In this article the researcher reports on a longitudinal study which investigated the imagined identities of a preservice English teacher in New Zealand and compared these with the identities she ...negotiated in her teacher education and then teaching practice nearly nine years later. The teacher, an immigrant from the Pacific Island of Tonga, imagined herself working amongst members of her immigrant community but ended up teaching English at a privileged high school. The researcher used a short story analytical approach to analyze her narratives. Short stories are excerpts of data extracted from a larger set of data such as conversations, interviews, written narratives, and multimodal digital stories. In this case, short stories from a series of interviews were analyzed for both their content and the varying scales of context in which the short stories were constructed and interpreted. The analysis is informed theoretically by recent developments of the concept of investment (Darvin & Norton, 2015). The researcher includes reflexive personal commentary on his own positioning throughout the article, which concludes with suggestions for the use of short story analysis in teacher reflection and research.
In introducing this issue of TESOL Quarterly on narrative research in TESOL, Barkhuizen describes the concept of narrative knowledging and continues with a discussion of narrative (co)construction, ...analysis, and reporting, integrating into the discussion research issues related to TESOL narrative research interrogated by the journal's authors. Adapted from the source document
This book focuses on the study abroad experiences of pre-service and in-service language teachers and language teacher educators, discussing their psychological experiences in cognitive, affective ...and social terms.
As language teachers and teacher educators transition into doctoral research and on into full-time academic positions in universities, they begin to encounter research practices and policies ...associated with neoliberal systems of higher education. These might be quite different from previous research experiences, such as self-initiated participation in short-term action research focused on their classroom practice, resulting in tensions in the professional life of researchers. This article reports on a study that explored the researcher identity dilemmas that result from such tensions. Using short story analytical methods, it focuses on aspects of the research experiences and developing researcher identity of one language teacher educator as she transitions through the early stages of her doctoral program at a Colombian university. Following analysis of the short stories, the tensions and identity dilemmas are mapped out in a conceptual framework that outlines what the tensions are (e.g. meaningful v. meaningless research, meeting institutional standards v. doing research to impact one's community), what they mean for the teacher educator's sense of herself as a researcher, and what she plans to do about the situation. Implications for early career teacher researchers are suggested.
This article examines the construct of second language identity and its susceptibility to change during study abroad experiences. The researcher draws on findings from a large-scale narrative-based ...study of Hong Kong students participating in study abroad programmes of varying lengths. In the study three dimensions of second language identity were found: (a) identity-related aspects of second language proficiency, (b) linguistic self-concept, and (c) second language-mediated aspects of personal development. This article explores these dimensions further in the life of one of the study abroad students over time. Interviews were conducted before and after his first year of study as an undergraduate student at a university in New Zealand, and then nearly five years later after his return to Hong Kong. The article demonstrates a short story approach to analysing the narrative interview data. Two short stories from the interviews, representing the 3 language identity dimensions in study abroad contexts, are analysed for both their content and the varying scales of context in which the short stories were constructed and interpreted.
This article presents a theoretical overview of the concept of teacher identity, particularly focusing on poststructuralist conceptions of what identity means, and shows how these ideas can be ...associated with ideas about narrative and narrative inquiry. It is argued that it is important for teachers, through reflective practice or teacher research, to become aware of and understand their professional identities because doing so has implications for their practice. Two ways of analysing teacher stories are illustrated: the first, a content or thematic analysis of a written teacher journal entry, and the second, a short story analysis of an extract of an interview. These methods are presented as examples of the type of narrative analysis teachers can do to become more aware of who they are in their professional lives.
This article revisits the use of narrative frames as a research instrument first proposed in a 2008 System article. It starts by describing what narrative frames are and considering the significance ...of narrative in research on language teaching and learning. It then re-examines the strengths and limitations of narrative frames discussed in the original article. Following a summary of recent narrative frames research, an example of a frame used in an ongoing research project is presented and its use illustrated. Finally, to reinforce the basic narrative frames tenets, ten essential features of narrative frames to be conscious of when designing and using frames are noted. Finally, suggestions for ways in which narrative frames can be used in future research are made.
This article explores the identities of tutors working in one-to-one instructional arrangements, which entail a tutor and an adult English learner working together to meet the particular language ...learning needs and goals of the learner. The tutors in this study are matched with their partners through an organization in New Zealand which aims to provide a community-based service that supports settlement for immigrants and refugees through English. The findings are presented through an analysis of a series of 'short stories,' short excerpts of data extracted from a larger set of interviews with the tutors. They are analyzed thematically for their content. In making sense of the content, attention is necessarily paid to the narrators' orientation within micro, meso, and macro spatial and temporal contexts; stones, Stone and STORIES. Specifically, the tutors' identities are examined as social inclusion tutor identities; tha is, identity is conceptualized narratively as co-constructed and situated in the (short) stories they tell about their lived and imagined tutoring social inclusion experiences. In the case of these tutors, their experiences include primarily and intimately the lives of their refugee and immigrant English learners.
Reports on one aspect of a larger study that explored the context-specific experiences of English teachers at tertiary institutions in China. Data were obtained from a narrative frame completed by 83 ...tertiary English teachers in China who participated in a 10-day teacher-education program held in 2006. The teachers were asked to relate classroom-based problems, suggest projects that would help them investigate the problems, & identify obstacles to carrying out the projects. The 83 stories were electronically coded & categorized in order to identify patterns. Students' unwillingness to speak in class was shown to be the most commonly identified problem, followed by student lack of interest, & a shortage of teaching/learning materials. The teachers expressed a desire to design projects to help them better understand their student's expectations but felt they would be constrained from doing so by a lack of time, methodology knowledge, & student cooperation. The implications of these findings for a better understanding of English teachers' engagement with research in a Chinese context are discussed. J. Lindroth
