CULTURE-LANGUAGES-MEDIA
Independent Project with Specialization in English
Studies and Education
15 Credits, First Cycle
Where Are All the Storytellers in Education
Today? The Benefits of Creative Writing in
the ESL Classroom
Vart är alla historieberättare i dagens utbildning? Fördelarna med att använda
kreativt skrivande i andraspråksundervisning
Cajsa Hermansson
Tina Erlvik
Master of Arts in Upper Secondary Education, 300 credits English Studies and Education
2021-01-15
Examiner: Henry King Supervisor: Shaun Nolan
Abstract
In the current study, we explore and present different advantages creative writing can have on ESL and EFL-students’ writing and their attitude towards writing. We have also discovered some problems ESL or EFL-learners can come across in terms of writing in another language. In the syllabus for English in upper secondary school, it is stipulated that the students should be able to use their English in different situations. However, this is not always as easy as it might seem. Many ESL and EFL students claim that they feel anxious when it comes to writing in English, especially in an academic way, and do not feel confident enough with their own language production. This self-doubt is not unique for a specific country or region, it occurs all over the globe, and our Swedish students are certainly not an exception. Research shows that by practicing writing in a more creative and free way, the students can develop their language in a more relaxed setting, and at the same time increase their confidence and self-esteem regarding their language production.
Key terms: creative writing, English as a second language, English as a foreign language, writing
process, writing anxiety, curriculum, critical thinking.
Individual contributions
We hereby certify that all parts of this essay reflect the equal participation of both signatories below: The parts we refer to are as follows:
• Planning
• Selection of research question
• Article searches, including and excluding
• Decisions pertaining to the outline and structure of the essay • Presentation of findings, discussion, and conclusion
Authenticated by:
Table of contents
1. Introduction………..4
1.2 Background Theory………...5
2. Aim and Research Questions……….8 3. Methods………....9 3.1 Search Delimitations………....9 3.2 Inclusion Criteria……….9 3.3 Exclusion Criteria……….………....10 Table 1………11 4. Results………...12
4.1 Problems with writing ESL and EFL-learners can come across………....12
4.2 The benefits of creative writing………....13 5. Discussion……….20 6. Conclusion………22 References………...23
1. Introduction
Since the early days of man, stories have been told for many different reasons. Scary stories were told about what creatures hide in the woods, so the children would not dare to wander out by themselves. There were stories about kinship painted on cave walls, and tales that lived on for thousands of years. Most of us are still writing stories about imaginary worlds, hidden kingdoms and childlike fantasy-creatures in our younger years, but somewhere along the way many of us stop being creative in this way. We stop creating out of our imagination and replace it with academic writing, essays, and base our writings on science and other people’s research, because that is what is asked of us as we grow older.
We have seen that creative writing, which can be defined as a process with the production of, for example, fiction or poetry, which shows imaginative or inventive skill in writing, is neglected in the curriculum, and not mentioned at all in the syllabus for English. Although the policy makers do ask the students to read different types of texts such as literature, poems, dramas, fiction or other types of someone else’s creative writing, the students are never asked to create it themselves (Skolverket, 2011). The students will learn about it by input, but the output is lacking. The closest the students gets to using creative writing is in the syllabus of Swedish where the storytelling technique is mentioned. Yet again, it is not very clear if they ask them to practice this creative writing technique, or just read about it.
Skönlitteratur för ungdomar och vuxna från olika tider och kulturer. Berättande i film och andra medier där ord, bild och ljud samspelar. Olika genrer och berättarteknik i skönlitteratur, film och andra medier. (Skolverket, 2011)
Since it is never mentioned in the curricula that the students should be able to carry out creative writing in their English learning, we can assume it is not perceived useful enough for them according to the Swedish policy makers. However, many studies, which will be discussed below, show that creative writing actually has an advantageous impact on English as a second language (ESL) and English as foreign language (EFL)-learners, and their writing development.
In our research, we have seen that L2 1 learners all over the globe feel anxious and insecure about themselves and their writing skills in English. Therefore, creating and engaging with the language
in a more relaxed and not as stringent way could build this bridge between trusting themselves and their language abilities, and writing in a more academic way, which the curriculum asks for. While creative writing is often contrasted with academic writing, they can complement each other. Practicing writing with a personal touch and being creative in one’s text development is needed while doing creative writing, which would be a great asset to a students’ writing development in other writing tasks. Encouraging creative writing and a different way of language learning and writing development does not eliminate the importance of being able to write academically, nor does it replace this very important skill. However, they could complement one another and broaden the student’s writing abilities and view on writing.
