This Article Full Text (PDF) References Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Citing Articles via Scopus Google Scholar Articles by Hussein, J. W. Search for Related Content Social Bookmarking                         What's this?

An existential approach to engaging adult learners in the process of legitimizing and constructing meanings from their narrative knowledge

Haramaya University, Ethiopia, jeylanw{at}yahoo.com

The aim of this study is two-fold. One is evaluating the action research process and how the existential situations of the inquiry influence the process of intervention. The second is generating and analysing the thematic structure of the learners' reconstructions of their lived experiences. The study highlighted that through challenging, one can convince learners to legitimate their narrative knowledge through sharing their personal narratives and to understand how to reach their existential reality. It is evident from the steps that action research can help a practitioner make learners see and believe that their narrative knowledge is valuable and can serve as input for critical reflection. The other finding is that learners may not need advanced language to give expressions to their lived experience. Finally, the article concludes with the researcher's emotional dissonance regarding where an inquirer into the lived experiences of his/her research participants should stand.

Key Words: action research • critical practitioner inquiry (CPI) • lived experience • narrative knowledge

Action Research, Vol. 6, No. 4, 391-420 (2008)
DOI: 10.1177/1476750308097026


CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter    What's this?