ADE 506 Literacy and Language Acquisition in the Art Classroom
A five-week required course for Art and Design Education (ADE) undergraduates and graduates.
(1 credit)
Course description
Through reading a variety of texts by educators and artists, students will develop an
understanding of language acquisition and literacy and the ways in which literacy promotes
learning. Working with art lessons designed by ADE faculty and students, each class member
will learn to integrate reading, writing, listening, and speaking strategies into their art lessons in
ways that meaningfully support both the NYSED visual arts and English language standards.
Goals
Students will be introduced to theories of language acquisition and literacy in the context of an
art curriculum enabling them to apply those theories in their own art lesson planning and
teaching. The course will fulfill the following New York State Regents standards:
Pedagogical Core, that is, pedagogical knowledge, understanding and skills
 Language acquisition and literacy development by native English speakers and students
who are English language learners.
 Learning process, motivation, communication [and classroom management] and their
applications.
 Curriculum development, instructional planning and multiple research-validated
instructional strategies.
English Language Arts (ELA), that is, read, write, listen, speak:
 for information and understanding.
 for literary response and expression.
 for critical analysis and evaluation.
 for social interaction.
Learning Objectives
Upon completion of this course, students will be able to:
1. explain the importance of literacy in children’s learning and how native English
speakers and English language learners acquire language;
2. understand experientially and theoretically how literacy supports the art curriculum;
3. determine which literacy strategies best support the goals of their art lesson;
4. develop specific strategies for reading, writing, listening, and speaking in art classes;
5. be able to plan and prepare a series of three lessons for elementary, middle or high
school age students that incorporate appropriate literacy strategies;
6. assess the appropriateness and usefulness of literacy strategies in art lessons given in
class.
As evidenced by the following assignments and projects with accompanying
Learning Outcomes Assessments
1. In their dialogic discourse diaries, students will assess how they integrated literacy
strategies into a lesson they taught in the Saturday Art School or another teaching
situation.
2. Through guided group discussions, students will evaluate each others’ repertoire of
literacy (reading, writing, listening, and speaking) strategies including the purpose of
that strategy (recall, analysis, invention, etc.), and its relation to the aim of the art
lesson. Students will determine when that strategy might appropriately be used in a
lesson. Students will be assessed for the thoroughness and practicality of their
repertoire.
3. Through class critique of a series of three art lessons incorporating a range of literacy
strategies, students will create a rubric to analyze the efficacy of the strategies
themselves and their usefulness in the development of the art lesson. Then, each
lesson will be evaluated by the student and the teacher using the attached rubric.
4. Using the rubric, students will assess a series of three lessons they developed and write
a summary evaluation of their work and the course itself.
5. Throughout the course, students will reflect upon their reading and writing practice in
the course and draw upon those reflections in our study of literacy.
N.B. For additional assignments, the instructor will draw upon chapters in the texts listed
below as well as the work of Deborah Tannen and books on the Infant-Toddler Centers
and Pre-schools of Reggio Emilia, Italy.
Texts
Danish, B. (1981). Writing as a Second Language: A Workbook for Writing and Teaching
Writing. New York: Teachers and Writers Collaborative.
Egan, K. (1999). Children’s Minds, Talking Rabbits: Essays on Education. New York: Teachers
College Press.
Foster, T. & Prevallet, K. (Eds.) (2002). Third Mind: Creative Writing Through Visual
Art. NY: Teachers & Writers Collaborative.
Gee, J. P. (1996). Social Linguistics and Literacies. London: The Falmer Press.
Greene, M. (1995). Releasing the Imagination: Essays on Education, the Arts, and Social
Change. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Halliday, M. A. K. (1969). Relevant Models of Language. Educational Review. 22,
pp. 26-37.
Lightbown, G. & Spada, S. (2002). How Languages are Learned. New York: Oxford
University Press.
Osborne, L. (October 24, 1999).A Linguistic Big Bang, The New York Times Magazine.
Pradl, G., (Ed.). (1982). Prospect and Retrospect: Selected Essay of James Britton.
Montclair, NJ: Boynton-Cook.
Weaver, C. (1992). Teaching Grammar in Context. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
Winner, E. (1988). The Point of Words: Children’s Understanding of Metaphor and
Irony. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Schedule of Classes
For part of each class, an instructor (first two days) or a student (final three days) will present an
art lesson. The students will explore how literacy strategies could enrich and deepen learning in
the visual arts while simultaneously supporting literacy learning and language acquisition. Texts
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about language acquisition, literacy (for native and non-native speakers) and learning will form
the theoretical background for these discussions.
Session I
An exploration of the relationships between literacy and learning and the function of literacy as
an inquiry tool in our lives; an exploration of the relationships between literacy, language
acquisition, and art.
Assignment: Read “Examining Our Beliefs and Practices Through Inquiry,” K. Short and C.
Burke, Language Arts, Vol. 73, February 1996, pp. 97-104; “The Value of Art in the English
Classroom: Imagination, Making the Tacit Visible,” Mary Bellucci Buckelew, May 2003,
English Journal; “The Arts as the Basics of Education,” in K. Egan, pp. 85-92.
Session II
Literacy and the Oral Foundations of Education.
Assignment: Read in Egan pp. 3-41.
Session III
The acquisition of language by native English and English language learners.
Assignment:
Read Shared Territory: Understanding Children’s Writing as Works, M. Himley, Oxford
University Press, 1991 pp. 17-56 and pp. 139-151 and “Making Meaning in a Dialogic Discourse
Diary,” J. Shosh, English Journal. September, 2004, Vol. 94, No. 1, pp. 53-58.
Session IV
Assessment of literacy skills.
Using the texts and our experiences in class, construct a rubric of literacy strategies categorized
by purpose and when that purpose might be used appropriately in an art lesson. Reflect upon
what you notice about your rubric and how it supports or contradicts our readings thus far. We
will then compile the rubrics to see whether different strategies/purposes are appropriate for all
or different ages, learning styles, and kinds of language learners.
Assignment: Develop a series of three lessons (referring to the rubric we created) in which you
incorporate a variety of reading, writing, listening, and speaking strategies. Describe your
choices in terms of your experience as a learner, the experience of your students, and the texts
we have read.
Session V
Apply the rubric to the lessons that we have created. How have the literacy strategies enhanced
the literacy in the visual arts benchmarks for the New York City Department of Education, that
is, “Looking at and discussing art; developing visual arts vocabulary; reading and writing about
art; and problem solving: interpreting and analyzing art.” What problems have we encountered
in the incorporation of literacy strategies? What has happened to your thinking since the first
day we met?
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