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Home > Faculty of Arts > Language Centre > Staff & Contact Details > Kerry Dunne

Professor Kerry Dunne

Director, Language Centre, Faculty of Arts

Office: 19:2098
Phone: +61 2 4221 5806
Email: kerry_dunne@uow.edu.au

Qualifications

BA (Hons), MA (Hons) & University Medal, PhD (Syd), 
Dip Ed (La T)

Biography

As Director of the Language Centre, I have the brief of consolidating and expanding the presence of languages and English language and linguistics in the University. The Centre will offer Mandarin as a major from 2010 and subsequently I will be exploring opportunities for liaising with community language groups and for introducing programs to prepare our students for today’s globalised economies.

I did my undergraduate (BA Hons) and postgraduate studies (MA Hons with University Medal and PhD) at the University of Sydney. I joined the University of Wollongong after having been employed at the University of New England (1987-2009) where I taught German, was Head of School (1998-2001; 2007-2008) and Academic Director of the Faculty of arts and Sciences (2008-2009). Prior to that I was a lecturer in German at the University of Sydney (1984-86), the University of Melbourne (1980-81) after having spent 1982-83 in Germany on a DAAD (Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst) scholarship.


Affiliations

• German Studies Association of Australia (Vice President 2002-2007)

• Women in German


Research Interests

My research is on several topics:

• Computer-assisted language learning (CALL)
• Post-war German film
• German crime fiction
• Günter Kunert, the  twentieth-century writer and dissident
• Georg Büchner, the nineteenth-century dramatist, writer and political activist.

My current project in CALL involves analysing second language acquisition in online programs. A grant from the Australian Learning and Teaching Council (2007-2008) funded the development of an interactive web-based curricuum, Deutsch e-rklärt (http://tlc.une.edu.au/deutsch-erklaert/). The data flowing from student use of the online language sites is providing information on the impact of embedding language learning strategies in the online program to facilitate students’ becoming independent learners. Deutsch e-rklärt addresses the issue of diverse types of students studying in today’s tertiary sector by providing a range of points of entry into a specific topic. In 2005-2006, a Higher Education Innovation Program (Collaboration and Structural Reform) grant enabled online assessment to be developed for the German major using the affordances of the new technologies. 


A second major area of interest is German popular culture, and in particular contemporary German film and crime fiction written in German. Popular culture reflects the socio-cultural concerns of the ‘author’ and audience, so an analysis provides an insight into the changing nature of German society. Films by prominent German directors of the post-war period such as Fatih Akin illustrate the multiple modes of performing German identity, and the depiction of society, often regional society, in the crime fiction of writers such as Völker Klüpfel and Michael Kobr, and the Austrian writer, Heinrich Steinfest, reveals contested identities and allegiances in contemporary Europe. 



My focus on identity in the post-Wende, 21st century German speaking countries is a development from my earlier research in literature which dealt with individuals' efforts to give meaning to their experience of a post-Enlightenment world: a world in which the uncertainty about the existence of God means that there are few existential certainties or supports. 

Günter Kunert (1929—) is a survivor of the Holocaust in Germany, who elected to live in East Germany only to be exiled from that country for his dissident views. Reconciling his life experiences with the project of finding meaning in individual experience is challenging, and Kunert uses religious allusions as metaphors for exploring the nature of human existence in the 20th century. Der Sündenfall: A parabolic key to the image of human existence in the work of Günter Kunert 1960-1990 (Lang, 1995) is the exploration of Kunert’s work from an existential perspective.
Georg Büchner and Fyodor M. Dostoevsky were writing at a time when the implications of the Enlightenment for humanity's spiritual equilibrium were only beginning to manifest themselves, and Stranded on the Shoals of Reason? Büchner and Dostoevsky in Tandem (2006) is a comparative analysis of their thematic universes.


