Why Use Narrative Inquiry for LTI Research?
In applied linguistics, narrative inquiry has been recognized as one of the main methodological approaches in past and recent research exploring LTIs (Barkhuizen, 2016;
Barkhuizen et al., 2014; Benson, 2014; Block, 2015; De Costa & Norton, 2016; Hayes, 2017;
Kayi-Aydar, 2019; Norton & De Costa, 2018). As a research methodology, there are several characteristics of narrative inquiry that make it valuable and necessary for exploring LTI research.
The first characteristic of narrative inquiry that makes it particularly important for LTI research pertains to the intimate relationship between narrative inquiry and the research
participants. In contrast to more positivist approaches to research, narrative inquiry places a
strong emphasis on the lived experiences of participants and treating them as people whose stories represent ways in which they situate themselves in the world. In the words of Barkhuizen et al. (2014), “narrative inquiry is the only [emphasis added] methodology that provides access to language teaching and learning as lived experiences that take place over long periods of time and in multiple settings and contexts” (p. 12). In the same vein, Clandinin and Caine (2008) refer to narrative inquiry as an “intimate study” of individual’s experiences (p. 541). Thus, narrative inquiry provides the kind of full-bodied exploration of language teachers’ experiences and reflective commentary on those experiences needed for LTI research to produce rich and complex findings about a concept as abstract as “identity”.The second characteristic of narrative inquiry that makes it particularly important for LTI research pertains to the relationship between narrative inquiry and the DFG framework. One
way to think about the DFG framework is that it is all about connections – connections across different elements of language teaching and learning as conveyed through the micro, meso, and macro levels of the framework. While it is true that narrative inquiry has a strong focus on individual narratives, narrative inquiry also emphasizes making connections between individual experiences and social phenomenon (Hayes, 2017). Narrative inquiry is able to reveal these connections because stories about language teaching inherently incorporate both aspects of teachers’ inner lives (e.g., perspectives, beliefs) and social lives (e.g., community membership, social relationships) (Clandinin & Rosiek, 2007; Pomerantz, 2013).
The third characteristic of narrative inquiry that makes it particularly important for LTI research pertains to the relationship between narrative inquiry and the topic of “teacher
identity”. Stories play a dual role in the development of teacher identities and in helping
researchers understand teachers’ experience. First, teachers’ telling stories about their lives is a core part of how teachers conceptualize, create, and perform their knowledge of teaching and their professional identities (Johnson & Golombek, 2002). The process of a teacher telling stories about their experiences forces them to communicate their teacher identities (i.e., “Who am I as a teacher?”) and the meaning of their role as a teacher (i.e., “Why am I here?”) in relation to the social context around them (Atkinson, 2007; Kim & Latta, 2010; Sfard & Prusak, 2005; Taylor, 2001). In addition, from the perspective of using narrative inquiry as a research methodology, stories provide a format to authentically represent how teachers’ see themselves and their experiences, which is a core part of teacher identity research (Clandinin & Connelly, 2000).Thus, stories are not only a way for teachers to understand and construct their identities and experience, but also a way for researchers to access the complexities of teacher identities. Using
narrative inquiry for this study means using a methodology that investigates both of these elements.
Defining Narrative Inquiry and Stories
While the way narrative inquiry is implemented can vary across disciplines and professional fields, narrative inquiry can be broadly defined as “an approach to the study of human lives conceived as a way of honouring lived experience as a source of important
knowledge and understanding” (Clandinin, 2016, p. 17). In other words, researchers conducting narrative inquiry explore their participants’ lived experience through the stories told through the researcher-participant interaction. Narrative inquiry can be seen as the process of participants making sense of their past, present, and future selves to the researcher as well as to themselves (Barkhuizen, 2019).
In this study, I use the terms story and narrative interchangeably, following Riessman (2008) and Spector-Mersal (2010). While different academic traditions treat the relationship between a story and a narrative differently, using the two terms interchangeably is considered contemporary conventional practice in the social sciences (Spector-Mersal, 2010). In defining what a story is, Barkhuizen (2018), who has published prominently about the use of narrative approaches to applied linguistics research, provides a specific yet accessible criterion, which I employ in my study:
1. Stories narrate experiences that have happened in the past or will happen in the future (an imagined future).
2. Stories include the storytellers’ reactions, thoughts, and emotions about the narrated experiences.
3. Stories have a “temporal dimension” in which “something happens over a period of time” (p. 112).
4. Stories have action. Something happens in a story.
5. What happens in a story is situated in a social context, characterized by multiple levels (micro, meso, macro) of social interaction and institutional context.