As interesting as it might seem, the benefits of creative writing is not a highly researched subject backed up by many empirical studies, which obstructed our research somewhat. Despite this we still wanted to research this area since we find it very fascinating.
1.2 Background Theory
Writing is to many of us a demanding task, not least in our native language, but even more challenging in a second or foreign language. As Barkaoui states, “learning and teaching writing in a second language are very challenging tasks, not least because of the myriad of affective, linguistic, cognitive, and sociocultural factors involved.” (Barkaoui, 2007. p.44). Learning and mastering all these requirements can be tough, and put a lot of pressure on language learners often being put outside of their comfort zone writing in very scholarly ways. Williams (2003) claims that motivating the students and making them feel like successful writers by providing them with writing activities that gives them a positive writing experience, and confidence as writers, can help their language learning. This method Williams mentions, making the students feel like writers and boosting their self-esteem, could be done by letting them practice creative writing, exploring their creative and authorial voice within their writings.
Creative writing might not be mentioned as the most valuable competence in the steering documents, or something the students need to master, but several studies and articles claim the opposite. Şenel (2018) investigated what impact creative writing could have on EFL-learners and their academic writing, which is, unlike creative writing, a writing-style mentioned several times in the syllabus and steering documents. Şenel’s study showed that creative writing had a positive influence on the students’ attitude towards writing, and made them less anxious towards writing in a language that is not their mother tongue, as has been observed in other studies about ESL
and EFL-learners. Similarly, in a publication about creative writing, Hancı-Azizoğlu (2018) claims the students in her article felt encouraged to use their second language in more advanced and sophisticated styles as a result of using creative writing. This anxiety ESL and EFL-learners can come across can, according to an article on the benefits of creative writing by Randolph (2011), be due to the frequent use of academic writing as the way of practicing writing in English. Randolph claims that academic writing could often be very unfamiliar to language learners, since both the writing style and the topics can be unaccustomed. The students can experience difficulty with finding some sense of ownership. Similarly, in an article on creative writing, Venuta (2020) also mentioned this issue with students lacking a sense of ownership in their writings, and claimed writing in a narrative way promotes identity construction and self-awareness. Venuta is critical to most writing tasks in the literature-classroom being reporting on reading instead of creating, and as she calls it “becoming” rather than responding to that reading and just “othering” (observing - reporting). If the students practice creative writing, they will become more creative and think more critically and creatively in all subject areas since creative writing improves understanding through closer readings she states. She also claims that the students will develop identities as confident meaning-makers, and be less “reliant on technique spotting” if they master creative writing.
Although formal texts and writing seem to be the backbone and main focus of the syllabus in English, they do mention “contemporary and older literature and other fiction in various genres such as drama” (Skolverket, 2011, p.11) in the reception of English 7, but as we stated before, it is not clear if they should write it, or just read it and learn about it. Inasmuch as it seems to be up to the teacher, we have experienced a lack of interest from teachers in teaching creative writing ourselves. It was not until we had a course in creative writing in our own teacher education that we got to produce creative writing, and it made us wonder why we barely encountered it before. In an article, Venuta is critical of academic writing, or formal writing being the “only” way of language learning and writing, and argues for the benefits creative writing has on language learning and critical thinking. Although Venuta is an ELA 2-teacher in America, her claims are as relevant to us, as we are having the same issue in Sweden. The policy makers all over the world seem to have little to no emphasis on creative writing and why it would be advantageous. Similarly as the Swedish curricula requests for students to read literature, Venuta is addressing the same issue, the students are not asked to write it. She presents a quote by historian and novelist Wallace Stegner, “If you just read literature and never have the experience of trying to
make it, it’s a monument; but a writer knows that when it was being made, every word was debatable.” (quoted in Bunge, 1985, p. 78)
2. Aim and Research questions
Our aim with this research paper is to explore how creative writing can be of use in the ESL-/EFL-classroom.
The specific research question we want to examine is as follows:
How can the use of creative writing in the ESL-/EFL-classroom help Swedish students of English with their writing, and attitude towards writing?
3. Methods
In our research we have collected articles and studies that are applicable to our research question on how creative writing can be beneficial for students’ learning of English. Our primary method for finding these articles and studies has been electronic search in educational databases.
