English. Academic Reading - ASZAJ3050
Title: Angličtina. Akademické čtení
Guaranteed by: Language Centre - English (21-JCA)
Faculty: Faculty of Arts
Actual: from 2025
Semester: both
Points: 0
E-Credits: 4
Examination process:
Hours per week, examination: 0/2, Ex [HT]
Capacity: winter:unknown / 15 (25)
summer:unknown / unknown (25)
Min. number of students: unlimited
4EU+: no
Virtual mobility / capacity: no
Key competences:  
State of the course: taught
Language: Czech, English
Teaching methods: full-time
Level: specialized
Note: you can enroll for the course repeatedly
course can be enrolled in outside the study plan
enabled for web enrollment
you can enroll for the course in winter and in summer semester
Guarantor: Mgr. Blanka Zádrapová
Teacher(s): Mgr. Michaela Ritter Konárková
Incompatibility : ASZAJ2000
Interchangeability : AADEK00012, ACN300307, ASZAJ0001, ASZAJ0002, ASZAJ1000, ASZAJ1100
Is incompatible with: ASZAJ1001
WS schedule   SS schedule   Noticeboard   
Annotation -
The course is focused on reading of English academic texts. It requires a B1+/B2 level of English with appropriate knowledge of grammar and vocabulary. Its objective is the improvement of reading and critical thinking skills.
While the course is one of the options for fulfilling the Foreign Language II requirement, it is also open to any student wishing to improve their comprehension of academic texts. For details of other options for fulfilling the Foreign Language II requirement, please refer to the JC website: https://jc.ff.cuni.cz/zkousky/urovne-a-struktura-zk/.

This is a one-semester course, 1 x 2 lessons per week, with a significant amount of homework, i.e., 26 hours of classroom time per semester plus approximately 75 hours of self-study."

We also recommend the course Academic Reading as a supplementary subject in preparation for the oral part of the B2 exam.
Last update: Ritter Konárková Michaela, Mgr. (21.10.2025)
Aim of the course -

The aim of the course is to develop students’ academic reading skills in English at the B2 level. Students will learn to use various strategies for reading authentic academic texts, understand their structure and logic, and identify main and supporting arguments. Emphasis is placed on expanding academic vocabulary in the humanities, working with grammatical features typical of academic style, and critically evaluating the content of reading. The course prepares students to work independently with academic texts (summaries, annotations, discussions) and to successfully complete the Academic Reading exam or, alternatively, the oral part of the B2 examination.

Last update: Ritter Konárková Michaela, Mgr. (10.09.2025)
Course completion requirements -

Credit requirements:

regular active participation in the course (possibly also in online lessons), minimum 60%; completion of specific sub-tasks during the semester; presentation of a selected professional text and passing the academic vocabulary checks (60%). The course ends with an exam in which the student presents a selected academic text of his/her choice and demonstrates on the spot understanding of a short, previously unknown text in his/her field.

Advantages of the newly designed exam, which concludes the course ASZAJ3050 (compared to Zk ASZAJ2000):

  • lower stress level - the student works continuously, the assessment is not based on only one outcome in the traditional exam

  • acquisition of new knowledge and development of competences (in one semester of continuous work the student will significantly improve his/her ability to work with foreign language texts).

Disadvantages:

  • higher time commitment

  • the need for regular preparation

Last update: Ritter Konárková Michaela, Mgr. (16.01.2026)
Literature -

McWhorter, Kathleen T., Guide to College Reading, Pearson 2017.
Stirling Johanna, Unlock. Reading and Writing Skills, CUP 2014.
Williams, Anneli, Research. Improve Your Reading and Referencing Skills, Collins EAP 2013.
Porter, David, Check Your Vocabulary for Academic English, 3rd edition, A&C Black London 2007.

Last update: Ritter Konárková Michaela, Mgr. (09.09.2025)
Syllabus -

Work with professional texts in the humanities:

  • understanding the meaning of the text as a whole, understanding the structure of the text, capturing details in the text and working with vocabulary

  • introducing students to the techniques of orientation, selective and close reading

  • practising receptive skills (summarising the content of the text, selecting key words, matching key words/information from the text and selecting from options, mind-map, etc.)

  • working with dictionaries (translation and interpretation) and internet translators

  • familiarisation with the problems of translating technical texts - the main pitfalls, what to avoid, etc.

  • familiarisation with selected grammatical structures typical for professional texts in English and their use in practice

Last update: Zádrapová Blanka, Mgr. (12.09.2024)
Learning outcomes -

Upon successful completion of the course, students will be able to:

  1. Apply various academic reading strategies (skimming, scanning, intensive reading, critical reading) when working with authentic academic texts in English.

  2. Identify main and supporting arguments, text structure, and logic and navigate typical genres of academic discourse (e.g., article, study, book chapter).

  3. Recognize and appropriately use academic vocabulary from different fields within the humanities and actively expand their academic lexicon through targeted practice.

  4. Analyze more complex grammatical structures typical of academic texts (e.g., nominalizations, passive constructions, complex sentence structures) and interpret their function in the text.

  5. Critically evaluate the content of academic texts, compare different sources, and formulate conclusions based on reading.

  6. Independently process an assigned academic text (summary, annotation, text-based discussion) as preparation for the oral part of the B2 examination or for further academic study.

 

Last update: Ritter Konárková Michaela, Mgr. (10.09.2025)