Deirdre Ní Loingsigh


Contact Details

Stiúrthóir na Gaeilge
T: +353 61 213463
E: deirdre.niloingsigh@ul.ie
 
researcher

Biography

Dr. Deirdre Ní Loingsigh, Stiúrthóir na Gaeilge, Ollscoil Luimnigh is the Director of Aonad na Gaeilge, the Irish Language Centre, at the University of Limerick. She is Course Director of the Dioplóma sa Ghaeilge Fheidhmeach programme and she also leads the Gaeilge strand on the Professional Master of Education (Languages). She teaches on language pedagogy and applied Irish modules.  She is the course developer and module coordinator of a  new microcredential launched in Spring 2024 called Language Coaching in the Workplace 

She is a Knowledge for Change (K4C) Mentor with UL Engage having completed the Mentor Training Programme at the University of Victoria, Canada. She currently leads the Languages and Culture portfolio at the Knowledge for Change (K4C) UNESCO Hub in Limerick.  

Her early career teaching Physical Education and Irish, and her background in the disciplines of History and Local Studies, and Folklore inform her teaching, research, and engagement activities. Before joining UL as a member of Faculty in 2001, she taught 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.  

She has led many innovations and projects relating to Irish language support, advising, promotion and pedagogy over the last twenty years. More recently, in her role as K4C Mentor, she has led the design and production of COMHRÁ, a teaching and learning resource on Community-Based Participatory Research. This ten-part video vignette series was produced for UL Engage/K4C Hub in 2021.  

She has been actively involved in the European Centre for Modern Languages (ECML) Language for Work project since 2017. In October 2021 she was the Irish coordinator of the ECML Training and Consultancy two-day event for member states Language for Work: Supporting Work-Related Second Language Learning.
Her research areas of expertise are Pádraig Ó Siochfhradha (An Seabhac); Advising in Language Learning (ALL); Language for Work; Language Coaching in the Workplace, Language and Wellbeing; Adult Education, and Participatory Research. 

She is currently (2024) supervising four PhD students working in the field of the Psychology of Language Learning, and one PhD student working on a Gaeltacht-based music and wellbeing initiative.  

Key Responsibilities
Stiúrthóir, Aonad na Gaeilge [The Irish Language Centre at UL] 
https://www.ul.ie/artsoc/aonad-na-gaeilge
Course Director: Dioplóma sa Ghaeilge Fheidhmeach 
Subject Leader - Gaeilge: Professional Master of Education (Languages)
UL Knowledge for Change (K4C) Mentor (Languages and Culture Portfolio)
Microcredential developer and module coordinator: GA6172 An Chóitseáil Teanga san Ionad Oibre / Language Coaching in the Workplace. 
Module Coordinator: LP6012/LP6015 (Language Pedagogy).                                                                        

Research Interests

Community-Based Participatory Research (CBPR); adult learners; transformative learning; work-based language learning; Advising in Language Learning (ALL); language policy and organisational change; positive institutions, language (in)security; 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 an 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. They have also informed the development of a new  UL microcredential on Language Coaching in the Workplace. 

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]



Edited Books

  Year Publication
2015 'Rí na Gréine': Aistí i gCuimhne ar An Seabhac
Ní Loingsigh, D., Ní Mhunghaile, L. & uí Ógáin, R (Ed.). (2015) 'Rí na Gréine': Aistí i gCuimhne ar An Seabhac Baile Átha Cliath: An Cumann le Béaloideas Éireann. [Details]

Peer Reviewed Journals

  Year Publication
2020 'Advising in Language Learning in a new speaker context: Facilitating linguistic shifts'
Ní Loingsigh, D; Mozzon-McPherson, M (2020) 'Advising in Language Learning in a new speaker context: Facilitating linguistic shifts'. Elsevier, System 2020 (12) [DOI] [Details]

Book Chapters

  Year Publication
2024 '(In Press) The Bibliographical Legacy of An Seabhac (1883–1964)'
Ní Loingsigh, D. (2024) '(In Press) The Bibliographical Legacy of An Seabhac (1883–1964)' In: Sewell, F., Ó Ciardha, É., & Titley, A. (Eds.) (eds). THE OXFORD HISTORY OF THE IRISH BOOK VOLUME II: The Printed Book in Irish 1567–2000s. Oxford: Open University Press. [Details]
2009 'An Staid Reatha - Teagasc na Gaeilge faoi láthair; Ollscoil Luimnigh'
Ó hIfearnáin, T. & Ní Loingsigh, D. (2009) 'An Staid Reatha - Teagasc na Gaeilge faoi láthair; Ollscoil Luimnigh' In: Ní Fhrighil, R. & Nic Eoin, M (eds). Ó Theagasc Teanga go Sealbhú Teanga: Múineadh agus Foghlaim na Gaeilge ar an Tríú Leibhéal. Baile Átha Cliath: Cois Life. [Details]

