The arts and literacy in schools: Exploring dissonance and harmony in and through classroom practice

Author(s):

Georgina Barton(presenting / submitting)

Conference:

ECER 2017

Network:

29. Research on Arts Education

Format:

Paper

Session Information

29 SES 10, Researching Contemporary Art, Visual Culture and Visual Literacy

Paper Session

Time:

2017-08-24

15:30-17:00

Room:

W2.06

Chair:

Catarina Almeida

Contribution

For some time, the research literature has laboured on an unsteady relationship between the arts and literacy in schools across a number of contexts including the UK (Adams, 2011), across Europe (Chabanne et al., 2017; Østern, 2016), the USA (Baker, 2012; Sabol, 2010), Canada (O’Neill & Schmidt, 2017) and Australia (Barton, Baguley & MacDonald, 2013). Largely resulting from mandated strategic policies and directives to raise standards on high stakes testing in developed countries, the provision of quality arts education in schools is reported to be at an all-time low (Barton & Ewing, 2017). This situation is despite the extensive body of research that acknowledges the importance of aesthetic-artistic, creative and design thinking, skills often learnt in the arts, needed for the 21^st century and beyond. The presentation therefore focuses on the topic of the arts and literacy in schools. It explores how the relationship between the arts and literacy can be both dissonant and harmonious depending on conceptual and pedagogical approaches adopted by administrators and educators. The presentation therefore aims to answer the questions: What relationship currently exists between the arts and literacy in schools? and How can this knowledge influence future classroom practice?

The main objective of the research was to address the commonly reported issue that the provision of quality arts education in schools are gravely impacted on by literacy education and in particular standardised tests such as Pan-Canadian Assessment Program (PCAP) in Canada, Scholastic Aptitude or Assessment Tests (SATs) in the UK and USA, National Assessment Program: Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) in Australia and the international regime Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) (see Barton & Ewing, 2017 for example). The research therefore aimed to reveal both the tensions and harmonies that exist between the arts and literacy in contemporary classroom practice across the arts forms including: dance, drama, music and visual arts. It also endeavoured to investigate how educators feel about the relationship between the arts and literacy. It aimed to identify not only how literacy education practices in schools are impacting on the arts but also the distinct and inherent literacies that are present in the arts.

Barton’s (2014) work shares a definition of literacy as “interpretive and expressive fluency through symbolic form, whether aural/sonic, embodied, textual, visual, written or a combination of these within the context of a particular art form” (pp. 3-4). This view of literacy takes into account the need to value other modes of communication other than just linguistics or language via written text, which is often privileged in educational curriculum, assessment and reporting. It acknowledges the fact that the arts have unique literacies that are not found in other content areas that comprise of artistic-aesthetic elements and forms. It argues that students of the arts are both interpreters and creators and that the process in becoming arts-literate involves deep investigations of others’ artforms and of oneself (Barton, 2014). Informed by a multimodal, semiotic approach this project aimed to identify a common language for both arts and literacy educators in the attempt to highlight a positive partnership rather than the usual picture painted; that of marginalised and narrow practices. It also however, recognises that the arts have instrumental and intrinsic values found nowhere else. The aim is to bridge the unsteady relationship between the arts and literacy with the view to empower and transform students’ lives.

Method

The methodology for this research project is qualitative as it explores a phenomenon in context, that is, the relationship between the arts and literacy in schools. It draws upon a number of semi-structured interviews with arts educators from schools and the higher education sector on the topic of the arts and literacy (n=10). The participants included: Beth, a secondary dance teacher; Frank, a lecturer in dance at a university; Nicole, a drama education lecturer in a university and Maureen a drama teacher in a secondary school; Nathan, a media arts and education lecturer; Simon and Tim, both music lecturers specialising in music industry and composition studies respectively; Ben a secondary music teacher; Georgia, an arts and early childhood lecturer; and Heather, a secondary visual arts teacher. Data was also gathered via classroom observations that were videoed in each of the artforms of dance, drama, music and visual arts in a number of schools, both primary and secondary, in Brisbane, Australia. In relation to the interview data all audio files were transcribed, verified by participants, and then input to the software program NVivo in order to identify common nodes. Next, a manual coding system was carried out via an inductive thematic analysis. This approach was used as it allowed for personal narratives to be expressed; also highlighting the aspects deemed important in regard to the description of the phenomenon of the arts and literacy within a range of contexts (Daly, Kellehear & Gliksman, 1997). This strategy allowed the researcher to recognise patterns within the data (Fereday & Muir-Cochrane, 2006) and therefore provided the opportunity to discuss research findings in deep and rich ways. Themes identified were: how literacy is viewed via an arts education lens; the importance of identity – personal, social and cultural; and modes of expression such as aural, gestural, linguistic, visual and ensembles of modes. Additionally, the presentation will share video excerpts of classroom practice across each artform. These were analysed with a functional meta-semiotic framework (Kress & van Leeuwen, 2006) that explores three meanings: representational or ideational meaning, interpersonal or interactive meaning, and compositional or textual meaning. This model was also enhanced by the researcher to investigate the presence of artistic-aesthetic meaning and/or nuances that are inherent in arts practices. The interview data coupled with the video excerpts highlight the important relationship between the arts and literacy; pointing to the development of a more positive partnership amongst educators.

