Abstract
The visual arts are a powerful tool for promoting immigrant students’ literacy development and cultural integration. This work investigates the intersection between literacy development and visual-arts-based interventions and how they can help with the cultural identity formation of immigrant high school students. The significance of this work highlights the transformative role of visual arts in promoting inclusivity and addressing the necessity for literacy acquisition. It contributes to the interdisciplinary fields of education, literacy studies, and visual arts. The paper utilizes a critical reappraisal of existing research and investigates prevalent educational narratives from the perspectives of sociocultural literacy theory, multimodal meaning-making, and theories of transcultural identity development. The method used for this paper examines research on multimodal literacy practices, immigrant education, and visual arts through a theoretical reconceptualization that challenges conventional assimilationist models. This interpretive study illustrates the value of integrating visual arts into immigrant education, fosters academic engagement, enhances multimodal literacy development, and facilitates cultural affirmation. By drawing insights from interdisciplinary research, this paper emphasizes the significance of the visual arts as a creative tool in promoting cultural inclusion and enhancing literacy development for immigrant students.
Presenters
Ruben RendonStudent, Curriculum and Instruction PhD, University of Houston, Texas, United States
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
KEYWORDS
Immigrant, Literacy, Multimodal, Meaning, Making, Sociocultural
