Dunning, Raymond Vernon; (1983) Language in art education. Doctoral thesis , UCL (University College London).

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Abstract

Since the Newsome Report (1963) much has been made of the importance of language throughout the curriculum, but comparatively little interest has been shown in the role of language in art education, possibly because visual art and verbal language are usually characterised as distinct symbol systems which generate different forms of experience, thought, knowledge and communication. Even were it possible to distinguish this sharply between art and language, art teaching, like all teaching is a predominently verbal operation, and this should be reason enough to research into the role of language in art education. But the present study goes further than this and questions the validity of a distinction which must distort what is, in effect, an integrated and holistic system. It proceeds on the assumption that language and art are not incidental to one another, but they are indissoluably and dialectically entwined; consequently language must have a role to play in the production and consumption of art in general and not only in an educational context. The work is divided into three parts; the first is a review of the literature on language and art, and it attempts to show how important a contribution language makes to art, not only in the more obvious fields of art criticism, art history and art education, but also at the level of the practising artist. Whereas Part One speculates in general terms on the relations between language and art, Part Two reports some original, naturalistic, research which concentrates on the art teachers' use of language, and its implications. It takes the form of an exhaustive analysis of tape-recordings of two complete art lessons, given by different teachers at a North London comprehensive school. Part Three comprises three relatively short chapters: the first 1s a critique of prevailing art educational thinking which inhibits enquiry into the role of language in that field; the second begins to map the verbal context of art education; and the concluding chapter presents ideas for extending and developing the empirical work described in Part Two.

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