Page 27 - Producing a Video to Communicate a New Model of Coaching to GAA Coaches

understand who we are and how we develop ‘in terms of a narrative structure and

process’.

Stories not only provoke personal meaning-making (McDonald, 2012) but have the
power to transform as they ‘have the capacity to change the listener or the reader, to

lead us to new insights and expanded perspectives’ as we gain a greater understanding

of ourselves and others (Rossiter & Clark, 2007, p. 72).

2.2.3 Elements of a Narrative Approach to Learning – An Individual &
Social Perspective

According to Rossiter & Clark (2007) stories are subjective representations and

interpretations of events and topics. As such a narrative structure leaves room for the
listener to interact with the subject (Rossiter, 2003) and become an active agent in the

learning process as opposed to a passive receiver (Lawrence & Paige, 2016). As

representations of experiences, stories and narratives also make something abstract
more real (Szurmak & Thuna, 2013), a sense underpinned by the authenticity

ascribed to the human aspect of the representation (Rossiter, 2003).

Clark & Rossiter (2008) believe that the construction of a narrative is social as well as

personal in nature. As a socio-cultural construct narratives help us to interpret not
only our own experiences but those of others too (Sarbin, 1993). This new

understanding can happen through both the telling and the hearing of a story as the
learner makes connections between a cognitive understanding of a concept and their

own experiences as the actor of the story, or another’s experiences as the receiver of
a story (Clark & Rossiter, 2008). An example of a narrative video that works in such

a way is of the Irish comedian Tommy Tiernan interviewing the late Irish philosopher

John Moriarty.

As a listener stories have the power to engage us at a deeply human level (Clark &
Rossiter, 2008). Immordinho-Yang (2011) proposes in her Tedx Talk that the reason

for our very human emotional response to inspirational stories about other human

beings is because ‘we feel the implications of those stories on the very same neural
systems that literally keep us alive.’ Szurmak and Thuna (2013) argue that the

emotional basis to brain activity drives the need to seek meaning. The relationship
between the teller and the listener has even been demonstrated biochemically as a

synching up of the brain activity of the engaged listener with that of the teller

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