International Journal of Education & the Arts

Citation: Emery, A. & Moran, J. (2025). Mural-making, Multimodality, and a Palimpsest in a Spanish Language Classroom. International Journal of Education & the Arts, 26(28). http://doi.org/10.26209/ijea26n28

This article illustrates how collaborative artistic creation in a world language class can offer multiple cognitive, social, cultural and professional benefits for language learners. An interdisciplinary mural project undertaken in a community college serves as a case study to examine these ideas. The class was co-taught by the authors, a teaching artist and Spanish instructor. The article explores questions about the intersection of art creation and language learning, using the Experiential Language Learning Cycle (Emery, 2018) as a pedagogical framework for the project, and describes the context and qualitative research methods used. Conclusions discuss the advantages of artistic creation and experiential language learning for both students individually, and for world language programs on a curricular level, while pointing out limitations encountered. The article finishes with reflections on how interdisciplinary collaborations might sustain and revitalize university language programs.