An Exploration of Arts-Integrated Teaching and Learning to Engage Recently Arrived English Learners

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

Abstract

A school-wide arts integration reform project created the conditions to explore how three Spanish-speaking Latino immigrant students, arriving mid-way through the second year of implementation, interacted with the creative and innovative practices of the reform project. Through an extensive case study exploration of their schooling experience, three voices give powerful testimony to suggest that two elements of the reform, a) creative teaching approaches and b) attention to creating positive social conditions, are promising approaches to support increased engagement with course content, facilitate social contact between EL students and their mainstream peers, and reduce barriers towards participation by increasing comfort in expression. Anxiety regarding language and interaction, however, remain present when expression is limited to oral English.

Authors

• Lorna Porter, University of Oregon

• Ross C Anderson, University of Oregon