Developing English Language Literacy Through the Arts (DELLTA) is ArtsConnection’s research-based program for English Language Learners (ELLs) in elementary and middle schools.1 Focused around an inquiry -- What is the nature of teaching and learning in dance and theater; and, in what ways do they influence second language acquisition in ELLs? -- 1,500 students across 4 boroughs have participated in the program since 2005.
Similar inquiry processes2 are used in all DELLTA sites to help classroom teachers, English as a Second Language (ESL) and arts specialists, teaching artists, and administrators build working partnerships and collaboratively construct and teach units of study.
Preliminary research findings3 of the DELLTA programs conclude that ArtsConnection’s work with ELLs helps students make gains in the following cognitive capacities/dispositions:
· Motivation
· Perseverance/task persistence
· Ability to focus
· Ownership of learning
· Spatial awareness
· Self-confidence
· Cooperative learning/collaboration
1DELLTA ES and MS received funding from the United States Department of Education’s Arts In Education Model Development and Dissemination Program. 2Processes include the use of planning & reflection, observation sheets, the Video Descriptive Process (VDP), Lesson Study and Units of Study. 3DELLTA ES and MS’s external evaluators are a team led by Dr. Robert Horowitz of Columbia University’s Teacher’s College. The findings listed here are from Dr. Horowitz’s December 2008 report to ArtsConnection.
DELLTA