3.1 Search Delimitations
We started our search by navigating through different databases such as Google Scholar, libsearch and Malmö University (MAU) library database. We got numerous results and therefore tried to limit the search to scientific articles and peer-reviewed texts only. The main search term used was “creative writing” and “creative writing in the classroom”. We added terms such as “English” and “Second language” / “Foreign language” shortly after, as a way of narrowing our search as we seemed to primarily get studies based on first language classes. As we discovered we mostly had sources covering the benefits of creative writing overall, and not specific studies with data on the benefits of creative writing, we later had to add “empirical data” and “primary data” to our search.
In our searches we used the following terms in different combinations:
“creative writing” “classroom” “EFL” “ESL” “second language” “English” “empirical data” “primary data”.
3.2 Inclusion Criteria
Throughout our research we came across several studies varied across different age groups, and decided to include studies with participants aged 13 and up. We chose to include both men and women in our research, since our Swedish classrooms include both (and of course non-binary students). Some studies include men only, and some both men and women. We also, as stated in our aim, chose to include classrooms from all over the world, both with students who had English as a second language, and those who had it as a foreign language, since the students in Sweden studying English could be at both ESL and EFL levels, and even studying together in the same class. According to the most recent English Proficiency Index report (Education First,
2020) Sweden is ranked at a “Very high proficiency” with EF EPI score of 625, putting Sweden on position 4/34 in Europe, and 4/100 of all 100 countries/regions that are evaluated. Even though Sweden technically is an EFL-country, since English is not an official second language, the high score in tests like this could argue for Sweden generally being more like an ESL-country. We simply would like it to be as true to life as possible.
3.3 Exclusion Criteria
As we need to apply our study and our findings to our Swedish classroom, we had to exclude several studies that we found interesting since they treated students with English as their first language, as that was not our target group. Studies prior to 2000 were also excluded to ensure the relevance. Studies addressing students below the age of 13 were excluded as we desired to focus on an age group not too young, thus their level of English will be somewhat close to what we will be teaching in the future. During the selection process, studies that only promoted creative writing as a “warm up” exercise were dismissed too since we believe that is part of the problem. The use of creative writing is often neglected and overlooked, while it actually could help students with their language development.
Table 1.
The studies used in this analysis are presented in Table 1, together with their individual main themes. The common theme shared among the studies is to examine the benefits of creative writing in one's language learning. The strategies vary among the studies, but we encountered a common use of surveys and questionnaires in multiple studies to gather the learners’ experiences, attitudes, perceptions and language development. Together with these studies, and the three articles presented in the background theory treating creative writing, and its benefits in language learning, we collected all sources we considered valuable for the current study.
Author / Authors Themes
Şenel (2018) Reduce anxiety, evaluate creative thinking
skills, pre-test, post-test, quizzes.
Iida (2012) Reduce anxiety, language learning through
poetry, analysis of texts, pattern analysis, student perceptions.
Smith (2013) Language learning through poetry, worksheet
with questions, practicing synonyms, explore emotions in writing.
Manning-Lewis (2019) Language development through creative writing, create graphic novels, increasing self-esteem.
Arshavskaya (2015) Development of critical consciousness with creative writing, writing assignments, survey, student perceptions.
Dougherty (2007) Improving language use through creative writing, creative writing lectures, survey, student perceptions.
Dougherty (2015) Encourage writing outside the classroom with creative writing, comparing studies, survey, student perceptions.
Tütüniş and Küçükali (2014) Improve writing skills through creative writing, experimental vs. control group, pre-questionnaire, midterm-exam, final exam, student attitude.
4. Results
In this section we present the result of our research on creative writing and its benefits on ESL and EFL-learners and their writing skills, and attitudes towards writing. We have chosen to divide this section into “Problems ESL and EFL-learners can come across” and “The benefits of using creative writing”. We have seen a common theme in different articles and studies regarding what problems the language learners encounter in their writing, and the advantages creative writing has for the students.
4.1 Problems ESL and EFL-learners can come across
A number of studies and articles have shown the same problem that second- and foreign language-learners experience in their language learning: The students often feel anxious or self-conscious when it comes to writing in another language, and especially in an academic way.
