Dr Maria Dasli

Senior Lecturer in Intercultural Education

Biography

Background

Dr Maria Dasli is Senior Lecturer in Intercultural Education at the Moray House School of Education and Sport, University of Edinburgh, where she was also the founder and first Head of the Institute for Language Education from 2020 to 2023. During this time, Dr Dasli led the strategic development and expansion of the institute by establishing its strong interdisciplinary teaching and research profile with new staff appointments and research-led programmes and courses that enhance the school's national and international reputation, while also providing opportunities for the diversification of income streams. In alignment with the role of Head of Institute, Dr Dasli held also line management and performance responsibilities, ensuring that all staff are clear about their duties, are allocated an equitable workload, and are adequately prepared to contribute to and engage with the institute and the school as part of their continuous professional growth. 

Before her promotion to Senior Lecturer, Dr Dasli was Lecturer in TESOL and Programme Director of the MSc TESOL (2018-2020), with responsibility for 400 students. During this time, she also led the programme's response to the external programme review, in addition to developing the MSc Language and Intercultural Communication. Before joining the University of Edinburgh in September 2011, Dr Dasli was Lecturer in Language and Intercultural Communication at Edinburgh Napier University (2008-2011), where she latterly became Programme Leader of the MSc Intercultural Business Communication and the MSc Intercultural Business Communication with TESOL.  

Dr Dasli's central teaching and research interests lie in the 'languaging' of intercultures. That is, in the processes through which local, national, and supranational discourse communities reinvent their cultural identities, while transforming the transnational public arena into a terrain of openness, understanding and humanity. To explore how this is achieved, Dr Dasli's research spreads over two related fields of international interest: a) intercultural (language) education, with a particular focus on the ethics of responsibility and hospitality, and b) critical discourse analysis, with a particular focus on contemporary race discourse. Published in leading international journals and edited volumes, Dr Dasli's work contributes to the unending project of democratic social transformation, first, by raising awareness about exploitation, prejudice and abuse, and, second, by moving people to act upon this awareness. To this effect, she continues to develop critical intercultural language pedagogies from which cultures of silence become better able to define and realise their needs. 

Dr Dasli has served the academic community from various posts. While in the Moray House School of Education and Sport, she has been Co-Director of the Centre for Education for Racial Equality in Scotland (CERES) from 2011 to 2015, Convenor of the Language Teaching Forum Talks from 2011 to 2012, and Research Ethics Committee Member from 2013 to 2019. At the international level, Dr Dasli has served the International Association for Languages and Intercultural Communication (IALIC) as Membership Secretary and Treasurer from 2008 to 2013, and as Advisory Committee Member from 2013 to 2016. From this, she moved on to act as Reviews and Criticism Editor of the association's SCI-listed journal, Language and Intercultural Communication, from 2016 to 2019. 

Dr Dasli was an Editorial Board Member of Pedagogy, Culture & Society from 2016 to 2022, having first served the journal's International Board of Advisors for three years. She was Co-Receiving Editor for the journal from 2020 to 2022 and Lead Editor of the Special Issue titled 'Intercultural Communication Pedagogy and the Question of the Other' (2023), which emerged from the international launch event of the Institute for Language Education at the Moray House School of Education and Sport in March 2022. The event was funded by the Moray House School of Education and Sport and Pedagogy, Culture & Society.

Dr Dasli is Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA) since 2011, a regular reviewer for international journals and book publishers, and an External Examiner of undergraduate/postgraduate programmes and PhD theses.  

 

Qualifications

  • BA English Language Teaching (University of Stirling)
  • MSc Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (University of Stirling)
  • MA Sociolinguistics (University of Essex)
  • PhD Education (University of Exeter)
  • PgCert Teaching and Learning in Higher Education (Edinburgh Napier University)   

Postgraduate teaching

Semester 1:

  • Critical Topics in Intercultural Communication Studies (Course Organiser: 2023 - present)
  • Language Education for Intercultural Citizenship (Course Organiser: 2021 - present)
  • TESOL Methodology (Course Organiser: 2014-2019)

Semester 2:

  • Language and Intercultural Communication Pedagogy (Course Organiser: 2012-2020) 

Open to PhD supervision enquiries?