Other Journals

  Year Publication
2023 'The professional practice of language advising in the official languages workplace context in Ireland'
Ní Loingsigh, Deirdre (2023) 'The professional practice of language advising in the official languages workplace context in Ireland' Linguistic Minorities in Europe Online, . [DOI] [Details]

Conference Contributions

  Year Publication
2023 CCERBAL 2023,
Ní Loingsigh, Deirdre (2023) Positive Psychology in Language Learning: What, Who, Why and How Theory Flows into Practice” - Advising in Language Learning (ALL) as a Positive Intervention to Promote Linguistic Security in the Organisational Context. [Invited Oral Presentation], CCERBAL 2023, University of Ottawa , 04-MAY-23 - 06-MAY-23 [Details]
2022 UNESCO World Higher Education Week 2022,
Ní Loingsigh, Deirdre (2022) The Justice Imperative: Knowledge Democracy, Higher Education and the SDGs. [Invited Oral Presentation], UNESCO World Higher Education Week 2022, Barcelona [Details]
2022 Psychology of Language Learning 4,
Ní Loingsigh, Deirdre (2022) WAVES OF CHANGE: AN APPRAISAL OF THE CHANGING POSITIONALITY OF A REFLECTIVE PRACTITIONER-RESEARCHER AND PROJECT-LEAD ON IRISH LANGUAGE SUPPORT INNOVATIONS FOR PARENTS OVER THE LAST TWENTY YEARS​. [International Refereed Conference], Psychology of Language Learning 4, Cape Breton University, Nova Scotia , 21-JUN-22 - 21-JUN-22 [Details]
2021 Bilingualism and Beyond: Advancing the Thinking on Pedagogies, Policies and Practices,
Ní Loingsigh, D (2021) Featured Event (Symposium) Languages and bilingualism in the era of geographic, social and professional mobilities Organizer: Monika Jezak (University of Ottawa), PILAP Joint Event, Canadian Centre for Studies and Research on Bilingualism and Language Planning (CCERBAL), Official Languages and Bilingualism Institute (OLBI), University of Ottawa in collaboration with EDiLiC. [Invited Oral Presentation], Bilingualism and Beyond: Advancing the Thinking on Pedagogies, Policies and Practices, University of Ottawa (virtual) , 30-MAY-21 - 30-MAY-21 [Details]
2020 Association of University Language Communities in the UK and Ireland (AULC) 2020AULC,
Ní Loingsigh, D. (2020) Bláthú (Flourishing): Reflections on a Community-Based Participatory Research Initiative and links between language learning and wellbeing. [Oral Presentation], Association of University Language Communities in the UK and Ireland (AULC) 2020AULC, Maynooth University , 09-JAN-20 [Details]
2019 CSIS/Translation Commons International Year of Indigenous Languages (IYIL) event,
Ní Loingsigh, D. (2019) Community Engagement with Minority Languages in the Digital World and Beyond. [Invited Oral Presentation], CSIS/Translation Commons International Year of Indigenous Languages (IYIL) event, University of Limerick , 29-OCT-19 [Details]
2018 CALS Research Day 2018,
Ní Loingsigh, D. (2018) Knowledge for Change (K4C) Consortium for Training in Community-Based Research. [Oral Presentation], CALS Research Day 2018, University of Limerick , 24-MAY-18 [Details]
2018 ECML Language for Work: Tools for professional development,
Ní Loingsigh, D. (2018) Dissemination Event. [Other], ECML Language for Work: Tools for professional development, European Centre for Modern Languages, Graz, Austria , 23-OCT-18 - 17-OCT-18 [Details]
2018 Lunch and Learn [invited presentation] Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat / Government of Canada,
Ní Loingsigh, D. (2018) Online presentation and Q&A with team of Official Languages Centre of Excellence. [Invited Oral Presentation], Lunch and Learn [invited presentation] Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat / Government of Canada, Official Languages Centre of Excellence, Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat / Government of Canada , 22-NOV-18 [Details]
2018 SEIMINEÁR GAEILGE ÓGLAIGH NA hÉIREANN 2018,
