Search results

Storytelling is a method for training essential life issues as storytelling can assist learners to consider the story not just as a source of entertainment but as a practical lesson. In fact, teachers can encourage even the most unwilling students by engaging the students in storytelling while maintaining students' attention through narration using sounds and gestures. The present study aims to examine the effect of the university instructor’s narrative on English as a Foreign Language (EFL) student’s sustained attention, emotional involvement and cognitive learning.

To do so, the study adopted a quasi-experimental research design with the aim of focusing on the students’ performance within two different virtual classes. University students’ sustained attention, emotional involvement and cognitive learning were assessed in control and experimental groups before and after the treatment. To measure students’ sustained attention, Wei et al.’s (2012) scale, which comprises six items, was used. Besides, emotional involvement was assessed through Golestani’s (2017) engagement questionnaire. To check students’ cognitive learning, the scale designed by Richmond et al. (1987) was utilized. The summaries and conclusions in the experimental class were ingrained in instructors’ pedagogical repertoires, as the repertoires offer students an alternative way to understand course material beyond a straight lecture. Students in the experimental group were also asked to ponder over the materials presented to the students each session, and the students were supposed to present a one to two-paragraph note on the possible implications of the materials instructed at each session.

The results of independent samples t-test indicated that there was a statistically significant difference between the two groups regarding the degree of their sustained attention, emotional involvement and cognitive learning. The findings of the present study can raise instructors’ awareness toward the application of narratives in their instructional methodologies, as well as putting forth significant strategies to enhance students’ sustained attention, emotional involvement and cognitive learning through narratives.

The theoretical framework of the study derives from Kromka and Goodboys (2018) conceptualization of instructor narrative (IN), defined as the explicit presentation of the lessons conclusion at the end of each session. Previous studies on narrative have primarily focused on learners’ narrative as an educational tool. Later studies on teacher narratives conceive this as the teachers’ personal anecdotes and story-like accounts of others’ experiences; nonetheless, the position which is taken in this study is more academically laden and is based on the information instructed in each session.

Examines the theoretical and practical development of the concept of the learning organisation (LO). Some theorists have used the term LO interchangeably with organisational learning, while others have drawn distinctions between the two. Provides a brief review of the current LO literature in the context of learning and organisational learning, and the theoretical tensions existing between these concepts. Treats the LO as a metaphor in order to explore the possibilities for its re‐interpretation. Establishes the centrality of narrative to all human endeavours and that every organisational aspect is anchored in narratives. Holistically re‐interprets the LO using narrative theory. Suggests the LO needs to be re‐interpreted in the context of power relations and Bourdieu’s social theory. Claims that the use of metaphor, narrative and social theory enhance our thinking about the LO conceptually and will open up practical possibilities for practitioners and consultants.

This paper aims to construct an approach referred to as “the participatory narrative” for organizational learning in diverse organizations. The approach is grounded in an understanding of organizational learning as the process of social construction which is narratively mediated.

The participatory narrative is constructed theoretically. Additionally, the approach and its potential use are illustrated by means of a practical example.

It is shown that the participatory narrative enables interplay between various perspectives of diverse people. It makes it possible to overcome the temporal and spatial limits of organisational learning situations and helps to question self‐evident assumptions about diverse people and makes such assumptions visible and negotiable.

The application of the participatory narrative is only highlighted with the help of an illustrative example.

The participatory narrative helps to stimulate people's empathetic orientation, which provides a basis for responses to the experiences and world‐views of other people. Thus, it helps people in diverse organizations to learn to become capable of imagining not only their own position but also the position of others.

This article contributes to prior literature by developing an awareness of the narrative mechanisms of language use in the field of organizational learning. The paper shows also that the transformative dynamic of narratively mediated organizational learning lies in the empowering recognition that organization members understand that they are the active authors of the stories.

Careful attention to experience is often the starting point for narrative inquiries into teaching and learning. This chapter uses autobiographical reflection on pedagogical experiences, young peoples’ drawings, and examples of narrative research to demonstrate the value of sharing and connecting personal stories. In the context of evidence-based reforms in education and a focus on accountability and teaching standards, Australian governments, like others, express concern about the “quality” of teacher education and are looking to models of school-based “training.” While apprenticeship models of teacher education are considered inadequate, stronger partnerships between schools and universities are desirable. I argue that rather than continuing to be at the periphery, narrative research and pedagogies can exist as a central thread in teacher education programs, which have stronger connections to schools, teachers, and young people because they reveal the complexity of teaching and learning processes, enable deeper levels of understanding, and foster a critical reflective stance. I use examples from practice to show how narrative pedagogies contextualize, problematize, and clarify personal values and experience, theory, policy, and issues of practice. Nowhere is this more powerful than in situations where dispersed narratives, told orally, in writing and through visual representations sit alongside of one another and collide. Dispersed narratives challenge the view that narratives are contained and individualized. Rather than being discrete, they exist as intertextual connections or networks of meaning that can be created by groups of people not necessarily confined by space and time. This chapter aims to open a space for the continued thinking about how dispersed narratives can be used in teacher education to deepen professional learning.

This paper explores breakthroughs or ‘lift‐off’ moments in learning involving several teacher/researchers and their students in China. The data come from teaching and research situations centring on teaching and learning English as a foreign language (EFL). An analysis of the language features of the data and their effects explores learning by tracing movement from initial impasses to breakthrough moments, as participants interact, shift ground and discover new learning. Definition of these lift‐off moments and ways of knowing centres in a sense of discovery that pushes learning forward and simultaneously pulls together life experiences in new directions for specific pedagogical insights, self‐assessment and identity conclusions, and recognition of the power of inquiry. In particular, the paper explores the potential contribution of narrative forms of collaborative inquiry in learning, as evident in two contrasting exemplars, the first coconstructed in face‐to‐face interviews or conversational settings, and the second, thesis supervision by the distance learning one‐to‐one format of emailing. These documented interchanges between two Chinese postgraduate EFL teachers and their research coursework teacher and supervisor come from a wide data bank of exemplars collected over many years, and from linguistically diverse contexts.

