Journal of Education and Research

Students’ Transformative Learning through an Ethical Dilemma Story Pedagogy in Undergraduate English Creative Writing Class
Kashi Raj Pandey 1 *
More Detail
1 Kathmandu University School of Arts* Corresponding Author
Research Article

Journal of Education and Research, Volume 15, Issue 2, 2025, 7-22

Publication date: Sep 25, 2025

Views: 1 | Downloads: 1

How to cite this article
APA
In-text citation: (Pandey, 2025)
Reference: Pandey, K. R. (2025). Students’ Transformative Learning through an Ethical Dilemma Story Pedagogy in Undergraduate English Creative Writing Class. Journal of Education and Research, 15(2), 7-22.
Vancouver
In-text citation: (1), (2), (3), etc.
Reference: Pandey KR. Students’ Transformative Learning through an Ethical Dilemma Story Pedagogy in Undergraduate English Creative Writing Class. Journal of Education and Research. 2025;15(2):7-22.
AMA
In-text citation: (1), (2), (3), etc.
Reference: Pandey KR. Students’ Transformative Learning through an Ethical Dilemma Story Pedagogy in Undergraduate English Creative Writing Class. Journal of Education and Research. 2025;15(2), 7-22.
Chicago
In-text citation: (Pandey, 2025)
Reference: Pandey, Kashi Raj. "Students’ Transformative Learning through an Ethical Dilemma Story Pedagogy in Undergraduate English Creative Writing Class". Journal of Education and Research 2025 15 no. 2 (2025): 7-22.
Harvard
In-text citation: (Pandey, 2025)
Reference: Pandey, K. R. (2025). Students’ Transformative Learning through an Ethical Dilemma Story Pedagogy in Undergraduate English Creative Writing Class. Journal of Education and Research, 15(2), pp. 7-22.
MLA
In-text citation: (Pandey, 2025)
Reference: Pandey, Kashi Raj "Students’ Transformative Learning through an Ethical Dilemma Story Pedagogy in Undergraduate English Creative Writing Class". Journal of Education and Research, vol. 15, no. 2, 2025, pp. 7-22.
ABSTRACT
This research recounts the ways Ethical Dilemma Story Pedagogy (EDSP) has been used in a classroom to explore interpretative and creative spaces for transformative learning. I examine this practice through an experiential approach that cultivates learners’ critical self-narratives for a meaningful engagement in the classroom (Pandey, 2021). Central to this research is the premise that transformative learning emerges most powerfully when learners, along with their teachers, critically question their assumptions and decision-making in relation to others in their social contexts. Building on this understanding, we have remained attentive to people, place, and culture, particularly at a time when ethical involvement in education appears to be diminishing. The use of ethical dilemma stories in a transformative setting has encouraged students to connect themselves with their surroundings, listen to and speak up about their experiences, and actively participate in their personal, familial, social, and moral development. It incorporates dialogue and critical reflections to nurture students’ multiple ways of knowing, thereby motivating towards cross cultural understanding, mutual respect, collaboration, and trust. Thus, the use of EDSP in English teaching, which is culturally relevant in Nepal, can open interpretative and creative spaces for deeper learning.
KEYWORDS
REFERENCES
  1. Brookfield, S. (2012). Teaching for critical thinking: Tools and methods to help students question their assumptions. Jossey-Bass.
  2. Bruner, J. (1986). Actual minds, possible worlds. Harvard University Press.
  3. Bullough, R. V. (2011). Ethical and moral matters in teaching and teacher education. Teaching and Teacher Education, 27(1), 21–28. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2010.09.007
  4. Crain, W. (1992). Theories of development: Concepts and applications. Prentice Hall.
  5. Davies, M. J., & Heyward, P. (2019). Between a hard place and a hard place: A study of ethical dilemmas experienced by student teachers while on practicum. British Educational Research Journal, 45(2), 372–387. https://doi.org/10.1002/berj.3505
  6. Denzin, N. K. (2014). Interpretive autoethnography. Sage.
  7. Dewey, J. (1938). Experience and education. Macmillan.
  8. Dillard, A. (2013). The writing life. Harper Perennial.
  9. Freire, P. (1970). Pedagogy of the oppressed. Herder and Herder.
  10. Freire, P. (1998). Reprint: Cultural action for freedom. Harvard Educational Review, 68(4), 476–522. https://doi.org/10.17763/haer.68.4.656ku47213445042
  11. Hyry-Beihammer, E. K., Lassila, E. T., Estola, E., & Uitto, M. (2020). Moral imagination in student teachers' written stories on an ethical dilemma. European Journal of Teacher Education, 45(3), 435–449. https://doi.org/10.1080/02619768.2020.1860013
  12. Kohlberg, L. (1981). Essays on moral development: The philosophy of moral development. Harper & Row.
  13. Ladson-Billings, G. (1995). Toward a theory of culturally relevant pedagogy. American Educational Research Journal, 32(3), 465–491. https://doi.org/10.3102/00028312032003465
  14. Liu, R. (2025). The impact of generative pre-trained transformers on creative writing instruction: Enhancing student engagement and expressive competence. Journal of Computational Methods in Sciences and Engineering, 25(5), 4437–4450. https://doi.org/10.1177/14727978251337961
  15. Mezirow, J. (2012). Learning to think like an adult: Core concepts of transformation theory. In E. Taylor, P. Cranton & Associates (Eds.), The handbook of transformative learning (pp. 73–95). Jossey-Bass.
  16. Mills, C. W. (1959). The sociological imagination. Oxford University Press.
  17. Nuraeni, N., & Heryatun, Y. (2021). Reflective practice strategies of pre-service English teachers during teaching practicum to promote professional development. Studies in English Language and Education, 8(3), 1144–1157. https://doi.org/10.24815/siele.v8i3.20221
  18. Pandey, K. (2021). Theorising transformative learning: The power of autoethnographic narratives in education. Brill Sense Publishers.
  19. Piaget, J. (1932). The moral judgment of the child. Truebner and Co.
  20. Polkinghorne, D. (1988). Narrative knowing and the human sciences. SUNY Press.
  21. Power, E. (1969). Evolution of educational doctrine: Major educational theorists of the Western World. Appleton-Century-Crofts.
  22. Roman, R., & Nunez, A. (2020). Motivational factors that influence English as a foreign language learners at Quality Leadership University, Panama City, Panama. Journal of Language Teaching and Research, 11(4), 543–554. https://doi.org/10.17507/jltr.1104.03
  23. Smyth, J., Down, B., & McInerney, P. (2014). The socially just school: Making space for youth to speak. Springer.
  24. Tan, J. (2024). A transcultural teacher's creative ecologies: Poetry-ing the entanglements of institutional privilege and love's care in a Melbourne college. Qualitative Inquiry, 31(2), 144–154. https://doi.org/10.1177/10778004241229790
  25. Wang, J. (2018). The joy of learning: What it is and how to achieve it. National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University. https://tinyurl.com/krhx3fd4
  26. Wang, C. K. J., Liu, W. C., Kee, Y. H., & Chian, L. K. (2019). Competence, autonomy, and relatedness in the classroom: Understanding students' motivational processes using self-determination theory. Heliyon, 5(7), Article e01983. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2019.e01983
  27. Werth, J. C. (2017). Dilemma stories in my science classroom: Enabling students to make ethically aware decisions [Unpublished doctoral dissertation]. Curtin University.
  28. Withrow, J., Brookes, G., & Cummings, M. (2004). Inspired to write: Readings and tasks to develop writing skills. Cambridge University Press.
DISCLOSURE

The author declared no potential conflicts of interest concerning this article’s authorship and publication.

LICENSE