A narrative inquiry into three Korean teachers' experiences of teaching returnee children

Abstract

The recent rapid increase in the number of Korean children who return to Korea after time spent abroad studying English raises concerns about their follow-up education and their readjustment into the Korean education system. The number of returnee children also raises concerns about how Korean teachers teach these children. This study was grounded in my realization that my experiential knowledge of learning English influenced my teaching of returnee children. Through this study, I came to understand the ways teachers’ personal practical knowledge of English is shaped through many different experiences in many different contexts in which they are, and were, situated. Teachers’ personal practical knowledge is expressed in their classroom practices. Knowledge and context are linked by the narrative concept of stories to live by (Connelly & Clandinin, 1999). The research was a narrative inquiry into three Korean teachers’ personal practical knowledge as it was expressed in their teaching practices, as it shaped their stories to live by and as it was shifted on their professional knowledge landscapes when they taught returnee children. As a result of the study, four key considerations emerged. One, each teacher’s personal practical knowledge as expressed in teaching returnee children was shaped by his experiences of learning English. Two, shifting teachers’ ‘stories to live by’ depended on their professional knowledge landscapes. Three, teachers held different understandings about curriculum making. Four, teachers held different views about returnees’ readjustment into the Korean schools. Drawing upon a concept of ‘curriculum of lives’ (Clandinin & Connelly, 1992), the key considerations from the study give important implications about in-service teacher education in terms of curriculum making for returnee children. The study suggests the importance of providing in-service teachers with an opportunity to think about a narrative perspective about curriculum making in order to suggest new possibilities for teachers, returnee children, and their parents.