Abstract

Many theories, techniques and strategies are concerned with the development of an ideal educational setting that enables learners to demonstrate growth and improvement. Research to date mostly envisaged the classroom setting as an external aspect of the educational medium and discussed it in terms of social interaction, communicative requirements, physical structure and services. The learner’s spatial experience, however, needs to be explored from different perspectives such as spatial interaction and memory reconstruction. Moreover, the educational setting has undergone a critical change after COVID-19 pandemic lockdown. The significance of this study is that it explores the recollections of individual learners from the pre-COVID-19 classroom setting following their virtual setting (Adobe-Connect) experience.  The study focuses on the learners’ personal (subjective) memories rather than the objective description of the medium and draws on the critical difference between educational “setting” and educational “space”. It raises questions as to the role of the classroom setting and spatial experience in learning and memory. The study also aims to examine the participants’ recollections of the pre-COVID-19 classroom experience about the setting elements and objects as well as explores to what extent the classroom setting turns into an experiential space before and after COVID-19 pandemic. Qualitative measures were used within the scope of narrative inquiry to collect data in order to validate and confer the findings. The participants were two senior BA students at a Department of English Language and Literature (ELL) in Turkey. Their spatial experiences were explored through the participants’ small narrative accounts about the pre-COVID-19 classroom and online virtual classroom. The results were discussed according to the spatial practice conceptualized within the theory of postromantic education, which argues that unless educational “setting” is transformed into educational “space”, there would be no ground for experience and learning. The study revealed that the participants were both narrators and focalizers when they were talking about conventional classroom settings and treating the objects as carriers of emotions and stories. The participants reported that classroom objects were still vivid in mind, restored in the memory, and reconstructed in the imagination, which showed that the participants under consideration had a spatial experience and the classroom was transformed from setting to space. As regards the Adobe Connect virtual classrooms, the participant narrators were rarely focalisers, and the small narratives changed into narrative fragments, which shows that online virtual classroom is questionable in terms of spatial experience. The study concludes that the participants’ small narratives are punctuated with the references to setting elements and objects in the form of emotive spatial experience and positive episodic memories. The indicators and verbal elements were loaded with psychological and experiential implications. The study presents the implications for applied linguistics and classroom research and makes suggestions for further studies. 

