An exploration of teacher-pupil communication, narrative thinking and learning

• Main Author: Cwenar, Stasia Francesca
• Other Authors: Norton, Lin; Bourke, Lorna
• Published: University of Liverpool 2014
• Subjects: 370; L Education (General)
• Online Access: http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.617501

This thesis reports some of the complex issues encountered, researched and addressed in the context of participatory, practitioner action research to support student learning in educational settings. Research methods were devised in response to genuine school-based situations working with colleagues within communities of practice. The focus is the interplay between teachers’ communicative competence and teaching styles and students’ communicative competence and learning abilities. A series of four linked studies are reported which involved several hundred participants from pre-school to adult in a range of socio-economic and cultural settings, using mixed methods including interviews, observations and a comparative study. Improvements are reported in the cognitive-linguistic ability of students in relation to their narrative abilities following interventions conducted in classroom settings. The interventions involved support for narrative thinking and communication skills based around exploratory talk. The results suggest a positive relationship between students’ communicative and narrative competences and the potential for effective academic learning. Nursery school observations and interviews in Japan revealed informed and effective educational and cultural support for young children’s narrative competence and Japanese participants’ comparatively advanced development in narrative thinking. The results of the studies suggest that teachers’ classroom interactions involving exploratory talk serve to support and help improve students’ narrative competence and inner speech to support formal academic learning. The findings are discussed in terms of pedagogical knowledge, school culture and the UK educational climate.