Tina Gee Literature Review

Narrative Learning

Literature Review

Tina Gee

Ball State University

Written By: Tina Gee

Commented On: Karin Gilbert & Amelia Boggess

Introduction

Narrative learning, or learning through stories, is extremely prevalent in our society. There are stories told to us, stories read to us, stories viewed by us, and of course, stories invented by us. Stories can serve multiple functions: they can be used to pass down cultural traditions, they can be used to describe a difficult emotion, they can be used to connect a consumer with a product, and they can be used to teach. Aesop used fables about animals to teach children about morals. The Pleasant Company, that makes the American Girl dolls, published corresponding books set in previous time periods to teach girls history lessons. Jesus used parables involving familiar cultural references to teach Christians how to live and love.  As stated by Clark and Rossiter (2008), these “stories serve a function, namely to make meaning of our experience” (p. 61). We use stories to communicate, understand, teach, and learn. In this literature review I will discuss the process of learning through narratives, the forms of narrative learning, and the effects of narrative learning on oneself. I will also suggest some strategies that can be incorporated into adult education settings that will promote narrative learning. 

General Themes

Not all stories are educational, in the formal sense, but all stories are purposeful, even if the purpose is to entertain. Because of this, before learning can occur, we must receive the story, and “understand what the teller is trying to accomplish through the story” (Clark, 2010, p. 4). There are three ways in which we can receive stories: hearing them, telling them, and recognizing them (Clark, 2010). In addition to listening to verbal stories, we can hear stories by listening to music, reading a book, watching a movie, etc. Hearing stories allows us to digest the message being presented, and interpret the information as it relates to our lives. We can tell stories by speaking, writing, acting, or creating. Telling stories allow us to put “all the details together and [make] the experience coherent for ourselves and for others” (Clark, 2010, p. 6). Lastly, we can recognize the stories of our everyday lives. While this act of recognition may not be as concrete as hearing and telling, Clark (2010) points out that “this type of learning is critical and even emancipatory” (p. 6) because “recognizing our narrative situatedness enables us to identify and critique how...our thinking is shaped” (p. 6). Recognizing how our sense-making is shaped by our culture is a key first step in learning how to understand and possibly alter our own assumptions. 
While we have discussed how we can receive stories from our day-to-day life, within the realm of education, narratives present themselves in three main forms: “‘storying’ the curriculum, storytelling, and autobiography” (Merriam, Caffarella & Baumgartner, 2007, p. 209).  One form of narrative is ‘storying’ the curriculum. When attempting to make sense of new material, trying to create a narrative around the subject can aid in understanding. This review, for example, is my attempt to story the articles I’ve read in a way that is informative to myself and my readers. Another example of storying the curriculum is taking a generic mathematics problem, and relating it to monetary values, to help understand positive and negative values. In general, Merriam et al. (2007) broadens the example of storying the curriculum to “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” (p. 209). Storying the curriculum allows us “to make the elements of what we do not yet fully understand hang together” (Clark &Rossiter, 2008, p. 66).

Another form of narrative is storytelling. While storytelling can involve reciting fairy tales or reading books to children, in adult education storytelling presents itself in a more formal manner, such as word problems, case studies, and role-playing. Instead of reading about a subject, storytelling allows students to interact with the content. Role-playing allows students the ability to address and react to different situations in a controlled environment, while case-studies and word problems allow students to view the material from a real-world perspective. Merriam et al. (2007) even claim that “using stories to engage students in ideas that are part of course content may be the only way to allow understanding to occur” (p. 210).
The third form of narrative is autobiographies. While the creation of one's own autobiography can occur in many ways, the purpose is the same; to reflect on one's past in order to gain new information for one's future. Drawing from Karpiak (2000), Merriam et al. (2007) states that reflecting on the past allows us to see “patterns and meaning” in order to “know something now that we did not know before” (p. 213). In addition to formal autobiographies, journaling is also considered an autobiographical narrative. Journaling allows one to gather thoughts onto paper in order to organize and reflect. Clark and Rossiter (2008) describe journaling best:

Writing is a way of making our thinking visible, and we believe this becomes part of the thought process itself - thinking on paper - because we are trying to narrate our understanding of something, trying to achieve coherence (p. 67).

While narratives can aid in the learning of a wide variety of subjects, narrative learning often results in learners understanding more about themselves. In fact, using narratives is “how we craft our sense of self, our identity” (Clark & Rossiter, 2008, p. 62). We create stories about how we view ourselves and our lives, and as those views change or become irrelevant, we re-story our narratives accordingly.  Sometimes, we can have multiple stories being written at once, as we try to make sense of what we are experiencing and feeling. Clark and Rossiter (2008), drawing from Freeman (1991), state that this process of storying oneself is inherently retrospective and it requires a great deal of reflection (p. 63). In fact, “self-reflection directed toward greater self-understanding” is a key component of narrative learning (Clark & Rossiter, 2008, p. 67).

