Assessment as a meaning-making resource in the supervision of students : Multimodal and qualitative discourse in higher education of the aesthetic field

The aim of this investigation is to describe assessment as a meaning-making process in individual supervision of students in higher education of the aesthetic field. The qualitative analyses focus on how assessment is expressed within the supervision, in relation to the artistic professional field. The study was conducted within a multimodal socio-semiotic perspective. Sadler’s notion of quality and Bourdieu’s field concept of habitus, contributes to the social practice within the professional field, and in the full analysis of the empirical material. The case study examines assessment in an authentic environment. The data consists of video recordings from ten supervisions that took place in two different courses at two different colleges. The video recordings were transcribed through a multimodal framework and focused on the teachers’ and student’s speech, body movements, gazes and gestures during the sessions. Four selected supervision sessions were analysed based on the research questions and on the theoretical framework. The analyses revealed that assessment in higher education of the aesthetic field can be expressed as a process whereby the quality is related to the professional field. The students, as well as their teachers, are immersed in relationships, traditions and institutions that shape their artistic choices and judgments. The results indicate that students' meaning-making is linked to their previous experience in the artistic field. Teachers’ expectations of this experience have crucial implications for how the supervision sessions are shaped and designed. The shift of focus in the supervisions goes from the fulfilment of goals stated in the curriculum, to the meaning making, values, and perspectives that are recognized within the field of the arts. The study underlines the importance of conceptualization of the artistic processes. The overall results confirm previous studies showing that instruction and supervision in higher education of the aesthetic field develops in relation to the teacher's authority, expertise and in relation to students' independence