Department Profile

The Department of English Language was founded in 2008 and now is a dynamically developing workplace with various activities that specifically contribute to forming the profile of graduates of the Faculty of Natural Sciences and to humanisation of science education.

The Department staff consists of two full-time teachers: Mgr. Helena Zárubová and Mgr. Juraj Miština, PhD. Besides teaching, they are involved in research projects, publishing activities, and participate in professional events at home and abroad. The Department organises specialised language courses and takes part in the activities of the Faculty.

The Department of English Language provides ESP (English for Specific Purposes) language training for the students of bachelor study programmes: Biotechnologies, Chemistry and Applied Chemistry, Environmental Chemistry and Remediation Technologies. In the first, second, third and fourth terms, the students attend the courses of compulsory subjects English Language I, II, III, IV in the form of full-time study (2-4 credits, 2 hours per week, oral exam). In the fifth and sixth terms, the students have the possibility to develop their professional communication skills taking the elective courses in English Language - Professional Communication I, II (2-3 credits, 2 hours per week, oral exam). The students of the postgraduate doctoral degree programme Applied Analytical and Bioanalytical Chemistry attend a one-term course in Professional English Language (8 credits, 4 hours per week, oral exam) in the form of full-time and part-time study.

The aims and content of the teaching-learning process are based on the needs analysis carried out among students, as well as on the requirements of the target professional environment. The students can employ their knowledge of professional English in the study of specific subjects, following the current trends and developments in the chosen discipline, and in their later professional life. The course content, teaching methods and materials have been continuously advanced and updated to reflect the social and professional needs and the requirements of European and global labour markets.

The teaching-learning process is focused on ESP, authentic assignments and combination of integrated skills, including the elements supporting student’s autonomy and creativity within a project learning method. It develops social and professional communication competences (soft skills) in the spirit of political correctness, social culture and professional ethics. Applying the vision of communicative competences of the graduates in a broader professional, cultural, social and ethical context that oversteps the framework of purely linguistic education, the Department of English Language aims to promote student mobility, the spread of scientific and technical progress and understanding in a multicultural Europe and world.

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