THE FEWER THE BETTER? THE EFFECTS OF VOLUNTARY ATTENDANCE FOR STRONG STUDENTS IN CLASSES OF BAN4

The article discusses the effects of introducing voluntary attendance to strong students in the BAN4 course taught at the Department of Languages of the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Communications of BUT in the 2013 summer and winter semesters. It draws on the ensuing attendance rate of the students in the course, their own evaluation of the effects in a questionnaire and on the final marks in the BAN4 test and exam in interpreting the effects of granting voluntary attendance selectively as positive. In the latter part of the article, the compulsory/voluntary character of the core English language classes at the FEEC is compared to the organization of English language tuition at the other language institutes of Brno University of Technology.