M., Hoogenraad, R. (1982) English Grammar for Today. A New Introduction. Macmillan Press Ltd.
• McCarthy, M. (1991). Discourse Analysis for Language Teachers_. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
• Štekauer, P. (ed.) (2000) _Rudiments of English Linguistics. Prešov: Slovacontact.
• Urbanová, L. (1998) A Handbook of English Phonetics and Phonology. Brno: Masarykova univerzita.

The state exam in Literature, Culture and History is administered in the form of a written test. In it, the student proves their knowledge, skills and competencies acquired in the course of their study programme. Due to the integrated nature of the courses, the test, too, is designed in an integrated format. It is based on an extract from the extensive reading list (see below) assigned to students in class.

The student is expected to close-read the passage and subsequently analyse it from the literary point of view as well in the historical and cultural context. In the test, the student also demonstrates their academic writing skills as well as their English language proficiency. 

British Literature reading:

• William Shakespeare: A Midsummer Night’s Dream
• Daniel Defoe: The Life and Strange Surprising Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, of York
• Jane Austen: Pride and Prejudice
• Mary Shelley: Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus
• Charlotte Brontë: Jane Eyre
• Charles Dickens: Hard Times – For These Times
• Oscar Wilde: The Picture of Dorian Gray
• James Joyce: Araby
• Virginia Woolf: Kew Gardens
• D. H. Lawrence: The Horsedealer’s Daughter
• George Orwell: 1984

American Literature reading:

• Mark Twain: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
• Kate Chopin: The Awakening
• Willa Cather: My Ántonia
• Francis Scott Fitzgerald: The Great Gatsby
• William Faulkner: Dry September
• Zora Neale Hurston: The Gilded Six Bits

Topics for the state exam written test are based on areas covered and discussed in seminars of didactics taught during the bachelor studies. The written exam in didactics checks both the theoretical knowledge of the students and their ability to apply it in situations they could encounter in their future teaching practice. The test contains tasks of a similar nature as administered in individual courses of Didactics.

The majority of questions included in the test are based on multiple-choice and matching; there will also be several open-ended questions.

Topics for the state exam

1. Teaching a foreign language
2. Motivation in foreign language learning and teaching
3. Learners' individual difference and needs
4. Teacher and learner (roles, raport, feedback)
5. Lesson planning (goals, format)
6. Class management, organising and managing a lesson
7. Teaching materials (selection, modification and use)
8. Teaching and practising vocabulary
9. Teaching and practising grammar
10. Teaching and practising pronunciation
11. Teaching reading comprehension
12. Teaching listening comprehension
13. Teaching speaking and interaction

You can look at a mock test with an answer key.  

The students are expected to have read the following books:

• HARMER, J. (2012). Essential teacher knowledge : core concepts in English language teaching. Harlow: Pearson Education Limited, 2012. 287 s. ISBN 9781408268049.
• SCRIVENER, J. (2005). Learning teaching : a guidebook for English language teachers. Oxford: Macmillan, 2005. 431 s. ISBN 1405013990.