Iida (2012) discovered that his students felt anxious writing in another language, and they expressed that the uncertainty was due to the differences in their first and second language. Iida therefore wanted to examine if writing in a more creative way could ease this insecurity his students felt. Iida’s study involved 20 college freshmen studying EFL, and lasted for six weeks. Iida wanted to address the value of poetry writing, and the benefits it could have on the participants' language learning. During these six weeks the students reviewed the concept of haiku, which is a Japanese poem of seventeen syllables , read haikus in English, and wrote 20 haikus of their own. As a final product, they created a book of haikus written by the participants. The data analysis consisted of four stages: data preparation, initial analysis, establishing a coding system, pattern analysis, and results presentation. The participants' individual utterances about the task were divided into four categories: difficulty, value, emotion, and attitude. The findings of the analysis of the participants' answers and result of the task, show that writing haiku in English is a valuable task for foreign language learning. Forasmuch as, according to Iida, the students claimed creative writing as in haikus helped them to increase vocabulary, acquire new vocabulary, and present emotions in texts. Iida could also see a development of linguistic awareness among the participants comparing the haikus in the beginning of the study, and in the final product. The students also claimed that this helped them with expressing their emotions through text, and to find their own voice in writing which reduced their anxiety. This will, according to Iida, also be valuable when writing other texts in English, and not exclusively when doing creative writing.
Smith (2013) criticizes the fact that even though students are asked to read fiction, they are requested to produce texts of fact and argumentation as assignments to the readings, instead of creating creative writing themselves. The author explains the paradox of creative reading or writing in the current school system. The students read a creatively written text, and are then asked to respond in a strict and academic way which is very different. Similar to what we have encountered in English lessons in Sweden where the students read other peoples’ creative writing in forms of literature or plays, but are never requested to create it. Smith wanted to explore how creative writing in the form of haikus, in the same manner as Iida (2012) examined, could be beneficial to his students’ language learning, and carried out a study drawing examples of creative writing courses for EFL students in Japan. The participants were aged 15-16 to whom he taught grammar through poetry. Smith explains that the usage of creative writing often makes students more aware of different synonyms, as they are freer in their writing than in the academic genre, and dare to explore more. Smith presents a worksheet used in the classes where the students were asked to answer different questions based on different synonyms of “look”. The synonyms were “gazed”, “glared”, “glanced”, “frowned”, and “smiled”. While they are all synonyms, the emotion in the words varies greatly. Smith claims that the usage of creative writing allowed the students to explore emotions in writing, as shown by the worksheet. He presented that their writings were more empowered after the creative writing lessons, which according to Smith, leads to a greater understanding and mastering of the language.
Both Iida (2012) and Smith (2013) chose poetry to battle their students’ anxiety in writing. Poetry was not chosen only for this purpose, but also for the improvement of the students’ grammar and vocabulary. Both authors could report a positive response regarding this method. The students had experienced not only an improvement in grammar, but also on how to express themselves and their emotions in language through the use of different synonyms. The authors agree that through this method, students develop a greater understanding of the language, which aids the students even outside the realm of creative writing. In contrast to Smith, Iida presented more data collected to strengthen his findings, thus making them more reliable.
4.2 The benefits of using creative writing
As previous studies indicated, creative writing could reduce these feelings of anxiety and stress many ESL and EFL students experience, but there are additional benefits to creative writing. Şenel (2018), similarly to Iida, also discovered that her students often felt overwhelmed and
anxious when it came to writing in their second language, and felt like giving up before they even started. They also experienced lack of motivation since the task feels overwhelming. Şenel wanted to explore the benefits creative writing could have on EFL-learners’ writing and performed a study with 15 EFL-students, 10 females and 5 males who were studying at English Preparation School, Beykent University, Turkey. The participants did a pre-test to evaluate their creative thinking skills, and then started a creative writing program for four weeks with two hours of creative writing activities each week. Creative thinking can be explained as “ When your
students think creatively, they discover new, original ideas. They open their minds to possibilities
rather than seeking expected answers. Creative thinking works hand in hand with critical thinking
to help students deepen their learning.” (Thoughtful Learning, 2020). Additionally, they did a
midterm quiz, and a post-test on their creative thinking skills, and a final quiz. The data collected for the study was the pre-, and the post-test, midterm, and a final writing quiz, to compare and contrast the results and success during the process. The results of the paired sample tests demonstrated a significant difference between the pre-test and the post-test, and the participants got a higher score on the post-test. Reports showed an improvement in the students’ academic writing in other courses as well, according to Şenel. The author concludes her study after analyzing the tests and quizzes by claiming that creative writing did help students in their academic approach, since it helped them with their self-esteem, creative thinking, problem-solving skills, personal development, and motivation towards writing. She also claimed that motivated students are more likely to get a better result, and the anxiety that came with writing could be prevented.
