Nasrin Kowkabi - Language & Literacy Education

Dr. Nasrin Kowkabi

Lecturer

Academic Coodinator, UBC – Ritsumeikan Academic Exchange Program

she / her / hers

nasrin.kowkabi@ubc.ca PCN 3027 English, Persian/فارسی

Research and teaching areas:

Critical literacies/pedagogies

English as an additional language

Instructional approaches

International issues/perspectives

Language Assessment

Language Ideologies

Online pedagogies

Second language reading and writing

Biography

I am an applied linguist and second language writing specialist with a background in Teaching English as an Additional Language (TEAL). As an immigrant settler and a lecturer in the Department of Language and Literacy Education (LLED), I acknowledge with respect that I work and learn on the ancestral, traditional and unceded lands of the hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓-speaking xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam) people, on whose territory the Vancouver campus of the University of British Columbia is situated.

My current research interests include Second Language Writing Pedagogy, Critical Approaches to Second Language Teaching and Assessment, Teacher Education, and Education of International Students. I have been teaching graduate and undergraduate courses in TESL, Teacher Education, and UBC-Ritsumeikan Academic Exchange Programs. I also serve as the Academic Coordinator and the Coordinator of Academic Writing Courses in UBC-Ritsumeikan Academic Exchange Program. In my research and teaching contexts, I am committed to anti-racist, inclusive, and demarginalizing education.

Funded Projects

Enhancing Faculty Accessibility Skills: Targeted OERs and Workshops for Inclusive Teaching Current
2025 – 2026
Faculty of Education EDID Grant
Co-Investigator

Academic Integrity, Writing Practices, and Use of AI Tools among Study-Abroad Students Current
2024 – 2025
Rits Seed Grant
Principal Investigator

Online Orientation Modules to Promote International Students’ Academic Success Completed
2021 – 2023
Faculty of Education Advancing Learning Transformed Grant
Co-Investigator

Examining our practices in supporting English as an Additional Language (EAL) learners’ online learning during the pandemic Completed
2020 – 2021
LLED Research/Scholarship Grant
Co-Investigator

Processes of academic source-based writing in graduate school: A socio-pedagogical approach to students’ interactions with source texts Completed
2013 – 2019
UBC Merit-based Doctoral Fellowship
Principal Investigator

Intertextual authorship in university writing across disciplinary and cultural contexts Completed
2013 – 2015
Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC)
Co-investigator

Awards and Recognitions

UBC Faculty of Education Sessional and Lecturer Faculty Teaching Prize, 2023

UBC Contract Faculty Travel Award, University of British Columbia, Canada, 2019

UBC-Ritsumeikan Program Travel Award, University of British Columbia, Canada, 2016

TESOL Professional Development Scholarship, TESOL International Convention & Language Expo, Toronto, Canada, 2015

LUMCIRA Harold Covell Memorial Scholarship, Office of Graduate Programs and Research, Faculty of Education, University of British Columbia, Canada, 2014

Outstanding Student Paper Award, Symposium on Second Language Writing (SSLW), Arizona State University, Arizona, 2014

Department of Language and Literacy Education Travel Award, University of British Columbia, Canada, 2013

Ibn Battuta Award for Field Research, University of British Columbia, Canada, 2012

Courses Taught

ASTU/EDUC 210: Global Citizenship

LLED 200: Introduction to Writing in Academic and Professional Registers

LLED 201: Critical Reading and Writing in Academic and Professional Registers

LLED 211: Field Research in Social Processes of Inclusion and Exclusion – Discourse Perspectives

LLED 212: Introduction to Language Communities and Variation in Language Practices

LLED 221: Language Maintenance and the Integration of Immigrants in Canada

LLED 315: English as a Second Language – Secondary: Curriculum and Pedagogy

LLED 360: Classroom Discourses and Teaching English Language Learners – Secondary

LLED 399: Practicum in Teaching English as a Second Language

LLED 478B: Introduction to Teaching English as a Second Language – Language Assessment

LLED 489A: Applied Linguistics for Teachers – Part One

LLED 489B: Applied Linguistics for Teacher – Part Two

LLED 526: Second Language Assessment: Conceptual and Empirical Approaches

LLED 573A: Theories of Second Language Acquisition

LLED 574: Theory and Research in Teaching Second Language Writing

Selected Presentations and Publications

Kowkabi, N., & Ahmed, A. (Mar. 2024). Teacher Education for L2 Writing Instruction: Prioritizing an Affective Approach to Pedagogy, American Association for Applied Linguistics (AAAL), Houston, Texas.

