Rate My Professor Miriam Neigert

Dr. Miriam Neigert is Senior Lecturer in German Studies and Discipline Convenor in the School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences at the University of New England. She joined UNE in 2018 with over 15 years of teaching experience in adult and higher education in Germany and Australia. During her studies at Justus-Liebig-Universität Gießen, she contributed to an e-learning team developing digital language materials in collaboration with the Goethe-Institut and taught German online using chats, wikis, and SecondLife. Neigert holds a PhD from Justus-Liebig-Universität Gießen and Macquarie University Sydney via cotutelle, with a thesis on older language learners at community colleges in Germany. She also possesses an MA in Foreign Language Teaching and Learning for English, German, Arabic, and Islamic Studies from Justus-Liebig-Universität Gießen, and a Certificate for Professional Higher Education Teaching from the Hochschuldidaktisches Netzwerk, Gießen. Her research specializations include German Studies, TESOL, language learning and teaching focusing on assessment, digital media, online learning, and literature, individual learner differences such as age, self-concept, motivation, and neurodivergence, mixed methods in second language acquisition research, educational linguistics, adult education, higher education, and educational technology.

Key publications by Neigert feature her book New Perspectives on Older Language Learners: A Mixed Methods Study on the Temporal Self of Young-Old EFL Learners in Germany (Narr Francke Attempto, 2019), chapters in The Routledge Handbook of German Teaching such as “Distance not Distant: Enriched, Enlivened Online-Learning” and “A Voice and a Choice – Introducing Portfolio Assessment to German Courses at an Australian University” (both 2024, co-authored with Jennifer Evans), and “Lost in Translation: The Geopolitical Risks of Declining Foreign Language Learning in Australia and NZ” in The Conversation (2024, with Geoffrey Miller). She has earned the Citation for Outstanding Contributions to Student Learning from the Australian Awards for University Teaching (2023), Vice-Chancellor’s Citation for Education Excellence (UNE, 2023), Faculty Citation for Education Excellence (UNE, 2022), and School Citation for Education Excellence (UNE, 2021), plus unit commendations. Neigert supervises PhD, MA, and Honours research in German Studies, TESOL, and language teaching and learning, and participates in networks including the Languages and Cultures Network for Australian Universities and Australasian Society for Computers in Learning in Tertiary Education.