Home

Natasha MacDonald

Academic title(s): 

Assistant Professor

Natasha MacDonald
Contact Information
Email address: 
natasha.macdonald [at] mcgill.ca
Biography: 

Natasha Ita MacDonald is Inuk, originally from Nunavik. MacDonald is a new assistant professor in DISE and the Office of First Nations and Inuit Education. She is also a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Education at Concordia University. MacDonald specializes in decolonizing English second language education, with a focus on intercultural communication via social media in Inuit communities where Inuktitut is still a first language.

Degree(s): 
  • Doctor of Philosophy - Education
    Specialization: Decolonizing ESL learning in the Inuit context
    Concordia University,
    Montreal, QC, Canada
    Completion May 2025
  • Masters of Arts in Applied Linguistics
    Specialization: Use of computer technology to teach second languages
    Concordia University,
    Montreal, QC, Canada
  • Bachelor of Education
    Major: Elementary Education Specialization: Mathematics & English
    University of New Brunswick
    Fredericton, NB, Canada
Areas of expertise: 
  • Decolonizing ESL Education in the Inuit Context
  • Intercultural Communication
  • L2 Learning via Social Media

 

Group: 
Contract Academic Staff (CAS)
Current research: 
  • Diversity, Identity & Indigenous Topics
  • Arts, Languages & Literacy Education
  • Educational Technology & Teaching Innovation
Selected publications: 
  • MacDonald, N. (in press). Intercultural communication in L2 learning via social media and the Inuit context: A scoping literature review. AlterNative: An International Journal of Indigenous Peoples.
  • MacDonald, N. (in press). Why Inuit culture and language matter: Decolonizing English 2nd language learning. AlterNative: International Journal of Indigenous Peoples.

 

Graduate supervision: 

Not taking new students during the upcoming application period.

Awards, honours, and fellowships: 
  • 2023-2026, Canada Graduate Scholarship, Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC), Canada
  • 2021, 2022, Sarah Anne and Henry John Hemens Graduate Scholarship to Advance Aboriginal Women, Concordia University, Canada
  • 2021-2025, Faculty of Arts and Science Graduate Fellowship, Concordia University, Canada
  • 2021-2025, Concordia University Indigenous Graduate Scholarship, Concordia University, Canada

 

Professional activities: 
  • QAVVIVIK INUIT FAMILY AND COMMUNITY HEALTH CENTRE (A family and community medical clinic based in Montreal being developed to serve Inuit living in southern Quebec)
    Member of Board of Directors
  • CONCORDIA ADVISORY COMMITTEE: Decolonizing Curriculum and Pedagogy
    Member of Advisory Committee
  • INDIGENOUS IDENTITY WORKING GROUP
    Member of Working Group

 

Back to top