Tastanbek, S., & Kowkabi, N. (Mar. 2024). “What are your thoughts?” Collaborative course development to raise CLA among Canadian EAL in-service teachers, American Association for Applied Linguistics (AAAL), Houston, Texas.

Kowkabi, N., & D’Silva, R. (Nov. 2022). Strategies for enhancing international EAL students’ virtual learning experiences, Transformative Teaching: Focus on Pedagogy, A virtual conference by Florida State University, University of Dundee, and Zayed University.

Sun, Z., Kowkabi, N., & D’Silva, R. (October 2021). Sustaining Teacher Presence in English as an Additional Language (EAL) Online Learning Communities. Sustainable Education Through SOTL: Practices and Cultures,The International Society for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (ISSOTL) Virtual Conference 2021, hosted from University of Western Australia, Perth, Australia.

Kowkabi, N., & D’Silva, R. (November 2020). Re-examining our practices in supporting English as an Additional Language (EAL) learners in online teaching during the pandemic. PENN TESOL East Virtual Conference, Eastern Pennsylvania Association of Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

D’Silva, R., & Kowkabi, N. (November 2020). TESL from a distance: Tips for readapting our teaching strategies online during changing times. TESL Newfoundland and Labrador Virtual Conference, TESL NL, Memorial University, St. John’s, Canada.

Shi, L., Fazel, I., & Kowkabi, N. (2018). Paraphrasing to transform knowledge in advanced graduate student writing. Journal of English for Specific Purposes, 51, 31-44. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.esp.2018.03.001

Kowkabi, N. (August 2018). Dealing with source-based writing in grad school: Motivations and purposes behind source selection and source integration. Symposium on Second Language Writing (SSLW) 2018, Simon Fraser University (SFU), Vancouver, Canada.

Kowkabi, N. (May 2017). Writing from sources in a community of practices: Teachers’ perspectives. British Columbia Teachers of English as an Additional Language (BC TEAL) 2017 Annual Conference, Vancouver Community College (VCC), Vancouver, Canada.

Shi, L., Fazel, I., & Kowkabi, N. (April 2016). Textual analysis of graduate students’ paraphrasing. American Association for Applied Linguistics (AAAL), Orlando, Florida.

Kowkabi, N. (2016). Review of Writing for Peer Reviewed Journals: Strategies for Getting Published by P. Thomson and B. Kamler. TESOL SLWIS News.

Shi, L., Fazel, I., & Kowkabi, N. (March 2015). Integrating one’s own ideas in paraphrasing others’ texts. . Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) International Convention & Language Expo, Toronto, Canada.

Kowkabi, N. (March 2015). Source use in academic textual production: Dialogic analysis of instructors’ feedback on students’ practices. American Association for Applied Linguistics (AAAL) & Canadian Association for Applied Linguistics (CAAL), Toronto, Canada.

Kowkabi, N. (2014). Review of Language, communication and the economy: The sixteenth volume of the book series on Discourse Approaches to Politics, Society and Culture, by G. Erreygers and G. Jacobs. Journal of Language and Politics, 13(1), 202-204.

Shi, L., Kowkabi, N., & Fazel, I. (November 2014). Paraphrasing and content knowledge in second language graduate students’ writing. Symposium on Second Language Writing (SSLW) 2014, Tempe, Arizona.

Lin, R., Heng Hartse, J., Kowkabi, N., Fazel, I., Okuda, T., Sohn, B., Hwag, J., & Abdi, K. (November 2014). Becoming second language writing specialists: A self-reflective study of a TESOL graduate student writing group. Symposium on Second Language Writing (SSLW) 2014, Tempe, Arizona.

Kowkabi, N. (March 2014). Textual Borrowing and Citation Practices in Academic Writing: A Multiple Case Study of ESL Graduate Students in Education. Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) Convention Doctoral Forum, Portland, Oregon.

Fazel, I., & Kowkabi, N. (2013). Students’ source misuse in language classrooms: Sharing experiences. TESL Canada Journal, 31(1), 86-95.

Kowkabi, N., & Shi, L. (October 2012). Textual Borrowing in Second Language Academic Writing: A Critical Review. TESL Canada Conference, Thompson River University, Kamloops, Canada.

Sadighi, F., & Kowkabi, N. (2006). The relationship between the use of language learning strategies and teaching methods: A case of Iranian EFL learners. How: A Colombian Journal for Teachers of English, 13, 47-63.