From teacher-in-role to researcher-in-role: possibilities for repositioning children through role-based strategies in classroom research

Abstract

This article describes the drama-based research strategy ‘researcher-in-role’, developed during the two-year Connecting Curriculum, Connecting Learning project, based in New Zealand. First, a definition of researcher-in-role is offered along with a survey of relevant literature. Then the evolution and implementation of the strategy within the project is described, and the importance of clear signalling and implications for notions of ‘informed consent’ are explored. Next, the paper shares the data generated where researcher-in-role was used during learning conversations with students. Responses to the researcher-in-role are compared to data generated by a traditional researcher in the same three classrooms. It is shown how the researcher-in-role strategy resulted in data of a different, more complex discursive quality than that generated by the traditional researcher. The data arising, and the strategy itself, are considered through the lens of positioning theory. It is argued that the researcher-in-role strategy entailed a repositioning of the researcher, which in turn opened possibilities for new storylines and admissible actions – including speech acts – to be played out by children within the research relationship. It is also argued that this repositioning resulted in generation of more authentic data, with children more comfortable to reveal their emergent understandings, in the form of advice, instruction or exhortation. The article concludes by suggesting that the researcher-in-role strategy should be of interest not only to drama education researchers but also for other classroom researchers interested in repositioning children and engaging in complex dialogic exchange.

本文闡述了一項脫胎於戲劇的研究策略——“研究者入戲”，這一研究策略成型于紐西蘭的一項兩年計畫“連接大綱，連接學習”(TLRI 2011)。首先，本文定義了研究者入戲的概念，並概述了相關文獻，而後探討了該專案中這一研究策略的改進與實施，分析了明確指示的重要性以及“知情同意”概念所代表的含義。接著本文分享了通過學習過程中與學生對話採集的資料，對話採用了研究者入戲的策略。學生對研究者入戲的反應與傳統研究者在同樣三個教室中採集的資料進行了對比。這一對比顯示出研究者入戲的策略使得採集的資料與傳統方式相比呈現出一種迥然不同，更為複雜多樣形態。本文採用了定位理論(Harré& Van Langenhove 1998; Edmiston 2003)分析了研究資料的產生與研究策略的運用。本文認為研究者入戲的策略必須要重新定位研究者身份，從而為兒童在研究語境中創造新的故事情節以及表演合乎邏輯的行為（包括語言行為）提供了可能。本文還認為這一重新定位產生更真實的研究資料，兒童更樂於通過建議，指導或告誡的方式透露他們新生的想法。本文的結論是研究者入戲不僅應該引起戲劇教育者的重視，其他教學研究者也應當關注重新定位兒童身份並且參與到複雜的對話交流中來。

Este artículo describe la estrategia de investigación ‘investigador-en-rol’ con base en teatro, desarrollado durante los dos años del proyecto Conexión Curricular, Conexión de Aprendizaje, basado en Nueva Zelanda (TLRI 2011). Primero se ofrece una definición de investigador-en-rol junto con una encuesta de literatura relevante. Luego se describe la evolución y la implementación de la estrategia dentro del proyecto, y se explora la importancia de unas implicaciones y señales claras para las nociones del ‘consentimiento informado’. Después el artículo comparte los datos generados, donde el investigador-en-rol era utilizado durante las conversaciones sobre aprendizaje con estudiantes. Las respuestas al investigador-en-rol son comparadas con los datos generados por un investigador tradicional en las tres mismas clases. Se muestra cómo la estrategia del investigador-en-rol resultó en datos de una calidad discursiva más compleja y diferente que la generada por el investigador tradicional. Los datos surgidos y la estrategia en sí son consideradas desde la perspectiva de la teoría del posicionamiento (Harrē & Van Langenhove 1998; Edmiston 2003). Se arguye que la estrategia del investigador-en-rol conlleva un reposicionamiento del investigador, el cual, a su vez, abre posibilidades para nuevas tramas y acciones admisibles – incluyendo actos de habla – para ser desarrollados por los niños dentro de la relación de la investigación. También se arguye que este reposicionamiento resultó en la generación de datos más auténticos, con niños más cómodos en revelar sus conocimientos emergentes, incluso en la forma de asesoramiento, instrucción y exhortación. El artículo concluye sugiriendo que la estrategia del investigador-en-rol debería ser de interés, no sólo para los investigadores del teatro en la educación, sino también para otros investigadores de las aulas interesados en reposicionar a los niños e implementar el intercambio de una dialógica compleja.

Keywords:

• researcher-in-role
• classroom research
• positioning
• learning conversations
• process drama
• mantle of the expert

Acknowledgements

All photographs by Graham Price are used with permission and consent of participants. Positioning triangle (Figure 4) is adapted from Harré and Langenhove (1999). AS IS + AS IF diagram (Figure 5) is adapted from Edmiston (2003).

Notes on contributor

Viv Aitken is senior lecturer in drama education at Faculty of Education, University of Waikato, New Zealand, where she contributes to preservice teacher education from early childhood to secondary level and supervises postgraduate research. Viv also facilitates professional development for teachers in drama and Mantle-of-the-Expert. She is convenor of the website www.mantleoftheexpert.co.nz.

Notes

1. To clarify, the term ‘Mantle-of-the-Expert’ is used here to refer to the ‘full form’ cross-curricula dramatic inquiry system rather than the ‘once off’ drama convention which sometimes goes under the same label. In full form Mantle-of-the-Expert, students and teachers are positioned as members of a responsible team commissioned to carry out an important commission for a (fictional) client. The approach combines process drama and inquiry with the deliberate repositioning of students as high status experts and the introduction of productive and key tensions. Programmes of learning take place over extended periods – often a full term – and learning activities across a range of curriculum areas are incorporated into the school day as naturally arising professional tasks. For more information on full form Mantle-of-the-Expert, see Heathcote and Bolton (1994), Heathcote (2009) and Aitken (2013). See also www.mantleoftheexpert.com and www.mantleoftheexpert.co.nz.