Dr Nataša Ciabatti

Position: Lecturer, TESOL and Literacy
Study area: Pathways, Humanities and Social Sciences
Location: Berwick Campus, Room 130E, Building 901
Phone: +61 0422 038 572
Email: n.ciabatti@federation.edu.au
ORCID ID: 0009-0006-3982-8229

Qualifications

Doctor of Philosophy – Victoria University – 2023

Master of Teaching (Secondary) – Victoria University – 2016

Bachelor of Arts Honours (Interpreting and Translation) – University of Trieste, Italy – 2007

Teaching

Courses

  • Bachelor of Speech Pathology (Honours)
  • Master of Speech Pathology
  • Master of Education Studies

Units

  • Language Acquisition (EDBSP 1013/EDMST 6010)
  • English Language Studies A: Grammar and Written Communication (EDMST6011)
  • Applied Psycholinguistics (EDBSP 2014)
  • Phonetics, Phonology and Oral Communication (EDBSP1023)
  • Educational Assessment (EDMED7067)

Biography

Nataša is a lecturer in TESOL and Literacy at the Institute of Education, Arts and Community at Federation University, Australia. Her research and teaching interests focus on intercultural education, language pedagogy, and teacher education. She is a member of the Centre for Regional Education Research and Development (CRERD) and of the research group Social Justice, Inclusion and Diversity in Education (SJIDE) at Federation University. Additionally, she contributes to the Educational Philosophy Research Hub at the University of Melbourne.

Nataša currently leads the PESA-supported research project What is Going On in Philosophy of Education in Teacher Education? A review of educational philosophy taught in higher education programs across Australia. In 2024, she was awarded the VicTESOL Research Grant for her project on the linguistic and social inclusion of adult migrant students. Her doctoral research, completed in 2023, explored pre-service teachers' lived experiences of intercultural language teaching and learning. Nataša is a VIT-registered teacher with experience teaching Languages and EAL/D in secondary schools.

Areas of expertise

Nataša is an experienced educator and researcher specialising in intercultural education, language pedagogy, and teacher training. Her work is grounded in social justice and equity, with a focus on supporting multilingual learners and enhancing intercultural competence in educational settings. She investigates the current state of intercultural education and language pedagogy to identify the professional development needs of current and future teachers. Her interests also include the theoretical foundations of intercultural education and related concepts such as global citizenship.

Research interests

  • Intercultural education
  • Multilingualism and translanguaging
  • Language pedagogy
  • Teacher education
  • Qualitative methods
  • Philosophy of Education

Supervision

  • PhD candidate Shilpa Joy, The impacts of bilingual pedagogy on primary school students: teacher’s perspectives in the classrooms of Kerala, India
  • PhD candidate Nahima Sultana, Employability Capital and Professional Identity among International NNES TESOL Graduates in Australia

Publications

Book chapters

Allehaby, E., Razoumova, O., & Ciabatti, N. (2025). Intercultural awareness in the academic English classroom at a Saudi university: An investigation into teachers’ perspectives and practices. In H. R'Boul (Ed.), Intercultural communication education and research in the Middle East and North Africa. Routledge.

Refereed journal articles

Clements, D., & Ciabatti, N. (2025). Making Sense of the World: Living, Learning and Teaching with Radical Philosophy of Education show: By Neil Hooley and Oksana Razoumova, Brill, 2024, 146 pp., USD52.60 (paperback), ISBN 978-90-04-69668-6. Educational Philosophy and Theory, 1–6. https://doi.org/10.1080/00131857.2025.2554984

Ciabatti, N. (2023) Teaching about Culture or Learning with and from Others? Societies , 13, 194. https://doi.org/10.3390/soc13080194

Presentations

Academic conferences

Ciabatti, N. & Rosen, L. (2025) Navigating Multilingualism: Minority and Migrant Pre-Service Teachers in Australia and Germany. As part of the symposium “Minority/ Minoritised Teachers (Part 1): Barriers, Benefits and Challenges” ECER 2025 - Charting the Way Forward: Education, Research, Potentials and Perspectives

Ciabatti, N. (2024, September) Teaching about Culture or Learning with and from Others? BERA conference 2024 and WERA Focal meeting.

Ciabatti, N. (2024, August) The Question of Intercultural Being. A phenomenological analysis of Intercultural Education. ECER 2024 - Education in the Age of Uncertainty. Hope and memory for the future.

Ciabatti, N. (2024, August) Intercultural Awareness in the Academic English Classroom at a Saudi University. ECER 2024 - Education in the Age of Uncertainty. Hope and memory for the future.

Clements, D. & Ciabatti, N. (2024, August) On the end(s) of Education. ECER 2024 - Education in the Age of Uncertainty. Hope and memory for the future.

Ciabatti, N. (2022, October), The Intercultural Dimension in the Australian Curriculum: Social Justice vs Neosocial Advantage, IAIE 2022 Intercultural Education on the Move: Facing Old and New Challenges.

Professional development for teachers

Ciabatti, N. (2023), Multilingual literacies: how learning languages develops literacy across all languages (and disciplines). Presentation delivered at the VATI (Victorian Association of Teachers of Italian) Conference 2023.

Ciabatti, N. (2021), Italian for everyone. Intercultural language teaching and learning. Presentation delivered at the VATI Conference 2021.

Associations

  • VicTESOL
  • The Australian Association of Educational Research (AARE)
  • The European Educational Research Association (EERA)
  • The British Educational Research Association (EERA)
  • The Philosophical Education Society Association (PESA)