Singing songs as a creative method for narrative inquiry in the English classroom

Narrative inquiry has a long tradition in qualitative educational research, although it remains a relatively untapped method of investigation in English curriculum and pedagogy studies. This paper presents one experimental narrative approach through the use of song lyrics as a musical method for storying interview data. Working with non-linear and non-representational approaches to narrative inquiry allows researchers to move beyond the need to capture the ‘real’ and instead experiment and play with data recombination, analyses, and syntheses. The intent of this method is to create new concepts for making meaning of the world in which we live, learn and work