Masaryk University Journals / Časopisy Masarykovy univerzity
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Innovative approaches to foreign language teaching at universities: Survey of students’ opinions
Get PDFInovativní metody výuky cizích jazyků na vysokých školách představují zásadní krok vpřed ve zlepšování jazykových znalostí a dovedností studentů a jejich připravenosti pro globální pracovní trh. Cílem tohoto příspěvku je zjistit, zda mají vysokoškolští studenti zájem o tři inovativní formy výuky anglického jazyka: kombinovanou výuku (Blended Learning, BL), která spojuje tradiční prezenční výuku s online prvky; projektovou výuku (Project-Based Learning, PBL), která je založená na řešení reálných úkolů; a obsahově a jazykově integrovanou výuku (Content and Language Integrated Learning, CLIL), která spojuje výuku cizího jazyka s odborným předmětem. Výzkumné šetření se skládalo z předvýzkumu s 19 studenty a hlavního výzkumu s 97 studenty Fakulty podnikatelské Vysokého učení technického v Brně, kteří absolvovali klasickou výuku angličtiny. Jako výzkumný nástroj byl zvolen elektronický dotazník zaměřený zejména na předchozí zkušenosti studentů s výše zmíněnými metodami výuky a na jejich případný zájem o tuto výuku na vysoké škole. Z výsledků průzkumu je patrné, že studenti měli velmi pozitivní přístup k začleňování technologií do výuky angličtiny a projevili velký zájem o BL, se kterou již měli většinou nějaké předešlé zkušenosti. Se zbylými dvěma metodami již neměli tolik zkušeností, a proto se k nim stavěli spíše neutrálně, přičemž větší zájem projevili o CLIL v porovnání s PBL.Innovative methods of foreign language instruction at universities play a crucial role in enhancing students’ language proficiency and preparing them for the demands of the global labour market. This paper aims to explore university students’ interest in three innovative approaches to teaching English: Blended Learning (BL), which integrates traditional face-to-face instruction with online elements; Project-Based Learning (PBL), which focuses on solving real-world problems; and Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL), which combines language instruction with subject-specific content. The research involved a preliminary survey of 19 students, followed by a main study conducted with 97 students from the Faculty of Business and Management at Brno University of Technology, all of whom had previously received conventional English instruction. An electronic questionnaire was used as the primary research tool, focusing on students’ prior experience with these teaching methods and their potential interest in adopting them at the university level. The findings indicate that students had a highly positive attitude towards incorporating technology into English language instruction, expressing strong interest in BL, likely due to their previous exposure to this method. In contrast, their familiarity with the other two methods was limited, resulting in a more neutral stance. However, students showed a greater inclination towards CLIL compared to PBL
Alternative interpretation of bi-level language proficiency test scores for listening and reading comprehension
Get PDFThe aim of this study was to take an alternative look at the language assessment of the listening and reading comprehension with the intention to provide language teachers at the authors’ institution with more valid and reliable feedback on their instruction. To achieve this, an alternative approach to the interpretation of test scores obtained from bi-level language proficiency tests assessing the listening and reading comprehension at the authors’ institution was analysed. This alternative approach was proposed by the authors for comparison with the currently used approach to test score interpretation at their institution. The intention of the proposed alternative approach was to increase the validity of the proficiency levels obtained based on listening and reading comprehension test scores. In this alternative approach, the authors attempted to eliminate the guessing factor employed by test takers, which may negatively affect the valid assessment of their listening and reading comprehension. To compare the alternative and the current approaches to the interpretation of test scores, proficiency levels of receptive skills (listening and reading) and productive skills (speaking and writing) were correlated with the assumption that the test score interpretation approach showing higher correlation is more valid. The rationale for this correlation was the fact that the authors considered proficiency levels of productive skills valid and reliable due to the manner in which they are tested at their institution and due to the fact that the proficiency levels of productive skills cannot be distorted by test takers’ guessing.The aim of this study was to take an alternative look at the language assessment of the listening and reading comprehension with the intention to provide language teachers at the authors’ institution with more valid and reliable feedback on their instruction. To achieve this, an alternative approach