Narrative Analysis in English Language Teachers’ Professional Identity Research: A Review

Authors

  • Bharat Prasad Neupane Department of Language Education, School of Education, Kathmandu University, Nepal
  • Laxman Gnawali Department of Language Education, School of Education, Kathmandu University, Nepal

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.3126/nelta.v28i1.61371

Keywords:

Narrative Analysis, Review Article, Teacher Identity, English Language Education

Abstract

Amidst the escalating emergence of generic methodological articles on narrative inquiry, this article critically reviews diff erent narrative analysis approaches and their application in English language teachers’ professional identity research. For this purpose, we reviewed currently available methodological books and articles on narrative inquiry in general and narrative analysis in particular. Additionally, we reviewed twenty purposively selected empirical articles published since 2015  thatemployed narrative inquiry to explore English teachers’ professional identities.

A review of methodological articles revealed that the narrative analysis and analysis of narrative dichotomy are blurred as a certain level of interpretation occurs during the co-construction of stories, transcribing, translating, restorying, and fi nally, the consumption of the reports by the readers. Consequently, many researchers have considered paradigmatic analysis as the first step of narrative analysis. In contrast, research practices showed that the interpretation of stories begins only after story generation. Besides, amongst diff erent narrative analysis approaches, positioning analysis underscores how tellers represent themselves through narratives, whereas the small story approach of Barkhuizen accentuates analyzing content and context; however, narrative forms and linguistic features and their motives are rarely investigated. Though the small stories approach of Georgakopoulou (2007) advocates explicitly for considering ways of telling (linguistic features and communicative how), it is rarely evident in practice. This article, therefore, identifies a need for a comprehensive narrative analysis approach that considers what (content), where and when (context), how (form), and who and why (agency and discourse) of the story.

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Author Biographies

Bharat Prasad Neupane, Department of Language Education, School of Education, Kathmandu University, Nepal

Bharat Prasad Neupane works at the Department of Language Education, School of Education, Kathmandu University, Nepal, as an assistant professor of English. Mr. Neupane regularly publishes and presents at international conferences. He mainly writes on teacher professional development, teacher identity, language policy, language ideology, teacher education, and narrative research methods, among others.

Laxman Gnawali, Department of Language Education, School of Education, Kathmandu University, Nepal

Laxman Gnawali works at the Department of Language Education, School of Education, Kathmandu University, Nepal, as a professor of English. He writes on teacher development, training, action research, teacher education, and curriculum development to mention but a few. He regularly presents at national and international conferences and publishes extensively.

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Published

2023-12-31

How to Cite

Neupane, B. P., & Gnawali, L. (2023). Narrative Analysis in English Language Teachers’ Professional Identity Research: A Review. Journal of NELTA, 28(1), 17–29. https://doi.org/10.3126/nelta.v28i1.61371

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Section

Articles