Background: Medical students are at risk for poor mental health and burnout compared to the general population (Dyrbye et al., 2014). A preponderance of research has examined predictors of mental illness in medical students (Brazeau et al., 2014; Hope & Henderson, 2014). However, few studies have investigated predictors of mental health, and no studies to our knowledge have compared predictors of mental health and burnout in medical students. Further, several studies have assessed physical activity and burnout in medical students but these have neither examined specific intensities of physical activity nor have considered the role of sedentary behaviour in predicting medical student burnout (Dyrbye, Satele, & Shanafelt, 2017b; Wolf & Rosenstock, 2017). Thus, there is a dearth of knowledge on how demographics relate to mental health and burnout, and how mild, moderate, and vigorous physical activity, and sedentary behaviour relate to burnout in medical students. Purpose: To investigate and compare demographic predictors (gender, ethnicity, age, level of education, year of study, and proposed specialty) of mental health and burnout, to examine behavioural predictors (mild, moderate, vigorous, and total physical activity, and sedentary behaviour) of burnout, and to investigate moderate-to-vigorous physical activity as a moderator of the relationship between sitting and burnout in first to fourth year medical students. Methods: The sample consisted of 129 first to fourth year medical students at two large Canadian universities. Participants were recruited through electronic newsletters, medical student Facebook groups, and an in-class announcement. This study used a cross-sectional design. Data were collected through online surveys of validated self-report questionnaires measuring demographics, mild, moderate, vigorous, and total physical activity, sitting, mental health, and burnout. Results: Third year of study was a significant negative predictor of mental health while female gender, ‘other’ ethnicity and third year of study were significant positive predictors of burnout. Moreover, female gender, ‘other’ ethnicity, and fourth year of study predicted mental health differently from burnout. Second and third year of study predicted mental health and burnout similarly. Mild physical activity and sitting were significant negative predictors of burnout. Moderate-to-vigorous physical activity was not a significant moderator of the relationship between sitting and burnout. Conclusions: Findings of this study support Keyes’ Dual Continua Model (2014) and Maslach’s theorization of burnout (Maslach, Jackson, & Leiter, 1996) and can inform targeted programs to prevent poor mental health and burnout in medical students. Future research is recommended on these key topics.

In this thesis, two studies are presented which examine reading development and proficiency in post-secondary education. The first study examines the utility of a common method for determining print exposure, the Author Recognition Test (ART), in populations less frequently examined—namely, college students (as opposed to university students), and individuals whose first language is not English. Item Response Theory analysis shows that ART is not informative for these populations, which suggests that the development of a novel test of print exposure for comparing different populations is necessary. The second study quantifies the impact of each year of post-secondary study on reading development, and the differential effects between native (L1) and non-native (L2) speakers of English. Findings show that each year of study itself is not a significant predictor of change, but rather improvement is explained by advancement in component skills of reading which develop over the course of the degree. Additionally, contrary to previous studies indicative of the Matthew Effect in college literacy development—which suggest that students improve by the end of their degree as a function of their ability at the beginning—this study demonstrates that L2 students generally benefit more from post-secondary education when compared to L1 peers, who start with a significant advantage. In this way, L2 students with sufficient mastery of component skills of reading emerge from post-secondary education with skills comparable to those of native English-speaking colleagues. / Thesis / Master of Science (MSc)

TITLE: Two-cycle studies of the English language at the Faculty of Education of Charles University in Prague: opinions of students and teachers AUTHOR: Bc. Jiřina Piškulová DEPARTMENT: Department of Education SUPERVISOR: PhDr. RNDr. Hana Voňková, Ph.D. et Ph.D. ABSTRACT: As a consequence of the Bologna process, five-year master's teacher education programme has been divided into three-year bachelor's and consecutively two-year master's programme. The aim of the thesis is to reflect on the changes which have come with the implementation of the structured studies in teacher education programme in the Department of English Language and Literature, Faculty of Education, Charles University in Prague and to present survey results about the opinions of both the students and the academic staff at the Department. In the theoretical part of the work the Bologna process is introduced - its goals, development and the reaction on its introduction in the Czech Republic. The concept of the teacher education from before the Bologna process is described. A comparison has been drawn to the teacher education programme in Germany. In the practical part an analysis of the study plans from before and after the Bologna process has been made and then the data from a questionnaire survey are presented and interpreted. It has shown...