Implications/Applications

Earlier, I discussed that narrative learning fosters learning through hearing, telling, and recognizing stories. To aid this process within a classroom setting, peer-teaching-peer activities can be implemented. In peer-teaching-peer activities, the students are able to move between the roles of presenter and receiver while discussing the subject matter. During these activities, “not only does the peer teacher benefit by creating the narrative but there is the further benefit that comes from having the student learner question or challenge the narrative” (Clark & Rossiter, 2008, p. 67). Students must create a narrative to understand the materials themselves, create a narrative that can be understood by others, and interpret the meaning of the narratives being told to them. Marunda-Piki (2018) shows that peer-teaching-peer activities are beneficial by stating that throughout the learning process, “participants telling and hearing narratives make priorities, note what is appropriate, and package information” (p. 108) and that “learners, through such narratives, presented a wealth of knowledge about material relevant for their learning” (p. 107). 
Peer-teaching-peer activities are an example of storying the curriculum, one of the forms of narratives. Another form, autobiographies, will be discussed later in this paper. The third form of narratives is storytelling. The three examples provided in the introduction, Aesop’s Fables, American Girl Doll books, and Jesus’s parables, are all examples of storytelling. In regards to storytelling, Foote (2015) states:

Throughout the ages, humans have passed down culture, traditions, beliefs, values, and experiences via narrative accounts. Thus, narratives have been a primary means of knowledge impartation and acquisition since the beginning of time (p. 116).

The American Girl Doll books put a relatable character in a different time period, to help children not only learn about the past, but view the past from a new perspective. One way to apply a similar technique within an adult classroom, is to use case studies, a tool mentioned earlier in this paper. Clark and Rossiter (2008) define case studies as a professional story, including a setting, characters, and a plot, that presents a complex problem that must be solved, reflecting real-world practice (p. 68). Sims and Swenson (2012) add that case studies refrain from revealing what is “supposed” to be learned (p. 3). They continue to explain that because these case study stories are based in experience, students are able to learn by doing (p. 3) and later state “this is public storytelling…[and] such stories must always be interpreted because it is interpretation that calls us to think and to action in learning” (Sims & Swenson, 2012, p. 4). Students are able to see the significance of these case studies, because they are situational problems created based on real-world situations, presented in a real setting, that require real skills and knowledge to understand and solve. 

Autobiographies are the third form of narratives, and as stated earlier, writing one’s own autobiography can lead to understanding oneself. To implement the use of autobiographies, Clark and Rossiter (2008) suggest autobiographical learning portfolios, which allow “students to tell the story of their own learning...reflect on what they’ve learned…[and] to understand themselves as lifelong learners” (p. 68). In a more specific application, according to Foote (2015), some colleges are allowing students to earn credit based on prior experiences if they submit proof of learning that “is articulated in narrative format” (p. 117). While this may not be something that can be replicated within a classroom, using narrative writing and autobiographical writing as a general practice can still elicit the same results in students’ understanding of themselves. Foote (2015) says that “learning through written narratives gives students the opportunity to reshape and renew their identities” (p. 122), by storying and re-storying their own understanding of themselves. She also states the idea that “students can probe their past with their own pens” and that “the writing process itself can also serve as a pathway to learning to think and reflect critically” (p. 122). 

Within the realm of mathematics, journaling, another form of autobiographical writing, can also benefit students. If learners take time to write about how they feel before, during, and after math lessons, it can reveal information about their attitude and confidence regarding their mathematical abilities. For students suffering from the “I’m not good at math” syndrome, writing about past experiences can help determine the root cause of their negative thinking. Continuing to journal throughout a course can allow students to understand themselves as a learner, and help overcome their mental obstacles toward the subject. Eventually, students will be able to cure themselves of the syndrome by rewriting their story as a mathematics learner, and build their confidence within the subject. 

Reflection

I really enjoyed exploring the topic of narrative learning, because stories have always played an important role in my life. My mother is a librarian, so reading stories was one of my first hobbies. I also attended Sunday School as a child, and all of the lessons were told through stories and parables. Being able to take something that was so familiar, and learning about it from a different perspective was very interesting. 

While the topic was interesting, the writing process was very difficult for me. Having a background in mathematics, I have minimal experience writing papers, and what experience I do have is only in research papers. Because of this I had a difficult time not only selecting which articles to use, but also pulling themes from the articles I read instead of just pulling facts. In fact, even finding articles relating to narrative learning, outside of nursing, was more difficult than I expected. Knowing that this would be a challenging assignment, I gave myself ample time to complete the work. In addition, I set daily goals so I would not get too overwhelmed, or fall too far behind. These goals included: finding articles, reading the articles, creating the table, and working on each section of the paper. 

Table 2
Summary of Literature Review

Theme	Evidence	Implication/Application
Process of learning through narratives.	Stories are used to foster learning through hearing, telling, and recognizing narratives.	Peer teaching
Forms of narrative learning.	Storying the curriculum, storytelling, and autobiographies	Case studies
Effects of narrative learning on oneself.	Understanding self, sense making	Autobiographical writing and mathematical journaling

References

Chipo J. Marunda-Piki (2018) The impact of narrative-based learning in classroom, Research in Drama Education. The Journal of Applied Theatre and Performance, 23:1, 107-113, DOI: 10.1080/13569783.2017.1399055

Clark, M., & Clark, M. (2010). Narrative learning: Its contours and its possibilities. New Directions for Adult and Continuing Education, 2010(126), 3–11. https://doi.org/10.1002/ace.367

Clark, M., Rossiter, M., & Clark, M. (2008). Narrative learning in adulthood. New Directions for Adult and Continuing Education, 2008(119), 61–70. https://doi.org/10.1002/ace.306

Foote, L. (2015). Re-storying life as a means of critical reflection: The power of narrative learning. Christian Higher Education, 14(3), 116–126. https://doi.org/10.1080/15363759.2015.1028580

Merriam, S. B., Caffarella, R. S., & Baumgartner, L. M. (2007). Learning in Adulthood: A comprehensive guide (3rd ed.). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Sims, S., & Swenson, M. (2012). Preparing teachers and students for narrative learning. Journal of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, 1(2), 24-37. Retrieved from https://scholarworks.iu.edu/journals/index.php/josotl/article/view/1585