To investigate the relationship between learning, organizational change, organizational culture and narratives. The issues are explored on the basis of a case study of an automotive supplier based in North‐East England where learning is deeply integrated in the daily routines of the company.

The project reported upon in this paper was of qualitative and interpretive nature, using narrative cross‐national comparative research. The main data collection method was in‐depth interviewing with organizational members from all hierarchical levels. The interviews were tape‐recorded, transcribed and fed back to the interviewees. The data was analysed using grounded theory.

The research concludes that organizational change, learning and culture are deeply interwoven. More specifically, the success of the case study company is based to a large extent on its people focus and unique learning culture, which are reflected in, separable from and sustained by the prevailing organizational narratives.

The generalizability of case studies is limited, but opens up new questions to be explored by further research into the relationship of organizational change, learning, culture and narratives.

Organizational narratives are a powerful tool for managers to examine cultural aspects within the firm, which should be used more widely.

The paper raises interesting issues for management researchers, challenging some previously taken for granted assumptions.

Narratives are useful to educate novices to learn from the past in a safe environment. For some high-risk industries, narratives for lessons learnt are costly and limited, as they are constructed from the occurrence of accidents. This paper aims to propose a new approach to facilitate narrative generation from existing narrative sources to support training and learning.

A computational narrative semi-fiction generation (CNSG) approach is proposed, and a case study was conducted in a statutory body in the construction industry in Hong Kong. Apart from measuring the learning outcomes gained by participants through the new narratives, domain experts were invited to evaluate the performance of the CNSG approach.

The performance of the CNSG approach is found to be effective in facilitating new narrative generation from existing narrative sources and to generate synthetic semi-fiction narratives to support and educate individuals to learn from past lessons. The new narratives generated by the CNSG approach help students learn and remember important things and learning points from the narratives. Domain experts agree that the validated narratives are useful for training and learning purposes.

This study presents a new narrative generation process for a high-risk industry, e.g. the construction industry. The CNSG approach incorporates the technologies of natural language processing and artificial intelligence to computationally identify narrative gaps in existing narrative sources and proposes narrative fragments to generate new semi-fiction narratives. Encouraging results were gained through the case study.

Narrative assessment is a strengths-based approach that stories children’s learning and makes visible teaching and relationships that are critical to quality education. This case study explores narrative assessment in the learning area of literacy in a New Zealand primary school. Listening to a child’s voice means, he can be an active participant in his learning and engage in the rich curricular opportunities alongside his peers. As his capabilities and communicative skills are made visible, meaningful relationships develop within the classroom community. In this case study, narrative assessment supports authentic belonging in a culture where care and respect are valued.

This article aims to show how in times of austerity when formal HRD activity is curtailed and yet the need for learning is greatest, non‐formal learning methods such as workplace involvement and participation initiated by line managers can compensate by enabling the required learning and change.

A qualitative cross‐sectional design using a photo‐elicitation interview method was used with middle‐manager respondents within two case‐study organisations. These organisations, UK local authorities, were selected on the basis of the severity of the austerity measures being imposed and the significance of the learning needed/changes required. Middle managers were the focus, being a managerial cadre with dual responsibilities for both implementing and initiating change.

Managers' narratives of their managerial practices are analysed and show strong intentions to facilitate the learning of individuals through, for instance, enabling learning from experience and also to promote social learning within communities of practice. Narratives of community learning suggest that the managers were also supporting the creation of new forms of practice within their teams.

The research involved volunteer respondents who were MBA educated and who may, therefore, have been atypical. Nonetheless, implications for HRD policy and practice are proposed, including the need for more recognition of the role of line managers in enabling both individual and organisational learning and the need for developing managers as workplace educators.

This paper is an in‐depth qualitative study of workplace activities including participation and involvement practices using the lens of situated learning theory to highlight the importance of line managers as facilitators of non‐formal learning in times of austerity. Empirical conclusions are drawn upon in refining situated learning theory.

The ability to project oneself into a future landscape is a critical aspect for studying and practicing the science of foresight and foresight-based learning systems. The purpose of this paper is to discuss how we can construct immersive spatial narratives through multimedia-enhanced learning approaches, to increase deeper learner immersion and levels of creativity to transport the learner into a simulated 2030 landscape by reducing the distance between the projected reality and the Self.

The author designed a foresight-based course on the Future of Mobile Learning underpinned by a new learning system that embraced the concept of immersive spatial narratives, combining physical, virtual and cognitive learning spaces, which enable students to explore complex, undiscovered or unstructured knowledge. Practicing was carried out on 35 students who had completed the course during the preceding three years through a questionnaire and interviews to establish increased levels of creativity in a simulated future landscape.

The paper established that the addition of multimedia learning environments and tools to foresight-based learning creates immersive spatial narratives that increase creativity and learner ability to project him/herself into a simulated future landscape. In all, 75 per cent of the respondents stated that having to think about the future and place themselves in a practicing landscape increased their creative skills.

A new, foresight-based learning system driven by the concept of immersive spatial narratives, enhanced with student-created multimedia learning tools. The system demonstrated how this approach helps to increase learner creativity and the ability to transition from their Present Self to their Future Self.