Yes

Areas of interest for supervision

I welcome enquiries about PhD supervision on topics related to my areas of interest. 

Current PhD students supervised

Yalin Yin: Chinese international students' experiences of race and racism in UK higher education.

Hang Lu: Neoliberal ideologies and English language teaching in China. 

Chen Su: The impact of intercultural communication courses on the identities of Chinese university students. 

 

 

Past PhD students supervised

Jagdeep Gill: Language learner identity formation through English as a medium of instruction in India. 

Michele Saraiva Carilo: Intercultural language education policy for Portuguese as a foreign language. 

Sumera Umrani: English language learner identity in post-colonial Pakistan.

Sarah Jane Ruth Treloar: Language learner identity formation through online interaction. 

Research summary

Dr Dasli has undertaken both theoretical and empirical research in the areas of intercultural (language) education and contemporary race discourse with the aim of reflecting in ever new ways on the ethical problem of cultural difference. Specifically, she has been very keen to understand how discourses that claim to support the difference of the other actually erase it and, so, she has undertaken deconstructive readings of both spoken and written texts to identify the contradictions that are hiding within them. From this, she has come to propose that neither sameness-based nor difference-based pedagogies are enough to preserve the radical alterity of both self and other, and that to preserve this alterity one needs to turn a sceptical eye towards the programmatic application of pedagogical rules. Dr Dasli invites further deconstruction of the texts she has deconstructed, especially if this results in the deconstructive reading of her own publications, as a way of remaining infinitely open to different possibilities and alternatives.  

Project activity

Projects:

  • 2022/2023: Lead Organiser of the international launch event of the Institute for Language Education and Lead Editor of the Special Issue titled 'Intercultural Communication Pedagogy and the Question of the Other' (emerging from the launch event and published in Pedagogy, Culture & Society).  
  • 2016/17: Lead editor of the research volume 'The Critical Turn in Language and Intercultural Communication Pedagogy: Theory, Research and Practice' (Routledge, 2017).
  • 2014/15: The co-organisation of the 2nd International Conference of the Centre for Education for Racial Equality in Scotland (CERES). 'The stubborn persistence of racism: Confronting racial inequality through education and action'. 
  • 2013/14: Re-imagining intercultural dialogue through 'Connecting Cultures' (Project funded by Seedcorn, University of Edinburgh, £1000).
  • 2012/13: The co-organisation of the 1st International Conference of the Centre for Education for Racial Equality in Scotland (CERES). 'Racism and anti-racism through education and community practice: An international exchange'.  
  • 2010/11: British Studies, Cultural Studies, Intercultural Communication: Incommensurable Disciplines? (Project funded by Edinburgh Napier University, £1560.72).
  • 2009/10: The organisation of the 1st Symposium of the International Association for Languages and Intercultural Communication (IALIC). 'Re-imagining the intercultural speaker in language education'.
  • 2008/09: Developing intercultural competence for language students in UK higher education (Project funded by Edinburgh Napier University, £1279).

 

View all 19 publications on Research Explorer

Conference details

Recent Conference Papers:

