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Formative Assessment of EFL students' Speaking Skills in an upper-secondary vocational classroom
Mužíková, Jana ; Starý, Karel (advisor) ; Laufková, Veronika (referee) ; Urbánek, Petr (referee)
The thesis Formative Assessment of EFL students' Speaking Skills in an upper-secondary vocational classroom describes attitudes to assessment of three English language teachers at a Czech business academy from the perspective of formative assessment just before the outbreak of Covid-19 pandemic. The case study aims to show what happens behind the classroom door by providing a deep insight into the assessment practices of EFL learning at a Czech secondary vocational school. The theoretical part defines formative assessment as feedback which brings the learner valuable information concerning the knowledge and skills in the process of learning when it is still possible to work on improving the output; it explores different formative strategies in the context of communicative approach to EFL learning, namely Speaking Skills development. The empirical part builds on the qualitative data collection which consisted of several phases and methods: firstly, school documents were analysed to understand the assessment processes in general, followed by the semi-structured individual interviews with a headmistress and three EFL teachers. Student focus groups and three individual interviews with students were carried out to clarify students' approach to their assessment. Most importantly, classroom practices of...
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Development of Reading Literacy at School: Action Research
Kolářová, Michaela ; Laufková, Veronika (advisor) ; Starý, Karel (referee)
In the theoretical part, the diploma thesis deals with the concept of reading literacy and its definition, development, meaning, and the factors that have influenced it. In the next part, the areas and levels of reading literacy and the stages of its development are characterized. Furthermore, its development using various methods is described and individual conditions are indicated, the fulfillment of which affects increasing the level of student skills. In the next section, individual reading skills and strategies are described. Next, the theoretical part also focuses on the results of international research (PIRLS, PISA, and PIACC) with an emphasis on the results of Czech pupils. The analysis of reading literacy in the framework national curriculum program of primary education concludes the theoretical part of the work. The practical part is divided into two sections, in which attention is paid to action research and its forms. Pedagogical action research is at the forefront of interest. The next part focuses on determining the level of reading skills of second-grade elementary school students using a pre- test. After the students' results were established in the test, lessons were implemented with activities to develop reading skills, the process of which is described in individual chapters....
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Didactic potencial of a Song of ice and fire by G.R.R. Martin for high school
Červ, Petr ; Komberec, Filip (advisor) ; Starý, Karel (referee)
This diploma thesis deals with the didactic potential of A Song of Ice and Fire by the American writer George R. R. Martin and focuses on high schools. Its goal is to show to what extent Martin's saga, and therefore its series adaptation, can be used for teaching not only literature, but also other subjects, and at the same time prepare specific lessons that teachers can immediately use in their classes. The first part defines the concept of fantasy and provides basic data about the author's life, especially those that affect his later work. Furthermore, the realities from the world in which the saga takes place are mentioned and briefly characterized, as well as the six main characters of the whole story are presented here. It also summarizes those works that do not belong to the main line of the saga itself, but fall into a wider range of works that deal with the Westeros, the fictional world of A Song of Ice and Fire. In the second part, individual lessons are proposed, in which high school students work with excerpts of the texts from A Songs of Ice and Fire and through various methods and activities such as mind maps, picture quizes and others are guided to goals that go beyond the normal framework of literary education. A total of eight teaching lessons are elaborated in this work, one of...
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Approaches to Learning in Seminar Papers in Higher Education
Mičínová, Ivana ; Koťa, Jaroslav (advisor) ; Starý, Karel (referee) ; Slavík, Milan (referee)
The aim of the dissertation is to explore approaches to learning in the environment of a seminar paper through descriptive-exploratory analysis of perceptions of university teachers and students. We focus on how teachers plan and implement the processes of assigning a seminar paper, how they select of topics and types of assignments, use them in classroom practices and provide feedback and assessment. For the purposes of operationalization of the basic concepts, we developed a working typology of assignments. We interpret specific teaching strategies based on the models of learning and teaching approaches described in the theoretical part to find out how teachers explicitly or implicitly support a deep approach to learning, i.e. what teaching strategies lead to a strong interest in understanding the field, and conversely, which strategies lead to the mere reproduction of knowledge without a broader context in order to make minimal efforts to obtain assessment, or even resort to plagiarism. We confronted these results with students' perceptions to verify how they respond to each of the strategies. We found that an a deep approach to learning in writing a seminar paper is supported by a complex and demanding project assignment, which solves specific problems of real practice, is relevantly integrated...
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Interpretation of the main characters of The Witcher Saga based on qualitative research
Válek, Filip ; Laufková, Veronika (advisor) ; Starý, Karel (referee)
This thesis explores how upper primary schoolers interpret characters of the popular series The Witcher by Andrzej Sapkowski. Given their reading experience and mental development, pupils at this age are becoming the series' target audience. The theoretical part of the thesis introduces the reader to the world of The Witcher through the life and work of its author. Model character descriptions are also provided. They attempt to complexly explore possible ways of describing select characters from the series through various means of characterization. In the practical part of the thesis, character typology is offered based on some key traits shared by certain characters. This typology is then used in a small-scale qualitative research done on readers who have read the series and are capable of interpreting its characters. Three main types of characters are introduced - protagonists (characters connected by their destiny), antagonists (characters capable of evil acts in the name of prophecy) and other characters who are connected with the protagonists by shared goals and heroic transformation. The aim of this study is to show how works of modern fantasy might be used in Czech literature classes and to compare pupils' interpretations with expectations of how characters might be perceived. Despite the...
