Abstract
Arts and Learning Styles: Teaching English as a Foreign Language in Moroccan High School
Teaching through arts is proved to have multiple benefits on students’ outcomes. Similarly, it is claimed that learning styles valuation in the teaching/learning context importantly contribute in improving students’ learning. In this paper, arts and learning styles are studied together in the context of teaching English as a Foreign Language in the Moroccan high school. The emphasis is put on the teachers’ beliefs, attitudes and use of arts as well as their dealing with different learning styles. A questionnaire is dedicated to English high school teachers in order to depict the benefits of both utilizing arts in EFL teaching and taking into consideration learning styles. Moreover, an analysis of official documents related to English teaching is done in order to portray the place of arts and learning styles in the Moroccan education legislations. The findings show that teachers are aware of the benefits of exploiting arts in English language teaching. However, teachers face many obstacles that hinder arts use, creativity and learning styles consideration. Moreover, the official documents evince that arts and learning styles are not focused in the Moroccan English teaching legislations.
Keywords
arts, learning styles, drama, music, cinema.