RETHINKING LEARNING AND TEACHING IN AFRICA: STORYTELLING AND SITTING POSITION AS ENGAGEMENT STRATEGY

This research report uses elements of autoethnography and mixed research to share the efforts of an academic to engage his students during classroom instruction. Participants included 28 science students from a regionally accredited university in Southern Africa, who were taking many sections of a research course. The researcher rearranged students' sitting position in class, integrated local language into instruction as well as turned teacher talk into oral storytelling. Data were drawn using surveys, in-depth qualitative interviews, focus group discussions and participant observations, with attention to nonverbal communication components. Results indicated that participants believed that circular sitting arrangement and integration of oral storytelling into instruction facilitated classroom engagement. However, participants perceived the use of local language alongside English during instruction as lacking instructional utility. This report discusses the implications of these findings and provides suggestions for the directions future research should take regarding student engagement during classroom instruction.