Analysing Narration in a Peer Group

This chapter explored narration in a peer group of educational professionals. Meretoja’s model of three dimensions in narration—narrative awareness, imagination and dialogicality—was used to analyse and interpret group narration. Applying Meretoja’s model to the analysis of group narration made visible different kinds of narrations and the related cultural ways of telling and practices in detail. Analysing the narration in the group through narrative awareness showed how the participants related to and connected with cultural narratives, repeating them in the context of their own backgrounds and histories. The dimension of narrative imagination revealed critical and creative ways of narration in the group as participants were imagining how something could be. The dimension of narrative dialogicality showed multivoicedness and how the participants were able to join in each others’ narratives. As an analytical lens, Meretoja’s model promotes to examine the various nuances and perspectives of the narration.