Biography

Dr. Rongrong Guo is a Lecturer and the Coordinator of the MA in Teaching Chinese to Speakers of Other Languages (MA-TCSOL) program at University College Cork. She holds a PhD in Second Language Acquisition from University College Cork and an MA in Chinese Linguistics and Philology from Shanghai University. Dr. Guo has taught Chinese as a second/foreign language since 2009, with over a decade of experience teaching at various proficiency levels—from beginner to advanced intermediate—in Mainland China, Thailand, and Ireland. 

Research Interests

  • Empirical studies in second language acquisition
  • Language assessment
  • Study abroad
  • Chinese language education 

Academic Supervision Experience
  • Co-supervisor for two PhD research projects:
    1. "Navigating Transitions: Chinese Immigrant Children's Early Years Education in Ireland" (October 2024 - Present)
    2. "Heritage Language Acquisition of Chinese in AI-Enhanced Learning Environments" (January 2025 - Present)

Research Grants

  Project Funding
Body 		Start Date End Date Award
School Research / CASiLaC funding 2024 School of Languages, Literatures and Cultures 24-FEB-25 24-APR-25 €500.00
Erasmus Teaching Staff Mobility ERASMUS 30-JUN-25 06-JUL-25 €1,569.00
CIRTLs international winter school University College Cork 18-NOV-24 29-NOV-24 €1,213.20

Peer Reviewed Journals

  Year Publication
(2024) 'Chinese Second Language Learners' Speaking Development During Study Abroad: Complexity, Accuracy and Fluency'
Rongrong Guo (2024) 'Chinese Second Language Learners' Speaking Development During Study Abroad: Complexity, Accuracy and Fluency'. International Journal of Chinese Language Teaching, 5 (2):54-72 [DOI] [Details]

Articles

  Year Publication
(2025) An analysis of Chinese exam questions in the Irish Leaving Certificate (In Chinese 《爱尔兰高考中文试题分析》).
Huang, Xiao., Guo, Rongrong., & Huang, Junyi. (2025) An analysis of Chinese exam questions in the Irish Leaving Certificate (In Chinese 《爱尔兰高考中文试题分析》). Examination Research (in Chinese 考试研究): Articles [Details]

Honours and Awards

  Year Title Awarding Body
2024 Certificate of Completion of the Summer Workshop (8-12 July) on "Frontier Research in Applied Linguistics" School of Liberal Arts,Nanjing University
2024 PG Certificate in Teaching and Learning in Higher Education, CIRTL (The Centre for the Integration of Research, Teaching and Learning) 23-24 University College Cork

Professional Associations

  Association Function From / To
American Academy of International Culture and Education Member 25-AUG-22 / 26-AUG-26
The social and cultural integration of international students in their host countries of COST (European Cooperation in Science and Technology) Member 16-DEC-22 /

Conference Contributions

  Year Publication
(2024) International Symposium on Smart Education forInternational Chinese Language Education,
Rongrong Guo & Xiao Huang (2024) Development of Chinese Language Teaching Resources in Ireland (Ai'erlan Zhongwen jiaoxue ziyuan fazhan zhuangkuang). [Oral Presentation], International Symposium on Smart Education forInternational Chinese Language Education, Shanghai University , 13-JUL-24 - 14-JUL-24. [Details]
(2023) Summit Forum on International Chinese Education & The 4th Belt and Road Conference on International Chinese,
Rongrong Guo (2023) History and current situation of Chinese education development in Ireland: opportunities and challenges (爱尔兰中文教育发展的历史和现状：机遇与挑战（in Chinese). [Oral Presentation], Summit Forum on International Chinese Education & The 4th Belt and Road Conference on International Chinese, Shanghai University , 11-AUG-23 - 13-AUG-23. [Details]
(2023) 7th International Conference on Chinese as a Second Language Research (CASLAR-7),
Rongrong Guo (2023) “L2 oral Mandarin development during study abroad: complexity, accuracy and fluency”. [Oral Presentation], 7th International Conference on Chinese as a Second Language Research (CASLAR-7), Peking University , 18-AUG-23 - 19-AUG-23. [Details]
(2022) The 4th International Symposium on Chinese Theoretical and Applied Linguistics (ISOCTAL-4),
Rongrong Guo (2022) “Effects of Learning Contexts on L2 Mandarin Fluency Development”. [Oral Presentation], The 4th International Symposium on Chinese Theoretical and Applied Linguistics (ISOCTAL-4), University of Leeds , 20-JUN-22 - 21-JUN-22. [Details]
(2022) Panel 2 - International communication of language and culture, the 13th Annual Conference of Shanghai Comparative Literature Research,
Rongrong Guo (2022) “The formulation of the language policy for the inclusion of Chinese in the Irish Leaving Certificate Examination”. [Oral Presentation], Panel 2 - International communication of language and culture, the 13th Annual Conference of Shanghai Comparative Literature Research, Online , 30-OCT-22 - 30-OCT-22. [Details]
(2019) Third International Symposium on Chinese Theoretical and Applied Linguistics (ISOCTAL-3),
Rongrong Guo (2019) “A longitudinal study on the development of oral competence: A case study of Chinese undergraduate students in Ireland”. [Oral Presentation], Third International Symposium on Chinese Theoretical and Applied Linguistics (ISOCTAL-3), University College Cork , 13-DEC-19 - 14-DEC-19. [Details]
(2019) Irish Association for Applied Linguistics (IRAAL),
Rongrong Guo (2019) “A longitudinal study on the development of oral competence: A case study on Chinese L2 undergraduate students in Ireland”. [Oral Presentation], Irish Association for Applied Linguistics (IRAAL), National University of Ireland Galway , 30-NOV-19 - 30-DEC-19. [Details]
(2016) IRAAL Annual Conference,
Yongbin Xia, Rongrong Guo, Zexiang Ren & Mary Ruane (2016) “Chinese Language and Culture in the Junior Cycle: Context, rationale and design”. [Oral Presentation], IRAAL Annual Conference, Trinity College Dublin , 19-NOV-16 - 19-NOV-16. [Details]

