(PTN – Polskie Towarzystwo Neofilologiczne – Polish Association of Modern Languages)
Professor Hanna Komorowska
Hanna Komorowska, full professor of applied linguistics and the Chair of English, SWPS University of Social Sciences and Humanities in Warsaw, formerly full professor at Warsaw University, is well known for her involvement in the field of pre- and in-service teacher education in Poland and abroad.
Her PhD dissertation on interference in learning English as a foreign language (1972) was the first PhD in Poland submitted in the field of language pedagogy and her post-doctoral dissertation on success and failure in school language learning included a report on the first empirical research in the field of language learning and teaching in Poland.
As head of the Curriculum Development Centre (1978-1990) and later the Institute for School Curricula (1985-89) she built a team which was responsible for implementing functional communicative syllabuses into language education in Polish schools.
After the fall of communism she was heading the Expert Committee for foreign language teaching and teacher education reform in Poland (1989-1993) as a result of which foreign languages such as English, French, German, Italian and Spanish were included in the curriculum for secondary schools, replacing Russian which, until then, was obligatory for all students. What is more, the reform introduced foreign languages into the primary school syllabus, lowering the starting age for the first foreign language. Unlike previously, the learners were allowed to choose which language they wanted to study, which, however, was limited by unavailability of teachers. Hence, in teacher education a new system of teacher training colleges based on the work of the Council of Europe was introduced and Prof. Komorowska coordinated the programme whose aim was to prepare volunteers from the American Peace Corps and the British Voluntary Service Overseas to teach English to the trainees as well as to students in the Polish schools.
As Vice-President of Warsaw University (1993-1996), she supported the project which resulted in the establishment of an Interdepartmental Centre for Language Teacher Training and European Education.
Prof. Komorowska is also known for her work abroad. In the years 1989-1997 as the Polish delegate for the Modern Languages Project Group of the Council of Europe she was responsible for the Polish-Czech project set up in order to design curricula for language teacher education within the framework of the Council’s New Style Workshops programme. She also cooperated with the Language Policy Division in the preparation of the Polish Country Report, five Polish age-related versions of the European Language Portfolio and of the Polish translation of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages.
As a member of the EU High Level Group on Multilingualism in Brussels (2005-2007), she co-authored the final report with recommendations for language policy of the EU with special emphasis on strategies of promoting language education across age groups and proficiency levels. Her other activities included acting as an expert in LEONARDO and ERASMUS programmes, serving as a national consultant for the EURYDICE as well as being a consultant to the European Centre of Modern Languages in Graz (2008-2015).
Prof. Hanna Komorowska has been active in many other areas – she is a member of several professional organizations, serves on editorial/advisory boards of academic journals, and, above all, is an academic teacher. In this capacity she has taught numerous courses, including M.A. and Ph.D. seminars in the area of broadly conceived ELT methodology, among others. She has supervised 30 Ph.D. theses, served as a reviewer in 65 Ph.D. assessment committees, and took part in other procedures connected with the conferment of academic degrees. Her involvement has been recognized and appreciated by the authorities at the university and the ministerial levels (among others, she received the National Education Committee Medal, the highest honour awarded the Polish Ministry of Education for outstanding contribution to education).
Prof. Komorowska has given numerous conference presentations and invited talks/plenaries in Poland and abroad. She publishes widely in the field of FLT methodology and teacher education (in English and Polish). Her books written in Polish served the whole generation of foreign language teachers in Poland, when foreign publications were unavailable in the communist bloc. The European Portfolio for Student Teachers of Languages she co-authored was translated into 15 languages.
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