Dr Martina Deny, PhD

Profile

I joined QMUL in 2010 as DAAD-Lektorin and became German Language Coordinator for the German Department in 2013. I am currently Senior Lecturer and Coordinator in German Language Studies in the Department of Modern Languages and Comparative Literature and in this role am responsible for the German language teaching provision for degree students. I also organise and coordinate the Year Abroad for German students. I am a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and a certified UNILANG external examiner with the Association of University Language Communities (AULC) and University Council of Modern Languages (UCML).

Originally, I am from South Germany where I studied English and German at the Bayerische Maximilians Universität Würzburg with a year abroad in the United States at the University of Cincinnati, OH. I graduated from the University of Würzburg with both an MA in English, American and German literature and the German State Professional Teaching Examination (“Staatsexamen”) in German and English. I subsequently completed my PhD in English Literature at the Universität zu Köln in Germany in 2008 on the topic of orientation and identity construction in a contemporary urban context, more specifically in London novels.

Being affiliated with the DAAD (German Academic Exchange Service), I can advise students on funding opportunities to study in Germany and conduct the online language test OnSet for DAAD applicants.

Teaching

I have taught German language at all levels (A1 to C1) for degree students as well as content courses in comparative literature, German cultural studies and specialist German language courses for business. In the academic year 2025/26 I will be convening and teaching on the following modules:

• GER4201 Introductory German
• GER4204 German I
• GER4205/5203 German I and II Intensive
• GER5202 German II
• GER6200 German III
• GER5027/6027/FLM5027/6027 German Narrative Fiction in Text and Film (Sem B)
• SML5214 Translation: Principles and Practice (Sem B)

Research

Research Interests:

My scholarship and research interests include learner motivation in foreign language teaching through innovative teaching practices, assessment and feedback design, but also London literature as well as migration and cultural identity in fiction and film.

Academic Publications:

• Lost in the Postmodern Metropolis:(Des)Orientierung und Identitätskonstruktion im zeitgenössischen Londonroman. (Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang, 2009)
• 'The Aesthetics of Security in Literature and Visual Media' (co-authored with Elaine Morley) in eTransfers: A Postgraduate Journal for Comparative Literature and Cultural Studies, 2:2012

Publications

Book:

Lost in the Postmodern Metropolis:(Des)Orientierung und Identitätskonstruktion im zeitgenössischen Londonroman (Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang, 2009)

Editorial:

with Elaine Morley 'The Aesthetics of Security in Literature and Visual Media' in eTransfers: A Postgraduate Journal for Comparative Literature and Cultural Studies, 2:2012