Department of English and German Studies

First and last name

Ivana Marinić, Ph.D.

Profession

Associate Professor

Email

imarinic@foozos.hr

Office number

46

Research interests

figurative language and thought, second language acquisition

Curriculum vitae (up to 300 words)

Ivana Marinić teaches English as a foreign language at the Faculty of Education, focusing on the Phonology of English, Teaching Speaking to Young Learners of EFL, Language and the Philosophy of Education, and Professional Language of Early Childhood and Preschool Education, Teacher Education and Speech Pathology. Her research interests include figurative language and thought and second language acquisition.

She participates in national and international conferences on linguistics and publishes in both domestic and international journals. She co-authored the book “Teaching speaking to young learners of English as a foreign language” with Ivana Moritz.

She also develops digital teaching materials and leads seminars and workshops for primary and secondary school teachers.

She co-authored the Footsteps 1–4 textbook series for primary school English learners and contributed translations of literary works to the magazine Nemo.

Before joining the Faculty, she spent ten years teaching English at Ljudevit Gaj Primary School in Osijek, where she also worked on projects supporting children with special needs and wrote drama scripts for children, some of which were published in the Snaga riječi textbook series.

List of publications (link to CroRIS)

CroRIS Ivana Marinić

First and last name

Ivana Moritz, Ph.D.

Profession

Associate Professor

Email

imoritz@foozos.hr 

Office number

53

Research interests

cognitive linguistics, discourse analysis, phraseology, early second language acquisition

Curriculum vitae (up to 300 words)

Ivana Moritz completed primary and grammar school in Osijek. She graduated from the Faculty of Pedagogy (today the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences) at the Josip Juraj Strossmayer University of Osijek in 1999 with a degree in English language and literature and German language and literature. She defended her dissertation “Cognitive Analysis of Euphemisms in Political Discourse in English” in 2018 at the doctoral study program in linguistics at the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences in Osijek, earning the academic degree of PhD in the scientific field of humanities, philology, English studies.

From 1999 to 2007, she worked at the private secondary school Gaudeamus in Osijek, Catering and Tourism School in Osijek, III. Gymnasium in Osijek, and at the Grigir Vitez Primary School in Osijek, as a teacher of English and German.

She spent the 2002-2003 school year working at Rydal Penrhos School in Colwyn Bay, North Wales, United Kingdom, as a teaching assistant in English as a foreign language and German language. In 2007, she received the title of assistant at the Faculty of Teacher Education in Osijek (today FOOZOS), and in 2015, she received the title of senior assistant. She was promoted to assistant professor in June 2019 and to associate professor in October 2024.

She has taught the following courses at the Integrated Undergraduate and graduate university class teacher study, Undergraduate university study program of Early and pre-school education, and the University undergraduate program educational rehabilitation: English Grammar I and II, English Language Practice III and IV, English Language I and II, English for Academic Purposes, English Teaching Methodology Practice, English in Educational Rehabilitation, English in early and preschool education.

From 2018 to 2020, she was the Head of the Department of English and German Studies at the Faculty of Education, and from 2020 to 2022, she was the Vice-Dean for Science at the same faculty.

Her scientific interests include cognitive linguistics, English phraseology, and English language acquisition.

List of publications (link to CroRIS)

CroRIS Ivana Moritz

First and last name

Mirna Erk, Ph.D.

Profession

Assistant Professor

Email

merk@foozos.hr

Office number

61

Research interests

second language acquisition, instructed foreign language acquisition, the age factor, individual and contextual factors in foreign language development, language input and interaction

Curriculum vitae (up to 300 words)

Mirna Erk completed studies in English and German language and literature in Osijek (Faculty of Education, University of Osijek) in 1995. She received master’s and doctoral degrees at the University of Zagreb, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, in 2005 and 2013 respectively. Currently, she is an assistant professor at the Faculty of Education (previously the Teacher Training College in Osijek, i.e., the Faculty of Teacher Education in Osijek).  Prior to 2020, she lectured in a teaching-oriented track, which included teaching, publishing area expert papers, workshops for in-service teachers, CPD, and engagement with the Croatian Association of English Teachers – Osijek branch meetings (e.g., organizing summer schools and lectures by national and international ELT experts). Since she switched to a tenure-oriented track in 2020, she has led courses in Theories of Language Learning and Acquisition, Early English Language Learning, English Language Teaching and Teaching Practicum, and English for Specific Purposes. She has supervised more than 20 graduate papers and theses, participated in four projects (including two international research projects), and presented at many international and national conferences several times as an invited speaker. She publishes research, review, and area expert papers on the age factor in foreign language acquisition, factors that shape learning trajectories of Croatian EFL learners, and the role of language input and interaction (especially the role of native language in foreign language instruction). She is involved in CPD for foreign language teachers and the dissemination of scientific knowledge among teachers, parents and learners. Currently, she is the principal investigator in a project about informal contact with English (CroRIS 8590). The project aims to offer guidelines to improve EFL instruction so that it adequately caters to EFL learners’ real needs (both in and out-of-school) in numerous and varied contacts with native and non-native users of English over different media resources.

List of publications (link to CroRIS)

CroRIS – Mirna Erk

First and last name

Darija Kuharić, Ph.D.