to the interpretation of test scores obtained from bi-level language proficiency tests assessing the listening and reading comprehension at the authors’ institution was analysed. This alternative approach was proposed by the authors for comparison with the currently used approach to test score interpretation at their institution. The intention of the proposed alternative approach was to increase the validity of the proficiency levels obtained based on listening and reading comprehension test scores. In this alternative approach, the authors attempted to eliminate the guessing factor employed by test takers which may negatively affect valid assessment of their listening and reading comprehension. To compare the alternative and the current approaches to the interpretation of test scores, proficiency levels of receptive skills (listening and reading) and productive skills (speaking and writing) were correlated with the assumption that the test score interpretation approach showing higher correlation is more valid. The rationale for this correlation was the fact that the authors considered proficiency levels of productive skills valid and reliable due to the manner in which they are tested at their institution and due to the fact that the proficiency levels of productive skills cannot be distorted by test takers’ guessing
Cuatro capítulos del Liber botanicus (Sangallensis) en dos manuscritos de la obra de Beda
No full textManuscript 217 of the Stiftsbibliothek Sankt Gallen contains a medical recipe book commonly known as Botanicus Sangallensis. The text was edited by G. Landgraf in 1928 and by M. Niederer in 2005, based on this sole witness. The article aims to highlight a medical miscellany copied in the 11th century in the margins of a 9th-century manuscript from the Abbey of Melk, which in turn is the antigraph of the 12th-century manuscript Città del Vaticano, BAV, Vat. lat. 643. One section of this miscellany is a literal copy, with minor omissions, of four chapters of the Botanicus Sangallensis. These two new witnesses allow a more effective control over the text of the recipe book. However, they also raise new questions about the process of its transmission during the High Middle Ages
Opera Costanza e Fortezza : the victory of Constancy, strength, virtue and love over pride and tyranny
No full textThe opera Costanza e Fortezza, by P. Pariati and J. J. Fux, performed in Prague at the behest of Emperor Charles VI (1685–1740), exemplifies the symbolic self-representation of a Baroque Habsburg monarch. In the absence of a male heir, Charles VI used the opera to counter the hereditary claims of the Saxon and Bavarian Prince-electors and to advocate for the Pragmatic Sanction. Based on a Classical story by Livy, it is set in Rome republic besieged by the Etruscan king Porsenna, supporting a heir of the royal Gens Tarqunii. The study examines the opera's central conflict between virtue (virtù) and pride, and the fight for freedom through Constancy and Strength, exploring the role of love in this conflict. Particular attention is paid to the symbolical source of the opera's themes – the tale of Lucretia, a virtuous Roman woman defiled by a member of the Tarquin family
The enlightened romantic : Kantian philosophy and Coleridge's ideological revolution in religious musings and France : an ode
No full textScholarly research on Coleridge's ideological shift provides the academia with an explanation which seems to be a justification or rather an oversimplification of the issue. Nevertheless, this study argues that Coleridge's disillusionment was not just due to the Revolution's shortcomings, but rather was a result of an ideological growth. The paper first marks the deficiencies of the unsatisfactory view in the widely accepted interpretation of his ideological shift. Then, considering the poet's beliefs on social change, his visit to Germany, and interaction with Kantian Enlightenment, the paper depicts his alignment with Kant's ideas. Accordingly, the paper steps on an untrodden path, employing insights from Slavoj Žižek and Lacanian Psychoanalysis, to suggest that his adoption of conservatism, due to his acceptance of Kant's ideological, conservative attitude towards the realization of the Enlightenment, was motivated by a need for stability and a concrete link to the Symbolic Order qua the society, which contradicts conventional accounts of his ideological development
The unacknowledged connection : intertextuality and character archetypes in Jane Austen's and Henry James's novels
No full textThe aim of this article is to explore the intertextual relationships between the novels of Jane Austen and Henry James, focusing particularly on how James may have consciously or unconsciously reinterpreted Austenian character archetypes in some of his novels of courtship and marriage, such as The Portrait of a Lady, The Awkward Age, and Washington Square, by comparing them to some of Austen's narratives, like Emma, Pride and Prejudice, Mansfield Park, and Persuasion. Although several novelists and critics have acknowledged the intertextual echoes between Austen's and James's works, this connection has been largely unexplored in contemporary criticism. My aim is to fill this gap by analyzing character archetypes central to the courtship and marriage narrative, such as the errant heroine, the knowledgeable and subversive young woman, and the heroine with a strong moral insight. By highlighting these parallels, I hope to illuminate the thematic threads and literary lineage that link these two authors in the English novel tradition