Ní Loingsigh, D. (2018) Invited presentation - Irish Language Seminar [Irish Defence Forces]. [Invited Oral Presentation], SEIMINEÁR GAEILGE ÓGLAIGH NA hÉIREANN 2018, Dún an tSairséalaigh, Luimneach , 05-DEC-18 [Details]
2018 Multidisciplinary Approaches in Language Policy and Planning Conference 2018,
Ní Loingsigh, D. (2018) The Five Ps of Language Advising in an Irish Workplace: Professional Practice, Participatory Research, Person-Centeredness, and Policy https://ahss.blog/2018/09/04/multidisciplinary-approaches-in-language-policy-and-planning-conference-2018-ontario/. [Oral Presentation], Multidisciplinary Approaches in Language Policy and Planning Conference 2018, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto [Details]
2017 New Speakers in a Multilingual Europe: Policies and Practices (Final Whole Action Conference),
Ní Loingsigh, D., Ní Ghearáin, H., Ó Cairealláin, A., Ó Súilleabháin, S. (2017) Shaping a Language Support Infrastructure for New Speakers: Experimentations and Positions in an Irish Language “Incubation Space” (Panel Coordinator & Participant). [Chaired Session], New Speakers in a Multilingual Europe: Policies and Practices (Final Whole Action Conference), University of Coimbra, Portugal , 14-SEP-17 - 16-SEP-17 [Details]
2017 International Symposium on Bilingualism ISB11,
Ní Loingsigh, D; Mozzon-McPherson, M, Bradley, F. (2017) Language Advising for New Speakerness: Facilitating Linguistic Shifts (Colloquium Organiser and Presenter). [Chaired Session], International Symposium on Bilingualism ISB11, University of Limerick , 11-JUN-17 - 11-JUN-17 [Details]
2016 Comhdháil Chumann Idirnáisiúnta na gCoimisinéirí Teanga, 2016,
Ní Loingsigh, D. (2016) An Chomhairleoireacht Teanga san Ionad Oibre: Cleamhnas idir an Ghéilliúlacht Reachtach agus an Cúram. [Invited Oral Presentation], Comhdháil Chumann Idirnáisiúnta na gCoimisinéirí Teanga, 2016, Óstán Galway Bay , 08-MAR-16 - 08-MAR-16 [Details]
2016 Psychology of Language Learning 2,
Ní Loingsigh, D. (2016) Relational Knowing as a ‘Tool’ in Advising for Mandated Language Learning in the Workplace. [International Refereed Conference], Psychology of Language Learning 2, University of Jyväskylä, Finland , 22-AUG-16 - 24-AUG-16 [Details]
2016 Supporting & Developing Minority Language Communities: a Seminar for Language Practitioners in Higher Education with a particular reference to Irish & Scottish Gaelic,
Ní Loingsigh, D (2016) Language Support for University Staff: Reflections on an Experimental Framework. [Invited Oral Presentation], Supporting & Developing Minority Language Communities: a Seminar for Language Practitioners in Higher Education with a particular reference to Irish & Scottish Gaelic, Dublin , 17-JUN-16 - 17-JUN-16 [Details]
2016 The New Speakers Network 2nd Whole Action Conference,
Ní Loingsigh, D. (2016) Working Group 8 Panel: Spaces of Language Socialisation. [Non Refereed Paper/Abstract Presented at Conference], The New Speakers Network 2nd Whole Action Conference, Universität Hamburg , 12-MAY-16 - 14-MAY-16 [Details]
2015 Centre for Applied Language Studies (CALS) UL Research Day,
Ní Loingsigh, D. (2015) Language for the Workplace: The Spatial Practices of New Speakers of Irish. [Oral Presentation], Centre for Applied Language Studies (CALS) UL Research Day, University of Limerick , 10-JUN-15 - 10-JUN-15 [Details]
2015 Ceiliúradh Lughnasa Oidhreacht Chorca Dhuibhne,
Ní Loingsigh, D. (2015) Seoda an tSeabhaic: Blaiseadh Beag d'Ábhar na Cartlainne. [Invited Lecture], Ceiliúradh Lughnasa Oidhreacht Chorca Dhuibhne, Baile an Fheirtéaraigh, Co. Chiarraí , 14-AUG-15 - 14-AUG-15 [Details]
2015 Forward thinking in Applied Linguistics IRAAL 40th Anniversary Conference 2015,
Ní Loingsigh, D. (2015) New Directions in Advising for Language Learning: Participatory Action Research and the Role of Irish Language Advisor in the Workplace. [Oral Presentation], Forward thinking in Applied Linguistics IRAAL 40th Anniversary Conference 2015, Trinity College Dublin , 21-NOV-15 - 21-NOV-15 [Details]

