Education · Evidence · Equity

Nirmal
GhimirePh.D.

Assistant Professor of Teaching English as a Second Language
University of North Carolina Wilmington

Research that helps us understand learning—and expand opportunity.

I connect literacy education, teacher preparation, and data science to study how more students can thrive.

Explore my publications About my work
Nirmal Ghimire
Educator. Researcher. Lifelong learner.
01

Research & scholarship

14 journal articles, 2 book chapters, and other scholarly work.

Explore the collection ↗02

Newspaper writing

12 articles on education and public life in Nepal.

Read the commentary ↗03

Research in everyday language

Ideas and explanations that bring research into conversation.

Visit the blog ↗

A bridge between research & practice

Better questions.
More possibilities.

My work examines literacy development, English learner achievement, and the preparation of teachers for diverse classrooms.

I use quantitative methods and emerging approaches in AI to investigate educational outcomes and make research more useful to educators. Equity, thoughtful inquiry, and interdisciplinary collaboration guide this work.

From May 2022 to August 2024, I served as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Literacy Education and Associate Director of the K–16 Literacy Center at the University of Texas at Tyler. My work combined literacy projects, research, scholarly writing, and outreach to support reading instruction in schools and communities.

My university profile ↗Research experience & projects ↗
MIT · 2023

MicroMasters in
Statistics and Data Science

Massachusetts Institute of Technology
General Track

UCF · 2020

Ph.D. in Education

University of Central Florida
TESOL and teacher education

UCF · 2019

Advanced Quantitative
Methodologies

Certificate in Educational and Human Sciences
University of Central Florida

Questions that guide my work

Where education meets evidence.

Explore current projects & presentations ↗

01

Teachers & multilingual learners

How can teacher preparation support English learners and expand access to meaningful learning?

02

Literacy & educational equity

How do reading strategies, school contexts, and access to resources relate to student achievement?

03

AI & research methods

How can data science and AI help organize research and support thoughtful reading and teaching?

A closer look at the evidence

Technology access.
A more nuanced picture.

In our study of U.S. 15-year-olds, reading scores rose with the number of ICT devices up to a point, then declined. The graph shows an association—not evidence that adding devices causes better reading.

The findings invite a closer look at how technology is used, alongside who has access.

Read the study ↗
Published graph of mean reading score by number of ICT devices. Scores rise from one through nine devices, then decline through twelve devices.
Ghimire & Mokhtari (2025), Figure 1. Reproduced unchanged from Forum for Education Studies under CC BY 4.0.

Teaching & learning

Preparing educators.
Opening doors.

I teach across TESOL, applied linguistics, second language acquisition, and teacher education.

My courses connect theory with classroom decisions, with attention to language, culture, advocacy, and inclusive teaching.

Courses I have taught ↗

Culture, advocacy & policyApplied linguisticsSecond language acquisitionGrammar for teachers

Research community

Shared work. Shared progress.

Nirmal Ghimire with colleagues at UNCW’s research celebration
UNCW’s 18th Annual Research Celebration · September 25, 2025.
Nirmal Ghimire holding his UNCW research recognition certificate

Recognized among the Watson College of Education’s top scholars publishing in peer-reviewed journals in FY2025.