Teachers' agency has recently been vastly studied from a sociocultural perspective, emphasising that teachers' action is shaped by the structures within which teachers work. However, this study provides a different perspective, introducing relational sociology to the research on teachers' agency. Here, agency is seen as embedded in…

This paper aims to explore the impact of freeform digital games on primary school students' narrative skills, in terms of linguistic cohesion and semantic coherence, compared to other digital media, such as formally structured digital games and movies. A total of 128 Year 6 Primary school students participated in this research. Initially, students…

This study draws from theories of attachment to examine prospective teachers' reflections on the role of the parent in their childhood memories in shaping the imagination of their future selves. As part of a larger qualitative study, we collected and analyzed the memory narratives of teacher candidates and undergraduate students preparing to work…

As several authors in last May/June's issue of "Change" pointed out, more and more students are coming to college with stories that need to be heard but are not being heard--stories of loss, survival, marginalization, resilience, oppression, persistence, trauma, and determined, stubborn love. They enter an environment that is so often…

The purpose of this narrative study was to understand the experiences of bisexual students relative to their sexual identities and how they negotiate their bisexuality on the college campus. This study employed a critical poststructural epistemology (Sarup, 1993; Tierney, 1993), a queer theoretical framework (Abes & Kasch, 2007; Butler, 1990;…

The purpose of this essay is to argue for the use of narrative inquiry as a distinctive methodological approach in the study of college student experiences and outcomes in service-learning. The author reflects on a recent narrative study of college men in service-learning programs to highlight how narrative scholarship can illuminate the messiness…

Narrative inquiry is both phenomenon and methodology for understanding experience. In this article, we further develop our understandings of narrative inquiry as a practice of social justice. In particular, we explore ways in which social justice issues can be re-framed and re-imagined, with attention to consequent action. Drawing on work…

This study investigated the benefits of music education while providing a teacher educator and teacher candidate the opportunity to conduct collaborative research using "comparative ethnographic narrative" (CEN), a blend of narrative inquiry and reflexive ethnography. CEN relies on two researchers reflecting together and co-constructing…

While existing research recognizes the importance of transitions in military members' lives, there are few, and to my knowledge no micro-level discourse analytic, studies illuminating how military veterans talk about their transitions into and out of the military. Taking an interactional sociolinguistic approach (Gumperz, 1977, 2015), I examine…

Academic hazing within doctoral programs is often so deeply embedded within the doctoral experience that it becomes normalized. This effort translates into oppressive practices where students are broken down and rebuilt into the ideal doctoral candidate, and the process continues with the next batch of candidates. However, no one discusses the…

This study relates the transformation of one student's narrative identity (stories told about the student by himself and others) which took place over four months as he engaged in the pedagogy of multiliteracies while creating a multimodal book with his favorite images of family and school; videos and images of his favorite activities at home and…

Pre-service teachers carry with them various school experiences when attending a teacher education programme. Often teacher educators tend to ignore these first-year-student's previous knowledge and experiences. We asked 181 pre-service teachers to write about a significant event which had made an impression on them as a pupil. Our aim was to…

Study after study has demonstrated that postsecondary success involves a range of factors from neighborhood context to family history to individual aspiration (Kim & Rifelj, 2021). Kauffman Scholars Incorporated (KSI), a post-secondary scholarship program based in Kansas City, understands these factors and has tailored its programming…

This qualitative case study explores the literary/lived interpretations and experiences of middle school girls attending a book club located in an urban public school. We examine how the girls' responses to depictions of racism in the novels read reveal the ways in which they understand and/or experience racism in their own lives? We ground this…

This article presents a case study of an adult Ukrainian orphan, Anna, who acquired English as a second and accessed U.S. higher education despite the fact that adopted children or aged out orphans face a unique constellation of educational and psychological challenges in language learning. This article presents Anna's story in her own voice and…