6. Stories make reference to the who (the characters), the when (the time), and the
where (the place).
7. Stories “look like stories”; as readers and listeners, “we have a feel for what a story is and usually these feelings are right” (p. 121).
To summarize, Barkhuizen’s criterion for a story detail the foundational elements that build a story: temporality, characters, thoughts and emotions, action, and social context. Thus, we can see from Barkhuizen’s (2018) criterion that these foundational elements broadly coincide with the foundational elements that the DFG framework consists of, making stories a particularly suitable form of data.
Participants
This study will feature three participants who have taught multiple languages from different backgrounds (i.e., language, teaching experience, teaching context, nationality, and ethnicity). More specifically, I aimed to recruit participants representative of the target population the DFG framework aims to address based on the stated goal of the framework:
“responding to the pressing needs of additional language users, their education, their multilingual and multiliterate development, social integration, and performance across diverse globalized,
technologized, and transnational contexts [emphasis added]” (Douglas Fir Group, 2016, p. 24).
The participants recruited for this study were representative of additional language users whose
education, multilingual development, and social lives have been shaped by greater forces of globalization and technology (e.g., experiences studying to teaching abroad, integrating innovative technologies into their teaching, etc.). Originally, I had recruited five participants based on the qualitative sampling method of maximum variation sampling, which maximizes differences to increase the likelihood of findings that reveal different perspectives (Creswell, 2013). However, the process of recruiting participants for this study was difficult for two
reasons. First, recruiting participants for this study was difficult was because of the specific type of participant I was interested in researching, namely teachers who had experience teaching multiple languages. Second, the study involved completing comprehensive tasks that took a substantial amount of time to complete and lasted for several months. Time constraints proved to be the reason why two of the five participants were not able to complete the study, even though they had initially expressed informal agreement to participate in the study. The remaining three participants completed the study and still proved to fulfill the goal of the study of exploring the lived experiences of TMLs from a variety of backgrounds. Table 4 presents the profiles of the participants.
Data Collection
Collecting Data in Multiple Modes
A crucial aspect of qualitative research design is incorporating triangulation in order to strengthen the validity of the findings and decrease a study’s vulnerability towards bias. One form of triangulation is triangulation of qualitative data sources, which requires checking for consistency from data collected through different methods and at different times (Patton, 2015).
Thus, I collected narrative-based data through different sources (i.e., teaching philosophy,
Table 4
Demographic Profile of Participants
Pseudonym Ann Megan Haruko
Gender Female Female Female
Nationality Taiwan The United States Japan
Age 25 34 33
First Language
Taught
Language English English English
Location Taiwan Germany and the
United States
Language Chinese German Japanese
Location Taiwan and the
United States The United States The United States
# of years 3.5 years 2 years 1 year
interviews, photographs). Several factors were taken into consideration that led to the decision to collect these three sources of data (see Table for a summary of these factors).
⚫ Mode of expression: For this study, I have collected narrative-based data in the form of verbal, written, and visual data. Creswell (2013) recommends that when
designing procedures for conducting narrative research, one should consider the different mediums through which data collection can be conducted. This is
important because narratives in everyday communication are often multimodal, or conveyed through multiple modes of expression (i.e., written, verbal, visual); thus, giving participants access to different modes of expression during data collection will help them produce more comprehensive narratives.
⚫ Targeted topics/issues: Each data source is designed to target certain topics or issues address the research questions and correspond with the different levels of the DFG framework. Thus, for example, the teaching philosophy is chosen because this genre of text is designed to elicit participants’ beliefs and approaches to language teaching and learning. Photographs, however, are better equipped to address different topics, particularly things that are more easily visually represented, such as a teachers’ work environment and class materials. Each source of data has its advantages in being able to elicit different content from participants.
⚫ Correspondence with the DFG framework: Each data source also corresponds to one or more of the levels in the DFG framework. For example, because the teaching philosophy was designed to elicit participants’ beliefs and approaches in language teaching and learning, it corresponds with the micro level (e.g., teacher knowledge, cognitive factors, use of semiotic resources) and the macro level (e.g., ideologies, cultural values)
Table 5
The Role of Each Data Source
Source of data Mode ofExpression Targeted Topics/Issues Correspondence with the DFG framework Teaching
philosophy Written Beliefs and approaches in language teaching and learning
It is important to note that triangulation by collecting data from different sources and modes does not mean that one should expect a single, consistent conclusion in the findings. In fact, collecting data from different sources and in different modalities (i.e., written, verbal, visual) will likely produce some inconsistencies that are a result of different perspectives and angles on the same phenomenon. However, it is the very act of addressing and interrogating these inconsistencies that increases the credibility of the researcher’s findings (Gaskell & Bauer, 2000; Patton, 2015). To summarize, data collection will involve collecting narrative-based qualitative data from three different sources in three different modalities (i.e., verbal, written, visual): oral narratives through semi-structured interviews, written teacher philosophy statement, and participant-produced photo-narratives through photo-elicitation. Table 6 presents a summary of the entire data collection process.
