Teaching the arts as a second language: A school-wide policy approach to arts integration

ABSTRACT

The arts can be used to teach, not just as activities that enhance learning, but also as the primary medium through which students process, acquire, and represent knowledge. This means the arts can function as a language. If we accept this metaphor, and we truly want students to be fluent in the artistic languages, then the arts can be taught in the same constructive, sequential way language is taught, where the rules of the system are explicitly learned and fluency is acquired through regular application within a meaningful context. This article provides a framework for the implementation of effective arts integration in line with second language learning: Arts as a Second Language. In doing so, it addresses two common problems in arts education: when arts integration is disconnected from artistic development, and when discipline-based arts education is disconnected from other learning. Nine principles for teaching with an Arts as a Second Language policy are proposed. Ultimately, it is a call for pedagogical reform that enables equitable access for all students to learn in, about, and through the arts with school-wide policy that scaffolds artistic learning across the grades, embedded in meaningful contexts.

KEYWORDS:

• Arts as a Second Language
• arts education policy
• arts integration

Notes

1. In Canada, arts education policy is mandated at the provincial level, and is very different from province to province. At the time this article was written, the province of Saskatchewan had an arts education curriculum with mandated minutes in art, dance, drama, and music, every week, K–9.

2. At the time of publication, Alberta did have a program of studies for each of the arts, but they were over 20 years old and largely ignored.