Story of the English Teacher Susana Gómez- Life-experiences that portray English learning and teaching in the context of Distance Education at Universidad Santo Tomás- Bogotá

Abstract

This research focuses on narrative inquiry and aims to document and interpret the life story of an English teacher. The study describes how a teacher’s life and experiences portray English learning and teaching in the context of Distance Education at Universidad Santo Tomás. The methodology addresses the principles of narrative in the context of education, as it stated that people use stories to make sense of their experiences in areas of inquiry where it is important to understand phenomena from the perspectives of those who experience them,” (Barkhuizen, Ben & Chik, 2014, p. 2). Instruments of data collection were semi-structured interviews, written narrative frames on life experiences and a classroom observation session. The analysis and interpretation of data is still in the process of construction. The basis of it follows the statement of interpretation proposed by Riessman (2005) on which the author states that narrative should be considered as a path to understand how storytellers or participants in research connect and make sense of their experiences in regards to significant life events that impact on current aspects or decisions. The study involved three categories, (a) distance education theoretically studied from White (2003), (b) English learning and (c) English teaching. Expectations and conclusions evidence the construction of a formative process that connects experiences lived by the participant, especially in the context on distance education where she grew professionally as a teacher, but also as a learner with particular characteristics that imply the portray of an English teacher.