Table 6
A Summary of the Data Collection Process
Task June July August
Task Issued to participants --- Collected from
participants Teaching
Philosophy Issued to participants --- Collected from participants
Semi-structured Interviews
The primary source of narrative data came from semi-structured interviews that
specifically focused on asking participants about their teaching experiences in teaching multiple languages over the span of their teaching career. The narrative interview questions were inspired by McAdams’ (2008) life story interview guide, which focused on pivotal moments in a person’s life, such as high, low, and turning points. However, rather than focusing on the participant’s life trajectory, I have chosen to focus on their teaching career.However, this did not mean that the narrative interview did not contain aspects of their life that are beyond the classroom. Teachers’
lived experiences of their own careers are not only confined to the classroom. And certainly, events in teachers’ lives that may have happened before they became teachers or after they have retired from teaching may certainly influence part of their experience of being a teacher.
Therefore, the narrative interviews were not only restricted to the period of time when they were actually hired as teachers. Again, the primary focus of the narrative interview is to address pivotal moments in the teachers’ lives in relation to their teaching career, as guided by the interview questions adapted from McAdams’ interview guide (2008) (see Appendix B).
Interviews were conducted in-person or through Skype and divided into two sessions, one session a month with each session lasting roughly 90 minutes each. 90 minutes is the
recommended length of time for interview protocols in qualitative research in order to ensure that there is enough time to go in-depth with participants but not stretch for so long that
participants lose focus (Seidman, 2006). The two sessions were spaced one month apart in order to ensure flexibility in accommodating the participants’ schedules, all of whom were full-time teachers at the time interviews were conducted. Seidman (2006) states that while many variations in the spacing of interviews exist, what is important is that structure is maintained throughout the
process. The first session asked participants to answer questions regarding their past and present teaching experiences, and the second session regarding their future plans for their teaching career and any follow-up questions to expand on previous points. In the planning stages of my study, I estimated that two sessions were necessary for participants to address all the questions I had planned as well as any additional follow-up questions in enough depth, though I had also planned for a third interview if necessary. All interviews were conducted primarily in English and fully transcribed in English (as determined by the participant). The full interview guide used for all interview session can be found in Appendix B.
Written Teaching Philosophy Statement
Participants were also asked to write a teaching philosophy statement. Like the photographs, a teaching philosophy statement is not directly a form of narrative. However, within a teaching philosophy statement, the participant may choose to use narratives in order to show what their beliefs or teaching philosophies are. Thus, the teaching philosophies can be seen as a type of “teacher identity text” in the way that it “provides a forum for the discussion of
‘self’” (Hallman, 2015, p. 8). Each participant wrote their own teaching philosophy statement during their own time. The researcher gave participants a month to complete the teaching philosophy to allow participants the time and flexibility for greater reflection, as opposed to immediate face-to-face responses as produced from the interviews. Participants were provided with a guide as to what topics the written teaching philosophy will cover. Participants were free to write as many pages as they would like, as long as they cover all the topics. The main topics for the teaching philosophy were (a) the teacher’s beliefs about language learning, (b) the teacher’s beliefs about language teaching, and (c) how the teacher’s beliefs are connected to
his/her teaching. The specific guidelines provided for participants to follow in writing the teaching philosophy can be found in Appendix C.
Photo-elicitation
Photo-elicitation can be considered a specific type of visual elicitation using photographs in research interviews (Barkhuizen et al., 2014; Harper, 2002). Most photo-elicitation studies follow the format of asking participants to take their own photographs, which will be used as the subject of discussion during the interview; however, photographs can also be taken by the researcher or found from an outside source (Barkhuizen, 2018; Barkhuizen, et al., 2014). For photo-elicitation, the role photographs play during research interviews is as a “a trigger to
‘telling’ whether that is for oneself, in making sense of and remembering experiences past and present, or for others, including researchers” (Harrison, 2002, p. 108). In language teaching and learning research, photo-elicitation and the use of participant-taken photographs have been applied to explore English language learning in formal and informal contexts (Nikula &
Pitkänen-Huhta, 2008), international students’ perceptions of their educational environment (Shaw, 2013), the identities and participation of marginalized language learners in L2
communities (Giroir, 2014), and international LTIs through narrative inquiry (Cabrera, 2017).
