Department of Slovak Language, Literature and Didactics

ABOUT US

The study programme of the Teaching of Slovak Language and Literature, managed by the Department of Slovak Language, Literature and Didactics, is formed as a combination of two academic subjects or as an interdisciplinary study with the teaching of artistic subjects or special education. It can be studied at both Bachelor and Master degree level in full-time and part-time forms.

The basic knowledge and skills of a graduate of the Bachelor degree level include a in-depth knowledge of the system and norms of contemporary standard Slovak in all its subsystems and the ability to apply them in practical discourse. The literary component involves a thorough knowledge of the major works of Slovak and world literature of the 20th century, the ability to analyse, evaluate and reflect the works in historical development on the basis of systematic knowledge of the theory of literature.

The aim of the follow-up master's degree programme in the language component is to provide graduates of the bachelor degree level with systematic knowledge of the territorial and social differentiation of the Slovak national language, its history, especially the history of standard Slovak and the place of Slovak among the Slavic languages. The aim in the literary component is a thorough knowledge of the history of Slovak literature in the whole complex of inter-literary and intercultural relations, the ability to work with a literary text, to master the procedures and possibilities of its interpretation, and to acquire the theoretical and methodological foundations of literary research.

The Department also provides courses in Slovak language and literature in the study programme of pre-school and elementary pedagogy. It also provides teaching of subjects within the Pedagogical-psychological and social science basis of teaching. The Department also runs a study programme Teaching of Slovak language and literature as a part of a life-long learning, which is intended for primary and secondary school teachers who wish to extend their competence with a new qualification. As a part of lifelong learning, the department also offers an examination in the state language. The Department also provides rigorous proceedings (PaedDr.).

The Department is one of the oldest departments of the Faculty. Many prominent personalities of Slovak linguistics and literary science have worked at the department. Among the founding members of the department was doc. L. Horečný, a well-known author of Slovak textbooks for primary schools, a methodologist and didactician. In 1960-1977, the department was headed by the literary historian and theatre scholar doc. Pavol Palkovič, in 1960-1968 the literary historian dr. Ján Gregorec, in 1961-1979 the writer, expert on literature for children and youth and the history of Slovak drama doc. Ján Sedlák, in 1971 - 1987 literary historian dr. Oto Kollárik. In the 1980s, the literary scholar prof. Valér Mikula began his career as a university lecturer in this department. For many years the head of the department was an expert on contemporary standard language doc. Anna Rýzková. After the relocation of the faculty from Trnava to Bratislava at the end of the 1980s, the department was briefly closed down and its activity was resumed in 1990 following the reopening of the approbation study of Slovak language and literature for primary and secondary school teachers. In 1998, two separate Slovak studies departments were created at the faculty - the Department of Slovak Language and the Department of Slovak Literature and Literary Education, which also became the leading scientific department of Comenius University. Both departments were among the best-staffed university Slovak studies departments. They were staffed by eminent experts in the field of linguistics (prof. Ján Kačala, prof. Vincent Blanár, prof. Ábel Kráľ) and literary science (prof. Viliam Marčok, dr. Stanislav Šmatlák, prof. František Štraus, prof. Ondrej Sliacky). Both departments regularly organised conferences, scientific symposia and colloquia, and jointly participated in the publication of the scientific collection Philologia in cooperation with the departments of foreign languages. In January 2005, after extensive organisational changes at the faculty, the two departments were reunited under the names of the Department of Slovak Language and the Department of Slovak Literature to form the Department of Slovak Language and Literature.

The Department cooperates with all university Slovak studies departments in Slovakia, with institutes of the Slovak Academy of Sciences: the Ľudovít Štúr Institute of Linguistics of the Slovak Academy of Sciences, the Ján Stanislav Institute of Slavonic Studies, the Institute of Slovak Literature of the Slovak Academy of Sciences, the Institute of World Literature of the Slovak Academy of Sciences, the Literary Information Centre of the Ministry of Culture of the Slovak Republic, BIBIANA, the International House of Art for Children. The staff of the Department are members of the following scientific societies of the Slovak Academy of Sciences: the Slovak Literary Society at the Slovak Academy of Sciences, the Slovak Linguistic Society at the Slovak Academy of Sciences, the Slovak Historical Society at the Slovak Academy of Sciences. Within the framework of international cooperation, the staff closely cooperates with the Departments of Czech Language and Literature at the Universities of Brno, Olomouc and Prague.

The Department of Slovak Language, Literature and Didactics together with the Department of English Language, Literature and Didactics, the Department of German Language, Literature and Didactics and the Department of Romance Languages, Literatures and Didactics, forms the Institute of Philological Studies, that is a scientific research institute oriented towards basic and applied research in the field of linguistics, literary studies and didactics of English, German and Slovak language and literature, as well as Romance languages and literatures. The Institute brings together researchers of the Faculty of Education CU engaged in scientific research of language and literature in the fields of English, German, Romance and Slovak studies, as well as didactics of language and literature in the above-mentioned disciplines, and comparative research focused on theoretical issues of interlingual and interliterary relations.