Researcher Identity, Narrative Inquiry, and Language Teaching Research

Abstract

Whereas there has been much research on language and identity with respect to learners, teachers, and teacher educators, there has been little focus on the identity of the researcher, an important stakeholder in language education. Our research therefore addresses the following question: To what extent can narrative inquiry illuminate the ways in which researcher identity is negotiated in language teaching research? To address this question, we draw on a digital literacy study in multilingual Uganda to narrate how we engaged in our own storytelling, and the process by which we invited teachers to share their experiences of teaching through the medium of English as an additional language in a poorly resourced rural school. Central themes were our attempts to reduce power differentials between researchers and teachers, and our desire to increase teacher investment (Norton, 2000) in our collaborative research project. Drawing on numerous small stories (Bamberg, 2004; Georgakopoulou, 2006), we argue that several researcher identities were realized, including international guest, collaborative team member, teacher, and teacher educator. Our article supports the case that small stories enrich traditional narrative inquiry, both theoretically and methodologically, and make visible the complex ways in which researcher identity impacts research, not only in language teaching, but in education more broadly.

Research tasks on identity in language learning and teaching

“…In their discussion of the ethical issues surrounding their LE research, Copland & Creese (2015) argue for a democratic approach to carrying out research that flattens the hierarchies between the researcher and the researched. Thus, one way that LE can contribute to future identity work is through an investigation of researcher identity (Norton & Early 2011), which can further inform the ethical turn in language education research.…”

“…Also of interest in this study, given recent calls to engage in reflexivity (Kramsch & Whiteside 2007;De Costa 2014), is Canagarajah's discussion and account of his own research positionality as he moved between being an insider and outsider of the Tamil communities he studied. As Norton & Early (2011) have argued, identity researchers are encouraged to examine their own identities in relation to their participants and their research sites.…”

“Hos en voksen er tanken helt full av masse ting”. Personlege narrativar i Norsk andrespråkskorpus (ASK) – ei kjelde til innsikt i læringsprosessen?

“…Murray (2009, s. 58) peikar også på at sjølv om forskarar innanfor denne tilnaerminga ikkje "engage in the quest for universals", vil desse meir kvalitativt orienterte studiane kunna skaffa fram kunnskap som kan vera relevant for innlaerarar i andre kontekstar. Det er også fleire (t. d. Norton & Early, 2011;Nunan & Choi, 2010;Murray, 2009) som peikar på eit anna viktig bidrag: I mange tilfelle vert marginaliserte grupper gitte ei stemme gjennom denne typen datamateriale. Chik (2008) hevdar til dømes at ein av føremonnane ved denne tilnaerminga er at den " [...] advocates putting people at the centre of the research" (s. 27).…”

Narratives of sex-segregated professional identities

“…see Ladegaard, 2012Ladegaard, , 2015 and critical analyses of professional identity and practice (e.g. Norton & Early, 2011;Vasquez, 2011); 2. to explore how gender discourses, especially in the rare accounts of minority groups within a profession (SLT), affect identity construction and maintenance and motivations for entering into professions/specialisms; 3. to contribute, theoretically and methodologically, to research which attempts to straddle both narrative inquiry and narrative analysis concerns.…”