It is not only in Şenel’s study the participants' creative thinking improved, a similar trend was discovered when Manning-Lewis (2019) carried out a study using creative writing on 4 male Jamaican ESL-students aged 14 to 17 who attended a local high school. The study included writing graphic novels, to examine if it had any impact on the participants language development. As a part of the data collection process, the boys were required to create a graphic novel over a three-month period to tell their stories of language prejudice and the impact on their gendered identities, as well as their attitudes toward English. During the project, Manning-Lewis could see a transformative effect on the students’ creative thinking, storytelling skills, and reflective process. The participants claimed this way of writing gave them confidence and a voice within the confines of a society and educational institution that tried to silence them. The author also saw a different attitude towards writing between the boys, who in the beginning talked about how much they hated writing, while in the end, how they could improve their graphic novels.
Manning-Lewis stated that the students' confidence increased, and the writing was no longer in a vacuum. The author concludes: by doing creative writing, the students not solely gained confidence and self-esteem, but also learned creative thinking which is crucial in all types of writing. Creative thinking is not only useful while doing creative writing, but also when writing in a more formal way, even if it might not be the first skill that comes to mind. As Manning-Lewis explains, her students had a hard time finding their own voices when writing academically, since it is often very strict, and the students found it difficult and boring. By letting them write about something they are familiar with, it shifted focus at the same time as they still developed their language and gained confidence and self-esteem in their writing. Manning-Lewis believes by doing this and letting the students be freer in their writing, they will develop a creative thinking skill that they can use in academic writing as well.
Even though Şenel’s (2018) study contains more participants and a different method, the findings are similar to Manning-Lewis (2019), and they both came to the conclusion that creative writing helps with the improvement of students’ confidence and self-esteem in their own writings. They agree that with the help of these improved traits, as well as the ability to think creatively, the students will improve in the field of academic writing as well, as their confidence increases and they trust their language and writing abilities. The improvement of academic writing through this method is also shown through the students’ sense of ownership of their texts. This sense of ownership was brought up by Smith (2013) too, who claimed when the students could explore their emotion, or found their own voice in their writing as explained in Manning-Lewis’s and Şenel’s studies, their writing improved. An improvement was also seen in motivation towards writing in both Şenel’s and Manning-Lewis’ studies, despite the method used to teach creative writing in each study being different.
This creative thinking skill-development is not unique to Manning-Lewis’ or Şenel’s study. Arshavskaya (2015) saw a similar pattern while conducting a study on 9 international undergraduate ESL-students enrolled in an advanced-level academic writing course. All participants were in their twenties, came from diverse countries and were both men and women. The researcher wanted to address the following research questions: “(a) How does the use of creative writing assignments mediate student development of critical consciousness?; (b) What are the students’ attitudes towards the use of creative writing activities in an L2 writing course?” (Arshavskaya, 2015, p.3). The data analysis proceeded in two stages, the researcher wrote interpretive memos to every written assignment collected by the students (4 assignments), and
corresponded to her two broad categories identified in literature (consciousness and empathy) which the researcher used as the initial guiding framework. The second stage of the analysis occurred at the very end of the course when a detailed content analysis was done of the students' replies in a survey, and their assignments. After analyzing the written assignments and the participants' answers to the survey, the results of the researcher’s study showed that creative writing had helped the students gain a greater extent of critical consciousness towards the end of the course. All but two students were more aware, and used critical thinking skills in the last assignment, compared to the first assignment where only two students exercised critical thinking. The students also claimed that the creative writing assignments helped them with developing better fluency and confidence in their writing, as well as focusing more on depth instead of the language-rules, and had the students “think differently”.
Dougherty (2007) found benefits in the use of creative writing as well when performing a study on sixteen students, with ages varying from 16 to 40. The aim of the study was to ascertain if students found creative writing useful in improving their English language in five areas: writing, reading comprehension, vocabulary acquisition, public speaking, and listening. The class met eighteen times over a four-week period, and a final examination was conducted afterwards. The participants were given a survey with forty-four questions to answer, which varied between yes-no, and free response. The students did not have any prior experience with creative writing, and were introduced into several areas of reading and producing texts such as biography, autobiography, and memoir, as well as different types of poetry. After the final examination, the students were given the survey questions. Dougherty reported that 100% of the students responded that the course had helped their improvement in writing. However, the numbers of reading comprehension were mixed, with 75% saying yes, while 25% saying no. His results with the students’ vocabularies were also mixed with positives (87.50%) and negatives (12.50%). One of the students said they had “learned more wonderful words” and could now give shape to their imagination through the use of language. Along with synonyms, the students also learned new meanings for words they already knew before the course. One of the examples was the word
blood, which before had represented something bad, but could now also mean something else, e.g. patriotism. The students claimed their public speaking had improved, 93.75% agreeing and 6.25% disagreeing. The students also claimed that creative writing motivated them to become better users of English in general, as it showed them “the infinite ways in which the language can be manipulated and used to express what you feel like” (p. 123).
