Abstract:

In the academic year 2018/19, the Faculty of Education (University of West Bohemia in Pilsen, Czech Republic) and the Faculty of Behavioural and Social Sciences (TU Chmenitz, Germany) opened the first year of the Doublee Degree study programme in the field of study titled "Teacher Training of Physical Prevention". Within the framework of optimisation, an ongoing analysis of needs and problem areas has been carried out since the beginning. With regard to the fact that Czech students will attend the third semester of their study in the German language environment at TU Chemnitz, it was necessary to pay attention to their language proficiency, especially communication skills and competences. According to the Common European Reference Framework, A1 level was the minimum language level required in recruitment procedures. According to the curriculum, the extensive German language teaching in the range of two hours a week was included to the first semester. Immediately at the beginning, it was shown that, in terms of language skills, this was a very heterogeneous group. For the said reason, to identify the causes of this heterogeneity, a deeper analysis has been performed. The results of the Language Level Proficiency Diagnostic Test (Komárek, 2017) and questionnaire surveys supported our assumption that a response has to be given to this situation. The grammar and lexical knowledge of the group achieves the required A1 level, but communication skills and competences are inadequate. This situation resulted in the implementation of the following measures: Differentiation and individualisation of teaching; extending teaching by two hours of conversation a week with a native speaker, with the emphasis on the development of communication skills; self-study with the possibility of individual consultations; adjustment of the concept of German language courses in the subsequent phase of study (professional German terminology and conversation). At the same time, the above measures are being evaluated. The results of this reflection will be evaluated on a continual basis and become a will surely give impetus to further optimisation of this international multilingual project.

Keywords:

Experience, double degree, language teaching, group heterogeneity, differentiation, individualisation.