ERIC Number: ED641414
Record Type: Non-Journal
Publication Date: 2021
Pages: 252
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: 979-8-7621-8128-0
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: N/A
Storied Lives, Storied Selves: Narrative Peer Mentorship of Emerging Adult College Students
La Tonia Winston
ProQuest LLC, Ph.D. Dissertation, Trinity International University
The study considered narrativity and narratives in the work of 25 college peer mentors in U.S. Christian higher education institutions. It describes the use of stories in their work with their peers, fellow college students, who are emerging adults. The work of several scholar shaped the theoretical approach to the study, including Marsha Rossiter and Carolyn Clark for their research on the use of narratives in higher education, Ivor Goodson for his theorizing on narrative learning and forwarding of narrative pedagogies, and psychologists Jerome Bruner and Dan McAdams because of their significant research on the "narrative mode" of thought, role of narratives in meaning-making of personal life stories, and the forming and reforming of the individuals' narrative identities. Three research questions guided and provided scope to the study, including 1) What stories do mentors share with mentees within Christian higher education? 2) In what ways do mentors narratively link personal life stories with biblical stories within Christian higher education? and 3) In what ways do mentors narratively link understandings of academic faithfulness that lead to academic success within Christian higher education? Narrative analyses of narrative interview transcripts afforded opportunities to identify the kinds of personal life stories mentors share and hear from their mentees, including those of a cultural, familial, biblical, and transitional nature. The researcher discovered that stories play a critical role in college peer mentorship focused on student success and formation. Mentors use stories to establish rapport through identification with their mentees' issues as fellow college students also on academic journeys, as the platform to form relationships of accountability, provide support through encouragement, as they function as "professional friends," and focus on academic faithfulness toward student success. Given these findings, the researcher proposes an emergent "Process of Narrative Mentorship" within the larger context of whole-person development for emerging adult college students that engages storying, restorying, and futuring to promote academic faithfulness toward student success. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]
Descriptors: College Students, Mentors, Peer Relationship, Christianity, Religious Colleges, Personal Narratives, Biblical Literature, Religious Factors, Story Telling
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Publication Type: Dissertations/Theses - Doctoral Dissertations
Education Level: Higher Education; Postsecondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A

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