Profession

Assistant Professor

Email

dkuharic@foozos.hr

Office number

61

Research interests

Philology, Ethnology and Anthropology, Information and Communication Sciences

Curriculum vitae (up to 300 words)

Darija Kuharić was born in Osijek, where she attended primary and secondary school and graduated from the Faculty of Education in Osijek (now the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences). In 1988, she earned the title of Professor of English Language and Literature and German Language and Literature. From 1989 to 1994, she worked at the Economic School in Osijek. She then joined the Faculty of Agriculture in Osijek (now FAZOS), where she worked as a lecturer and senior lecturer in English and German until 2018.

In the 2015/2016 academic year, she enrolled in the Postgraduate Interdisciplinary University Program in Cultural Studies at the Doctoral School of Josip Juraj Strossmayer University in Osijek, focusing on Culture, Art, and Literature in a European Context. While working at the Academy of Arts and Culture in Osijek, she defended her doctoral dissertation, “The Semantics of the Private: A Family Handwritten Recipe Collection from the 19th/20th Century,” in 2020 under the mentorship of academician Helena Sablić Tomić. In 2021, she was appointed a research associate in the interdisciplinary field (ethnology and anthropology, philology, and information and communication sciences).

Since 2023, she has been employed as an assistant professor at the Faculty of Education in Osijek, where she serves as the head of the Center for the Anthropology of Education. She has participated in creating and implementing projects, presented at numerous national and international conferences, and authored a range of scientific papers. She also authorizes the scientific monograph “Štih i Šmek: Semantika Privatnog” (2023).

List of publications (link to CroRIS)

CroRIS Darija Kuharić

Name and surname

Zvjezdana Penava Brekalo, Ph.D.

Position

Assistant Professor

E-mail

zpenavabrekalo@foozos.hr

Research interests

Zvjezdana Penava Brekalo graduated from the Faculty of Education in Osijek in 1990, becoming an English and German teacher. 1990-1995 she lived and worked in Vienna and during the Homeland War she was engaged at the Pädagogisches Institut der Stadt Wien, on the Project for the Admission and Integration of Refugee Children in the Vienna School System, functioning as a coordinator at preparing teaching materials for bilingual literacy classes, and later on she herself was teaching the bilingual literacy. Consequently, her Kommentar zum Lehrplan der Volkschule was published in Vienna, 1995. In the same year she moved to Toronto for further professonal and language experience. She returned to Croatia in 1998 and taught English and German at II. gimnazija Osijek till April 2020. Having been promoted to a teacher-advisor, from 2014 till 2020 she was the head of the County Council of English Teachers. 2002-2005 she had also taught German courses at the Teacher Training College. In 2008 she earned her master’s degree in Personal Marketing at the Faculty of Economics in Osijek. In 2012 she got her PhD from the Faculty of Economics and Tourism »Dr. Mijo Mirković », at Juraj Dobrila University of Pula, having defended her doctoral thesis titled The Conceptualization of Education for Personal Marketing in Higher Business Education. Since May 2020, she has been employed at the Faculty of Educational Sciences and she teaches the following courses: Integrated Teaching, Methodology of Education, Personal Marketing of Teachers, Action Research in Early and Preschool Education.

List of publications (CroRIS link)

CroRIS – Zvjezdana Penava Brekalo

First and last name

Sara Ćavar

Profession

Assistant

Email

scavar2@foozos.hr

Office number

38

Research interests

text linguistics, discourse analysis, semiotics

Curriculum vitae (up to 300 words)

Sara Ćavar completed her elementary education and the Jesuit Classical Gymnasium in Osijek. She graduated from the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences at the Josip Juraj Strossmayer University of Osijek with a thesis titled Semiotic Analysis of Advertisements in 19^th and 20th-century German Language Osijek Newspapers. She worked as a teacher of English and German in several high schools in Osijek and, since 2023, has been employed as an assistant at the Faculty of Education in Osijek, at the Department of English and German Studies. She is currently a doctoral student in the postgraduate study program in Linguistics at the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Josip Juraj Strossmayer University Osijek. She regularly participates in international and domestic scientific and professional conferences in the field of linguistics.

List of publications (link to CroRIS)

CroRIS – Sara Ćavar

Name and surname

Ivan Včev

Position

Assistant

e-mail

ivcev@foozos.hr

ivan.vcev@yahoo.com

Broj ureda

27

Research interests

Philosophy of Education, Bioethics

Ivan Včev was born in Osijek on January 25^th 1994. He attended St. Anne Primary School and Jesuit Classical Gymnasium in his hometown. At the University in Zadar, he completed his graduate studies in Philosophy and English.

At the Faculty of Educational Sciences, he participates in the teaching of the following courses: Philosophy of Education, Bioethics and Bioethics in Educational Rehabilitation.

List of publications (CroRIS link):

First and last name

Željka Starčević

Profession

Expert Associate

Email

zstarcevic@foozos.hr

Office number

47

Research interests

Acquisition of Foreign Languages

Curriculum vitae (up to 300 words)

Željka Starčević graduated from the former Faculty of Education, now the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences in Osijek, and obtained an MA degree in the English and German language and literature. As a teacher mentor, she taught in various primary and secondary schools and received multiple awards from the Ministry of Science and Education (MSE). During the pandemic, she actively contributed as a member of the MSE Working Group, preparing and publishing video lessons. She also took on the role of Head of the County Teachers Professional Development Council for the German language. Her teaching scenarios gained recognition on the international platform Europeana and have been implemented by English language teachers locally and internationally. Since April 2021, she has been working at the Faculty of Education as an associate within the Department of English and German Studies, teaching English and engaging in international and domestic conferences. At the home institution, she is a member of journal editorial boards (Life and School, Pannoniana) and various conference organizing committees.

List of publications (link to CroRIS)