Keywords

References

• Anderson, C., & Kirkpatrick, S. (2016). Narrative interviewing. International Journal of Clinical Pharmacy, 38(3) 631-634. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11096-015-0222-0
• Bamberg, M., & Georgakopoulou, A. (2008). Small stories as a new perspective in narrative and identity analysis. Text & Talk, 28(3), 377-396.
• Benson, P. (2014). Narrative inquiry in applied linguistics research. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, 34, 154-170.
• Bolger, N., Davis, A. & Rafaeli, E. (2003). Diary methods: Capturing life as it is lived. Annual Review
• of Psychology, 54, 579-616.
• Bowles, D. C. & Sendall, M. C. (2020). COVID-19: The Elephant in the Virtual Classroom.
• Pedagogy in Health Promotion, 6(3), 156-158. https://doi.org/10.1177/2373379920938419
• Bruner, J. S. (1990). Acts of meaning. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
• Byrne, J. H. & Eichenbaum, H., Roediger, H. L., Thompson, R. F. (Eds.). (1992). Learning & Memory (Second Ed.). New York: MacMillan.
• Carmona, M., Carmona, S. & Clarke, W. (2002). The value of good design. London: CABE.
• Cheryan, S., Ziegler, S. A., Plaut, V. C., & Meltzoff, A. N. (2014). Designing classrooms to maximize student achievement. Policy Insights from the Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 1(1), 4-12. https://doi.org/10.1177/2372732214548677
• Clandinin, D. J., & Huber, J. (2010). Narrative inquiry. In B. McGaw, E. Baker, & P. P. Peterson (Eds.), International encyclopedia of education (3rd ed.). New York, NY: Elsevier. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0--044894-7.01387-7
• Coffey, A., & Atkinson, P. (1996). Making sense of qualitative data, complementary research strategies. London, Thousand Oaks, CA and New Delhi: Sage.
• Chu, T.L.A. (2020). Applying positive psychology to foster student engagement and classroom community Amid the COVID-19 Pandemic and Beyond. Scholarship of Teaching and Learning in Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1037/stl0000238
• Creswell, J. W. (2007). Qualitative inquiry and research design: Choosing among five approaches (2nd ed.). Tousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
• Çıraklı, M. Z. (2018). Theory of postromantic education in the postmodernist era: maxims. Journal Narrative and Language Studies, 6(11), 133-136.
• Çıraklı, M. Z. (2020). An examination of students and teachers’ perceptions of educational setting: representation of space in classroom narratives. 2nd International Language Teacher Education Research Group, Online Conference. Online at: https://e5716c47-a80c-47d5-a634-b900c2b16611.filesusr.com/ugd/00f379_ab7ae32ed2004118b4885f34e8624dd2.pdf
• Davies, D., Jindal-Snape, D., Collier, C., Digby, R., Hay, P. & Howe, A. (2013). Creative learning environments in education: A systematic literature review. Thinking Skills and Creativity, 8, 80-91. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tsc.2012.07.004
• Dela Rosa, P. (2019). Physical learning environment on the academic achievement in entrepreneurship of grade 10 students. Universal Acedemic Cluster Project, Southern Luzon State University, Lucban, Quezon.
• Demir-Yıldız, C. (2020). Ideal classroom setting for English language teaching through the views of english language teachers (A Sample from Turkey). English Language Teaching, 13(3) 31-44.
• Erturan, Y. N., Çevik, R., Gürel, N.A., & Çağıltay, K. (2012, February). The use of Webinar (virtual classroom) in education: The comparison of commercial (Adobe Connect) and open source (OpenMeetings) Webinar applications. Paper presented at XIV. Academic Informatics Conference, Uşak University, Uşak, Turkey.
• Frazier, A. D. & Bryant, C. (2019). Developing visual-spatial thinking in youth using sensorimotor experiences: Approaches from a Piagetian cognitive framework. Journal of Pedagogical Research, 3(3), 99-112.
• Garnet, G. (2020). Historying tragedy through an object of empathy: Hon Xuan’s Violin. Journal of Art Design, 39 (2), 648-662. https://doi.org/10.1111/jade.12304
• Greer, T. (2014). Designing a language classroom. OnCUE Journal, 7(1), 46-52.
• Hutchison, D. L. (2004). A natural history of place in education. Columbia University: Teachers College
• Press.
• Kekare, S. (2015). Classroom physical environment and academic achievement of students. International Journal of Indian Psychology, 2(3), 116-120.
• Kuzel, A. J. (1992). Sampling in qualitative inquiry. In B. F. Crabtree & W. L. Miller (Eds.) Research methods for primary care: Doing qualitative research (pp. 31-44). Sage Publications, Inc.
• Labov, W. (1972). Sociolinguistic patterns. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.
• Lama, A. H. (2019). Creative networks: toward mapping creativity in a design classroom. [Doctoral dissertation]. University of North Texas, Denton, Texas
• Laursen, H. P., Baun, L. & Qatergaard, W. (2020). Bubbles of becomings: from located investment to placemaking practices of engagement in the language classroom. Language and Education. Advanced online publication. http://www.doi.org/10.1080/09500782.2020.1775247
• Le Goff, J. (1992). History and memory. New York: Columbia University Press.
• Leimanis-Wyat, M. (2010) Classroom DIY: A practical step-by-step guide to setting up a creative learning environment. London: Routledge.
• McLaren, C. & McKeever, P. (2019). Dancing bodies, moving spaces: revealing children’s movement encounters in an integrated kindergarten classroom. Performance Matters, 5(1), 60-80.
• Mira, R. G., Camaselle, J. M., & Martínez, J. R. (2003). Culture, environmental action and sustainability. Hogrefe & Huber Publishing.
• Miles, M. B., & Huberman, A. M. (1994). Qualitative data analysis (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
• Mishler, E.G. (1995). Models of narrative analysis: a typology. Journal of Narrative and Life History, 5(2), 87–123. https://doi.org/10.1075/jnlh.5.2
• Nambiar, R.M.K., Nor, N.M., Kemboja, I., & Adam, S. (2017). New learning spaces and transformations in teacher pedagogy and student learning behavior in the language learning classroom. The Southeast Asian Journal of English Language Studies, 23(4) 29- 40. https://doi.org/10.17576/3L-2017-2304-03
• Piaget, J., & Inhelder, B. (1956). The child's conception of space. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.
• Polkinghorne, D. (1988). Narrative knowing and the human sciences. Albany: SUNY Press
• Randall, M. (2007). Memory, psychology and second language learning. Language Learning & Language Teaching. John Benjamin’s Publishing Company.
• Reissman, C. K. (2008). Narrative methods for human sciences. CA, USA: Sage
• Smith, C. P. (2000). Content analysis and narrative analysis. In H. T. Reis & C. M. Judd (Eds.), Handbook of research methods in social and personality psychology (p.313–335). Cambridge University Press.
• Stadler-Altmann, U. (2015). Learning Environment: The Influence of School and Classroom Space on Education. In C. Rubie-Davies, J. M. Stephens, P. Watson (Eds.). The Routledge International Handbook of Social Psychology of the Classroom (pp. 547-571). Routledge.
• Sutrisno, S. (2020). Increased Learning Activities and Outcomes through Online Learning with Google Classroom in the Covid-19 Pandemic Period. Ideguru: Jurnal Karya Ilmiah Guru, 5(1), 95. https://doi.org/10.51169/ideguru.v5i1.151
• Şen, B., Atasoy, F., & Aydın, N. (2010, February). Low cost web based distance education System application. Paper presented at XII. Academic Informatics Conference, Muğla University, Muğla, Turkey.
• Urtil, J. A. S. (2016). Nature of classroom environment as a source of variation in grade 10 science class. (Masters’ Thesis). Southern Luzon State University, Lucban, Quezon.
• Viner, R. M, Russell S. J., Croker, H., Packer J., Ward J., & Stansfield C., (2020). School closure and management practices during coronavirus outbreaks including COVID-19: a rapid systematic review. Lancet Child Adolescent Health, 4, 397-404. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2352-4642(20)30095-X
• Warner, S. A., & Myers, K. L. (2010). The creative classroom: the role of space and place toward facilitating creativity. Technology Teacher, 69(4), 28-34.
• Wixted, J. T. & Serences, J. T. (Eds). (2018). Stevens’ handbook of experimental psychology and cognitive neuroscience fourth edition: Sensation, Perception, & Attention (4^th ed., Volume 2). New York: Wiley.
• Woolner, P. (2010). The design of learning spaces. Continuum, London.
• Yıldız, S. & Çakır, S. (2013). Evaluation of Classroom Design in terms of Foreign Language Learning. Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 83, 277-281. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2013.06.054

License

This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.