Senior Lecturer
Coordinator, Japanese Language Program
Coordinator Languages, Head QUT Languages Centre
Phone: (07) 3138 4393
Fax: (07) 3138 4012
Email: b.bourke@qut.edu.au
Location: Room Z1139 Gardens Point campus
Qualifications
BA DipEd UNE, Maitrise Lille, PhD Qld
Career Summary
As the original lecturer in Japanese at QUT, Barbara has played a pivotal role in developing QUT's Japanese language program and exchange programs with Japan. Her PhD focussed on kanji learning strategies for students from non-character backgrounds and she has recently developed the SILK website which showcases this research.
Barbara is actively involved in the development of multi-media resources for Japanese and in 2006 received a CAAUT (Carrick Awards for Australian University Teaching) Citation for Outstanding Contributions to Student Learning: 'For the design and implementation of innovative interactive resources for students of the Japanese language, optimising opportunities for engagement'.
She is a committee member for the Queensland Program for Japanese Language Education and is Honorary Secretary of the Brisbane Branch of the Australia Japan Society.
Teaching Areas
- Japanese language and culture
- Japanese history, gender issues, popular culture
Research Interests
- Japanese language and culture
- Cognitive aspects of kanji acquisition
- Language learning strategies
- Independent learning
- Development of interactive multimedia resources for learning Japanese
Supervision
PhD
- Learner strategy instruction in a Japanese reading comprehension class
- Individual differences and the effects of computer assisted language learning (CALL) on kanji learning
Recent Publications
Innovative Practice in Japanese Language Education. (2005) Bourke, B. (Ed.) Brisbane: Queensland University of Technology .
Interactive software to accompany Yookoso: Has it all been worthwhile? (2005) in Bourke, B. (Ed.) Innovative Practice in Japanese Language Education, pages pp. 42-54. Queensland University of Technology. (Joint paper with Mayumi Parry)
"Beyond the classroom: SILK for promoting autonomous kanji learning". (2007) Paper presented at the Independent Learning Association Conference, Kanda University of International Studies, Chiba, Japan.