Magazine Article

  Year Publication
2005 Seabhac na hAmharclainne.
Ní Loingsigh, Deirdre (2005) Seabhac na hAmharclainne. Camas, Conamara: Magazine Article [Details]

Translation

  Year Publication
2018 ECML Language for Work: Tools for professional development (Quick Guide).
Bradwell, A. Grünhage-Monetti, M., Portefin. C., Sjösvärd, K. (2018) ECML Language for Work: Tools for professional development (Quick Guide). Graz, Austria: Translation [Details]

Professional Associations

  Association Function From / To
Coiste na nOifigeach agus na Stiúrthóirí Gaeilge Ollscoile Rúnaí Feidhmeach (2005-2006) /
The International Association for the Psychology of Language Learning (IAPLL) Member /
Cumann Merriman Rúnaí Ballraíochta / Membership Secretary 2001-2014 /
Physical Education Association of Ireland [PEAI] Member of Executive Committee (1997-1999) /
Irish Water Safety (IWS) National Education Commission Appointed member (2000-2003) /

Committees

  Committee Function From / To
UL Official Languages Act Implementation Group Member since 2004 /
Coiste na Gaeilge, UL Rúnaí Feidhmeach, Executive Secretary since 2001 /
UL Engage University Working Group working group member /
An Coiste Seasta um Cháilíocht Teanga, NUIG External Member since 2012 /
University Teacher Education Board Rep School of English, Irish, and Communciation Member of Course Board PME Languages /

Education

  Year Institution Qualification Subject
2003 UL MA History and Local Studies History and Local Studies
2019 University of Victoria, Canada Knowledge for Change Mentor Community-Based Participatory Research 21-week training programme
1993 UL BA Corpoideachas le Gaeilge Physical Education / Gaeilge
1999 NUIG MA sa Nua-Ghaeilge Nua-Ghaeilge
2015 NUIM Doctor of Education Adult Education

Outreach Activities

  Description

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,

Other Activities

  Description

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

Teaching Interests

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

Modules Taught

  Term (ID)) Title Link Subject
Autumn Language and Culture in the Classroom 2 LP6015Language Pedagogy
Autumn Log Foghlama 3 GA3043An Fhoghlaim Fhéinriartha
Spring Scríbhneoirí Comhaimseartha na Gaeilge agus an Pobal Léitheoireachta GA3044Litríocht
Spring Saibhriú Teanga: Comhthéacsanna Cumarsáide GA3054Teanga
Spring Log Foghlama 4 GA3064An Fhoghlaim Fhéinriartha
Autumn An Ghaeilge Ghairmiúil GA4006Gaeloideachas / Teanga
Autumn An Ghaeilge sa Chleachtas Gairmiúil GA3031 Teanga
Autumn An Fhilíocht Chomhaimseartha GA3041Filíocht
Autumn Log Foghlama 1 GA3051An Fhoghlaim Fhéinriartha
Spring An Ghaeilge sa Chleachtas Gairmiúil 2 GA3042Teanga
Spring An Traidisiún Béil GA3052Béaloideas
Spring Log Foghlama 2 GA3062An Fhoghlaim Fhéinriartha
Autumn An Cleachtas Dátheangach GA3023An tsochtheangeolaíocht
Autumn Scríbhneoireacht agus Scileanna an Léinn GA3033Teanga
Spring Language Pedagogy 2: The Language Teacher as Professional Practitioner LP6012 Language Pedagogy

National Collaborators

  Name Institute Country
Dr. TJ Ó Ceallaigh University College Cork

International Collaborators

  Name Organisation / Institute Country
Marina Mozzon-McPherson University of Hull England
Language Management Interdisciplinary Group University of Ottawa Canada
Carsten Quell Canada
Budd Hall Canada
COST Action New Speakers in a Multilingual Europe
European Centre for Modern Languages (ECML) Language for Work Network Austria