Experiences of language teaching and learning: narrative inquiry in language education

Learning Outcomes

Subject Specific Intellectual and Research Skills

Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:

• define, present and illustrate concepts;
• apply narrative knowledge in the analysis and interpretation of issues in language learning and teaching;
• formulate and defend personal interpretations clearly and persuasively on the basis of evidence gathered from both primary and secondary sources.
• analyse and evaluate oral, written, and multimodal narratives from a variety of sources;
• research a specific topic independently and with minimal guidance;
• relate issues and questions encountered in the research literature to situations with which you are familiar yourself;

Knowledge and Understanding

Having successfully completed this module, you will be able to demonstrate knowledge and understanding of:

• Having successfully completed this module, you will be able to demonstrate knowledge and understanding of: the field of narrative inquiry and how it differs from narrative analysis;
• key concepts and terms used to describe storytelling in language education;
• the main components of oral narrative;
• key methodologies to explore the role of narratives, in different forms, in the processes we follow when learning and teaching language.
• the scope and limitations of different theoretical approaches to narrative inquiry;

Transferable and Generic Skills

Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:

• research a specific topic independently and with minimal guidance;
• communicate effectively and confidently, both orally and in writing, including being able to engage an audience in discussion and to sustain a long and complex piece of writing;
• work effectively alone and in collaboration with others to solve problems and/or carry out a task;
• use libraries, archives, learning resources, and ICT to access relevant information.

This module will introduce you to the study of personal experience as the basis for (language) learning. The ways in which we experience our language learning across the different stages of our life, and in the various contexts in which we are socialised (namely family, school, social activities and work) play a role in the perceptions that we hold of the languages and varieties that we want to, or are obliged to learn, but also in our decisions to become language teachers. Such experiences emerge in our everyday life, manifested in anecdotes, memories, small stories, etc. that allow us to construct a set of positionings. Our narrations are suffused with emotions, subjectivities and our values and beliefs, which constitute the fabric of our learning socialisation and become the focus of our attention.

The study of personal experience in the field of “narrative inquiry” demands a combination of theory and practical activities. For that reason, we will discuss the definition of narrative inquiry and various approaches to this topic, which will be applied in practical activities in which we will be analysing the stories collected. Some of the questions that we will be dealing with are: Why do we tell our stories? Under what circumstances? How do we organise our stories? Why? How can we, as researchers, collect interesting stories? What can we learn from these stories?

As one of the most popular methods followed by researchers working on qualitative research, we will look critically at the scope of narrative inquiry and its limitations in language education.

Teaching methods include:

• short introductory presentations by course tutor where concepts and theory will be introduced;
• a weekly seminar discussion, based on prepared readings and student group presentations. These seminars will offer the opportunity to engage with different methodologies and to apply them to the analysis of various forms of narratives (oral, written and multimodal storytelling).

Summative

This is how we’ll formally assess what you have learned in this module.

Referral

This is how we’ll assess you if you don’t meet the criteria to pass this module.

Repeat

An internal repeat is where you take all of your modules again, including any you passed. An external repeat is where you only re-take the modules you failed.