The Application of Art in the Enhancement of Speaking Skills in Greek State Primary School Students of Pre-A1 Level

Abstract

The findings show that visual arts-based instruction positively impacts learners' oracy abilities, vocabulary development, and formulaic assimilation. Art has always been a potent medium for teachers of all subjects contributing to learners’ social, emotional, intellectual and physical evolution. However, it often becomes subjugated and considered as unnecessary and extracurricular. The particular research aims at exploring the ways Art can be integrated into the first grade of Greek State Primary School curriculum for English language learning and exploited for the benefit of young learners. More specifically, this research aims to investigate whether art, and particularly visual arts, can emerge as an invaluable tool which will enhance instruction for the learning of English as a foreign language, thus triggering motivation which will lead to young learners’ enhancement of their speaking skills. In addition to this, this research explores the effects of visual arts-based instruction on vocabulary, and language chunks development, through young learners’ engagement in a number of multisensory tasks deriving from works of art presented to them. For this reason, action research was carried out among thirty-two first grade learners of a state primary school in Greece, who were divided into two groups, a control and an experimental group. The information obtained through both quantitative and qualitative tools of data collection will be exploited for this research as they can prove that the participants of the experimental group improved substantially concerning all the three variables compared to the participants of the control group. The results of this small-case research cannot be disregarded as they indicate that the use of visual arts can have a considerably positive effect on young learners’ receptive and productive oracy skills.