Storytelling and the Representation of the Everyday Work of English Teachers

This dissertation conceptualizes storytelling as simultaneously standpoint, philosophy and methodology. As standpoint for Illesca as researcher and writer, storytelling is integral to all facets of the work. Stories insist on complexity, indeterminacy and polyvocality. They are capacious, enabling Illesca to probe many potential points of view and facilitating multiple returns from different angles and lines of sight. Story fragments and small embodied scenes anchored in the everyday are the modes of storytelling that Illesca is most interested in, and in which she anchors her analysis of the complexities of teaching and learning in the English classroom. Philosophically, Illesca grounds her storytelling approach both in the field of English education and in wider philosophical and theoretical arenas. Her work adds to the important work of many academics who have valued English teachers' experience and knowledge through storytelling about classroom practice.