A Linguistic Analysis of Social Emotional Learning Outcomes Through Participation in Arts Programs

• In Event: How School-Based Arts Programming Supports Social Emotional Learning for Elementary School Students

Abstract

Objectives and Purposes:
Recent research on the value of arts practices in education has moved away from an instrumentalized perspective, where the arts are only valuable inasmuch as they help students perform better on traditional academics, and towards an intrinsic value perspective, where arts practices positively impact students’ intellectual and social and emotional lives (Hardiman & John Bull, 2019; Hetland & Winner, 2004). Studies on what the arts-as-subjects give to students demonstrate that young people learn to engage with representations, a core practice in most academic subjects (Halverson, 2021). There is also evidence that arts practices are associated with social and emotional learning (SEL) outcomes including positive identity, improved collaboration in the classroom, and a better sense of community and experience at school (Bowen & Kisida, 2019; Lashley & Halverson, 2021).

Perspective and Theoretical framework:
This inquiry is part of a larger NEA Research Lab whose aim is to understand what SEL outcomes are made possible through participation in artist-in-residence programs during the school day. In this paper, we focus on how elementary school students participating in arts programs use language to describe their experiences. Specifically, we take a linguistic approach to student agency where language use communicates students’ sense of intentionality and autonomy towards arts practices (Konopasky & Sheridan, 2016).

Methods, techniques, or modes of inquiry:
From the interview transcripts, we developed a linguistic code book to label student language. We coded word choices and grammatical structures that provided insight into students’ perceived agency (Konopasky & Sheridan, 2016). We also noted evidence of SEL outcomes through thematic codes. Interview data was analyzed on two axes. First, we grouped transcripts by individual and analyzed change over time, comparing each student’s language choices from before, during, and after program participation. We also looked across students to identify trends in language use.

Data sources:
As part of our larger NEA Research Lab project, we interviewed 22 students in 3rd through 5th grade at the same elementary school. Each student participated in one artist-in-residence program during the school year, which met weekly for six to ten weeks. Students participated in three semi-structured interviews: pre-, mid-, and post-program delivery. Each student was asked to describe their experiences with art-making generally and specifically within the artist-in-residence program they participated in.

Results:
Before participating in artist-in-residence programs, student interviews contained little reference to performing arts activities. Students discussed collaboration but only when prompted. In mid- and post-program interviews, themes suggesting growth of SEL outcomes including collaboration and creative freedom appeared with greater frequency. As the programs progressed, students communicated increasing perceptions of agency through their linguistic choices, using more first-person sentence constructions, more active verbs, and fewer grammatical mitigators.

Significance of the Study:
Through a linguistic analysis of student agency over time, we see clear evidence that students are learning collaboration, engaging in connection, and seeing themselves as agents in their own art-making, three SEL outcomes that developed as a direct result of their participation in artist-in-residence programs.

Authors

• Erica Rosenfeld Halverson, University of Wisconsin - Madison
  Presenting Author

• Tracey Bullington, University of Wisconsin - Madison
  Presenting Author

• Cassidy L. Martin, University of Wisconsin - Madison
  Non-Presenting Author