  • Dasli, M. (2019). UNESCO Guidelines on Intercultural Education: A Deconstructive Reading. Second UNESCO Spring School, "The Arts of Integrating: Labouring and Resting", 1-3 May, 2019, University of Glasgow & Heart of Scotstoun Community Centre, Scotland, UK. 
  • Dasli, M. & Diaz, A. (2016). The Critical Turn in Language and Intercultural Communication Pedagogy: Book Launch. International Association for Languages and Intercultural Communication (IALIC). 16th Annual Conference, "Bridging across Languages and Cultures in Everyday Lives: New Roles for Changing Scenarios", 25-27 Nov, 2016, Autonomous University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain.
  • Dasli, M. (2016). Language and Intercultural Communication Pedagogy between Tolerance and Hospitality. International Association for Languages and Intercultural Communication (IALIC). 16th Annual Conference, "Bridging across Languages and Cultures in Everyday Lives: New Roles for Changing Scenarios", 25-27 Nov, 2016, Autonomous University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain.
  • Dasli, M. (2015). Tolerance and Hospitality in Intercultural Education Initiatives. Paper Delivered at "The Stubborn Persistence of Racism: Confronting Racial Inequality through Education and Action" Conference, 24th-26th June, 2015, Centre for Education for Racial Equality in Scotland (CERES), The University of Edinburgh, Scotland, UK.
  • Dasli, M. & Diaz, A. (2014). Tracing the Trajectory of the Critical Turn in Intercultural Communication Pedagogy. 47th BAAL Annual Conference "Learning, Working and Communicating in a Global Context", 4-6 Sep., 2014, University of Warwick, England, UK.
  • Dasli, M. (2013). Counter-Stories as Acts of Resistance: Towards an Understanding of Whiteness through Black Talk. 46th BAAL Annual Conference, "Opening New Lines of Communication in Applied Linguistics", 5-7 Sep. 2013, Heriot-Watt University, Scotland, UK.
  • Dasli, M. (2013). Re-thinking Everyday Racism: Towards an Understanding of Prejudiced Discourse. Paper Delivered at the "Interweaving: Connecting Educational Research Within, Across and Between Perspectives" Conference, 4th September, 2013, The University of Edinburgh, Scotland, UK.
  • Dasli, M. (2013). Storytelling Whiteness: An Analysis of the Linguistic Strategies Used to Recount Experiences of Whiteness and White People. Paper Delivered at the "Racism and Anti-Racism through Education and Community Practice: An International Exchange" Conference, 26th-28th June, 2013, Centre for Education for Racial Equality in Scotland (CERES), The University of Edinburgh, Scotland, UK.
  • Dasli, M. (2012). British Studies as a Vehicle for Cross-Cultural Awareness: Pitfalls, Paradoxes and Possibilities. International Association for Languages and Intercultural Communication (IALIC). 11th Annual Conference, "Intercultural Dialogue: Current Challenges/Future Directions", 30th Nov. - 2nd Dec., 2012, Durham University, England, UK.
  • Dasli, M. (2012). Internationalisation, British Studies and Intercultural Learning: Are Pedagogic Practices Sufficient for Cross-Cultural Understanding? Paper delivered at the "Supporting Internationalisation through Languages and Culture in the 21st Century University" Conference, 19-20 July, 2012, University of Central Lancashire, England, UK.  
  • Dasli, M. (2011). British Studies, Cultural Studies, Intercultural Communication: Incommensurable Disciplines? Unpublished paper delivered at the 4th Annual Research Conference, "The Sustainability Challenge: Promoting Strategic Organisational Growth", 17-18 May, 2011, The Business School, Edinburgh Napier University, Scotland, UK.
  • Dasli, M. (2010). Speaking the Language of Possibility: Consensus, Dissonance and Critical Self-Consciousness. International Association for Languages and Intercultural Communication (IALIC). 10th Annual Conference, "Travelling Languages: Culture, Communication and Translation in a Mobile World", 3-5 Dec., 2010, University of Leeds, England, UK.
  • Dasli, M. (2010). Poetics, Polemics and Praxis in Intercultural Language Pedagogy. 43rd BAAL Annual Conference, "Applied Linguistics: Global and Local", 9-11 Sep., 2010, University of Aberdeen, Scotland, UK.
  • Dasli, M. (2010). Developing Intercultural Competence for Language Students: Principles and Practice. Unpublished paper delivered at the 3rd Annual Research Conference, "Enhancing Organisational Sustainability in a Changing Business Context", 13-14 May, 2010, The Business School, Edinburgh Napier University, Scotland, UK.
  • Barron, P. & Dasli, M. (2010). Toward an Understanding of Integration amongst Hospitality and Tourism Students using Bennett's Developmental Model of Intercultural Sensitivity. 19th Annual CHME Research Conference, 5-7 May, 2010, University of Surrey, England, UK. Best Paper Award

 

Invited speaker

Invited Talks:

  • Dasli, M. (2022). Learning Ethnographically during the Year Abroad: Modern Languages Students in Europe and Latin America. Invited Talk Delivered at the Centre for Applied Linguistics, University of Warwick, Language, Culture Matters Research Seminar Series, 11 May, 2022, University of Warwick, England, UK. 

