In the academic year 2024/2025, doctoral students from the Department of English Language and Culture at the Faculty of Education, Constantine the Philosopher University in Nitra (UKF), took part in two major international events in Poland. These conferences served as platforms for exchanging professional knowledge in the field of language education and research.
From May 22 to 24, 2025, the 36th edition of the International Conference on Foreign and Second Language Acquisition (ICFSLA) was held in the mountain town of Szczyrk. The theme of this year’s event was Artificial Intelligence in SLA and FLL/T: Applications, Threats and Developments. The conference offered a space for scholarly discussions on the opportunities and challenges of using artificial intelligence in language teaching and research. Organized traditionally by the Institute of English at the University of Silesia in Katowice, the event attracted experts from across Europe and beyond.
Representing UKF, Mgr. Renáta Kunová, a first-year PhD student, presented her paper “Focus on English Word Stress Placement in Speech of Slovak Teacher Trainees.” Her research addressed the issue of word stress in English among Slovak pre-service teachers, revealing a frequent occurrence of errors, particularly with multisyllabic words, and a strong influence of the mother tongue on stress placement. The study highlighted the need for more targeted instruction in phonetics as part of English teacher training.
A few weeks later, from June 15 to 17, 2025, the 8th edition of the ERL VIII (Educational Role of Language) international pedagogical and linguistic conference took place at Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań. The event focused on the theme Language in Actions – Actions in Language, emphasizing the psychomotor and pragmatic aspects of language and its role in education. It brought an interdisciplinary perspective to the relationship between language and human actions.
UKF was represented by Mgr. Miroslav Kolar, a doctoral student at the Department of English Language and Culture, who presented a literature review titled “Integrating Drama into Education: Theoretical Foundations and Contemporary Challenges.” His contribution provided a theoretical overview of drama in language teaching, highlighting its positive impact on student engagement, communication skills, and the reduction of language anxiety. He also addressed key challenges to its broader implementation, such as a lack of teacher training, limited classroom time, and the absence of structured programs.
Both conferences stood out for their high academic quality and welcoming atmosphere, fostering knowledge exchange, professional discussion, and networking among experts from linguistics, pedagogy, and related interdisciplinary fields.
Text and foto: Mgr. Renáta Kunová, Mgr. Miroslav Kolar, Faculty of Education – Department of English Language and Culture
