Program
Teaching M.A.
Year Approved
2018
First Advisor
Farrington, Karin
Abstract
There are many academic, emotional, and social benefits that Visual arts curriculum has on K-12 students. Among those students, English Language Learners (ELL) have very specific language needs that may prevent them from being able to stay in art class as a result of needing time to receive additional language and literacy support. Research shows the number one hurdle for ELL students to overcome is disengagement. The National Arts Education Association (NAEA) reports that visual arts education can be more beneficial to disengaged students because the arts have the ability to engage students who would otherwise be alienated. ELL students whose standardized test scores fall below a specific mark are removed from Visual Art class and placed into an additional block of reading. The students to whom this takes place with are spending more than 50% of their day in the pullout ELL classroom. If ELL students are receiving less access to the arts because of limited English proficiency and research has shown they benefit from receiving arts classes, how can the visual arts classroom support ELL students with English language proficiency? This thesis will look at the benefits to visual art access and how visual art curriculum can be designed with ELL students in mind.
Degree Name
Teaching M.A.
Document Type
Masterʼs thesis
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.
Recommended Citation
Kiewel, C. E. (2018). Literacy Support Through Visual Art for English Language Learners [Masterʼs thesis, Bethel University]. Spark Repository. https://spark.bethel.edu/etd/354