Narrative
Learning for the Adult
A
Literature Review
Alexander
J. Davis
Ball
State University
EDAC
634 – The Adult as a Learner
Date:
February 16, 2020
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Table 1.
Review and
comments on other students’ work
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Name
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Commented
On
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Alex Davis
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Introduction
From the historical traditions of
passing information down through oral interpretation to the sharing of tweets,
statuses, and long passages in the modern technological age, humans have always
used storytelling to teach, share, and receive information. Unsurprisingly,
this is also prevalent educational pedagogy, and this method is useful in the
classroom for adult learners. Narrative-based learning is an education theory
suggesting that people define their experiences within the context of stories –
which serve as both a cognitive structure and a means of communication, as well
as assist people in framing and understanding their perceptions of the world
(Brunner, 1991, p. 4). Narratives can contextualize abstract concepts that may
be foreign to the learner and create a framework for transferring these
concepts within specific contexts and environments (Fiore, Metcalf, &
McDaniel, 2007, p. 33). Narrative learning theory is largely based on constructivist,
situated learning theory, which indicates that active learning must take place
within the context that the knowledge needs to be applied (Alessi &
Trollip, 2001). Rossiter (1999) suggests a similar notion: that narrative is a
central structure in how humans create holistic meaning and therefore, their
life course and identity are in the context of a story.
This is important in adult-learning, as adults have long
lives from which to pull experience; thus, they apply knowledge in the context
of their life experience. Randall (2008) furthers this idea, “narrative
learning theory posits an intimate connection between learning and experience,
where learnings give meaning to the experience when they narrate it.”
Additionally, adult learners have created their identities using storytelling,
and adult learners are constantly restructuring their narratives to accommodate
new insights and perspectives, whether they be experiential, societal, or
cultural. So, as educators, using this theory is important to appropriately
applying the wealth of knowledge we possess to the lived stories of our
students. Therefore, in the following literature review, I will be discussing
the key themes and implications of narrative learning theory, as well as
offering a reflection on how this theory can be applied in adult and community
education.
General
Themes
Before I delve into my themes, I want to take a step back
into communication theory, and how we as humans communicate messages. The
Shannon-Weaver Model, as proposed by Claude Shannon and Warren Weaver (1949)
finds that the sender transmits the message through the channel, and the
reception of the message is done by the receiver, who then gives feedback to
the sender. This is considered the “mother of all communication models” and is
the basis of how we share information. Consequently, the way humans share
stories follows this same model, and is carried into narrative learning. Literature
suggests that when observing narrative learning occurs when the student
participates in three roles: The Listener/Receiver, The Actor/Sender, and The
Conceptualizer (Reception and Feedback).
The Listener
Students in a traditional classroom setting find
themselves in the receiver, or listener, position in the reception of information
and storytelling. This is how instructors, teachers, professors, or any other
form of professional educator share their knowledge that they have. This is
also the most common form of storying: hearing the story. From hearing
religious parables and historical folklore to reading articles about the latest
information in the 24-hour news cycle, we receive information every day. Students,
therefore, need to play the receiving role to conceptualize and understand the
information. An argument can be made that the receiver role, while necessary,
is the least engaging role of the three; this is because we are so used to
hearing information and other people’s stories without any need to immerse and
emote through our reception of information. However, in order conceptualize
stories into their own narrative, the receiving role is needed (Clark, 2010, p.
5).
The Actor
The actor, or sender, of the message establishes the
details, structure, and overall message they want to convey. The actor oversees
making the experience coherent for themselves and for the people serving as
receivers (Clark, 2010, p. 5). This is important in the connection between
knowledge and experience. Clark (2010) uses the example of the illness
narrative, where the storyteller uses dramatic detail and life-changing
invocation that it allows the receiver to dram correlations on their own.
Ultimately, this role is important in permitting the student to apply their own
experiences to the material by creating their own stories.
The Conceptualizer
Finally, the conceptualizer applies the stories to the
new knowledge they have learned, thereby applying the knowledge to their own
experiences. When we conceptualize the learning process itself, we realize that
we construct stories is the way we learn new phenomena (Merriam, 2008). Clark
(2005) suggests that this type of learning is not only critical, but it can be
emancipatory for students because it presumes that our thinking is shaped by
sociocultural forces so we can identify and critique how the shaping of our
narrative-situatedness occurs. An example of this, as proposed by Clark, is an
American traveling to a non-Western culture and organizing the cultural
narratives into their own Western narratives. These narratives enable students to
examine and critique the information they learn and identify its underlying
assumptions and what interests are served by those assumptions.
Implications
Narrative Learning is considered a form of
transformational learning, where storytelling transforms the way adult learners
choose to intake and conceptualize new knowledge (Merriam, Caffarella, &
Baumgartner, 2007). Thus, it is important to discuss the implications of how to
use narrative learning to apply this theory to the classroom.
