Doing narrative research with young children

1. Doingnarrativeresearchwithyoungchildren Anna-Maija Puroila Adjunctprofessor, Senior ResearchFellow University of Oulu, Faculty of Education 29.10.2013

2. Belonging and exclusion in daycarecenters (2013-2015) Valueseducation in daycarecenters (2013-2015) Narrative action research Children’snarratedwell-being in daycarecentersTelLis (2010-2013) Narrativeethnography Practitioners’ everydaywork in daycarecenters (2002) Goffman’s (1974) frameanalysis Leadership in earlychildhoodeducation (1997-2000) Mixedmethods My researchinterest: Everyday life in daycarecenters

3. Whatdowemeanbynarrative in a researchcontext? How to donarrativeresearchwithyoungchildren?

4. Databasesearch (EBSCO) • KeywordsChildren,Narrativeand Research • Results: ~130 scientificarticlespublishedsince 2000 • General observations: • Multidisciplinaryresearcharea • Education, psychology, nursingsciences, social sciences, linguistics, literature, logopedics... • Emphasis on verbalnarratives (oralorwritten) • Bothquantitative and qualitativemethods

5. Databasesearch(continues) • Two main lines: • 1) Narratives and children’s (language) development • Problems in children’s (language) development • Development of children’snarrativeskills • Developingassessmentmethods for children’slanguagedevelopment • Journal of Language, Speech & Hearing Research; International Journal of Language & Communication Disorders; American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology; Child Language Teaching & Therapy • 2) Narrating as a therapeuticmethod • Childrenwhohaveproblemswithhealth, growth, developmentorlearning • Childrenwhohaverisks and problems in social environment • Childrenwith trauma • Child & Family Social Work; Pain Medicine; Journal of Child Psychology & Psychiatry; Journal of Trauma & Dissociation; Child Abuse Review; Journal of Child Psychotherapy

6. Databasesearch (continues) • Emphasis on schoolagedchildren (5 years >) • Children as becomingnarrators - not as active, competentnarrators “Children do not display full competence in producing narratives with episodic structure before school age”. (see Ilgaz & Aksu-Koq, 2005, 527)

7. What is a narrative? Narrative in this study is defined as an oral representation of one or more events organized in certain order (Tsai, 2007, 464). Narratives can be defined as unites of discourse representing a sequence of temporal-causally related events. (Ilgaz & Aksu-Koc, 2005,527) • Criteria of a “good” story or a “well-formed” narrative: • Narrative consists of verbally articulated past events • Events have a certain order • Temporal linearity • Causal coherence between events • Structure: beginning, middle, end • Emphasis in analysing the structures and contents of individual’s life stories

8. Previousnarrativeresearch with youngchildren - limitations • The presentterminology is notapplicable in exploring the narratives of the youngestchildren The concepts and methodologicaltoolsdonotcaptureimportantdimensions of youngchildren’snarrativeactivity. (Nicolopoulou, 2008) • Focus on vebalstories Children’sotherways of narratingarelargelyignored (such as playing, bodylanguage, emotionalexpressions, arts, crafts). (Engel, 2006; Ochs & Capps, 2001) • Moststudiesdealwithchildren’scomprehension of storiestheyaretold Studies of spontaneouseverydaystoriesarerare. (Ahn & Filipenko, 2007; Nicolopoulou, 2008)

9. Narrativeresearchwithyoungchildren-potentials • However, some scholars have highlighted the potential of exploring young children’s narratives “Many of the narratives and narrative fragments spoken by young children do not fit logical models. […] children’s stories are brimming with different levels of meaning. They can tell us a lot what a child is thinking but also how he is thinking.” (Engel, 2003, 39) ”Children’sworldsarefilled with diversenarratives. […] Childrenencounter and usenarrative in diverseways.” (oral, written, and visualcontexts, playing, drawing, painting, singing, silence, resisting, …). (Ahn& Filipenko, 2007)

10. Expandingscope of narrativeresearch • Contents and structures of narratives(What?) Narrative as text > narrative as an interactionalprocess(How?) Narrative as talk-in-socialinteraction (De Fina & Georgakopoulou, 2008) > narrativeenvironment(Where? When?) Narrative in context (Zilber, Tuval-Mashiach, & Lieblich, 2008) “Narrative practices should be captured in their contextual complexities: the whats, hows, wheres, and whens of the narrative production.” (Gubrium & Holstein, 2008)

11. Towardsdoingnarrativeresearch in daycarecenters • Researchquestion: What is the nature of children’severydaynarratives in a daycare center context? • Whatdochildrentell (content)? • Howdochildrentell (process)? • Howdo the practices of daycarecentersenableorconstrainchildren’snarrating (context)?

12. Researchmethods and data collection • Narrativeethnography (Gubrium & Holstein, 2008) • Co-constructinga vastcollection of researchmaterial • in versatile ways • in intensive interaction with the participants • over extensive period of time • Field work • Autumn 2009 – autumn 2010 • (Participant) observations, field notes • Tape recording children’s spontaneous stories • Collecting children’s drawings • Carrying out a photographing project

