Bachelor's seminar

B.Sc. seminars
foreign languages
obligatory courses
pedagogical qualifications

Participants of the diploma/bachelor's seminar should know and be able to use the language of the seminar (English or German or French) at the C1 level (CEFR).

The diploma/bachelor's seminar is attended by students who have completed the English or French language or German language courses and English or French language or German language teaching courses realized in the 1st and 2nd year study program.

As part of the diploma/bachelor's seminar, the student plans and conducts a didactic project, prepares the diploma /bachelor's thesis on its basis and prepares for the diploma examination. The thesis contains a literature review and a documented description of the didactic project.

The thesis is set in a didactic context and is a description and an analysis of a practical issue/problem that presents the student's general knowledge and skills related to studies in foreign language teaching and the ability to analyze and reason independently. The goal of the bachelor's thesis is related to teaching foreign languages ​​and shows the ability to use relevant literature and update knowledge based on it, as well as the ability to use and implement research results in teacher work. Bachelor's thesis demonstrates students' readiness to take up the teaching profession in the following areas:

- the language of the main specialization - English - in kindergarten and at the first and second educational stages and the second specialization and / or

- a second subject - French or German - in kindergarten and at the first and second educational stages and / or

- the second subject - knowledge about society - at the second stage of education

The preparation of the BA thesis should demonstrate the following skills:

- identification of the didactic problem in own work or the work of other teachers,

embedding the problem in literature,

- identification of gaps in teaching materials based on own experience, observation of other teachers or literature review,

- reflection on the causes and effects of a didactic problem / gaps in teaching materials,

- planning solutions / didactic activities along with their justification in relation to the problem, literature on the topic, Core Curriculum,

- implementation of planned solutions / activities with justification of how they relate to the problem,

- reflection on the effectiveness of planned / implemented solutions with an indication of the degree of their implementation and their didactic effects,

- creating (packages) of teaching materials in response to identified needs,

- logical reasoning and drawing conclusions,

- identification and analysis of the surrounding phenomena, especially those with which the graduate will deal in professional practice,

- expanding knowledge through independent research in industry literature and scientific studies,

- documentation of the teaching process,

- active use of the knowledge acquired during the studies and use it in practice or for theoretical inference,

- use of correct English at C1 level and the academic language.

Blended learning

The diploma / bachelor's seminar aims to prepare students for writing an academic thesis consisting of a theoretical and practical part. The theoretical part is a review of academic literature related to a specific subject relevant to the thematic scope of the work. The practical part includes a documented description of the original didactic project planned and carried out by the author of the work.

The diploma/bachelor's seminar is conducted as a block of seminar classes consisting of two subjects/ courses:

(1) diploma/bachelor's seminar (15 hours, form of classes: seminar, stationary mode, course conducted by the thesis supervisor in one of three languages: English, French or German),

(2) a course preparing for the seminar (15 hours, form of classes: lecture, remote, synchronous mode, course conducted in Polish and optionally in the language of the seminar.

Course 1 - "The diploma/ bachelor seminar (1)" is conducted in one of three languages ​​- English, French or German. Students prepare bachelor's theses in the language of the seminar they attend.

Course 2 "Preparation for the seminar (2)" is conducted in Polish. Students can also optionally complete assignments in the language of the seminar they attend.

The thematic scope of the bachelor's seminar is defined by the supervisor in the description of the seminar available for students before registering for specific seminars on the Centre's website. The topics of the bachelor's theses are determined by the seminar participants in consultation and cooperation with the supervisor and accepted by the supervisor within the designated deadline.

The aim of Course 1 - "The diploma/ bachelor seminar (1)" is the student's own preparation of a complete diploma thesis in consultation and cooperation with the supervisor and under his / her supervision.