Publications

Searchable RIS publications»

Books


a. Dunne, Kerry. Der Sündenfall: a parabolic key to the image of human existence in the work of Günter Kunert 1960-1990, Frankfurt: Peter Lang, 1995, 345 pp.


b. Dunne, Kerry; Campbell, Ian, eds. Unravelling the Labyrinth. Decoding Text and Language. Festschrift for Eric Lowson Marson, Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang, 1997, 174 pp.


c. Dunne, Kerry. Standed on the Shoals of Reason? Büchner and Dostoevsky in Tandem, Stuttgart: Akademischer Verlag, 2006, 186 pp. (Stuttgarter Arbeiten zur Germanistik)


d. Bandhauer, Andrea; Boss, Bettina; Dunne, Kerry; Mehigan, Tim; Möllering, Martina; Veber, Maria. New Directions in German Studies: A Context of Interdisciplinarity, Dunedin: Otago UP, 2005. (Otago German Studies Vol 20).

Book Chapters


a. Dunne, Kerry. “Apocalyptic Imagery in Günter Kunert’s Novel ‘Im Namen der Hüte’” Kerry Dunne, Ian Campbell, eds. Unravelling the Labyrinth. Decoding Text and Language. Festschrift for Eric Lowson Marson, Frankfurt: Peter Lang, 1997, pp. 147-58


b. Dunne, Kerry. “The Linguistic and Performative Levels of the Sexual Register in Büchner’s ‘Woyzeck’” [Chapter in a Sydney University Theatre Studies publication; accepted, but the book has not yet appeared] 

Refereed Journal Articles


a. Dunne, Kerry. “Woyzeck’s Marie: ‘Ein schlecht’ Mensch’? The Construction of Female Sexuality in Büchner’s ‘Woyzeck’”, Seminar 26.4 (1990), pp. 294-308


b. Dunne, Kerry. “No Conceivable Hope: The Symbolic Function of Medusa, Clio and the ‘Fee’ in Günter Kunert’s Work”, German Quarterly 76.2 (2003), pp. 155-167. 


c. Dunne, Kerry. ‘Gespräch mit Günter Kunert”, Deutsche Bücher XXIV (1994/3), pp. 179-94 


d. Dunne, Kerry. “Günter Kunert. ‘Baum. Stein. Beton. Reisen zwischen Ober- und Unterwelt’”, Deutsche Bücher XXIV (1994/3), pp. 195-96. 


e. Beck, W; Dunne, K; Fisher, J; O’Sullivan, J; Sheridan, A. “A Cappella and Diva: A Collaborative Process for Individual Academic Writing”, M/C Journal 9.2 May, 2006. 

f. Dunne, Kerry. 'Delivering subject choice and quality assurance in specialised disciplines: The University of New England’s model of subject delivery at the University of Newcastle' Australian Review of Applied Linguistics 31.2, Nov 2008
19.1-19.11

g. Beck, Wendy; Dunne, Kerry; Fisher, Josie; O’Sullivan, Jane; Sheridan, Alison. 'Turning Up the Heat: Collaboration as a Response to a Chilly Research Climate.' Text. 12.2, 2008. 

Non-refereed Publications

a. Dunne, Kerry. Cognitive and Affective Aspects of Second Language Learning. CHOMI Bibliography No. 5, Richmond (Vic): Clearing House on Migration Issues, 1978. 23 pp (An annotated bibliography)


b. Dunne, Kerry. “The Contents of Their Wallet”, Kangaroo 1988: 5

c. Dunne, Kerry. “Gwen Harward. Short Stories”, Kangaroo 1990: 7

Invited Presentations and Plenaries

Dunne, Kerry; Levy, Mike; Möllering, Martina. “What's on the menu? Options and issues for TELL in introductory language teaching.” Beyond the Crisis: Revitalising Languages in Australian Universities. Colloquium for Tertiary Language Teachers, Researchers and Planners. Feb 16-18, 2009. University of Melbourne.

