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 study is of a theoretical-conceptual nature and is a partial outcome of the research project VEGA MŠVVaŠ SR and SAV no. 1/0176/15. It deals with one of the problems currently faced by educational theory and practice, i.e. the foreign language education of seniors. The trend is typical for many EU member states, since it results from the needs of a modern society. In addition to strategic documents, programs and legislation which binds the Slovak Republic to create conditions for lifelong education, including foreign language education, the authors are more closely preoccupied with specificities and possibilities of the language education of seniors, which are explained on a comparative basis with the language education of children and youth. Even though in literature one can find results of many substantial empirical research projects devoted to foreign language education of children and youth, research into the education of adults and seniors in the area of foreign languages falls behind considerably. A sufficient platform for the methodology of language education of adults and seniors in Slovakia has not been created either, if compared with the methodology of language education of younger age categories. This shortcoming is often quite noticeable in practice. The study attempts to pay adequate attention to the analysis of selected teaching styles specific for adult and senior age as well as teaching methods which may be used in the language education of seniors.Keywords senior, foreign language education, starting points, specificities, possibilities and institutional background of foreign language education of seniors, teaching styles of seniors, methodological approaches to foreign language education of seniors, language pedagogy; geragogics IntroductionRecently at various levels of social life there has been much discussion on the need or rather a capability of a human being to communicate through speaking and writing, not only in one´s mother tongue, but in a foreign one as well, potentially in several foreign languages. This usually applies to the persons in pre-productive and productive age who are either using a foreign language or will be using it especially in their jobs. Nowadays it is not an exception also for the individuals who have already finished their professional activity and set on a journey of active and productive old age. 1 Education of seniors not only has become a topic of the day, acquiring ever greater popularity, but also an important element, if not a means, of the building of knowledge-based society. Institutions, organisations as well as various subjects of the third sector have enlarged their offer of educational programs and courses devoted specifically to seniors. Out of all the offered educational programs, language and ICT courses have become relatively most preferred. Moreover, the educational practice has shown that not all the subjects offering language courses for seniors are adequately prepared as regards teaching staff (i.e. qualifications of foreign langu...

The ability to comprehend the words that rhyme is an indicator of the sense for language, the ability to perceive the phoneme structure of words and awareness of the sounds of the last syllable. Rhyme awareness can significantly influence development of phonemic awareness in some initial readers. Rhyme identification requires child´s ability to hear sounds within the words. This ability helps to a child to acquire basic idea about the word and its sound segmentation. The paper deals with theoretical basis, key terms and research findings in rhyme production. It is focused on the research investigating children in preschool age in Slovakia. 866 children in age from four to seven years were tested in ability to produce rhymes to cue words. The paper is an output of national research project VEGA no. 1/0637/16 Development of a Diagnostic Tool to Assess the Level of Phonemic Awareness of Children in Preschool Age.

Rhyming is one of the basic skills associated with phonological awareness. This paper aims to introduce theoretical starting points and the results of research into children’s rhyming in the context of phonological awareness. The text explains theoretical circumstances pertaining to the theme and defines key concepts. The main part of the paper includes the results of the research of pre-school children in Slovakia. There were 866 respondents (children) of 4 to 7 years of age. The subject of the research was the rhyming skills of children, which was tested in three independent areas: completing the rhyme in a nursery-rhyme, awareness of rhymes, and the production of rhymes.

The paper deals with critical thinking as a pedagogical-psychological construct; it is focused on definitions and various attributes of critical thinking in pre-graduate students. The accent is put on the possible development of students in teacher training study programmes through selected pedagogical disciplines as the theory of instruction, the theory of education, and didactics of pedagogy. Knowledge of strategies and methods for developing critical thinking is crucial for teacher students, and it is a base for creating own metacognitive skills which lead to critical thinking. There arises an idea that a teacher who is unable to think critically, is also unable to lead even his pupils to critical thinking. Pre-graduate training, next to the other requirements, should be directed to the development of students´ critical thinking, and in combination with their quality professional and didactic preparation, it is an assumption for development of competence to think critically in pupils at lower and upper secondary schools.Key words critical thinking, metacognition, cognitive skills, pedagogical disciplines Anotácia V príspevku orientujeme pozornosť na kritické myslenie ako pedagogickopsychologický konštrukt, na jeho vymedzenie a jednotlivé atribúty kritického myslenia u vysokoškolákov. Akcentujeme možnosti jeho rozvoja u študentov učiteľských študijných programov vo vybraných pedagogických disciplínach ako teória vyučovania, teória výchovy a didaktika pedagogiky. Poznanie stratégií a metód na rozvoj kritického myslenia je pre budúcich učiteľov základom pre vytvorenie si vlastných metakognitívnych zručností, ktoré vedú ku kritickému mysleniu. Z toho vyplýva téza, že učiteľ, ktorý nevie kriticky myslieť, nemôže k tomu viesť ani svojich žiakov. Pregraduálna príprava by preto mala smerovať okrem iného aj k rozvoju kritického myslenia študentov, čo je v kombinácii s kvalitnou odbornou a didaktickou prípravou predpokladom rozvoja kompetencie kriticky myslieť u žiakov na ZŠ a SŠ.Kľúčové slová kritické myslenie, metakognícia, kognitívne zručnosti, pedagogické disciplíny