(BETA – Bulgarian English Teachers Association)

Albena Stefanova

Albena Stefanova is a senior lecturer in English at the University of National and World Economy in Sofia, Bulgaria. She holds a PhD in Methodology of Teaching Modern Languages, a master’s degree in English Philology, and bachelor’s degrees in Portuguese Philology and Theory and History of Diplomacy. She has been teaching English to students of philosophy, policing, law, economics and political studies for over twenty-five years. Her main interests are ESP – functional communicative competence and translation – specialised in economics and political studies. Over the last years she has been focused on needs analysis in ESP, the development of interactive tasks and syllabi for effective ESP courses, optimisation in language teaching by encouragement of students’ engagement, autonomy and self-direction.

Having realised the impact of continuing professional development and team work in ELT and ESP, she has been involved with professional organisations since 2013 when she joined the Bulgarian English Teachers’ Association (BETA). In 2014, Albena Stefanova became a member of BETA Committee and for the period 2014-2018 was BETA Membership Secretary. Over these four years she dedicated her efforts to the expansion of BETA membership and the strengthening of the association’s international relations with sister organisations and educational NGOs. Albena Stefanova has been member of the IATEFL ESPSIG Committee since 2018 and is the SIG’s PR and Scholarships Manager. In 2022, she became President of BETA.

Dedicated to facilitating the communication between professionals in the country and around the world, Albena Stefanova has participated in the organisation of a number of ELT events and in conference scientific committees. She has experience as a peer reviewer and editor of conference proceedings. As a researcher, she has worked in interdisciplinary teams and has taken part in several projects as a project member and leader. She is a member of BETA, IATEFL, TESOL and ELTA-Serbia.