Dr David O'Reilly

Profile

Biography

In November 2017, I started my appointment as Associate Lecturer in Education (Teaching and Scholarship), successfully defending my PhD one month later. In October 2021, I was promoted to Lecturer. I lecture on a range of UG and PG modules and supervise taught BA, MA, and MSc students. My research focuses on first and second language metaphoric competence in relation to vocabulary knowledge and other aspects of language proficiency, language play/creativity, and test design/assessment. I am also interested in advancing research methodology and (particularly) quantitative methods in these areas (for publications for academic audiences, see Research).

For the scholarship aspect of my role, I have worked on Open Accessible Studies in Language Studies (OASIS), an ESRC and British Academy funded project aimed at making research findings on language learning, language education, and multilingualism more accessible to a wider audience. For OASIS, I currently lead workshops introducing the resource to language practitioners and students, and previously published summaries of journal articles, co-written with the original authors (see External activity). I previously served as Project Administrator for IRIS, a large repository for materials used to collect data for research into second language learning and teaching.

In 2019, I became the department’s Academic e-Learning Coordinator, and work with various colleagues and services to better embed digital tools and literacy in our curricula. In this role, I devised the Education E-Learning (EEL) Hub, a VLE resource to help colleagues access resources and help, and for sharing best practice. I also lead the department's online support group.

Externally, I am Secretary for the Association for Researching and Applying Metaphor (RaAM), an open community of researchers of metaphor, metonymy, and other forms of figurative expression, and a registered charity in England and Wales. 

In 2021, I became a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.

Career

• 2021-present: Review Editor, Metaphor and the Social World
• 2021-present: Lecturer in Education (Teaching and Scholarship)
• 2021: Winner, RaAM Early Career Research Paper Prize 2021
• 2021: Winner, Vice-Chancellor’s Teaching Award 2021: Covid response category
• 2021: Fellow of the Higher Education Academy
• 2021: Nominated: YUSU Outstanding Zoom Creativity and Teacher of the Year
• 2021: Winner, Department of Education 'Making the Difference' scheme
• 2020-22: Secretary, the Association for Researching and Applying Metaphor (RaAM)
• 2018-20: Ordinary Member on the Executive Committee of the Association for Researching and Applying Metaphor (RaAM)
• 2017-21: Associate Lecturer in Education (Teaching and Scholarship)
• 2017: Research Assistant, a meta-analysis of reliability in metaphoric competence and preparatory work for an innovative meta-analysis tool, Principal Investigator: Emma Marsden, funding by a Department Research Priming Grant Awarded (£1094)
• 2014-18: Postgraduate Liaison and Development Officer on the Executive Committee of the Association for Researching and Applying Metaphor (RaAM)
• 2014: Research Assistant: Promoting dialogic teaching to enhance student critical engagement with learning, Principle Investigator: Jan Hardman
• 2013-17: PhD student, University of York, An investigation into metaphoric competence in the L2: A linguistic approach
• 2013-16: Project Administrator: IRIS: The Repository of Instruments for Research into Second Languages, Project Directors: Emma Marsden, Luke Plonsky (Alison Mackey, former)
• 2012-13: Masters in Applied Linguistics for English Language Teaching, University of York
• 2008-12: English Language Instructor, Berlitz Centre for Foreign Languages, Belgrade, Serbia
• 2003-06: Bachelors in English Language and Literature, University of Manchester

University roles

• Derwent SCR member

Research

Overview

Academic publications

O'Reilly, D., & Marsden, E. (2021). Elicited metaphoric competence in a second language: A construct associated with vocabulary knowledge and general proficiency? International Review of Applied Linguistics in Language Teaching. https://doi.org/10.1515/iral-2020-0054

O'Reilly, D., & Marsden, E. (2021). Eliciting and measuring L2 metaphoric competence: Three decades on from Low (1988). Applied Linguistics, 42(1), 24-59, https://doi.org/10.1093/applin/amz066

Mifka-Profozic, N., O'Reilly, D., & Guo, J. (2020). Sensitivity to syntactic violation and semantic ambiguity in English modal verbs: A self-paced reading study. Applied Psycholinguistics. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0142716420000338

O’Reilly, D., (2019). [Review of the book Metaphor: A computational perspective, by T. Veale, E. Shutova, and B. Beigman-Klebanov]. Metaphor and the Social World, 9(1), 131-138. https://doi.org/10.1075/msw.18033.ore

I have several other empirical articles currently under revision/review.

