A descriptive study of verbal statements made by Saudi Arabian students about Islamic and Western art objects

The purpose of this study was to investigate the cultural context of the content of student verbal statements about Islamic and Western art objects, and to identify the influence of Islamic culture on such content. The research focused on the identification of social and educational cultural factors within the general content of student responses. The nature of the content of verbal statements given in response to Islamic and Western art objects was described. The final focus was on the description of the impact of Islamic culture on oral responses to both Islamic and Western art objects.; Since this study dealt with a specific cultural context, the researcher provided background information about art education in Saudi Arabia, its history, and the impact of Saudi culture on its development. The effect of museums and reproduction of visual materials on the process of appreciating art objects was highlighted. Identification and description of specific art objects from Islamic and Western cultures were made and justified.; Topics and question strategies were centered on two theoretical models. First was Detmers' (1980) extended content categories in the visual arts, which include the following: (1) philosophical content, (2) structural content, (3) formative content, (4) relational content, (5) historical content, and (6) psychological content. Second, was Spradley's (1979) questioning strategy of ethnographic interview. Spradley's (1980) Developmental Research Sequence (D.R.S.) method within the boundaries of participant observation strategy was utilized in the five stages of the ethnographic fieldwork: (1) selection of social situation, (2) participant observation strategy, (3) procedures for data collection, (4) population studied, and (5) ethnographic focus.; Art discussions were tape-recorded, coded, and then translated from Arabic into English and studied for analysis. Hand-recorded field notes, official documents of art education, photographs of the school and art education setting and activities were used to support research procedures. Major research findings were reported in Chapter VII. Based on these findings, the researcher drew some conclusions and suggested some recommendations for further study and consideration.