Dr Deirdre Ni Loingsigh

Biography

My early career teaching physical education and Gaeilge, my engagement with the field of folklore, and my experience exploring the themes of People, Time & Place in the discipline of history and local studies have informed my teaching, learning and research interests. Before joining UL as a member of Faculty in 2001, I taught Gaeilge at GMIT (Castlebar Campus) and worked with Meitheal Mhaigh Eo Teo, the Area Based Partnership for Co. Mayo, on a rural development initiative in the Erris Gaeltacht.I have led a series of materials development, and Irish language teaching and learning initiatives for adult learners in my position as Stiúrthóir na Gaeilge in recent years. The development of a research interest at Aonad na Gaeilge in the Irish language in the organisational context has been a particular focus.
Key Responsibilities
Stiúrthóir, Aonad na Gaeilge [The Irish Language Centre at UL] www.ul.ie/aonadnagaeilge]
Course Director: Dioplóma sa Ghaeilge Fheidhmeach
Subject Leader - Gaeilge: Professional Masters in Education (Languages)
UL Knowledge for Change (K4C) Mentor (Languages and Culture Portfolio)
School Placement Tutor
Module Coordinator: GA4006 Gaeilge Ghairmiúil
Module Coordinator: LP6012/LP6015 (Language Pedagogy).

Research Interests

Community-Based Participatory Research (CBPR); adult learners; transformative learning; work-based language learning; Advising for Language Learning (ALL); language policy and organisational change; language anxiety; language networks; new speakerness; problem-based learning; language teacher education, and the life and work of An Seabhac. My training as a Knowledge for Change (K4C) mentor in 2019 and my involvement in the UNESCO Knowledge for Change (K4C) initiative at UL has triggered a new interest in arts-based research methods also.

The title of my doctoral thesis was Minority Language Learning in the Workplace: Contextual Practices, Relational Knowing, Mandate, and Change. I proposed a framework of language advising for the mandated and minority language context in this work. I also mapped the spatial and contextual practices of members of a Language Support Network, a Network which I established as a forum where issues of language anxiety in the professional context might be explored. The findings of this Participatory Action Research (PAR) study inform current practice in language support initiatives at Aonad na Gaeilge, UL.

I am currently coordinating BLÁTHÚ, a PAR project entitled An Rannpháirtíocht Phobail, Líonrú agus an Tacaíocht Teanga do Nuachainteoirí na Gaeilge i bpobail lasmuigh den Ghaeltacht [Public Engagement, Networking and Language Support for New Speakers of Irish in Communities outside of An Ghaeltacht]

Teaching Interests

Language Pedagogy, Language and Culture in the Classroom, Advising for Language Learning (ALL); Adult Language Learners; Language Anxiety; An Seabhac

Professional Activities

Education

2019 University of Victoria, Canada - Knowledge for Change Mentor
2015 NUIM - Doctor of Education
2003 UL - MA History and Local Studies
1999 NUIG - MA sa Nua-Ghaeilge
1993 UL - BA Corpoideachas le Gaeilge

Association

Rúnaí Feidhmeach (2005-2006), Coiste na nOifigeach agus na Stiúrthóirí Gaeilge Ollscoile
Member of Executive Committee (1997-1999), Physical Education Association of Ireland [PEAI]
Director of National In-Service Programme for PE Teachers (1998-1999), Physical Education Association of Ireland [PEAI]
Rúnaí Ballraíochta / Membership Secretary 2001-2014, Cumann Merriman
Appointed member (2000-2003), Irish Water Safety (IWS) National Education Commission

Outreach

I lead the Knowledge for Change (K4C) Language and Culture portfolio for UL. K4C is UNESCO initiative which aims to train the next generation of Community-Based Participatory Research researchers and promote authentic university-community research partnerships The K4C programme was officially launched at St Munchin's Community Centre, Kileely on 11 Feb. 2020,

Committee

UL Engage University Working Group,
Management Council Strategic Working Groups - Foreign Language Strategy ,
University Teacher Education Board,
An Coiste Seasta um Cháilíocht Teanga, NUIG,
Advisory Committee UL Language Learning Hub,
UL Official Languages Act Implementation Group ,
Coiste na Gaeilge, UL ,

Other

External Examiner: Dioplóma i Múineadh na Gaeilge (Daoine Fásta)
Maynooth University, NUI Maynooth.

Research Collaborators

Marina Mozzon- Mc Pherson - Joint Publication -England -Currently collaborating on journal article on language advising for newspeakerness
European Centre for Modern Languages (ECML) Language for Work Network - Joint Programme -Austria -European Centre for Modern Languages Network (ECML) I will be hosting a national workshop in Limerick in October 2020 to disseminated the ECML Language for Work project materials and meet other needs relating to LFW in the Irish context.
COST Action New Speakers in a Multilingual Europe - Other -Member of Working Group 8 on the New Speakers Network Speakerness: Subjectivities, Trajectories, Space
Dr. TJ Ó Ceallaigh - Co-supervision of PhD -Student: Emily-Anne Rennison
Carsten Quell - Outgoing Visitor -Canada Executive Director, Official Languages Centre of Excellence, Office of the Chief Human Resources Officer, Ottawa. (Project on Linguistic Insecurity) Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat / Government of Canada
Budd Hall/Rajesh Tandon - International Collaboration Type -Univerisity of Victoria, Canada & PRIA, India UNESCO Co-Chairs on Community Based Research and Social Responsibility in Higher Education)

Publications

Book Chapter

2020

The Bibliographical Legacy of An Seabhac (18831964)
Ní Loingsigh, D.
THE OXFORD HISTORY OF THE IRISH BOOK VOLUME II: The Printed Book in Irish 15672000s