How Do Culturally Responsive Storytelling Methodologies Engage and Challenge All Vulnerable Adult Learners?

Abstract

Many adult learners may be vulnerable in one or more aspects of their identities. Learners may view vulnerability as limiting or even prohibiting their active participation in higher learning environments. This vulnerability may be expressed as a lack of motivation or demotivation to engage with their current learning environment, community, teacher, and curriculum. Derived from second language acquisition, the branch of learning with the highest rate of recorded failure (Dörnyei, 2005), amotivation is the learner’s belief that their current related learning trajectory is either too difficult or pointless, and demotivation is the specific catalyst that triggers amotivation (Dörnyei & Ushioda, 2011). This article posits that, even for international student cohorts for whom English is their second language, when deeply informed by Māori and Pacific culturally responsive pedagogies (CRPs), oral and written biographies that directly relate to their identities empower them to thrive. Storytelling serves as a springboard for their initial engagement, which in turn motivates a commitment to subsequent learning. As this article demonstrates, this methodology is potentially transferable to any learning environment for vulnerable adults.