Reflectivity is an important professional competence of contemporary teachers. In order to explore how to encourage students’ reflection, we conducted a two-year action research project impelling them to become mutual critical friends. For critical friendship communication and other project activities, we utilised Moodle – an online learning management system. On the basis of the analysed data that were gathered at the end of each action research cycle, we determined that the students felt comfortable in the role of critical friends and that critical friends’ reflections were particularly pleasant for them. They experienced the comments of their critical friends as friendly, encouraging, useful, specific, interesting, detailed, positive, professional and clear. The majority of students (91%) think that the critical friendship discussion should be continued within the course Correlated-integrated systems in Croatian language teaching, and 85% of them suggest introducing this approach in other teachers’ education courses. We determined that the technical mode of reflective thinking prevails in the students’ correspondence. The practical or contextual level could rarely be observed while critical reflection was completely absent in 11 of 14 discussions. Reflective thinking of students (future teachers) should be fostered from the beginning of their studies within various courses, particularly in the pedagogical and methodological ones. To encourage their students to be critically reflective, university teachers should embrace reflective thinking by becoming critically-reflective practitioners and conducting action research in their teaching practices.

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Abstract:The paper analyses the language of a book of prayers dating from 1835 which was composed by an unknown author and intended for soldiers when attending the Holy Mass. It was written in the Shtokavian-Ikavian dialect. Beside spelling and orthographic analyses, additional emphasis is put on lexical analysis. Since the German original is unknown, the lexical analysis focuses on ecclesiastical terms and word formation. The first researches of the terms (Pridobrostivi, Vira, Posvetilište, Puti Uskersnutje, Iskernji) point to continuity and an advanced standardisation of ecclesiastical terms since the 18th century which was previously confirmed in catechisms. It is possible to prove that the booklet was translated within the Franciscan community as well as that the author was a priest who knew the soldiers living in the Slavonian area, i.e. the Military Frontier. At that time the soldiers were protecting the border to the Ottoman Empire. The booklet came into existence when Josephinism was at its peak and the state politics of the former Habsburg Monarchy managed to covertly control the work of the Church.The research was conducted on the original which was found among Dragutin Tadijanović's literary legacy in Slavonski Brod.Keywords: book of prayers, the Croatian language of the 19th century, lexis, ecclesiastical terms, military terms, history of the Croatian language Društveno-političke prilike u prvoj polovici 19. stoljeća Mali molitvenik Knjixica shtijenja, i molitavah za vojnike iz 1835.1 nastao je u vrijeme kada su hrvatske zemlje bile u sastavu Habsburške monarhije, a u literaturi se još osjećao jozefinističko-prosvjetiteljski duh iako je car Josip II umro 1790. godine. Dokumentom Placetum regium omogućilo se Caru da nadzire crkvene zakone, državi da ograniči slobodu Crkvi i da svojim utjecajem uđe u hijerarhijsku vlast Crkve tako da je car mogao imenovati čak i biskupe. Time se Crkva podredila izravno državnoj vlasti. (LAKUŠ 2007: 68)

Drama techniques, methods and exercises are procedures by which educators in their daily work can encourage the overall development of children. They are close to children’s play, and the preschool child acquires all the knowledge, skills and abilities spontaneously through play. Dramatic methods are good to integrate into everyday work with children. However, not all educators are able to implement dramatic methods, and it is not uncommon for them not to be aware of the positive effects of these methods on children’s development. Because dramatic methods integrate all areas of child development, they are suitable for encouraging the development of reading and writing as the most important skills for the challenges of modern society. A child’s success in reading and writing skills can be a sign of future reading success, but also of general success in school. It is therefore important to investigate how often these methods are used in the process of preparation for pre-reading and writing. The paper examines which types of drama methods encouraging reading skills are most often used by educators, as well as their views on the impact of drama methods on encouraging these skills. The paper presents the results of a quantitative research conducted through an online survey designed in the Google Forms program. Educators from all over the Republic of Croatia were examined, and the sample consisted of 112 educators from 18 counties of the Republic of Croatia. Research has shown that educators apply drama methods and have a positive attitude towards their use, but do not encourage all the prerequisites of reading and writing with these methods.

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