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Kathleen McTiernan - Assistant Professor in Psychology

Kathleen McTiernan

Assistant Professor in Psychology

Dr Kathleen McTiernan is a Chartered Psychologist and an Assistant Professor in the School of Linguistic, Speech and Communication Sciences. Dr McTiernan’s research focuses on the links between learning and identity transformation. Her teaching and postgraduate supervision include the psychology of language learning, the psychology of speech and language disorders and psycholinguistics.

Principal Research Interests

  • Multilingualism and Education The VirtuLApp project is a European Commission funded project and is delivered by an international consortium, comprising the Fryske Akademy/Mercator Research Centre (The Netherlands), ATiT (Belgium), Luca School of Arts (Belgium), Trinity College Dublin (Ireland) and Universidad del Pais Vasco (Spain). Together, we are developing an innovative multididactic approach which teachers can use in the classroom in any multilingual situation.
  • Multilingualism and Language Learning: 'Cross-Language Dynamics: Reshaping Community’: This research project forms part of a large–scale research initiative ‘Cross-Language Dynamics: Reshaping Community’, an AHRC-Funded OWRI Programme, based at the University of Manchester, and in collaboration with the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. Its focus is the intersection between multilingualism, language learning and higher education.
  • The Life Histories Archive: Exchanging Knowledge of the Lived Life The Life Histories Archive, funded by the Irish Research Council,  is a digital collection of autobiographies written by Irish women and men, over the age of 70, living in Dublin and Belfast. http://lifehistoriesarchive.com/

Recent Publications

  • McTiernan, K., Parkes, A. and Carson, L. (2020). Multilingual Practices in Primary Education in Europe: A Scoping Review in, editor(s)Carson, Lorna, Chung Kam Kwok and Caroline Smyth , Language and Identity in Europe: The Multilingual City and its Citizens, Oxford, Peter Lang, 2020, pp125 – 144.
  • Quigley, D., Smith, M. & McTiernan, K. (2019). Evaluating the Impact of a universal language enrichment programme in an area of low SES. Irish Association of Speech and Language Therapists Biennial Conference, Dublin, Ireland, 17th May 2019.
  • Ceroni, A., McTiernan, K. (2018). La Morgia, F., The vocabulary richness of children's television in Ireland: A cross-generational comparison., The Journal of the Irish Association of Applied Linguistics, 25, 2018, p138 – 153.
  • McTiernan, K. (2018). Supporting transitions in education: Educational transitioning into second level and higher education for adolescents on the Autistic Spectrum. Psychological Society of Ireland Annual Conference, Wexford, Ireland. 8/11/2018.