Expected Outcomes

Despite there being some research that has investigated the unique relationship between the arts and literacy these tend to privilege either the arts over literacy or literacy over the arts. A meaningful dialogue between the two enabled the researcher to see what literacy looks like in the arts and also what it means to be arts literate. Not only are arts educators responsible for encouraging students to be ‘interpreters’ and critically respond to art from diverse environments they also act as guides and mentors for students to become a ‘creator’ or an ‘artist’. In this sense literate practices in the arts are socially and culturally situated and are inherently personal endeavours. The research acknowledges a dichotomic view of the arts and literacy within school and higher education contexts. The first being where teachers expect students to read and write about art predominantly using the linguistic mode and the second a deeper artistic-aesthetic and multimodal approach leading to becoming an artist. As both an interpreter and creator of art students become arts-literate. It will be argued that the arts have unique literacies necessary for students to function beyond schooling and into the twenty-first century.

References

Adams, J. (2011). The degradation of the arts in education. International Journal of Art and Design Education, 30, 156–160. Baker, R.A. (2012). The effects of high-stakes testing policy on arts education. Arts Education Policy Review, 113(1), 17-25. Barton, G.M. (2013). The arts and literacy: What does it mean to be arts literate? International Journal of Education and the Arts, 14(18). Barton, G.M. (2014). The arts and literacy: Interpretation and expression of symbolic form. In G.M. Barton (Ed.). Literacy in the Arts: Retheorising Learning and Teaching, (pp. 3-20). Switzerland: Springer International Publishing. Barton, G.M., Baguley, M., & MacDonald, A. (2013). Seeing the bigger picture: Investigating the state of the arts in teacher education programs in Australia. Australian Journal of Teacher Education, 38(7). Barton, G.M., & Ewing, R. (2017). Encouraging a dynamic relationship between the arts and literacy. In G.M. Barton & M. Baguley (Eds.), Palgrave Handbook on Global Arts Education. Palgrave-Macmillan. Chabanne, J-C., Kerby, M., Espinassy, L., Kerlan, A., & Terrien, P. (2017). How to practically help non-specialist teachers to implement various ways to better integrate art education in ordinary classroom practices. In G.M. Barton & M. Baguley (Eds.), Palgrave Handbook on Global Arts Education, (pp. 145-156). London, UK: Palgrave-Macmillan. Daly, J., Kellehear, A. & Gliksman, M. (1997). The public health researcher: A methodological approach. Melbourne, Australia: Oxford University Press. Fereday, J. & Muir-Cochrane, E. (2006). Demonstrating rigor using thematic analysis: A hybrid approach of inductive and deductive coding and theme development. International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 5(1), 80-92. Kress, G., & van Leeuwen, T. (2006). Reading images: The grammar of visual design (2nd ed.). London: Routledge. O’Neill, S., & Schmidt, P. (2017). Arts Education in Canada and the United States. Palgrave Handbook on Global Arts Education, (pp. 145-156). London, UK: Palgrave-Macmillan. Østern, A. (2016). Multiple arts literacies as worldmaking in education. In A. B. Sæbø (Ed.), International Yearbook for Research in Arts Education, Vol. 4, (pp. 99-112). Münster, Waxman. Sabol, R. (2010). No child left behind: A study of its impact on art education. Purdue University, Indiana National Art Education Foundation. Thompson, G., & Harbaugh, A.G. (2012). The Effects of NAPLAN: Teacher perceptions of the impact of NAPLAN on pedagogy and curriculum. Paper presented at Australian Association of Research in Education annual conference, Sydney, 2012. Unsworth, L. (2001). Teaching multiliteracies across the curriculum: Changing contexts of text and image in classroom practice. Buckingham, UK: Open University Press.

Author Information

Georgina Barton (presenting / submitting)

Griffith University

School of Education and Professional Studies

Brisbane

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