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People

Dr Saraswati Dawadi

Research Associate

Biography

Saraswati Dawadi is currently a research associate at The Open University (OU), UK, with over 15 years in the education field. She holds a doctorate in Language Assessment from the OU. Prior to starting her work at the OU, she was a teacher educator at Tribhuvan University. Her current research is around language assessment, equity and inclusion in education, girls’ empowerment and professional development through online learning. She brings a significant experience of teaching and research, and engagement with external/internal stakeholders to ensure educational programmes are tailored to local needs and context. At the OU, she is co-investigating two projects. The first project looks at the impact of COVID-19 on equitable access to higher education in Nepal and Kenya whereas the second one has a major focus on the role of technology and English language in reinforcing or reducing marginalisation in Bangladesh, Nepal, Sudan and Senegal. She is also working on the Fleming Fund project that explores how online courses are designed at global and local level, and how such courses support for professional development of health professionals in low- and middle-income countries. She has published her work in journal articles and book chapters, and presented it at many international conferences.

Publications

2023

Charitonos, Koula; Littlejohn, Allison; Dawadi, Saraswati; Vaidya, Abhinav; Giri, Santosi; Owusu-Ofori, Alex and Goshtasbpour, Fereshte. (). Developing Relational Work as a Design Tool in activities with health professionals. In: EARLI2023 Conference, 22-26 Aug 2023, Thessaloniki, Greece.
Dawadi, Saraswati (). Impact of a National English as a Foreign Language Test on Parents in Nepal. In: Khan, Rubina; Bashir, Ahmed; Basu, Bijoy Lal and Uddin, Md. Elias eds. Local Research and Glocal Perspectives in English Language Teaching: Teaching in Changing Times Singapore: Springer, pp. 363-376.
Kukulska-Hulme, Agnes and Dawadi, Saraswati. (). Socio-cultural practices affecting marginalised girls’ experiences of using technology for learning in low-income countries. In: CIES 2023. Comparative and International Education Society Conference, 14-22 Feb 2023, [Online].
Dawadi, Saraswati. (). EFL Students’ Test Preparation Practices in the Nepalese context. European Journal of Educational & Social Sciences, 8 (1) pp. 44-63.

2022

Hedges, Claire; Power, Tom; Dawadi, Saraswati; Rahman, Hafiz and Siddique, Nure Alam (). 3MPower PEER Researcher Workshop Report. The Open University, Milton Keynes.
Power, Tom; Rahman, Hafizur; Kukulska-Hulme, Agnes; Siddique, Nure Alam; Hedges, Claire and Dawadi, Saraswati (). 3MPower Inception Report. Mobile Learning for the Empowerment of Marginalised Mathematics Educators, Bangladesh.. EdTech Hub, London.
Giri, Ram Aashis Giri; Dawadi, Saraswati; Shrestha, Sagun and Haque, Saifa (). Enhancement Approach: Success Stories of EFL Teachers from Bangladesh and Nepal. Online: BELTA and NELTA.
Dawadi, Saraswati; Shrestha, Sagun; Haque, Safia and Giri, Ram Ashish. (). Preparations for and practices of online education during the Covid‑19 pandemic: A study of Bangladesh and Nepal. Education and Information Technologies, 27 (1) pp. 243-265.
Wolfenden, Freda; Cooper, Deborah; Dawadi, Saraswati; Mazeed, Zahid; Ibrahimi, Munir and Shrestha, Sushil. (). Promoting Inclusion at Scale with School Leader Network Communities Supported by Open Resources: Researching Participant Needs and Priorities. In: PCF 10 Conference, 14-16 Sep 2022, Canada.
Dawadi, Saraswati and Kukulska-Hulme, Agnes. (). Children’s use of technology for learning English. In: 41st International Annual TESOL France Colloquium, 18-20 Nov 2022, Paris, France.
Shrestha, Sagun; Haque, Saifa; Dawadi, Saraswati and Giri, Ram Ashish. (). Preparations for and practices of online education during the Covid-19 pandemic: A study of Bangladesh and Nepal. Education and Information Technologies pp. 243-265.

2021

Dawadi, Saraswati. (). Factors affecting washback of a high-stakes English as a foreign language test. TESL-EJ: The Electronic Journal for English as a Second Language.
Dawadi, Saraswati; Shrestha, Sagun and Giri, Ram A.. (). Mixed-Methods Research: A Discussion on its Types, Challenges, and Criticisms. Journal of Practical Studies in Education, 2 (2) pp. 25-36.
Charitonos, Koula; Goshtasbpour, Fereshte; Dawadi, Saraswati; Littlejohn, Allison; Badger, S.; Vaidya, Abhinav; Giri, Santosi and Owusu-Ofori, Alex (). Tackling Antimicrobial Resistance: The AMR Surveillance Toolkit. The Open University.

2020

Dawadi, Saraswati. (). High-stakes test impact on student motivation to learn. European Journal of Educational & Social Sciences, 5 (2) pp. 59-71.
Dawadi, Saraswati; Giri, Ram Ashish and Simkhada, Padam. (). Impact of COVID-19 on the education sector in Nepal: Challenges and coping strategies. Advance: a SAGE preprints community.

2019

Dawadi, Saraswati. (). Effects of task repetition on EFL oral performance. ITL - International Journal of Applied Linguistics, 170 (1) pp. 3-23.

2018

Dawadi, Saraswati and Shrestha, Prithvi N.. (). Construct validity of the Nepalese school leaving English reading test. Educational Assessment, 23 (2) pp. 102-120.
Dawadi, Saraswati (). The Impact of the School Leaving Certificate Examination on English Language Teaching and Student Motivation to Learn English. In: Hayes, David eds. English Language Teaching in Nepal: Research, Reflection and Practice British Council, pp. 133-164.

2017

Dawadi, Saraswati. (). Language learning strategies profiles of EFL learners in Nepal. European Journal of Educational & Social Sciences, 2 (2) pp. 42-55.

2016

2014

Dawadi, Saraswati. (). Mediation in classroom interaction. Journal of NELTA, 19 (1-2) pp. 47-55.

Projects