Committees

  Committee Function From / To
2024 Irish Association for Applied Linguistics (15-16 November) member of Organizing committee 2024 / 2024
Third International Symposium on Chinese Theoretical and Applied Linguistics – 2019 (ISOCTAL-3,12-14Dec) member of Organizing Committee 2019 / 2019

Employment

  Employer Position From / To
Chinese Studies, Dundalk Institute of Technology, Ireland External examiner 01-JUN-15 / 31-AUG-17
Confucius Institute, University College Cork, Ireland Chinese language teacher 30-SEP-13 / 31-AUG-17
Shanghai University Chinese language teacher 01-SEP-12 / 31-JUL-13
Prince of Songkla University, Phuket, Thailand Chinese language teacher 01-MAY-09 / 31-MAR-10

Education

  Year Institution Qualification Subject
2022 University College Cork Phd (Arts) Title of dissertation thesis:The development of oral competence: a semi-longitudinal study on English-speaking adult L2 learners of Chinese in Ireland
2011 Shanghai University Master of Arts Chinese linguistics

Outreach Activities

  Description

18/11/2023 - : The Treasure of the Association of China-Ireland academics (爱中教授学者协会 财务) （See https://acia13.com/）

23/09/2023 - : President of the Ireland Alumni Association of SHU (上海大学爱尔兰校友会会长)

Other Activities

  Description

6 July 2022: Invited talk on The Development of Chinese Education in Ireland (virtual), hosted by the Chinese International Education Program at Shanghai University of Sport (上海体育大学汉语国际教育专业).

2024 - 2026: co-PI, research project on 'Case Studies in International Chinese Education in Ireland' (in Chinese《爱尔兰国际中文教育教学案例研究》), funded by the International Society for Chinese Language Teaching(世界汉语教学协会)

2023 - 2024: co-PI, research project on 'Integration Research of the Irish Leaving Certificate Chinese Examination Papers and the International Chinese Proficiency Standards' .   

2021-2022:  co-PI, research project on 'International Chinese Education of the Center for Language Education and Cooperation'.

Teaching Interests



  • CH6307 From Pedagogical Theory to Effective Classroom 
  • CH6304 Teaching Practice Internship 
  • CH6305 Dissertation in Teaching Chinese to Speakers of Other Languages
  • CH6308 Postgraduate Research Skills (co-taught)

  • AS1001 Introduction to Modern Asia: Three lectures—Chinese Art and Literature, Chinese Traditional (Philosophical) Thought, and Chinese Dietary and Tea Culture—were delivered in March 2024 & 2025.
  • CH1000 An Introduction to Chinese Culture and Society: Two lecturers were delivered in March 2025.
  • Hourly Occasional Assistant Lecturer (Interpreter: Chinese-English): 2-week online course for staff at Beijing Information Science and Technology University (BISTU), hosted by the Centre for the Integration of Research, Teaching and Learning (CIRTL), University College Cork (UCC), November 18-29, 2024