The Use of the Narrative Approach in the Development of Elementary School Students' Integrative Motive

This thesis describes a study carried out in response to the question, "How can I explore teaching approaches to develop integrative motive among Sixth-grade primary
students in the Saudi School, Kuala Lurnpur, Malaysia?". In order to take suitable action and gain usable knowledge, I adopted Gardner's (1985, 2001, 2005) socio-educational
model to operationally identify and measure the potential motivational factors in my teaching context. I also used an action research approach owing to its flexible nature and practical outcomes. The study vigorously went through three cycles which were meticulously guided by the voices of my students who presented evidence of conflicts when particular approaches did not serve them well. The first cycle was a fact finding cycle in which the mini Attitudinal Motivation Test Battery (AMTB) and a focus-group interview were used for data collection. I found out that the participants were instrumentally orientated to learning English. However, there was a noticeable decline in other integrative motivational constructs. This decline was largely attributed to the fact that neither the textbook nor the learning tasks were challenging or meaningful. Looking for a proper action, I implemented the Narrative Approach as an alternative teaching method in the second cycle. I found out that the storytelling activities promoted many integrative motivational factors among the participants. Nevertheless, being in a mixed-class, girls expressed their concern that the class was more dominated by boys and it would be more comfortable for them if they could have a single-sex-class. Considering students' feedback, I proceeded with storytelling sessions where boys and girls were segregated. I found out that the motivational intensity of both girls and boys was increased and they felt more comfortable during the segregation stage in the third cycle. In order to increase the quality of this action research study, I asked pre- and in-service Malaysian teachers to reflect on the whole study and relate it to their teaching context. The reflections of the participants corroborated the finding that storytelling did increase integrative motivational factors among the sixth-grade primary students. Additionally, reflecting on the action research study created a meaningful and a democratic communicative environment in which the in-and pre-service teachers gained insights, constructed meanings and obtained practical knowledge. Working on this thesis made an important contribution to my personal, educational and professional development and placing it in the public domain will, hopefully, enable other practitioners in similar situations to relate to my experiences and gain insights.