  • Dasli, M. (2022). Exploring the Impact of Ethnographic Inquiry: Students' Perceptions of the Foreign Other during Study Abroad. Plenary Talk Delivered at the Eighth International Conference on the Development and Assessment of Intercultural Competence: "Decentering Mobility in Intercultural Education: Engagement, Equity and Access", 27th - 30th January, 2022, Centre for Educational Resources in Culture, Language and Literacy (CERCLL), The University of Arizona in Tucson, Arizona, USA. 

  • Dasli, M. (2020). UNESCO Guidelines on Intercultural Education: A Deconstructive Reading. Invited Talk Delivered at the Department of Education, University of Bath, Language and Educational Practices Research Seminar Series, 4 March, 2020, University of Bath, England, UK.

  • Dasli, M. (2019). Intercultural Communication Pedagogy. Invited Talk Delivered the English for Academic Purposes Summer School for Pre-sessional TESOL and Language Education Students, 21 August, 2019, Centre for Open Learning, University of Edinburgh, Scotland, UK.

  • Dasli, M. (2018). UNESCO Guidelines on Intercultural Education: A Deconstructive Reading. Invited Talk Delivered at the IOE PhD Student Seminar Series, 15 October, 2018, UCL Institute of Education, England, UK. 
  • Dasli, M. (2016). Intercultural Communication and Education. Invited Talk Delivered at the Higher Education Summer School CPD Course for Ningxia University, 3 August, 2016, The University of Edinburgh, Scotland, UK.
  • Dasli, M. & Orr, M. (2014). Putting the 'Critical' back into Critical Thinking. Invited Talk Delivered at the CERES PhD Student Seminar Series, 22 October, 2014, The University of Edinburgh, Scotland, UK.
  • Dasli, M. (2014). Encountering an Unfamiliar Cultural Environment. Invited Talk Delivered at the "Third Space" Event, 19-20 April, 2014, Grassmarket Community Project, Edinburgh, Scotland, UK.
  • Dasli, M. (2013). Unpacking the Anti-Immigration Rhetoric: The Role of the Media in the Reproduction of Prejudice. Invited Talk Delivered at the "Critical Reading and Critical Literacies" Professional Development Event, 12 December, 2013, The University of Edinburgh, Scotland, UK.
  • Dasli, M. (2013). British Studies as a Vehicle for Cross-Cultural Awareness: Pitfalls, Paradoxes and Possibilities. Invited Talk Delivered at the University of Edinburgh, The Moray House School of Education. Edinburgh Applied Language Seminars (EALS). 27 November, 2013, The University of Edinburgh, Scotland, UK.
  • Dasli, M. (2009). Ethnographic Writing as Intercultural Writing: Working Towards a Transformational Response in Study Abroad Programmes. Invited talk delivered at the 2nd Symposium of the International Association for Languages and Intercultural Communication (IALIC). "The Intercultural Writer", 20 Nov., 2009, University of Leeds, England, UK.
  • Dasli, M. (2009). Re-imagining the intercultural speaker. Opening address. Speech delivered at the 1st Symposium of the International Association for Languages and Intercultural Communication (IALIC). "Re-imagining the Intercultural Speaker", 5 June, 2009, Edinburgh Napier University, Scotland, UK.
  • Dasli, M. (2009). Re-imagining the notion of Intercultural Communication: A Habermasian Pause for Thought. Invited talk delivered at the School of Marketing, Tourism & Languages, Edinburgh Napier University. Research Seminar Series. 20 Feb., 2009, Edinburgh Napier University, Scotland, UK.
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