Honoring Student “Voice” in Investigating Student Identity Development in a Narrative Study: A Methodological and Analytical Example

Deborah Lees; André Van Zyl

doi:10.18778/1733-8077.18.1.02

Authors

Deborah Lees Torrens University, Australia https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2679-5863
André Van Zyl University of Johannesburg, South Africa https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9568-1667

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18778/1733-8077.18.1.02

Keywords:

First-Year Experience, Student Identity Construction, Narrative Inquiry, Narrative Methods, Student Voice

Abstract

Multiple, interrelated narrative methods were employed in a doctoral study purposed to investigate the student identity development of seven first-year participants. This approach provided them with multiple opportunities to convey their unique first-year experiences and revealed rich understandings of how they constructed their identities at a private higher education provider in Johannesburg, South Africa. The purpose of this article is to demonstrate that fostering the trust of participants ensured the formation of rich biographical narrative portraits through multiple narrative-type collection methods and forms of analyses, resulting in rich tapestries of personal experience, which were constitutive of their identity formation. Each participant’s narratives revealed their particularities, complexities, and unique experiences of their first year. Although each participant experienced their first year of study very differently, this article weaves in the first-year experiences of one person into its fabric. The narrations of Kondwani (pseudonym), a Zambian student, are used to illustrate how her voice emerged and was held in a trustful research relationship. Her case is representative of all the participants in that it is an exemplar to illustrate the richness of the individual narratives gleaned from carefully chosen methods and forms of analysis that were employed in the study.

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Author Biographies

Deborah Lees, Torrens University, Australia

Deborah Lees, Ph.D., is an Adjunct Senior Lecturer at Torrens University, Australia, and resides in Johannesburg, South Africa. She holds a Master’s degree in Adult and Community Education. Her extensive years in higher education leadership roles have developed her research interests in the first-year student experience, student transition, student identity, and narrative-based studies.

André Van Zyl, University of Johannesburg, South Africa

André Van Zyl has a Master’s degree in Strategic Management and a Ph.D. in Higher Education. His main research focus is in the area of student success with a specific focus on first-year students. André was responsible for initiating the First-Year Experience (FYE) initiative at the University of Johannesburg (UJ) and spearheaded the setting up of a National Resource Center for the FYE in South Africa. The South African National Resource Center (SANRC) is now fully functional at the UJ. He has been working at UJ since 2004 and has worked as a Learning Development facilitator, FYE coordinator, and since late 2012 as the Director of the Academic Development Center at the University of Johannesburg.

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