The research of the doctoral thesis examines the teaching of English as a first foreign language in secondary vocational education using an internationally recognised approach called 'Storyline'. Storyline is a teaching approach based on teaching through a story that connects the whole content into a meaningful whole. Although it is an internationally recognised and widespread teaching approach, there is still a lack of scientific research on the effectiveness of this approach in foreign language teaching and in the teaching of specific target groups, such as secondary students in vocational secondary education who study English for specific purposes. The impact of Storyline on students' intrinsic motivation to learn English has also not been sufficiently explored. Indeed, studies to date recommend further research into the elements of Storyline and their effects on teaching. The study answers the research questions of (1) whether the use of Storyline in English language teaching contributes to higher quality English language proficiency; (2) whether Storyline influences students' motivation to learn English; (3) which elements of Storyline students perform best in; (4) what is the relationship between the popularity of particular elements of Storyline and performance on English language tests. In order to answer the above research questions, an empirical, quantitative study was conducted, involving first-year students from vocational secondary schools of different educational programmes who are studying English as a first foreign language. The data were collected by means of a test and a rating scale. The study confirmed that Storyline leads to higher quality knowledge and motivates students to learn more. For the first research question, we found that the Storyline approach led to higher quality knowledge; for the second research question, we found that Storyline significantly contributes to students' motivation to learn a foreign language; the answer to the third research question shows that the elements of visualisation, teamwork, inventiveness and creative thinking, and story contribute most to the acquisition and quality of knowledge; and for the last research question, we confirm a strong correlation between the popularity of the individual elements of Storyline and performance on the test.
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