On the 25th and 26th of October 2019, the Department of English organized the 12th International Conference on the topic “New Dimensions and Approaches in English Studies”, where there were presented papers on the area of teaching and methodology of foreign languages, translation studies, literature and cultural studies, prepared by scholars and lecturers of Albanian and international Universities.
The Head of the English Department, Prof. Dr. Viktor Ristani, welcomed the guests and highlighted the significance of this conference, stressing among others, the assistance and support provided by the Dean of the Faculty of Foreign Languages and the Embassy of the United States for the Department of English Language, for the teaching and research activity conducted by this Department, the cooperation, students’ and staff exchanges, and joint activities within the context of ERASMUS + and CEEPUS Programs with different European universities, such as the University of Pecs, Hungary, University of Bologna Italy, University of Valladolid, Spain, University of Hacettepe, Mehmet Akif Ersoy University, Turkey, Kodolanyi Janos University, Hungary, the organization for the second time of the Junior Conference of our Department.
The special contribution of Aileen HALE, PhD, English Language Specialist, U.S. State Department, during the 2018-2019 academic year, part of the project supported by the Public Affairs Office at the U.S. Embassy, Tirana, and key-note speaker for the international conferences organised by our Department, was emphasised.
In her remark during the plenary session, the Vice-Dean of the Faculty of Foreign Languages, and lecturer at our Department, Dr. Rudina Vrioni, thanked the conference organisers and acknowledged the importance of the English Department, not only for the Faculty of Foreign Languages but also the University of Tirana, noting the sustainable cooperation with the Public Affairs Office of US Embassy in Tirana. In her appreciation remarks, Dr. Vrioni stressed particularly the involvement of the English Department, its cooperation and its numerous staff and students’ exchanges during the period between the last two conferences, with the European universities and beyond, in the context of ERASMUS + and CEEPUS Programs.
English language students performed for the conference participants.
The American professor Aileen HALE, Ph.D., English Language Specialist, U.S. State Department, was invited as key note speaker with her paper “The Gift of Albanians”.
The participants continued with the presentations of their papers according to their respective areas of study and research in concurrent sessions, which were accompanied with questions, discussions and suggestions about the future of research in this field. The conference and the papers on different areas of studies for the English language, were useful to scholars, particularly to the young scholars and students of Master of Science Programs in the Faculty of Foreign Languages, who attended with great interest some of these sessions, to the teachers of English language, as well as to different stakeholders in the institutions of higher education in exchanging their experiences, strengthening and deepening further the professional inter-institutional cooperation, as well as expanding the professional and interpersonal cooperation network in this particular field of teaching and research.
DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH