Using Vignettes Within Autoethnography to Explore Layers of Cross-Cultural Awareness as a Teacher

Authors

  • Jayne Pitard Victoria University

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.17169/fqs-17.1.2393

Keywords:

autoethnography, phenomenology, vignette, structured vignette analysis, reflexivity, cultural understanding

Abstract

With this article I aim to progress the use of vignettes within autoethnography by explaining the conceptual framework for my structured vignette analysis. In researching my role as a teacher of a group of Timor-Leste vocational education professionals I have undertaken a phenomenological study using autoethnography to highlight the existential shifts in my cultural understanding. I use vignettes to place myself within the social context, to explore my positionality as a researcher and to carefully self-monitor the impact of my biases, beliefs and personal experiences on the teacher-student relationship. To assist my analysis I developed a structured method for analysing each vignette to reveal layers of awareness that might otherwise remain experienced but concealed. In my analysis I describe the context, the experience told as a personal story, the emotional impact on me of this experience and my reflexivity to the described experience. I identify strategies I developed resulting from the impact the experience had on my interactions with my students. This structured vignette analysis reinforces the necessity of all these research elements within autoethnographic writing. I provide an example to highlight the usefulness of this method.

URN: http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:0114-fqs1601119

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Author Biography

Jayne Pitard, Victoria University

Jayne PITARD is currently a PhD candidate in education at Victoria University, Melbourne, Australia. She is completing a thesis focused on her teaching of a group of students from Timor- Leste. She has held various teaching and research positions within Victoria University for the last 27 years.

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Published

2015-11-29

How to Cite

Pitard, J. (2015). Using Vignettes Within Autoethnography to Explore Layers of Cross-Cultural Awareness as a Teacher. Forum Qualitative Sozialforschung Forum: Qualitative Social Research, 17(1). https://doi.org/10.17169/fqs-17.1.2393

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Section

Single Contributions