(HALLT, Hungary)

Dr András Szöllösy-Sebestyén

András Szöllösy-Sebestyén has served as General Secretary in the Hungarian Association of Applied Linguists and Language Teachers (HAALLT), a long-time member of FIPLV, since 1994. In this capacity, he has been making efforts to promote research on the use, teaching and learning of foreign languages in the Hungarian context in order to support the practice of language teaching and create a link between theory and practice by providing a nation-wide forum for practising language teachers, experts and researchers in applied linguistics.

Dr Szöllösy-Sebestyén has played an active role in representing and acting in the interest of Hungarian applied linguists, language teaching experts and practising teachers both in Hungary and outside Hungary since the beginning of the 1990s. His contribution to raising awareness, in various Hungarian stakeholder groups, of the importance of language learning and teaching has made him an acknowledged expert in the field.

Besides his active role in HAALLT, Dr Szöllösy-Sebestyén has had his significant share in the development and improvement of tertiary level foreign language teaching as a respected lecturer at several universities in Hungary, his main base being the Foreign Language Institute of the Budapest University of Technology for more than three decades. He is recognised as an expert practitioner in teaching English for Specific Purposes, Hungarian as a Foreign Language and Hungarian for Special Purposes.