Welcome to the Web Page of the Department of English Language and ELT Methodology

History

The Department of English Language and ELT Methodology came into being as one of the two successional departments of the original Department of English and American Studies and is an heir to the more than a century-old tradition associated with the name of the founder of Czech English Studies and Czech English-oriented linguistics, Vilém Mathesius (1882-1845). Prague English linguistics is closely related to the activities of the Prague Linguistic Circle, initiated by Mathesius and associating a number of important local and foreign personalities including Roman Jakobson, Sergei Kacevskij, Nikolai Trubetzkoy, Jan Mukařovský, Bohuslav Havránek, Vladimír Skalička and many others. The essential theses and methods of the Prague Linguistic Circle, formulated in 1929 and outlining the “Praguian” approach to linguistic issues, and the people advocating them soon came to be called the Prague School. The Prague Linguistic School and its functional structuralism represent one of the three main streams of European structuralism in the first half of the 20th century. The Prague English Department could rightly boast of such great linguists and Circle members as Bohumil Trnka, Ivan Poldauf and Jiří Nosek. At present this tradition is carried on by Libuše Dušková, author of the only comprehensive academic grammar of English ever published in this country (Mluvnice současné angličtiny na pozadí češtiny, Praha, Academia 1988). Prof. Dušková has also informed the current study and research programme of the Department and has prepared dozens of Czech specialists in English linguistics, including most of her present co-workers.

Study programmes

The Department organises English studies preparation in single- and double-subject BA programmes (in cooperation with DALC), MA study programmes, doctoral programmes (PhD) and PhDr-awarding procedure (PhDr degree examinations). The Department’s programmes focus both on present-day English, its comprehensive description at all levels (grammatical, lexical, phonological, textual, and discourse), using the Prague contrastive approach comparing English and Czech, and on the historical development of English from the earliest period up to early modern English. The study programmes, reflecting above all the practical needs of Czech students and the qualification requirements they will face in their future jobs, also include applied linguistics, practical language teaching and ELT methodology courses. The Department’s aim is to provide the students with both practical skills and theoretical knowledge that will promote their professional careers and help them join the ranks of English studies graduates who have become successful translators, linguists and teachers, or made their name in arts, in civil service as diplomats or cultural attachés, or in the private sector.

Academic activities

The Department successfully combines the Praguian tradition with contemporary trends in linguistics. Thanks to close cooperation with the Institute of the Czech National Corpus both the teachers and the students have access to large corpora of digitalised texts and can use modern corpus linguistics methods and tools in their exploration. From the very beginning the Prague English linguists have maintained close contacts with the most important personalities in the field. In 1997 they organised the award of honorary doctorate to Sir Randolph Quirk, the main author of the largest synchronic grammar of English published in the 20th century. In May 2012, on the occasion of the centenary of Prague English Studies, another co-author of this grammar, Geoffrey Leech, was awarded dr.h.c. on the initiative of this Department. The remaining two co-authors of the grammar, J. Svartvik and G. Leech, gave lectures on the premises of the Department as guests. Among the many other foreign linguistics specialists who have lectured here are such prominent authorities as K. Aijmer, W.-D. Bald, M. Barlow, L. Bauer, B. Fox, M. Görlach, P. Hanks, S. Hunston, S. Johansson, B. Mitchell, G. Nickel, M. Scott, J. Sinclair, or W. Teubert. The Department maintains close relations with English departments all over the Czech Republic and Slovakia, and by sitting on doctoral and other committees as examiners or reviewers, members of our Department contribute to the development of English studies in the country. In addition, through its participation in student and teacher exchange programmes and other forms of cooperation, the Department is in regular contact with English departments in Britain (Sheffield, Oxford, Cambridge, Canterbury, Bristol, Edinburgh), Europe (Freiburg, Munich, Poznan), the US and elsewhere. The Department members keep up with the current events in the field and the international community through their regular attendance of international conferences (ESSE, Euralex, Corpus Linguistics) and workshops. Several members of the Department sit on the editorial boards as editors or editors-in-chief of influential linguistic editions and journals (Prague Studies in English, Brno Studies in English, Linguistica Pragensia, Časopis pro moderní filologii aj.). In addition to undertaking their teaching duties the members of the Department publish extensively, engage in scientific research activities and work on joint or individual research grant projects.