Zpráva z osmého ročníku islamologické konference, České Budějovice, 7.-8. listopadu 2024
No full textThe adolescent Internet Adaptability Scale: Development and psychometric properties
No full textThis study presents the development and validation of the Adolescent Internet Adaptability Scale (AIAS), designed to assess adolescents’ adaptive capacities in Internet use. The scale development encompassed multiple phases with diverse sample sizes: item pool generation through interviews (n = 15), scale structure analysis via Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA, n = 553) and Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA, n = 4,637), along with reliability (n = 4,637) and validity (n = 4,637) analyses. The reliability phase included alpha, composite reliability, and retest reliability (n = 132), while the validity phase covered structural, convergent, discriminant, criterion-related validity, and measurement invariance tests. The AIAS, comprising eight dimensions—Internet curiosity, Internet self-efficacy, Internet learning ability, Internet socialization ability, Internet information search ability, Internet information protection ability, Internet self-control ability, and Internet positive coping ability—demonstrates strong reliability and validity. It shows positive correlations with Internet use—parental active help, well-being, and meaning in life, and negative correlations with Internet addiction and depression, with stronger associations observed with positive indicators. These findings highlight the Internet’s potential as a platform for strength acquisition. The AIAS, with its comprehensive nature, is promising for tailoring adolescent support from a positive psychology perspective, enabling holistic assessment and targeted interventions. It also advances understanding of youth development in the digital era, proving valuable for clinical and research applications. Ongoing evaluation, cross-cultural validation, and longitudinal research are essential for realizing its full potential. This multidimensional scale significantly advances the assessment of adolescent Internet use, equipping stakeholders to effectively address adolescents’ digital behaviors for enhancing well-being
Achievement in the Light of Aspects of Student Well-Being and Teacher Attitudes: The Case of Slovenia
No full textAlthough many countries experienced negative trends in the 2022 cycle of PISA results, results for Slovenia showed an alarmingly negative trend in mathematics, reading, and science achievement on PISA literacy scales, and at the same time a decline in several aspects of student well-being. According to research evidence on the relatedness of knowledge and well-being, some studies have already confirmed student well-being as an important predictor of academic achievement. In the study, we focus on the differences in relationships between knowledge and aspects of student and teacher well-being in various secondary education programs. The survey results show that students and teachers in technical and vocational education programs report lower levels of some aspects of well-being, and that in explaining achievement in mathematics, reading and science, the most significant predictors across all education programs proved to be the quality of student-teacher relationships. The results suggest that by empowering teachers we can foster learning environments that support students from different backgrounds and as such enhance more positive student outcomes.Although many countries experienced negative trends in the 2022 cycle of PISA results, results for Slovenia showed an alarmingly negative trend in mathematics, reading, and science achievement on PISA literacy scales, and at the same time a decline in several aspects of student well-being. According to research evidence on the relatedness of knowledge and well-being, some studies have already confirmed student well-being as an important predictor of academic achievement. In the study, we focus on the differences in relationships between knowledge and aspects of student and teacher well-being in various secondary education programs. The survey results show that students and teachers in technical and vocational education programs report lower levels of some aspects of well-being, and that in explaining achievement in mathematics, reading and science, the most significant predictors across all education programs proved to be the quality of student-teacher relationships. The results suggest that by empowering teachers we can foster learning environments that support students from different backgrounds and as such enhance more positive student outcomes