In narrative inquiry, photographs have been considered to be a rich source of narrative data (Harrison, 2002). While photo elicitation is not directly a narrative-form of data collection (in the sense that it is not directly asking participants to share stories), it is a method of using visual expression (i.e., photographs) to elicit stories about the teachers’ teaching experiences brought about through a different mode of thinking. Furthermore, Riessman (2008) explains that narrative data is not only limited to verbal data collected from interviews, highlighting the fact
that “many kinds of texts can be viewed narratively, including spoken, written and visual materials” (p. 4).
For this study, I have chosen to use photo-elicitation because it has the potential to elicit responses from participants that oral-only interviews lack. The following are the four main advantages of using photo-elicitation (as opposed to a traditional oral-based interview), as summarized by Rose (2016):
1. Photo-elicitation provides different insights. Scholars argue that discussing
photographs through an interview can elicit information that researchers otherwise may not have thought about addressing or may not have been aware of (Harper, 2002;
Rose, 2016).
2. Photo-elicitation prompts different types of talk than other interview methods.
Scholars argue that photo-elicitation triggers more emotional responses (Harper, 2002;
Rose, 2016). Also, since the use of images allows for “communicating more
holistically, and through metaphors, they can enhance empathic understanding, capture the ineffable” (Bagnoli, 2009, p. 548). Furthermore, Collier (1957) experimented with both verbal-only interviews and verbal interviews with photographs and observed that the use of photographs allowed for the participants’ interview responses to be more accurate, while traditional oral interviews were less organized and more open-ended.
Lastly, photo-elicitation can be directly connected to the methodology of narrative inquiry in that photographs can be treated as a form of storytelling (Harrison, 2002) 3. Photo-elicitation helps explore aspects of life that are usually overlooked. Particularly
when using participant-taken visual materials, Rose (2016) notes that “asking
[participants] to take photographs of that life, and then to talk about the photos, allows
the participants to reflect on their everyday activities in a way that is not usually done;
it gives them a distance from what they are usually immersed in and allows them to articulate thoughts and feelings that usually remain implicit (p. 316). Mannay (2010) explains that using photo-elicitation allows for both the researcher and participant to discuss things that may have been taken-for-granted, describing this process as
“making the familiar strange” (p. 91). Harrison (2002) suggests that taking a
photograph has the special capability of instantly capturing a moment in a format that makes it particularly suitable for the narration of experiences, hence the use of
photographs in narrative inquiry (p. 98).
4. Photo-elicitation can empower participants. Scholars argue that allowing participants to take their own photos and explain what they mean provides them with the
opportunity to share their expertise in the research process (Rose, 2016). Mannay (2010) has noticed that using participant-taken visual materials gave participants more control over the data and more time to reflect on the data with less interference from the researcher.
For this study, participant-taken photo-narratives are collected through photo-elicitation procedures. Following Giroir (2014), Langmann and Pick (2018), and Woodley-Baker (2009),
photo-narratives is the preferred term used to describe the visual photograph-based data
collected for this study because it most accurately describes the importance of the relationship between the image and the narrative as part of the interpretation of the data. Data collection for the photo-narratives through photo-elicitation was conducted according the following steps.The first step of data collection was describing the photo-elicitation task to each
participant. The prompt was to take and curate a set of six to twelve photographs that represent
their everyday lives as language teachers, defined as people, places, objects, actions, feelings, or ideas that appear or play a role in their daily routines as a language teacher. The prompt is designed according to common photo-elicitation practices in providing an appropriate balance of providing enough direction but also allowing for creative flexibility in what kind of photographs they should be taking (Rose, 2016). Furthermore, it is also common practice in photo-elicitation procedures to provide participants with a range in the number of photographs they should take (Bates et al., 2017; Langmann & Pick, 2018; Rose, 2016). The number of photographs was determined by taking into consideration the desired level of depth in the corresponding photo-elicitation interview. Limiting the number of photographs allows for the researcher to go into
their everyday lives as language teachers, defined as people, places, objects, actions, feelings, or ideas that appear or play a role in their daily routines as a language teacher. The prompt is designed according to common photo-elicitation practices in providing an appropriate balance of providing enough direction but also allowing for creative flexibility in what kind of photographs they should be taking (Rose, 2016). Furthermore, it is also common practice in photo-elicitation procedures to provide participants with a range in the number of photographs they should take (Bates et al., 2017; Langmann & Pick, 2018; Rose, 2016). The number of photographs was determined by taking into consideration the desired level of depth in the corresponding photo-elicitation interview. Limiting the number of photographs allows for the researcher to go into