A new article by Jakub Kościółek and Jadwiga Romanowska, presenting the assumptions and first results of the ALPHABETICA project, has just been published in the prestigious journal Applied Linguistics Papers.
The authors show how arts-based methods can support the development of students’ language and intercultural competences – especially those of children with migration experience. Drawing on the existing literature, they examine how arts education has been developing in Poland and to what extent methods from the field of the arts are being incorporated into the Polish education system, including in subjects not directly related to the arts. The findings indicate that artistic practices strengthen cognitive, emotional, and sensory engagement, which translates into better vocabulary retention, greater communicative fluency and language confidence, as well as reduced language anxiety, although they are still used too rarely in education. The article also emphasizes that integrating the arts into teaching supports the goals of intercultural education and social inclusion, which may contribute to better integration of children with migration experience in Polish schools. This part of the research is based on interviews with people working in the education system as well as with students, conducted during the educational panels we organize.