During the diploma / bachelor's seminar (1), the student works on the individual components of the thesis (thesis topic, thesis abstract with a preliminary bibliography, thesis plan, plan of the theoretical part, plan of the practical part, theoretical chapter of the work with a bibliography, practical chapter, documentation of the didactic project, attachments) and submit them to the supervisor in accordance with the schedule of the seminar.

The submitted works are analyzed, assessed and accepted or returned for corrections by the supervisor. The thesis is written during the classes, not after their completion.

The aim of Course 2 "Preparation for the seminar (2)" is to provide the student with the knowledge and skills needed to design and work on the components of the thesis (thesis topic, thesis abstract with a preliminary bibliography, thesis plan, plan of the theoretical part, plan of the practical part, theoretical chapter of the work with a bibliography, practical chapter of the work, documentation of the didactic project, attachments).

During Course 2 "Preparation for the seminar (2)"), the student gets to know the structure of the thesis and its components. S/he learns the formal requirements for a diploma/bachelor thesis and the technique of writing a thesis, i.e. finding and selecting academic sources, documenting and quoting sources in the text, preparing a bibliography, editorial techniques, rules for editing an academic text in a foreign language, plagiarism issues, principles of description and documentation of the didactic process.

Allwright, D. (1993). Integrating “research” and “pedagogy”: Appropriate criteria and practical possibilities. In J. Edge, & K. Richards (Eds.), Teachers develop teachers research (pp. 125–135). London: Heinemann.

Allwright, D. (2005). Developing principles for practitioner research: The case of exploratory practice. Modern Language Journal, 89(3), 353–366.

Allwright, D, Hanks J (2009). The developing language learner: An introduction to exploratory practice. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

Bailey, K. (2001). Action research, teacher research, and classroom research in language teaching. In , M. Celce-Murcia (Ed.), Teaching English as a second or foreign language (pp. 489–498). Boston: Heinle & Heinle.

Burns, A. (2019). Action research: developments, characteristics and future directions. In A. Benati &, J. W. Schwieter (Eds.), The Cambridge handbook of language learning (pp. 166–185). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Burns, A. (2011). Action research in the field of second language teaching and learning. In E. Hinkel (Ed.), Handbook of research in second language teaching and learning, vol II. (pp. 237–253). New York: Routledge.

Burns, A. (2010). Doing action research in English language teaching: A guide for practitioners. New York: Routledge.

Burns, A .(2007). Action research: contributions and future directions in ELT. In J. Cummins & C. Davison (Eds.), The international handbook of English language teaching (pp. 987–1002). New York: Springer.

Burns, A. (1999). Collaborative action research for English language teachers. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Burns, A. (1996). Starting all over again: From teaching adults to teaching beginners. In D. Free- man, & J. Richards (Eds.), Teacher learning in language teaching (pp. 154–177). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Burns, A., & Richards, J. C. (Eds.). (2009). The Cambridge guide to second language teacher education. New York: Cambridge University Press.

Cirocki, A., & Farrell, T. S. C. (2017a). Reflective practice in the ELT classroom [special issue]. The European Journal of Applied Linguistics and TEFL, 6(2).

Cirocki, A., & Farrell, T. S. C. (2017b). Reflective practice for professional development of TESOL practitioners. The European Journal of Applied Linguistics and TEFL, 6(2), 5– 23.

Cirocki, A., & Burns, A. (2019). Language teachers as researchers [special issue]. The European Journal of Applied Linguistics and TEFL, 8(2).

Dörnyei, Z. (2007). Research methods in applied linguistics. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Freeman, D. & Richards, J. C. Richards (1996). Teacher learning in language teaching (Eds.). New York: Cambridge University Press.

Hinkel, E. (2005). Handbook of research in second language teaching and learning. New York: Routledge.

Hinkel, E. (2011). Handbook of research in second language teaching and learning. New York: Routledge.

Hinkel, E. (2016). Handbook of research in second language teaching and learning. New York: Routledge.

McKay, S. L. (2006). Researching second language classrooms. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

Wallace, M. J. (1998). Action research for language teachers. Cambridge. Cambridge University Press.

