Understanding teacher development in a Chinese context: An arts-based narrative inquiry into a language curriculum

In recent years, teachers have demonstrated that their personal and professional development can be promoted by becoming researchers of their own experience using self-chosen alternative forms of arts-based inquiry and representation. The aim of this study is to inquire into how the experience of teaching and learning through an artsbased language course facilitates growth in both the instructor and the students of a pre-service early childhood education programme. The current study attempts to integrate some arts-based approaches, such as, stories, photographs, drawings and metaphor, into the prescribed language curriculum. These arts-based approaches serve as a tool to enhance self-inquiry of both the students and the instructor. They represent the meaning that the students and the instructor generated from their learning and teaching experiences. The research data are collected through interviews, reflective journals, observations, audio- and video recording, formal evaluation and letters to the instructors, artefacts and works of students. Findings reveal that both the instructor and the students gain new insights about curriculum design and pedagogy. They have a better understanding about themselves as teacher educator and prospective early childhood teachers. By using alternative forms of artsbased representation, researchers are able to provide aesthetic experiences that enlarge the scope of understanding curriculum and qualitative research.