Digital testing during the pandemic crisis: University students’ opinions on computer-based tests

In 2020, the pandemic crisis caused by covid-19 led to some changes in global education. Consequently, primary and secondary schools as well as universities introduced distance learning in many countries all over the world. This situation mostly required, among other things, a new way of testing learners’ knowledge and skills. The objectives of this paper are to reveal university students’ opinions on computerbased tests in comparison with paper-and-pencil tests and to map their requirements concerning digital testing of English as a foreign language. The research sample includes 284 students of the Faculty of Business and Management, Brno University of Technology, Czech Republic. These students experienced online testing at home during the summer semester of 2019/20 as well as paper tests at school in the previous winter semester of the same academic year. Thereafter, they were asked to complete an anonymous online questionnaire. The results have shown that the learners were mostly satisfied with the introduction of online testing at home. However, if the electronic tests took place at school, not all of them would prefer this way of testing. Regarding tasks in digital tests, the learners gave priority to assignments based on multiple choice. Moreover, the respondents expressed their views on electronic devices and testing speaking skills on online platforms

Subjective perceptions of English for specific purposes university teachers’ professional beginnings: Qualitative research into pedagogical content knowledge

Cílem empirické studie je popsat výzkum zaměřený na vysokoškolské učitele odborného anglického jazyka a subjektivně vnímané změny v jejich didaktických znalostech obsahu z retrospektivního pohledu na profesní počátky; konkrétně se tato studie zaměřuje na první, kvalitativní fázi celého výzkumného šetření. V první části příspěvku jsou popsána teoretická východiska týkající se klíčových pojmů, jako jsou didaktické znalosti obsahu a odborný anglický jazyk, které jsou tematizovány mj. ve vztahu k profesní skupině začínajících vysokoškolských učitelů odborné angličtiny. Druhá část studie je zaměřena na popis celého smíšeného výzkumného designu včetně cíle výzkumného šetření a výzkumných otázek. Třetí část je věnována popisu první, kvalitativní fáze tohoto výzkumu, v níž sběr dat proběhl formou retrospektivních polostrukturovaných rozhovorů se čtrnácti dostupnými vysokoškolskými učiteli odborného anglického jazyka na téma prvních tří let jejich praxe a ve které analýza byla uskutečněna tematickým kódováním. Čtvrtá část příspěvku prezentuje získaná data, přičemž pozornost je zaměřena na jednotlivé složky didaktických znalostí obsahu – pojetí cílů výuky, znalosti kurikula, znalosti výukových strategií a znalosti o porozumění studentů. Výsledky naznačují, s jakými zásadními problémy se na počátku své profesní dráhy učitelé setkávali. Z těchto zjištění lze dovozovat potřebu zavedení specifického přípravného vzdělávání pro budoucí akademické pracovníky vyučující odborný anglický jazyk na českých vysokých školách.The aim of this empirical study is to describe the research aimed at university teachers of English for specific purposes and their subjectively perceived changes in pedagogical content knowledge from a retrospective view of professional beginnings; specifically, this study focuses on the first, qualitative phase of the whole research survey. The first part of the contribution describes the theoretical backgrounds concerning key concepts, such as pedagogical content knowledge and English for specific purposes, which are thematised, among others, in relation to the professional group of English for specific purposes university novices. The second part of the study focuses on the description of the whole mixed research design, including the aim of the research survey and the research questions. The third part is devoted to the description of the first, qualitative phase of this research, where the data collection was carried out by retrospective semi-structural interviews with fourteen available university teachers of English for specific purposes on the topic of the first three years of their practice and the analysis was realised by thematic coding. The fourth part of the contribution presents the obtained data, while the attention is focused on the individual components of pedagogical content knowledge – conceptions of purposes for teaching subject matter, curricular knowledge, knowledge of instructional strategies, and knowledge of students’ understanding. The results indicate fundamental problems the teachers met at the beginning of their careers. From these findings it is possible to derive the need for introduction of specific preparatory education for the future academic staff teaching English for specific purposes at Czech universities

Texturní a barevné vlastnosti sýrů ošetřených extracelulárními enzymy

This diploma thesis deals with textural and color properties of cheeses treated with an extracellular enzyme. The cheese samples were matured for three weeks. The penetration and compression method was used to determine the textural properties of the cheeses. The color of the cheeses was measured on a CM 3500d spectrophotometer. The lowest strength determined by the penetration method had the sample with laccase after production (0.55 ± 0.07 N) and the highest strength had the control sample, which was aged for one week (1.31 ± 0.14 N). The lowest strength determined by the compression method had the sample with laccase, which had matured for two weeks (3.11 ± 1.07 N) and the highest strength had the control sample of cheese matured for three weeks (12.28 ± 2.36 N). The values of L*(D65) varied for all samples in the range from 72.89 ± 0.31 to 87.76 ± 0.01, the values of a*(D65) from -1.95 ± 0.01 to 0.66 ± 0.05 and b*(D65) values were measured between 6.73 ± 0.35 and 20.93 ± 0.03 Laccase enzyme treatment had no significant effect on the firmness and color of the cheese samples

Subjective perceptions of ESP (English for Specific Purposes) university teachers’ professional beginnings: Quantitative research into pedagogical content knowledge

The aim of this paper is to present methodology and results of a quantitative phase within a research into English for Specific Purposes university teachers and their subjectively perceived changes in pedagogical content knowledge from a retrospective view of their professional beginnings. The introduction describes the investigated issues and explains key concepts. The first chapter refers to the theoretical background of teacher professional development. Since the quantitative research phase is a part of a mixed research design, the second chapter deals with the whole research including the research objective and questions. The third chapter is devoted to the quantitative research phase during which an anonymous electronic questionnaire was sent to the whole population of Czech university teachers of English for Specific Purposes and processed statistically as well as descriptively. The fourth chapter presents the obtained quantitative data discussed within the individual components of pedagogical content knowledge - conceptions of purposes for teaching subject matter, curricular knowledge, knowledge of instructional strategies, and knowledge of students’ understanding. The conclusion summarises all the information and proposes some recommendations for pedagogical practice

