Interviewing as Embodied and Affective Learning Contexts

• In Event: Designing for Affect and Embodiment: Ethical Attunements in the Futuring of Education

Abstract

Overview: This research positions interviews as meta-pragmatic contexts in which meaningful learning can take place between researchers and participants (De Fina & Perrino 2011; Vossoughi & Zavala 2020). Through two case studies, educational researchers with professional teaching backgrounds interviewed current educators with matching backgrounds. Together, we position the affective and embodied experiences of participants as relevant substrates (Goodwin, 2017) from which to draw on making sense of their lived experiences as educators. We reflect on the following research questions:
What learning opportunities are created when participants are invited to center their affective and embodied ways of knowing?
How do shared experiences and positionality between researchers and participants create openings for meaning-making within an interview context?

Case Study 1 comes from an interview-based study exploring teachers’ noticing practices of students of color with disabilities. Where behavior is a central focus of Special Education interventions, I sought to explore and develop the affective and embodied dimensions of teachers’ noticing practices toward responding to students’ affective and embodied means of communicating in ethical and just ways. Thus, essential to the research design was our shared teaching experience, positionalities, and commitments to social justice education. To innovate existing teacher noticing research methods, following classroom observations, I leverage affective evaluations (Levine 2014) and improvised questions to explore the affective and embodied dimensions of participants’ previous in-the-moment responses. Through interaction analysis, I explore how my questioning style created openings for affective and embodied sense-making.

Case Study 2 comes from an interview-based study with dance educators teaching full-time in K-12 schools in the United States. The researcher is also a dance educator, and the shared identity of dancer was an intentional design component. Participants completed three, 60-90 minute Choreographic Interviews via Zoom. Interviews 1 and 2 began with a warm-up facilitated by the researcher and participants, respectively. Interview 3 began with 10 minutes of improvisational time for both the dance educator and researcher to generate and set a short dance, inspired by the previous two conversations. These dances were then shared and taken up as both an embodied practice and a legible piece of data to refer to when reflecting on the embodied and affective experiences of the classroom.

Results & Significance In both cases, the researchers designed for ways of knowing and being that are often not prioritized in educational research or teaching contexts. Dance educators are often expected to maintain their artistic practice on their own. Creating space to choreograph and improvise as a tool for expression and understanding during an interview was essential to create a context of trust. Similarly, while teachers’ affective and embodied ways of knowing and relating to their students is an essential component of noticing and responding in ethical ways, these dimensions are often backgrounded in teacher research and learning contexts. We argue that shared experiences between researcher and participants, alongside our intentional commitment to prioritize overlooked dimensions of teacher practices (e.g., affective attention and creative processes) supported the co-creation of a trusting and empathetic learning environment within the interview context itself.

Authors

• Shivani Dave, University of California - Los Angeles

• Lindsay Lindberg, University of California - Los Angeles