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Contents
Narrative: Universally Practiced but Individually Defined
A Three-part Approach to Teaching Narrative
Narrative: A Tool to Drive Social Change
This article has built upon the three-part approach to teaching narrative first outlined by Clark and Rossiter (2008) and has shown how this framework can be used by TPC instructors to better contextualize the work they do in the classroom. By understanding narrative as more than a lens—that is, by viewing narrative holistically as something that is heard, told, and lived—instructors can help their students become more ethical storytellers, capable of taking up Rude’s (2009) call to become agents of social change. Indeed, narrative is essential for socially responsive change (Perkins & Blyler, 1999; Jones & Walton, 2018), for it “reveals power and injustice in potentially elaborate ways that allow for analysis, encourage dialog, and offer the potential for transformative learning” (Small, 2017, p. 237). Yet if we as instructors want our students to become culturally competent communicators, we must not oversimplify the role stories play in the world; we must teach students to appreciate the complexity of narrative so they understand its full ethical implications and are prepared to take action in their future careers. Whether our students are TPC majors or taking our courses to learn about professional communication as it relates to their own fields, I believe this three-part approach to narrative can help students see how stories play a dynamic, multifaceted role across communication contexts.
Stories are something we receive from others, give to others, and live out amongst others. To be clear, the power of this three-part approach to narrative is in its ability to both delineate and integrate the various ways narrative must be accounted for in TPC. While it can be helpful to start by thinking about the parts individually, they do not function separately. Rather, they need to interact with one another to help students think comprehensively about the various ways narratives affect—and can be affected by—the work we do in the field. For example, to effectively hear and tell stories, it is imperative to first understand life as a story. That is, once students understand how they are positioned in the world, their minds are primed to listen more rhetorically and value storytelling practices that account for the differences among users. Then, to ensure students are able to “write in less objectivist ways” (Perkins & Blyler, 1999, p. 21), they must be exposed to multiple narratives representative of a broad range of voices that speak to the diversity of human experience (Jones & Walton, 2018). Only when these three parts of narrative come together can students view themselves as actors who strive to ethically listen to and tell the stories that matter—the ones that often go overlooked but have the potential to promote social change.
Learning how to understand and apply narrative can equip students with tools that allow them to subvert the status quo and take action against injustice. As instructors of TPC, we can prepare students to use narrative as a tactic to redistribute power in more just and equitable ways (Bacha, 2018). Jones (2017) explains that:
As a field, we understand that narratives can support dominant ideals or be used as subversive strategy. Narratives frame how we understand ourselves (and others) and what we do as well as what is meaningful to They help to shape our lived experiences. Narratives also have the power to disrupt and resist because they can create an individual's reality while informing how that individual makes meaning of that constructed reality. (p. 328)
By teaching our students that stories are heard, told, and lived, they may be better able to reflexively consider their position in structures of power while striving to listen rhetorically and tell stories ethically. The goal of this approach is to help students recognize the countless ways narrative can be used to promote change in their own fields. The TPC classroom thus provides space for students to practice and reflect on this transformative work before entering the workplace.
Narrative is constructive; as instructors, we can use it to build new stories—and new storytellers—that promote equity and inclusion. Ultimately, the flexibility of narrative means there is no formula for the work we as instructors must do to bring about a functional understanding of narrative among our students. That is, there is no single story to tell, case to study, or assignment to create that can fully convey the multitude of ways narrative functions in real-world communication practices. Rather, there are many possibilities for the effective teaching of narrative in TPC and these possibilities are constrained only by the instructor’s understanding of narrative and ability to translate this understanding into material that works in the context of their own unique classroom. This is why I suggest instructors embrace this three-part approach to teaching narrative that accounts for how stories are heard, told, and lived, as this approach provides an adaptable framework capable of expanding students’ conception of story in ways that position them to become more socially just communicators in a variety of classroom and professional contexts.