Nasycené mastné kyseliny v rostlinných olejích: zdroje a vliv na lidské zdraví

This bachelor thesis deals with vegetable oils that contain a higher proportion of saturated fatty acids. The aim was to determine their sources and impact on human health. This is a literature search that describes the classification of saturated fatty acids among lipids and informs about the most important saturated fatty acids. It also defines the most common vegetable oils with predominant stearic, palmitic or lauric acid. Last but not least, it describes their cultivation and subsequent processing into oil production. At the end of the thesis, diseases associated with saturated fatty acids are formulated, especially the increase in the level of LDL cholesterol and its effect on human health. Overall, the topic of lipids and saturated fatty acids has not been fully explored and contradictory studies are emerging on how they affect human health and how they should be reduced in the human diet

Tertiary level proficiency in ESP: Employer survey analysis

One of the most topical issues in the field of teaching and learning English for Specific Purposes is the question whether tertiary students are able to succeed in mastering English as a foreign language effectively and subsequently to be competitive in the multicultural corporate sphere. The paper presents a study aimed at large employers and their requirements on university graduates’ language skills. The research was conducted in November 2018 within 12th JobChallenge Fair in Brno, Czech Republic, where large companies and businesses targeted students as their prospective employees. Following theoretical groundwork, a questionnaire was designed and distributed to representatives of 36 companies operating in engineering, information technology and economy. The aim of the survey was to identify the required language proficiency according to the Common European Framework of References for Languages as a model for describing knowledge levels. Findings show that most of the employers prefer graduates in junior positions with B2 level of English, specifically of both English for General Purposes and English for Specific Purposes. In addition, the analysis reveals a great demand for productive skills such as active participating in meetings, telephoning, business correspondence or presentation skills whereas receptive skills are considered to be less important.One of the most topical issues in the field of teaching and learning English for Specific Purposes is the question whether tertiary students are able to succeed in mastering English as a foreign language effectively and subsequently to be competitive in the multicultural corporate sphere. The paper presents a study aimed at large employers and their requirements on university graduates’ language skills. The research was conducted in November 2018 within 12th JobChallenge Fair in Brno, Czech Republic, where large companies and businesses targeted students as their prospective employees. Following theoretical groundwork, a questionnaire was designed and distributed to representatives of 36 companies operating in engineering, information technology and economy. The aim of the survey was to identify the required language proficiency according to the Common European Framework of References for Languages as a model for describing knowledge levels. Findings show that most of the employers prefer graduates in junior positions with B2 level of English, specifically of both English for General Purposes and English for Specific Purposes. In addition, the analysis reveals a great demand for productive skills such as active participating in meetings, telephoning, business correspondence or presentation skills whereas receptive skills are considered to be less important

Simple enough, but not simpler : reconsidering additive logratio coordinates in compositional analysis

Compositional data, multivariate observations carrying relative information, are popularly expressed in additive logratio coordinates which are easily interpretable as they use one of the components as ratioing part to produce pairwise logratios. These coordinates are however oblique and they lead to issues when applying multivariate methods on them, including widely-used techniques such as principal component analysis and linear regression. In this paper we propose a way to redefine alr coordinates with respect to an orthonormal system and we also extend the idea to the case of compositional tables. The new approach is demonstrated in an application to movement behavior data

An effect of the outpatient rehabilitation programme in patients with chronic respiratory diseases

BACKGROUND: Pulmonary rehabilitation is a common type of complex treatment especially in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). By contrast, only few rehabilitation centres in the Czech Republic provide pulmonary rehabilitation programme to non-COPD patients. OBJECTIVE: To find out if the rehabilitation programme has a similar effect in patient with obstructive and restrictive ventilatory disorder. METHODS: Twenty-eight patients with either COPD or pulmonary sarcoidosis (PS) have been enrolled for the 6-week rehabilitation programme. Lung functions, maximal inspiratory (MIP) and expiratory (MEP) mouth pressures, chest expansion at the level of the 4th intercostal space (IC) and at the level of the xiphoid process (XP), six-minute walk test, health-related quality of life using the St. George’s Questionnaire (SGRQ) and fatigue occurrence using the Multidimensional Assessment of Fatigue scale (MAF) were tested at the baseline and after 6 weeks. The rehabilitation programme consisted of exercise training, ventilatory muscle training, respiratory physiotherapy and soft-tissue techniques. RESULTS: Patients with COPD improved significantly (p < .05) in MIP by 17% (10.5 cm H2O), MEP by 18% (16.8 cm H2O), IC by 65% (1.7 cm), XP by 90% (1.9 cm), six-minute walk distance (6MWD) by 15% (64.1 m) and SGRQ by –28% (–12.3 points). Patients with PS improved significantly (p < .05) in MIP by 25% (20.1 cm H2O), IC by 29% (1.3 cm), XP by 29% (1.3 cm) and 6MWD by 6% (31.6 m). The change in lung functions and MAF in both groups; MEP and SGRQ in PS group were insignificant after the 6-week rehabilitation programme. CONCLUSIONS: The 6-week rehabilitation programme produces similar responses in functional health status of patients with either obstructive or restrictive ventilatory disorder. However, patients with restrictive ventilatory disorder in particular should be encouraged to continue in the programme to enhance the health-related quality of life, which might not be sufficiently affected after 6 weeks