about
Education & Current Work. Kelly J. Cunningham received her PhD in Applied Linguistics & Technology and Human Computer Interaction (co-major) from Iowa State University where she studied technology-mediated feedback in second language writing using UX perspectives & Systemic Functional Linguistics. She also holds a BA in studio art & mathematics from Hamilton College and an MA in intercultural studies & TESOL from Wheaton College Graduate School (IL) as well as a graduate level certificate from the Illinois Online Network (ION) & The University of Illinois Springfield as a Master Online Teacher and a Digital Accessibility for Educators certificate from ION.
Her research spans discourse analysis, corpus linguistics and CALL. She has used discourse analysis, and corpus techniques to investigate niche texts such as art museum wall texts and mathematics research publications. Her current projects include a multi-level bibliometric exploration of CALL research with Stephanie Link (Oklahoma State), extensions of her work on appraisal and screencast feedback, and investigations into writing in engineering disciplines and graduate student support.
Graduate Student Communication. Kelly J. Cunningham has worked in graduate student communication support since early 2014. She was a founding member of the Center for Communication Excellence (CCE) at Iowa State University where she collected information through document analysis and interviews about graduate support models at US universities to inform the development of the CCE under Elena Cotos. While at the CEE she also implemented and adapted a model of Peer Review Groups and worked with a developer to create a resources database. She has been a board member of the Consortium on Graduate Communication (last term ending 2022). Currently, she is the director of the Graduate Writing Lab in the School of Engineering and Applied Science at the University of Virginia. As it's first director, she has grown the office to include group, individual, and event-based offerings, as well as asynchronous resources, with a student focus and currently, an online first approach.
ESL teaching & TESOL profession. Kelly J. Cunningham was the editor of the ITBE Link, the magazine like IL-TESOL-BE Newsletter, from 2011-2013 and was the Adult Ed SIG chair of ITBE (IL TESOL affiliate) for 2009-2011. She began teaching ESL as her primary occupation in early 2007. This teaching has focused on academic and adult ESL, including ESL writing in the focal skills based Intensive English Program at Elgin Community College. Most recently she has taught first & second year multimodal composition and advanced presentation & teaching skills for international TAs at Iowa State University. Though not ESL specific, her graduate communication work at the Center for Communication Excellence at Iowa State coordinating graduate peer review groups often included working with international graduate students. Her professional interests in TESOL include both adult and higher education with regards to ESL with a recent focus on graduate level communication. Particular areas of interest include online teaching, teacher training in technology/CALL and educational technology & art. Her teaching has emphasized community in education, especially second language education, technology and art in education/language learning and the Focal Skills Approach. She has developed writing curriculum, created online and hybrid ESL classes, and coordinated and conducted teacher training workshops.
Kelly J. Cunningham
School of Engineering and Applied Science at the University of Virginia
Education: PhD
Applied Linguistics & Technology | Human Computer Interaction