“Narrative in Teaching and Learning”

As narrative deals with human lives or human like experiences, it can be conceived as an authentic educational tool that makes contents “believable”, “rememberable”, and “entertaining”. By using narrative in learning, educators make information less forgettable and favor the exploration of the deeper meaning of the content. Narrative involves students in the action, and engages, this way, their intention. Certainly, the learner involvement deeply depends on the power of narrative. It can give students new knowledge, and broader perspectives because they aim the territory of human experiences, and open way to personal growth and change. But, it’s necessary to add that inserting narrative into teaching and learning is an art. Educators should know how to give learners the right and sufficient space to interact with the content: as Leitch(1986) said, “to tell too much, to provide the answers to all questions spoken and anticipated, is to render the active engagement of the learner unnecessary. To tell too little is to leave the learner with insufficient guidance or support in constructing her or his own meaning and relationship with the content”.