Annotation
The Academic Reading exam can also be taken online, apart from the standard, face-to-face form of exam. The use of electronic dictionaries is now permitted. For more information on the requirements for the exam, please scroll down. The online version requires the student to be equipped with a camera and microphone. First, the student will display an ID document; the examiner will then share an unknown text related to the student’s field of study (1-1,5 standard page), which the student will be asked to read and process in 15-20 minutes. Afterwards, the student will answer questions checking his/her understanding of the main idea. The second part of the oral exam is dedicated to the student’s presentation of the chosen text and a more in-depth analysis of a randomly assigned passage.
The exam tests academic reading comprehension of a longer specialized text (general as well as detailed understanding) in the context of the studied field.
The exam consists of home reading and preparation of materials based on reading a scholarly text in the selected foreign language relevant to the student’s field of study and an oral part (presentation of the home reading and analysis of an unknown scholarly text).
Students will be provided with 1 monolingual and 1 bilingual dictionary.
The written materials and an electronic or scanned copy of the text are to be sent to the examiner no later than 7 days before the date of the exam (the end of registration in SIS). The name of the examiner will be stated with each exam term in SIS.
The written materials
• an electronic version of the selected specialised text of app. 10-20 standard pages or its scanned copy with the main bibliographic details
• summary of the selected text with references to the relevant sections of the text (in Czech, app. 1 standard page)
• explanation of the keywords of the chosen article (app. 5 keywords – the original term, its Czech equivalent and a comprehensive explanation in the context of the selected text)
The oral part (take place in Czech, app. 20 minutes)
• analysis of an unknown scholarly text from the humanities (app. 1 -2 standard pages, questions will be formed in Czech with an emphasis on global understanding of the text, its key terms and basic relationships and structures)
• presentation of the home reading (its relationship to the studied field, its contribution to the existing body of knowledge, evaluation of the author’s argumentation)
• closer analysis of a specific passage selected by the examiner (emphasis on a detailed understanding of the text)
The specialised text (10–20 standard pages)
A current specialised text which has not been translated to Czech written by a native speaker and/or published in a renowned foreign periodical related to the field of study of the examinee. Students are recommended to use a text that they can benefit from, ideally when writing a seminar/bachelor/master thesis. The text must, in any case, be related to their field of study. We recommend consulting the suitability of the text with the academic reading course instructor or an expert in the field from the student’s home department.
Students of other faculties choose a specialised text related to one of the study programmes at the Faculty of Arts.
Students are asked to bring a clean copy of the text or its copy on a notebook or tablet for the exam.