Subversive Identities at the Art Museum: An ESL University Students' Experiences at the National Gallery of Canada

• In Event: Millennium Hotel Roundtable Session 17
  In Roundtable Session: Arts Education and English Language Learners

Abstract

Art education became interwoven with cultural mediation when a university-level English language certification class was taken on a field trip to the National Gallery of Canada. This article focuses on one ESL student who locates her subversive identity as she engages with and interprets an artwork in an interview. This students’ memorable, affective, and intimately personal thoughts and feelings, as we shall see, expose the semiotic and pedagogical importance of employing strategies that honour students’ identities and lived experiences. The authors call for more research in what they refer to as ‘critical ESL art museum education’.

Authors

• Genevieve Cloutier, University of Ottawa

• Awad Ibrahim, University of Ottawa

• David Pratt, University of Ottawa