Narrative research, teaching, and teacher thinking: Perspectives and possibilities

Abstract

The use of narrative forms of inquiry for analyzing teaching and teacher thinking has generated almost as much controversy as excitement in the field of education. Methodologies that are common to narrative inquiry have presented a challenge to some of the assumptions inherent to empirical research inquiry. One of the contentions that empiricists typically confront narrative researchers with is the fact that every teacher has a story. In contrast, many believe that story research offers a thick and rich description of the experiences that teachers live in context-specific situations. Such descriptions are thought to play a powerful mediatational role for teachers who engage in active reflection. These descriptions have been credited with guiding practice through the illumination of tacit wisdom and assisting teachers in the generation of practice based theory. Story represents an enormous database from which to develop new understandings about the relationships among phenomena in educational contexts. However, there are several questions that empiricists raise about the utility, authenticity, and claims of veracity of story that beg the question of whether the research community will sanctify story telling work as a viable methodological approach. In this article, we analyze the utility of narrative as a legitimate educational research tool. Tracing the historical development of research paradigmatic models, we provide a comparative description of sociolinguistic (narrative) and empirical research methodologies, discuss the