13. Does Santa exist? Thishappened in a daycare center a fewdaysbefore Christmas…

14. Anna, Maria, Laura, Lisa, and Timo– children from four to five years old – are drawing at a table in a kindergarten classroom. While drawing, they talk about the forthcoming Christmas. Suddenly Anna says: Anna: Those who believe in Santa Claus, raise your hand! Other children excluding Anna raise their hands. Anna: I don’t believe. A fuss follows this comment. Other children begin to talk at the same time. Other children: But why? Santa Claus came to my home… Anna: Santa Claus is just a man who dresses up in clothes! My mam said that Santa doesn’t exist. Other children: How come? Santa came to my home! Anna (stressing the words with hands on hips): I can’t tell you because you’ll never believe me! Timo: I’ll believe you! Maria: Santa came to my house, at least! But Anna, how come he can live for such a long time? If he was born once again… Timo: People can’t be born once again! Maria: I don’t know when Santa has his birthday. Anna: How old is he and is he so old a granddad (with laughter)? The conversation about Santa fades out. Children begin to talk about other topics. [Later in the afternoon] Anna and Timo are drawing. Anna: Last Christmas, Santa didn’t come to our home, but the Christmas before that he came. Timo: So he must exist! Anna: You’re right! First I didn’t believe but now I believe in Santa. I’m writing here that “Dear Santa (sniggering), dear Santa, from Anna”. Anna begins to sing “Jingle bells, jingle bells …”

15. Analyticalperspectives • Whatare the structureand contentof the narrativelike? • Beginning? Middle? End? • Plot? Series of events? Relationshipsbetweenevents? • What is the process of narratinglike? • Interactionalroles? Narrator? Listener? • Children’sways of narrating? • How do the context and culture echo in thisnarrative? • Time? • Place (Finland, daycare center…)? • Culture (Finnish, pedagogical…)?

16. Does Santa exist? • Puroila, A-M., Estola, E. & Syrjälä, L. 2012. Does Santa Exist? • Children’severydaynarratives as dynamicmeetingplaces • in a daycarecentrecontext. EarlyChildDevelopment and Care, • 182(2), 181-206.

17. Findings • Fragmentariness of children’snarratives • It is difficult to identify the beginning and the end of the narrative • Childrenwovedifferentelements into theirmutualnarrative • Multimodality of narratives • Children’smultiplemeans of meaning-making • Collaboration in creatingnarratives • Distinctionbetween the teller and listener is notalwayspossible • The significance of context and culture • Topicaltheme (temporalcontext) • Face-to-facesituation (interactionalcontext) • Culturalstoryabout Santa Claus • Day care center culture frameschildren’snarrativerights

18. Conclusion • Narrativemethodsarewidelyused in diversedisciplines and researchareas • Narrativeresearch with children is dominatedbydevelopmental and therapeuticorientations • Narrativeresearch with youngchildren is quitescarce • Untappedscientificpotential of youngchildren’snarratives • Expansion of narrativeresearch • New space for exploringyoungchildrenfrom a narrativeviewpoint

19. Recentarticles Puroila, A-M. (2013, accepted) Young children at the stages: small stories performed in day care centers. Narrative Inquiry. Puroila, A-M. & Estola, E. (2013, accepted) Not babies anymore: Young children’s narrative identities in a day care centre context. International Journal of Early Childhood. Estola, E., Farquhar, S. & Puroila, A-M. (2013) Well-being narratives and young children. Educational Philosophy and Theory. On-line version available. Puroila, A-M. & Estola, E. (2012) Lapsen hyvä elämä? Päiväkotiarjen pienten kertomusten äärellä. Varhaiskasvatuksen tiedelehti, 1(1), 22-43. Puroila, A-M., Estola, E. & Syrjälä, L. (2012) Having, loving, being: Children's narrated well-being in Finnish day care centres. Early Child Development and Care. Special issue: Early Child Care and Education in Finland. 182(3-4), 345-362. Puroila, A-M., Estola, E. & Syrjälä, L. (2012) Does Santa exist? Children's everyday narratives as dynamic meeting places in a day care centre context. Early Child Development and Care. 182(2), 191-206.

20. Otherliterature Ahn, J. & Filipenko, M. (2007) Narrative, imaginary play, art, and self: Intersecting worlds. Early Childhood Education Journal. 34, 279-289. Bamberg, M. & Georgakopoulou, A. (2008). Small stories as a new perspective in narrative and identity analysis. Text & Talk, 28(3), 377-396. De Fina, A. & Georgakopoulou, A. (2008). Introduction: Narrative analysis in the shift from text to practices. Text & Talk, 28(3), 275-281. Engel, S. (2006) Narrative analysis of children’s experience. In S. Greene & D. Hogan (eds.) Researching children’s experience. Approaches and methods (199-216). London: Sage Publications. Engels, S. (2003) My harmless inside heart turned green: Children’s narratives and their inner lives. In B. van Oers(Ed.) Narratives of Childhood (39-50). Amsterdam: VU University Press. Gubrium, J.F. & Holstein, J.A. (2008) Narrative ethnography. In S.N. Hesse-Biber & P. Leavy (Eds.) Handbook of emergent methods (241-264). New York: The Guilfrod Press. Hyvärinen, M. (2012) Prototypes, genres, and concepts. Travelling with Narratives. Narrative Works: Issues, Investigations, & Interventions, 2(1), 10-32. Hyvärinen, M. (2008) Narrative form and narrative content. In I. Järventie & M. Lähde (Eds.) Methodological challenges in childhood and family research (43-63). Tampere: Tampere University Press. Ilgaz, H. & Aksu-Koq, A.(2005) Episodic development in preschool children’s play-prompted and direct-elicited narratives. CognitiveDevelopment 20, 526-544. Nicolopoulou, A. (2008) The elementary forms of narrative coherence in young children’s storytelling. Narrative Inquiry, 18, 299-325. Ochs, E. & Caps, L. (2001) Living narratives. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. Zilber, T.B., Tuval-Mashiach, R. & Lieblich, A. (2008). The embedded narrative. Navigating through multiple contexts. Qualitative Inquiry. 14(6), 1047-1069.