Cultural Mediation through Slam: An Experience of (Re)Connections among Secondary School Students

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Published: Oct 14, 2026
DOI: https://doi.org/10.26443/crae.v52i1.2539
Keywords:
Cultural mediation, Slam, Teenagers

Main Article Content

Marie-Christine Beaudry
Université du Québec à Montréal
Sylvain Brehm
Université du Québec à Montréal
Sarah Hammoun
hammoun.sarah@courrier.uqam.ca
Isabelle Carignan
Université TÉLUQ
Kathleen Sénéchal
Université du Québec à Montréal

Abstract

This article presents the findings of a descriptive study on the effects of a slam‑based cultural mediation program led by a Montreal cultural organization. The program combines two in‑class workshops with an artist‑mediator and a slam performance outing. A questionnaire documented the experience of 80 Grade 11 students. Cross‑analysis shows a reconfiguration of students’ representations of poetry and writing, which are perceived as more accessible, freer, and more closely connected to their realities, as well as increased participation and self‑confidence, particularly among students who were initially little interested in school‑based cultural activities. The article concludes by discussing the conditions under which this mediation can act as a lever for reconnections and greater inclusivity within the classroom.

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How to Cite
Beaudry, M.-C., Brehm, S., Hammoun, S., Carignan, I., & Sénéchal, K. (2026). Cultural Mediation through Slam: An Experience of (Re)Connections among Secondary School Students. The Canadian Review of Art Education, 52(1), 62–77. https://doi.org/10.26443/crae.v52i1.2539
Issue
Vol. 52 No. 1 (2026): Reconnections: Art, Education, and Inclusive Futures
Section
Articles
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Author Biographies

Marie-Christine Beaudry, Université du Québec à Montréal

Marie-Christine Beaudry, PhD, is a Full Professor of French Language Didactics in the Faculty of Education at the Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM), where she has taught since 2009. A former secondary-school French teacher in Montréal, her research focuses on cultural mediation in school settings, reading didactics, and health literacy. She works closely with educational and cultural communities at both the elementary and secondary levels through a range of projects and research initiatives. She also directs the qualifying master’s program in secondary education.

Sylvain Brehm, Université du Québec à Montréal

Sylvain Brehm is a professor in the Department of Literary Studies at UQAM. His research, which focuses primarily on the development of young readers, is organized around two axes: the teaching of literature at the secondary and postsecondary levels, and young adult literature. He is the author of several articles and has co-edited the collective works Discours, usages et traces de l’expérience esthétique en contexte scolaire, as well as Fictions historiques pour la jeunesse en France et au Québec and Formes et enjeux de la transmission dans les fictions contemporaines pour adolescents et adolescentes.

Sarah Hammoun, hammoun.sarah@courrier.uqam.ca

Sarah Hammoun est candidate à la maîtrise en études littéraires à l’UQAM. Son mémoire de maîtrise porte sur les stratégies d’écriture des conditions et des révoltes serviles dans Barzakh de Moussa Ould Ebnou et Paradis d’Abdulrazak Gurnah. Ayant acquis de l’expérience comme enseignante bénévole, tutrice et monitrice d’enseignement, elle a contribué à plusieurs projets de recherche en didactique du français et en littératie multimodale. Titulaire d’un DESS en gestion, elle a également participé à des recherches sur la collaboration interorganisationnelle ainsi qu’à des travaux de gestion de catalogue et d’analyse de données audiovisuelles au sein d’un OBNL culturel, en collaboration avec le Service aux collectivités de l’UQAM (SAC).

Isabelle Carignan, Université TÉLUQ

Isabelle Carignan is a Full Professor of French Language Didactics. Since January 2016, she has been a member of the school-based teaching team in the Department of Education at Université TÉLUQ, and she has also been an adjunct professor at Laurentian University since 2012. From 2007 to 2015, she was a professor in the Department of Preschool and Elementary Education in the Faculty of Education at the Université de Sherbrooke. Her area of specialization is French language didactics, with a particular focus on reading instruction. Her research interests include reading strategies on screens and on paper, reading comprehension, the effectiveness of reading strategies, and factors that may influence primary- and secondary-school students’ selection of hyperlinks. She is also interested in family literacy, health literacy, and the teaching and learning of literacy in minority francophone settings.

Kathleen Sénéchal, Université du Québec à Montréal

Kathleen Sénéchal holds a PhD in didactics from Université Laval. A Full Professor in the Department of Language Didactics at the Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM), she is also Director of the Centre for the Study of Learning and Performance (CEAP UQAM). Her current projects examine the relationship between oral-language didactics and classroom management, the integrated approach to French language instruction, individuals’ relationships to oral communication, and the use of voice-based conversational agents powered by generative artificial intelligence in oral communication.

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