Scholarship: Practitioner, student, and researcher audiences

OASIS summaries and training workshops

I have published OASIS summaries of journal articles (co-written with the original authors) in the areas of second language error correction/repair, formulaic language learning, language testing, and metaphor/figurative language learning. My published summaries are available on the OASIS project website.

I also hold training workshops on introducing and using OASIS in language teaching and learning (see External activity).

Metaphor research community

• In 2015 I devised The METAPHOR Column, a student engagement initiative in which students interview established academics and are interviewed themselves for the RaAM newsletter
• Interview in the RaAM newsletter June 2016 (Issue 18, pp. 15-16) with the project team from Mapping Metaphor and Metaphor in the Curriculum (University of Glasgow)
• RaAM Postgraduate Liaison and Development Officer community news and updates in RaAM newsletters 2015– 2018 (issues 16-22)
• ‘Introducing: The new RaAM student directory!’ Article with Gudrun Reijnierse in the RaAM newsletter May 2015 (issue 16, pp. 12-13)
• Report from RaAM 2014 conference (University of Cagliari, Sardinia) in the RaAM newsletter October 2014 (issue 15, p. 25)

Research group(s)

• Centre for Advanced Studies in Language and Education (CASLE)

Supervision

I supervise undergraduate and postgraduate students in the department and serve as a doctoral Thesis Advisory Panel member.

Teaching

Undergraduate

I teach / have taught on the following undergraduate modules:

• Educational Research Methods
• New directions in Educational Research
• Researching Psychology in Education

Postgraduate

I teach / have taught on the following postgraduate modules:

• Evaluating TESOL Practice
• Language Curriculum Design and Evaluation
• Language for Education
• Planning and Communicating Research
• Pragmatics: Language, Meaning and Communication
• Quantitative and Qualitative Data Analysis
• Research Methods for Psychology in Education I
• Research Methods for Psychology in Education II
• Research Methods in Language Learning and Teaching
• TESOL Methods
• Testing and Assessment in English Language Teaching

External activities

Memberships

• Fellow of the Higher Education Academy
• Member of the Association for Researching and Applying Metaphor (RaAM)

Editorial duties

• Review Editor, Metaphor and the Social World
• Postgraduate and Academic Researchers in Linguistics at York (PARLAY) 2014 Conference Proceedings

Invited talks and conferences

O’Reilly, D. (2021, August). Introducing and using Open Accessible Summaries in Language Studies (OASIS) in Higher Education. Invited online workshop for pre-sessional MA TESOL students, International Pathway College, University of York

O'Reilly, D. and Marsden, E. (2021, June/July). Metaphoric competence in a second language: A construct associated with vocabulary knowledge and general proficiency? Poster accepted for presentation at the 30th European Second Languages Association (EuroSLA) virtual conference at the University of Barcelona, Spain.

O'Reilly, D. and Kerrigan, A. (2021, June). Space and movement in second language metaphor teaching tasks. Paper accepted for oral presentation at 14th RaAM (blended) Conference on Metaphor and Space, University of Vilnius, Lithuania.

O'Reilly, D. (2021, April). Second language metaphoric competence and English language teaching. Invited talk for teachers, students, and researchers in the CoLa (Communication & Language) Research Knowledge Exchange Unit, Bishop Grosseteste University, UK.

O'Reilly, D. an Mifka-Profozic, N. (2021, March). Advancing self-paced reading into English modal verb processing: Quantitative modelling and instrument reliability. Paper presented at the American Association for Applied Linguistics (AAAL) virtual conference 2021.

O'Reilly, D. (2021, March). Introducing and using IRIS and OASIS in MA projects. Invited talk for MA TESOL and MA Applied Linguistics students at King’s College London, UK.