For the role of the receiver, it is important for
education professionals to divert from the traditional teaching of what could
be equated to an information dump and begin to use narrative learning to convey
material. An example of this is presented by Mindy Thuna (2013) where she used
a simple story with the central event is finding the right source of
information. Students had to use the story to search for something the student
would need themselves, or have needed, to find outside of the library setting.
By walking students through the process of where to search for known or common
items in everyday places, the students were able to become more familiar with
the pathway of learning and create a framework upon which to build. While this
example is geared toward children, a great example to adult learning is
teaching using experiences they may have had to apply information. Strong
examples using case studies, critical incidents, roleplaying, and simulations,
which can help students understand concepts, principles, and theories. In this
course, for example, we are often presented with not only strict information
about the adult as a learner, but we are also provided videos, additional
sources, and stories that help us understand the topics more clearly.
For the role of the actor, students are much more likely
to be involved as they are directly telling the stories for their application
of knowledge. Merriam, Caffarella, & Baumgartner (2007) suggests a few ways
to allow students to be the actor in their own studies. Learning journals are a
method for students to compile their own knowledge and retell it in a way they
understand and can compartmentalize. Another method is having students create
their own case studies with material, which is a great way to apply new
research methods in a practical manner. Finally, students can use
autobiographical journaling that focus on concepts taught in the course. This
can be a gateway to applying knowledge to every facet of their lives, from past
to present to future. This assignment, for example, is how we use this role in
our course: we are creating a blog to further explore this topic in depth,
which is putting the information in our hands to retell.
Finally, the conceptualizer is the most important role as
student needs to play in narrative learning because it means they are
critiquing, interacting, and processing the information. This step is also a
great place for collaboration and corroboration amongst students. Using discussion-based
learning, student-led commenting, and allowing students to give feedback to one
another are methods to have students conceptualize material (Gill and Goodson,
2011, p. 86-87). Even in this class, we use methods like creating our own
examples when on discussion boards and commenting on one another’s responses to
encourage conceptualization on material.
Reflections
I found this assignment very inciteful in the literature
behind our topic since narrative-learning is so prevalent in my own area of
teaching. This is what I would consider the highlight; delving deeper into the
literature of the topic gives you a better understand of how the knowledge can
be applied. In terms of uniqueness, the most interesting idea I garnered from this
assignment was how practical narrative learning is as a theory and how it
directly relates to how we learn and communicate as human beings. Overall, this
is going to be a method that I will regularly use in my future as an educator.
In taking on this assignment, I did my research for the
background information first and wrote the introduction. Then, I did my
research for the themes and implications, wrote these sections, and came to the
reflection. I think my biggest takeaway is to give myself more time to research
in depth the literature. This is easily a topic that could cover 10-15 pages of
a literature review. It’s also an issue of time management; however, with ADHD,
it is difficult to allocate my time appropriately. Growing as an educator and
an academic, this is something I will overcome over time.
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Table 2.
Summary of
Narrative Learning Literature Review
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Themes
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Implications
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Students can serve as
the receiver of the story.
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Educators should
prioritize narrative crafting over “knowledge dumping” to assist in
conceptualization.
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Students can serve as
the actor of the story.
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Educators should
provide methods for students to craft their own narratives to relate the
material to their experiences.
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Students can serve as
the conceptualizer of the story.
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Students need
collaboration to examine, critique, and conceptualize information related to
the materal.
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References
Alessi, S.M., & Trollip, S.R. (2001). Multimedia for learning:
Methods and development (3rd ed.). Boston: Allyn and Bacon.
Bruner, J. (1991). The narrative construction of reality. Critical
Inquiry 18(1): 1-21.
Education Quarterly. 50(1), 56-71. doi: 10.1177/07417139922086911
Fiore, S., Metcalf, D.,
& McDaniel, R. (2007). Theoretical foundations of experiential learning. In
M.L. Silberman (Ed.), The Handbook of Experiential Learning (33-58). San Francisco:
John Wiley and Sons.
Goodson, I., & Gill, S. (2011). Narrative pedagogy: Life
history and learning (Vol. 386). Peter Lang.
Merriam, S. B.
(2008). The third update on adult learning theory. New Directions in Adult
and Continuing Education, No. 119. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Randall, W. L. (2008). Letting Our Stories Go: A Narrative Perspective
on Spirituality in Later Life. Presented at the Third North American Conference
on Spirituality and Social Work.
Rossiter, M. (1999) A narrative approach to development:
Implications for adult education. Adult
Rossiter, M. (1999) A narrative approach to development: Implications
for adult education. Adult Education Quarterly. 50(1), 56-71. doi:
10.1177/07417139922086911
Shannon, C. and Weaver, W. (1949) The Mathematical Theory of Communication.
Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press, 1949, 5.
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