Knowledge: the graduate knows and understands

S_W01 the necessary terminology related to: linguistics,pedagogy and education studies, psychology, relevant to teaching foreign languages

S_W02 the necessary terminology related to: linguistics,pedagogy and education studies, psychology relevant to teaching foreign languages

S_W09 the methodology to perform common tasks; the standards and procedures used in various educational areas

S_W013 the basic concepts and principles governing copyright and authors’ rights

Skills: the graduate is able to

S_U01 search, analyse, evaluate, select and use information, using a variety of sources and methods, in Polish and English

S_U03 diagnose the needs, abilities and aptitudes of every learner, as well as design and implement individually tailored teaching and educational programs

S_U05 observe and assess the suitability of a variety of methods, procedures and best practices, and select and apply the appropriate approach with the goal of accomplishing tasks and solving problems related to foreign language teaching

S_U09 analyse their own actions and identify possible areas for change in the future

S_U11 conduct an argument using the views of other authors and formulate conclusions in Polish and English, and, optionally, in French or German

S_U13 prepare written work in both Polish and a foreign language, relevant to the field of studies, on specific issues, using basic theoretical approaches and a variety of sources

S_U15 speak and write consistently and precisely in Polish and in a foreign language on topics related to selected educational matters, applying different theoretical approaches and using findings from academic disciplines relevant to their course of studies

S_U16 present their ideas, concerns, suggestions and arguments, in Polish and in a foreign language, supporting them with published opinions on the subject

S_U17 use language skills at CEFR level C1 in English and German or French, including the specificity of academic language and that of classroom communication*, or in English at level C1 and in a foreign language chosen as lektorat at CEFR level B1

Social competences: the graduate is prepared to

S_K02 reflect on the level of their skills and knowledge, constantly develop professionally and personally, self-assess their competences, improve their skills, plan their development and training

S_K06 correctly identify the priorities for the implementation of specified tasks

Assessment methods and criteria are the same in all seminar groups.The condition for completing a seminar and obtaining credits is completing and obtaining a positive grade in both courses: the diploma / bachelor's seminar (1), the course preparing for the seminar (2).

The final grade is entered into the USOSweb system by the thesis supervisor in consultation with the teacher in charge of the course preparing for the seminar according to the following conversion rate:

1) the diploma / bachelor's seminar constitutes 65% of the final grade,

2) the course preparing for the seminar constitute 35% of the final grade *,

The student obtains credit in each semester on the basis of:

- class attendance - the limit of absences is indicated in the seminar description for a specific seminar group,

- preparation and active participation in classroom and online classes,

- performing tasks within deadlines and in accordance with the supervisors' instructions in class and on the CKC UW platform in compliance with the seminar schedule,

- obtaining positive grades for individual tasks, and in particular, for the preparation and submission of the fragments/parts/components of the BA thesis scheduled for submission in a given semester.

Criteria for evaluating student assignments (may vary depending on the nature of the task):

- task completion and submission within deadlines,

- compliance with the supervisor's instructions (also in terms of formatting),

- completeness,

- clarity and logic of the argument,

- insight and quality of argumentation,

- content organization and content compliance with the topic of work,

- number, selection and documentation of sources (APA, MLA style, respectively),

- correctness of the description of the didactic project and conclusions as well as completeness of the documentation of the report on - research and conclusions,

- language correctness/accuracy (style, grammar, vocabulary, spelling), including the correct use of the academic register.

