Narrative in teaching and learning: Narrative research

Narrative inquiry provides researchers with a framework through which they can investigate the ways people experience the world as seen through their stories. Narrative research is increasingly used in studies of educational practice and experience, primarily because teachers, like all other human beings, are storytellers who individually and socially lead storied lives (Stories of Experience and Narrative Inquiry, Connelly & Clandinin, 1990).

One discussion on narrative research that I had with a university instructor of mine was particularly memorable for me. She was working towards her doctorate in Kinesiology. Kinesiology has a school of thought that is predominantly highly scientific in methodology and research, however, her speciality was looking at pedagogy in physical education. She exclaimed this posed many sources of frustration for her as her academic peers would always want her to show some sort of measurable analysis in her research papers. They didn’t see narrative research as being measurable. Her rebuttal was that the best way to defend pedagogical advances in education is relative to experiences. Experiences cannot easily be attached to numbers. There are times when words speak better than numbers, and it is for this reason that much of her research is based on personal and individual experiences. She did also see the value in backing up these personal experiences with more quantitative analysis, as she said it tends to alleviate some of the researcher bias than may be involved using narrative alone.

Narratives research enables the study of teachers and their teaching in development within the teachers’ social, cultural, and institutional settings. (Reflections on the Narrative Research Approach, Moen, T., 2006). However, I also believe narratives do not semantically make sense unless they are compared with other narratives. As Vygotsky said, every function in cultural development appears first on a social level (interpsychological) and later on an individual level (intrapsychological) (Vygotsky, 1978, p.57). As a teacher, personal narrative is important because one can only think about teaching and think about learning by contemplating how one acts and reacts in a range of situations, both professionally and personally. However, one can only make meaning of these experiences by learning from others’ experiences as well.

I strongly believe the use of narrative research/inquiry is critical in being able to adopt a cultural opening up of acceptance to all others. I also believe that continual research into best teaching practices is important. But if every teacher has a narrative and every narrative is different, then whose narratives do we believe/adopt/accept as our own? Ultimately, I believe we need to find our own personal narrative based on the narratives of others.

Through others, we become ourselves. ~ Lev Vygotsky