Listening-Based Pedagogies: Story-Listening and Other Educational Approaches Attuned to a Critical + Indigenous + Clown Framework

• Author / Creator

  Pellizzer Soares, Rafael

• This transparadigmatic study is driven by the guiding curiosity 'what could a listening-based pedagogy entail?' alongside other research questions derived from it. The universe in which this project lives proposes a recognition of more-than-human voices and agency, wondering with(in) phenomena from which data may emerge and glow, and where epistemology emerges concurrently with ontology (knowing, doing, and being are inseparable).
  The listening approaches selected for this research attend to relationality, silence, holism, culturally responsive practices, critical consciousness, future-oriented perspectives, vulnerability, collaboration, and playfulness. That way, listening becomes crucial in teaching and researching practices that work against single stories and other consequences of Western-oriented education. Also, how we listen to and engage with stories in educational environments are also dependent on power dynamics (and related to our endeavor to recognize these unbalanced structures and connections). Thus, this study advocates for the fluidity of knowledge as well as for the impact that varied forms of listening might have on accountable, reciprocal, and equitable relationships, which can support schools to become places where not only space but also power is shared.
  Dunker and Thebas’ (2019) active + playful listening—which encourages cooperation over competition; Davis’ (1996) hermeneutic listening—which is messy, negotiatory, and intends to defy the taken–for-granted future; and Tupi’s seven types of listening (Werá, 2016)—which resonates with Archibald’s (2008) holistic education—take key roles in both theoretical and methodological frameworks of this study.
  I designed this research’s methods upon the Critical + Indigenous + Clown (CIC) theoretical framework in order to create a respectful gathering for welcoming more-than-human affordances, to co-construct relational and reciprocal knowledge, and to promote self- and other-awareness through vulnerabilities and openness. The uniqueness of this research is this: if the content might not be unprecedented, the approach stands out as completely different from all of the previous ones. By braiding Critical, Indigenous, and Clown perspectives, I designed guidelines, protocols, witnessing opportunities, as well as data analysis approaches that might support a new understanding of listening in academia and schools.
  Regarding methodology, based on the CIC theoretical framework, I assembled three theory-informed listening encounters with five secondary school teachers from Edmonton, AB. These methods and other ethical approaches helped me create space for (self- and other-) contemplation and respectful dialogues about beliefs, hurdles, and previous experiences in relation to an education for reconciliation and for a culturally responsive future.
  As a final discussion, I argue that due to its fluidity and adaptability, listening is indeed relational and contextual (not inadvertently replicable, though). As a context-oriented approach, listening cannot be, in fact, relocated or replicated inadvertently. It is not a single practice to gain scale. Listening-based educational practices are certainly something to be shared and learned from one another, but they remain open to be molded to/by each group, context, audience, relationship and purpose.
  In conclusion, I believe that listening-based pedagogies can promote a nurturing learning environment, where the teacher creates opportunities for students’ voices to be heard and respected, where everyone has the sense of community, and learners feel safe and not anxious about being inside their schools. Furthermore, this study contributes to the assemblage of a story-listening way of researching, teaching, and learning.

• Subjects / Keywords

  • story-listening
  • storytelling
  • listening
  • silence
  • relationality
  • playfulness
  • other possible worlds
  • education

• Graduation date

  Fall 2023

• Type of Item

  Thesis

• Degree

  Master of Education

• DOI

  https://doi.org/10.7939/r3-1b8g-0365

• License

  This thesis is made available by the University of Alberta Libraries with permission of the copyright owner solely for non-commercial purposes. This thesis, or any portion thereof, may not otherwise be copied or reproduced without the written consent of the copyright owner, except to the extent permitted by Canadian copyright law.