Wilisha -- Narrative Learning Lit. Review

Narrative Learning in Adult Education, Literature Review

Wilisha Scaife

Ball State University, EDAC 634

Monday, February 11, 2013

INTRODUCTION OF NARRATIVE LEARNING

“Storytelling in general is a communal act.

Throughout human history, people would gather around, whether by the fire or at a tavern, and tell stories. One person would chime in, then another, maybe someone would repeat a story they heard already but with a different spin.

It's a collective process.”  Joseph Gordon-Levitt

 Narrative and stories in education have been the focus of increasing attention in recent years. The idea of narrative is fertile ground for adult educators who know intuitively the value of stories in teaching and learning. Narrative is deeply appealing and richly satisfying to the human soul, with an allure that transcends cultures, centuries, ideologies, and academic disciplines. In connection with adult education, narrative can be understood as an orientation that carries with it implications for both method and content (Rossiter, 20030).

 “Fisher gives us the label ‘people as homo narrans’ (story telling human beings) 

who experience life as a series stories are shaped by history, culture, and characters.”

According to a very passionate examination by  Joel Friedlander (August 2012) in his article entitled, ‘Storytelling is US,’ no matter what realm we operate within, no matter what discipline we’ve learned or invented, storytelling has a central place. For instance, it’s how we transmit the news of our discoveries, how we describe who we are and where we want to go, how we account for what we’ve become.  Personal narratives involve a collection of stories that, taken together, create a personal history all our own.

How did you meet your wife? Where did you go to school? Why did you decide to start that business? How are you different from the person you were when you graduated high school? Each question evokes a story, or a chain of stories that weave into a narrative. We vary widely in how compellingly we tell these stories, both to others and to ourselves. Some stories we tell internally, in our own minds, are always accompanied by feelings, justifications, memories, the bits and pieces left with us from our own experience and the way we’ve processed that experience over the years (Friedlander, 2012)

Some of these narratives are truth in the sense that the events described really did happen. Many, many others are interpretive accounts, colored by the passing of time and the agendas and assumptions through which we filter our experience (Friedlander, 2012)  If it has not been clear to this point, in short, narrative learning is learning experienced through the telling and receiving of a story or account of events, experiences, or the like, whether true or fictitious. It is further the art, technique, or process of narrating.

THEMES OF NARRACTIVE LEARNING THEORY

Merriam, Caffarella, & Baumgartner (2007) shares that narratives can take a number of forms, each useful as a vehicle for learning. Their research notes three ways in which stories appear in practice: “storying ” the curriculum, storytelling, and autobiography :

Ø  Storying the Curriculum – the curriculum or the text of a course is treated as a story and students interact with these texts to come to some understanding or interpretation of the subject matter. For example, in a graduate research seminar on the development of the knowledge base of adult education, Merriam made use of research journals dating back to the 1930s, periodic reviews of research, and historical literature on the founding of professional associations and graduate programs in adult education. These materials were read and examined with the goal of telling a story (not necessarily the story) about how the knowledge base of adult education has come to be constructed as it has. Each student was asked to interpret these materials and to write a paper (a story) about the development of the knowledge base.

Ø  Storytelling – comes in various forms such as fiction, case studies, role-playing, or critical incidents. These are common means of engaging students in understanding concepts, principles, or theories through this narrative form. Using stories to engage students in ideas that are part of course content may be the only way to allow understanding to occur. It is also a powerful means of making connections not only with ideas but with other learners, perhaps ultimately creating a learning community. Whether these stories are generated by students themselves, are case studies, or are fictional accounts, they draw us in, they allow us to see from another’ s perspective.

Ø  Autobiographies – are by the self and about the self and can include journaling, dream logs, therapy, blogs, and educational biographies.

Implications of Narrative Learning

Main ideas of Narrative Learning	Application of the main ideas in practice
“Storying” the Curriculum	Mode Example: Learning Journal à Students, in an adult learning course focusing on the value of ‘relationships in the leaning environment,’ have the assignment of sharing what they are learning in the course and to do so through a sustained and regular way. This journaling creates opportunity for students to watch their understanding of the topics grow over time.
Storytelling	Mode Example: Instructional Case Studies à Adult learners study case studies (true and fictional stories) of pedagogy and the unsuccessful outcomes. In groups, the adult learners examine and work to provide a positive ending by incorporating non-traditional learner approaches for reaching and connecting including immersive learning. This open structure brings students in and make them part of the story; they're both reader and writer.
Autobiographies	Mode Example: Concept-Focused Autobiographical Writing Over the course of a 10 week, a community-based adult learning environment whose objective is to create a strategic plan for encourage and empower young families in poverty to seek to gain resources and plan goals for economic and overall personal and community betterment, use the first 5 weeks to write short chapters of their life story. These chapters are specific to the 1)the backdrop of their own poverty and associated experiences of stereotyping, discrimination (family situation, school experiences, etc.); 2) their recognition of their depravity; 3) self-reflection, evaluation, and realization of life improvement (when, why, etc.); 4) Goals setting, planning, challenges, resources (education and otherwise) and supports (where they were found, etc.); and 5) the current chapter “where you are now” and where you plan to go. Students examine and write about their life journey in order to positively influence the life journey of juniors in their community.

Reference

Narrative and Stories in Adult Teaching and Learning. ERIC Digest. by Rossiter, Marsha (2003). Retrieved from http://www.ericdigests.org/2003-4/adult-teaching.html

Friedlander, J. (2012). Storytelling is us. Retrieved from http://www.thebookdesigner.com/2012/08/storytelling-is-us/

Merriam, S. B., Caffarella, R. S., & Baumgartner, L. M. (2007). Learning in adulthood.

San Francisco: Jossey-Bass

Merriam, S. B. (2008). The third update on adult learning theory. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass