Abstract
The aim of the paper is to describe research into secondary-school-student's conceptions of the selected content matter - the relations in compound sentences - and to reflect the current approach to teaching it. The model of educational reconstruction as described by Jelemenská, Sander and Kattmann (2003) has been chosen as the research framework.
First, the research problem is described on the general level, and then it is put into school context. Next, methodology and outcomes of the research are described.
Last, the outcomes are summarized and discussed and the author gives recommendations for teaching. The outcomes of the research show that the contemporary process of teaching the matter does not satisfactorily reflect the students' communication experience and their prior knowledge, and does not match the demands of modern Czech language teaching as it ignores the communication aim.
Moreover, the controversies seen among linguists, which are simplified for school purposes, have also appeared in thinking of the research subject. The research suggests that work with authentic language material as a living organism is essential in language teaching.
This material behaves according to certain rules which can be grasped more easily if teaching works with the students' prior language knowledge as mother-tongue speakers, and supports their genuine understanding of the content on the basis of intensive cognitive work.