Non-refereed Conference Papers 


a. “Das Bild Berlins im Werk Günter Kunerts” (The Image of Berlin in the Work of Günter Kunert).” Invited Paper. Goethe Institut Landeskundekonferenz. Maroochydore, QLD. July 1987


b. “Religious Imagery in Günter Kunert’s ‘Im Namen der Hüte.” AULLA 28, Feb 1995

c. “Best Teaching Practice at UNE in European Languages.” AVCC CEQ (Course Evaluation Questionnaire) Best practice in University Teaching Symposium. Griffith University, October 1996. (Joint paper with Dr Hilary Hutchinson)


d. “Wie war das? (What was that?) Interactive multimedia software for listening comprehension.” AULLA 30, Feb. 1997


e. “May they rest in peace?: Joseph Vilsmaier’s Film ‘Stalingrad’” AULLA 36, Feb, 2003

f. UNE’s German program at University of Newcastle. Applied Linguistics Association of Australia. Brisbane; July, 2006.

g. “Blended models of Language Delivery”. Collaborating to Offer Small Courses/ Subjects Forum. University of New England. May 17-18, 2007.

Reports  


a. Dunne, Kerry; Corkhill, Alan.  Benchmarking Report on the Department of German, University of Sydney.  (2004) 10 pp.

b. Tynan, Belinda; Dunne, Kerry; Smythe, Robyn. Collaborating to Offer Small Courses/ Subjects Forum. University of New England. May 17-18, 2007. Sydney; Carrick Institute. 64 pp.

c. Lehmann, Beat; Dunne, Kerry E-Tutor Manual. UNE. 2009. 30 pp.

Electronic Media


a. Dunne, Kerry; et al. Wie war das? CD-ROM. 1997. (Interactive multimedia program for enhanced listening comprehension for intermediate level students of German).


b. Dunne, Kerry; et al. Ach, so war das! CD-ROM. 2001. (Interactive multimedia program for enhanced listening comprehension for intermediate level students of German).


c. Dunne, Kerry; Evans, Jennifer; Lehmann, Beat; Petzl-Berney, Julia; Web based assessment for all 8 undergraduate language units and for German Hons GRMN 401H


d. Evans, Jennifer; Lehmann, Beat. Dunne, Kerry. Deutsch erklärt. An e-program in German for introductory students.



Submitted (under review)


a. Dunne, Kerry. 'Lessons learnt: student response to an online second language learning environment' (Journal of Open and Distance Learning)


b. Dunne, Kerry. 'Klüpfel and Kobr’s Kluftinger novels: Reading the clues to contemporary German identity' (book chapter submitted to German genre fiction)


Grants

a. Dunne, Kerry 1998-2000 CUTSD (Committee for University Teaching and Staff Development) National Teaching Development Grant – Individual:  Development of CD-ROM Ach, so war das!  For intermediate students of German ($45,100)

b. Dunne, Kerry 2005- 2006 Higher Education Innovation (HEIP) Program/ Collaboration and Structural Reform (CASR) Grant Cross-Institutional Rationalisation of Language Teaching: Provision of German at the University of Newcastle by UNE   ($113, 042)

c. Dunne, Kerry 2007-2008 Carrick Competitive Grant Innovation with Quality Assurance: Online curriculum development for the University of New England’s multi-institutional collaborative programs in German at UNE, James Cook and Newcastle universities ($195,000)

d. 2008 ARC Linkage Grant; An Analysis of Retention Strategies and Technology Enhanced Language Learning in Beginners’ Languages Other Than English (LOTE) at Australian Universities.

Team Leader: Prof C Nettelbeck, Melbourne University

Prizes and Awards

2008 ALTC Citation for Outstanding contribution to student learning. German Team: Prof Kerry Dunne, Dr Beat Lehmann, Dr Julia Petzl-Berney, Dr Linda Hess-Liechti, Ms Jennifer Evans, Mr Iain Mackay, Mr Peter Hess. For sustained innovation in using technologies to foster distance education students becoming autonomous learners.