The necessary condition to obtain a credit in individual semesters at all seminars is:

Semester I

(1) diploma / bachelor's seminar,

- submission and approval of the topic and abstract of the diploma/bachelor thesis within the deadline set by the Seminar Coordinator - the date is the same in all seminar groups and is set and announced by the Bachelor's Seminar Coordinator at the beginning of the academic year, depending on the starting date of the winter semester, approximately 1.5 months after the start of classes. The abstract (approx. 300 words) specifies the thematic scope of the thesis, the goal of the didactic project, description of the didactic problem /gap in the didactic materials that will be the object of the analysis in the didactic project, suggested solutions and activities (plan and description) / description of the didactic materials that will be created as part of the thesis, minimum 5 bibliographic items),

- timely approval of the theoretical work chapter plan (the plan includes the chapter title, the titles of sections and thematic subsections along with the sources on which they will be based),

- development, submission and approval of individual sections and a complete theoretical chapter of the thesis with a bibliography (minimum 15 items) in accordance with the seminar schedule set by the supervisor,

(2) classes preparing for the seminar,

- obtaining positive grades for all individual written tasks,

- !!! detailed course completion requirements are specified in the course description

Semester II

(1) the diploma / bachelor's seminar,

- submission and acceptance of the plan of the practical chapter of the thesis (the plan includes the chapter title, its goal chapter, titles of sections and thematic subsections),

- development, submission and approval of individual sections/subsections and a complete practical chapter of the thesis in accordance with the schedule of the seminar,

(2) the course preparing for the seminar,

- obtaining positive grades for all individual tasks,

- !!! detailed course completion requirements are specified in the course description

Description and structure of the thesis - formal requirements

Formatting

The volume of the BA thesis is minimum 26 pages of a standardized computer printout without appendixes and a bibliography (individual chapters contain no fewer than 12 pages of text printout)

Standardized computer printout is:

1800 characters per page (including spaces and punctuation marks) in the following layout:

60 characters per line, 30 lines per page,

line spacing (line spacing) 1.5 points,

main text: Times New Roman 12 point font,

chapter titles: Times New Roman 14 font + bold,

footnote: Times 10 points, line spacing: 1 point,

standard margins (2.5 cm) and paragraph indents

text justified, no hanging letters at the end of the line.

Bibliographic style

The thesis supervisor selects the bibliographic style used in a given seminar group (APA, MLA, Chicago Style etc.).

The bibliographic style defines the rules for writing text elements, i.e. links, formatting the list of sources / bibliography, statistics, table formatting, use of italics, some spelling rules.

Information about the bibliographic style used at a given seminar is provided in the description of the course for each seminar group.

The structure of the diploma / bachelor thesis

- title pages (in line with the current standard requirements of the University of Warsaw),

- thesis abstract in the the language of the thesis - maximum 3000 characters with spaces, not fewer than 1000 characters with spaces, i.e. max. 350-400 words,

- a list of 5 to 7 keywords in the language of the thesis,

- the title of the work translated into Polish,

- table of contents, table of tables, list of drawings (diagrams, maps, etc.), list of appendices, (if applicable)

- introduction (in the introduction, students outline the general background of the studied problem, indicate the reasons for choosing the topic of thesis, define the purpose and scope of the thesis, provide general information about the content of individual chapters of the thesis, indicate the identified didactic problem/gap in the didactic materials and summarize the results of the didactic activities/describe and use the teaching materials created),

- chapters containing the main text of the thesis, divided into appropriate sections and subsections including the theoretical chapter of the thesis (literature and research review) and a chapter describing the didactic project,

- conclusions - students indicate the conclusions the thesis, define the degree of achievement of the thesis goal based on the results of the activities/tasks undertaken, refer to the assumptions and goal of the didactic project and determine whether and to what extent the planned activities led to the solution of the identified problem/created materials filled the gap in the didactic materials, indicate the pedagogical implications of the project results)

list of the cited literature (only items to which the author refers directly in the work) in alphabetical order, in accordance with the requirements of the bibliographic description (minimum 15 items),

appendices (e.g. project documentation, copies of teaching materials, tests, worksheets, photo documentation).