O’Reilly, D. (2020, September). L2 metaphoric competence and English language teaching. Invited online talk for Education and Modern Language students/pre-service teachers, University of Costa Rica, Costa Rica.

O’Reilly, D. (2020, August). Introducing and using Open Accessible Summaries in Language Studies (OASIS) in Higher Education. Invited online workshop for pre-sessional MA TESOL students, International Pathway College, University of York.

O'Reilly, D. and Yan, L. (2020, June). Playing with metaphor: The role of language, mode, and skill. Paper presented at the 13th RaAM (Virtual) Conference on Metaphorical creativity in a multilingual world, Inland Norway University of Applied Sciences in collaboration with the Centre for Multilingualism in Society across the Lifespan (Multiling), Norway.

O'Reilly, D. (2020, April). Bridging the research-practice divide in second language teaching/learning: Three encounters involving OASIS and IRIS. Invited talk for Department of Education Scholarship Forum, University of York.

O'Reilly, D. (2020, February). Digital, Literacy and Language Roundtable. Invited participant at Carnegie UK Trust and Good Things Foundation event, St Thomas Centre, Manchester.

O’Reilly, D. (2019, July). Investigating vocabulary ‘size’ and ‘depth’ as predictors of L2 metaphoric competence: A new application of an old question. Poster presented at Vocab@Leuven International Conference, KU Leuven, Belgium.

O’Reilly, D. (2019, July). Introducing and using Open Accessible Summaries in Language Studies (OASIS) in Higher Education. Invited workshops for pre-sessional MA TESOL students, International Pathway College, University of York.

O’Reilly, D. (2019, June). Introducing and using Open Accessible Summaries in Language Studies (OASIS) in Higher Education. Invited workshop for visiting Chinese University of Hong Kong students, Centre for Global Programmes, University of York.

O’Reilly, D. (2019, April). Introducing and using OASIS in teaching: Summer schools and short courses. Invited workshop for Language Instructors, Centre for Global Programmes, University of York.

O’Reilly, D. (2019, March). ‘Good’ extensions of re-literalised idioms: Evaluating and comparing the creative productions of L2 and L1 language users. Poster presented at The Creative Power of Metaphor (Creative Multilingualism panel and poster event), University of Oxford, UK. A 90-second video summary of my research is to appear on the Creative Multilingualism Project website.

O'Reilly, D. (2018, November). 'Better' approaches to instrument and interrater reliability analysis using R. Research Methodology Brownbag Series, University of York, UK.

O'Reilly, D. (2018, August). What are the relationships between second language (L2) metaphoric competence, vocabulary knowledge and general proficiency? Invited talk for Jiangsu University students. Centre for Global Programmes, University of York, UK

O’Reilly, D. (2018, June). Multiple-choice in L2 metaphoric competence testing. Paper presented at the 12th RaAM Conference on Metaphor across Contexts and Domains: From Description to Application, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong. Shortlisted for Best PhD Presentation Award.

O’Reilly, D. and Marsden, E. (2017, October). The 'slippery' construct of L2 metaphoric competence. Paper presented at the Second Language Research Forum (SLRF) 2017, Growing Connections in Second Language Research, Ohio State University, USA.

O'Reilly, D. (2017, July). Metaphor, metaphoric competence and foreign language learning: Education/social science session for widening participation summer residential students. Invited talk for Student Recruitment and Admissions. University of York, UK.

O’Reilly, D. (2017, May). Is ‘getting stuck between a rock and a hard place’ really easier than ‘falling head over heels’? The curious case of extended-bodily-idioms for learners of English. Paper presented at the 6th RaAM Specialised Seminar on Ecological Cognition and Metaphor, University of Southern Denmark, Denmark.

O’Reilly, D. (2016, March). L2 metaphoric competence: Moving from classroom task to assessment tool. Poster presented at BAAL TEA SIG: Assessment for learning and assessment of learning: Incommensurate paradigms or complementary perspectives? University of Reading, UK.

O’Reilly, D. (2016, January). Identifying and analysing formulaic sequences in L2 production. Paper presented at the FLaRN 2016 Workshop, Swansea University, UK.