English Teacher Education in Slovakia

Abstract

The paper sheds light on the university preparation of future English teachers in Slovakia. Since the requirements for becoming an English teacher differ around the world, the first part of the paper describes and explains the requirements and career development of English teachers in Slovakia. Twelve Slovak faculties provide university preparation of future English teachers, and this research analyses their curricular offer. The courses offered to future English teachers are firstly categorized into linguistic, intercultural, methodological, and literary groups. As teaching practice becomes an essential part of the teacher preparation, the hours devoted to the teaching practice were counted at each institution. The tables and graphs show the sums of the courses and allocated hours. Thus, this paper brings an overview, comparison, and differences in the university preparation of future English teachers in Slovakia. Even though this survey shows only a quantitative point, this research results can be considered as one of the quality indicators in the university preparation of future English teachers in Slovakia

Clil as the Vehicle of Transition From Mono- To Bilingual Instruction at Slovak Universities

“…CLIL (Content and Language Integrated Learning) is gradually making its way into the training of future teachers in Slovakia, with a more pronounced presence in the education of prospective foreign language teachers. As per the research conducted by Kováčiková (2021), the CLIL methodology has become a central component of the training for future English language educators across twelve Slovak faculties that prepare students to become English language teachers, either as their sole specialization or in conjunction with another subject.…”