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Formative Assessment
Laufková, Veronika ; Starý, Karel (advisor) ; Šalamounová, Zuzana (referee) ; Kratochvílová, Jana (referee)
This dissertation thesis is focused on the theme of formative assessment on a secondary level of education. The aim of this thesis is to define formative assessment and to show how it is implemented to the teaching process of the Czech language and literature on a secondary level of education. The theoretical part presents a review based on major international and national sources. Formative assessment is defined as an evaluation which brings valuable information concerning the knowledge and skills of the given pupil during the process of education. The typology and function of formative assessment, questions linked to its successful implementation are elaborated together with this methods: goals, criteria, feedback, self-assessment and peer assessment. The aim of the empirical part is to define the real form of the implementation of formative assessment in six targeted Czech schools. This thesis also presents the attitude of students towards the implementation of this method. A qualitative research method was chosen and a multiple case study was used as a form of research strategy. The data collection consisted of observation, document analysis and interviews with teachers and pupils. The formative assessment methods were best implemented under the supervision of a skilled mentor. Contrary to...
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How do school principals assign teachers to classes?
Boušková, Monika ; Greger, David (advisor) ; Starý, Karel (referee)
The education system in the Czech Republic allows sorting pupils according to their abilities in the first and second level of primary school. Teachers are therefore placed to pupils in selective or non-selective classes and groups by headmasters and management of primary schools. This thesis deals with the placing of teachers to classes by headmasters and management in primary schools and aims to determine by what way and according to which criteria teachers are placed to different types of classes. The research in this thesis is supported by studies, which deal with the quality of teacher and differential education since the 60th of the 20th century. The theoretical part of the thesis focuses on the definition of terms related to differential education and studies how teachers and the teaching are viewed. The empirical part describes the research methodology of qualitative research which objective is to discover how the headmasters or management place teachers to classes, in addition what criteria are decisive for them and how they define qualities of the placed teachers. Key words: External differentiation, internal differentiation, quality of teacher, teaching approaches selective primary school, the sorting of students, abilities, Principal, the placing of teachers, selective classes,...
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Teaching styles of lower-secondary and higher-secondary school teachers of the English language
Harazimová, Kateřina ; Starý, Karel (advisor) ; Greger, David (referee)
This thesis deals primarily with teaching styles - a topic that has not been greatly discussed in Czech pedagogical literature so far. Based on both Czech and foreign sources, this paper identifies and describes in detail various aspects of teaching styles and presents several approaches to study them. Moreover, it puts the above-mentioned topic in a context of other related concepts, such as teaching method, teachers' beliefs etc. It provides an overview of several teaching styles typologies designed by mostly American authors. The empirical part introduces an original research based on both quantitative and qualitative approach. It presents a detailed study of six selected teachers of the English language and based on their responses identifies certain aspects of different teaching styles. The thesis also reveals some of their views and opinions of their profession.
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How does the school management assign teachers to classrooms at selective elementary schools?
Kadrnožková, Monika ; Greger, David (advisor) ; Starý, Karel (referee) ; Kasíková, Hana (referee)
The dissertation deals with the topic of how the school management of Czech primary schools assign teachers to classrooms. The aim of the thesis was to define the system of assigning teachers to classrooms at schools applying pupils' differentiation and to clarify which criteria the school management follows in the assignment of teachers to the classrooms. The theoretical part was based on both domestic and foreign sources dealing with the concept of differentiation of pupils in primary education and with the choice of assignment of teachers to classrooms. Differentiation of pupils was presented in terms of the positive effects of effective education of similarly competent pupils and in terms of the view that differentiation supports the unequal distribution of pupils in classes and the subsequent recruitment of teachers applying different demands and curriculum. In addition, a model of pupils' differentiation and models of assignment of teachers to classrooms were presented, and also the theoretical model of teacher's knowledge was introduced, which was further used in the empirical part for the determination of the criteria for assigning teachers to classrooms. The aim of the empirical part was to describe the real way of assigning teachers to classrooms by the school management in five...
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Pupils's transition to a lower secondary school after 5th and 4th grade
Urbanová, Hana ; Starý, Karel (advisor) ; Walterová, Eliška (referee)
The diploma thesis pursues a pupil's transition to a lower secondary school. The theoretical part describes the development of Czech primary and lower secondary school. It compares the compulsory education in European countries and describes a phenomenon of transition in view of its development in an international context during the past few decades. The empirical part explores main topics of pupil's transition to higher level of education. The research is based on the case study of the primary school with pupil's transition from the fourth grade and from the fifth grade. The research aim is to find out how the transition is viewed by the pupils and their teachers and to find out the reasons for an alternation of classic model of the transition in the fifth grade of primary school. It presents the advantages and disadvantages of this modification in a view of current pupils' development. The results show that neither pupils nor the teachers perceive any major differences in a timing of the transition. For all the pupils, with no regard to the model of the transition, the more important change is the entering to the sixth grade, which is connected with the change of the curriculum. The pupils transitioning according to a new model perceive the transition after the fourth grade as an advantage for...
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