Thesis content requirements

1) the theoretical chapter

- includes 15 pages of standardized printout (not fewer than 12 pages),

- includes a review of the literature focusing on the thematic field indicated in the title of the thesis,

- includes a bibliography with min. 15 items:

- academic sources of a scientific nature presenting the results of research (! not theoretical discussions) thematically related to the teaching / acquisition of foreign languages; three types of scientific texts are allowed:

- an article in a peer-reviewed scientific journal,

- a chapter from an edited collection,

- a scientific monograph,

- didactic resources, i.e. methodological manuals, websites, industry articles,

- also sources written in a foreign language other than the language the thesis,

- also Polish-language sources,

- also, popular science sources,

2) the practical chapter

- includes 15 pages of standardized printout (not fewer than 12 pages)

- two models based on two structures of the didactic project are allowed:

MODEL I

(1) written work, the content of which is based on action research conducted by the author,

(2) the chapter describes the reflection cycle and the chapter structure reflects the structure of the cycle: problem identification - solution planning - solution implementation - assessment of the effectiveness of the implemented solutions - reflection,

(3) the identified problem concerns a group of students or individual cases,

(4) the documentation of the reflection cycle includes:

- the description of the problem identified in the didactic thesis based on the students' own experience or their observation of other teachers with reflection about its causes and effects - this section is entitled "Identification of the didactic problem",

- description of planned solutions / didactic activities with their justification in relation to the problem, literature on the topic presented in the theoretical part and to the Core Curriculum * with an indication of how these solutions can lead to improvement - this section is entitled "Planned solutions / activities",

- original lesson plans implementing the planned solutions with justification of how the stages of the lessons implement the proposed solution, - this section is entitled "Description of the lesson",

- lesson plans including: lesson objectives, description of lesson stages with justification and estimated time of completion, description and copies of didactic materials, anticipated problems, other elements - - this section is entitled "Lesson plans",

- post-lesson description of the lesson - description of events in accordance with the facts - this section is entitled "Description of the lesson",

- post-class reflections on:

- the degree of implementation of the planned solutions during the lesson,

- their didactic/learning effects,

- assessment of the effectiveness of solutions / conclusions and pedagogical implications - this section is entitled " Post-school reflections,

MODEL II

(1) written work and didactic materials package / didactic work - teacher resource pack ',

(2) the package / work may contain physical or digital teaching materials (e.g. puppets, flashcards, a set of props for a story, audio / video recording of story telling with materials, recording of performances (drama), digital applications for self-study, etc. ) i.e. a work / product of a didactic nature,

(3) the goal of the practical chapter is to provide a description the process of creating teaching materials,

(4) the documentation of the "creative" cycle includes:

- description of the need / lack / gap in teaching materials, significant from the point of view of the current situation in foreign language teaching, identified on the basis of a literature review, own experience or observation of other teachers - this section is entitled "Identification of a gap in teaching materials",

- a package of materials / work in physical form - a complete set of teaching materials ready for implementation / implementation to be used in the language class according to their purpose, this section is entitled "Description of the resource pack",

- a package of materials / work in digital form - photos or video that are attached to the work as attachments,

- package / work comment, including - this section is entitled "The application of the teaching materials/" including:

- description of the didactic, linguistic and other goals that allow the package to be used in relation to the Core Curriculum,

- description of the addressees of the package / work: age group, level of proficiency and others,

- description of the application / implementation / proposal to use the package in a language class,

- a specific type of Creative Commons license (e.g. one in which the author agrees to use and adapt the package / thesis, subject to the indication of the author of the thesis),

* in relation to CEFR in the case of work on non-public education

The diploma examination:

The diploma examination is oral and is conducted in the language in which the thesis was written. Students are allowed to take the exam if they fulfill the following conditions:

- completion of the study program for the first degree studies,

submission of the thesis in the digital Archive of Diploma Theses (APD) minimum 14 days before the exam dated,

approval of thesis content by the supervisor and digital confirmation of the thesis originality;

- obtaining a final grade for the bachelor's thesis which is not lower than 3.0,

providing the secretariat with the necessary documents.

Not applicable.