Dougherty’s (2007) study outcome shows similarities to both Smith (2013) and Iida’s (2012) findings, with the students’ positive responses and the improvement of their vocabulary. The students expressed positivity towards their vocabulary being widened through the use of synonyms, which helped them in expressing the language in a more detailed way. Arshavskaya (2015) and Dougherty (2007) both chose to let their students respond to a survey at the end of the course. This way of collecting data made sure that each student got to voice their own opinion, and the result was similar to the other studies, with their confidence in writing and the ability to approach texts from a different perspective improving.
Dougherty (2015) conducted another study on EFL-students to investigate if creative writing could motivate the participants in their English studies, if creative writing would encourage the students to write outside of the classroom, and if the use of creative writing would motivate the students to be better users of English. The researcher claimed that through creative writing, the students will make the language his or her own possession, a theme seen in other studies as well. The study was conducted between two universities at different time periods; the first one in 2009 and the second one in 2014, and the results from the two studies were compared in relation with the research questions. The study from 2009 was conducted at a public university in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (UAE), with the participants made up of 15 males, and the 2014-study included 18 male and female students at a university in Bangladesh. Creative writing was introduced to the students in both studies with the same writing instructions, and the same set of creative writing assignments. The researcher also held Poetry Slams, which is a poetry competition where poets share their work with other poets and interested audience members, and invited the students to participate in these as a creative writing exercise. When suggesting this, the students expressed nervousness and anxiety over their skills in writing not being good enough. However, these feelings of anxiety were overcome by the help of their teacher’s way of working through it bit by bit, practicing writing in a creative way. The data collected in the study was the assignments through the course where the improvements were analyzed, and a final survey. In the survey to answer the research questions, 71% of the students in UAE did claim that creative writing had helped them with their motivation towards writing, and 100% of the students in the Bangladesh-study affirmed the same thing. One student in the Bangladesh-study claimed “I learned to write creatively, what I never did before. I felt enthusiastic to write about stories and different personalities.” and other students also added that the course in creative writing did not only help their writing in school, but also in their academic and private career, which the students in the UAE-study also claimed. They also felt like this course helped them in
their academic approach. The answers to the second research question, if creative writing would encourage the students to write outside of the classroom, were also positive. 93% of the UAE-participants, and 100% of the Bangladesh-participants answered that they felt motivated to use English beyond the classroom since the creative writing course had helped them become better at writing. The answers to the third research question, “does creative writing in English motivate EFL students to be better users of English?” were mostly positive where the students claimed that it helped them with their confidence, and to think “in a wider way”. They were also very positive about introducing creative writing as a part of “normal university curriculum”, and 93% of the students in UAE would recommend creative writing to other students to help them with improving their English, while 100% of the students in Bangladesh would recommend it. The students in both studies claimed to have improved their English due to creative writing at the end of the study. Dougherty concludes his study by stating that the similar answers to the surveys despite different countries and years, are evidence of the benefits of creative writing. The students in both studies felt that their English skills had improved, as well as their motivation to use English, and vocabulary acquisition, which the results of the assignments also indicated.
In multiple studies the students respond positively to creative writing, and claim their language has developed, but would a group of students who practiced creative writing perform better in a test than a group that did not have these creative writing lessons? Tütüniş and Küçükali (2014) wanted to find an answer to the question “Can we improve our students’ writing skills in English if we apply creative writing techniques as a classroom process?” and performed a study on 35 EFL-students aged 18-21, studying a one-year English programme at the English Preparatory School of Maritime University. 19 students were in an experimental group and 16 students were in a control group. The two groups had different writing-lessons, the experimental group was studying both regular writing lessons from the curriculum, and creative writing, while the control group only studied regular writing lessons. The lessons were four fifty minutes writing lessons per week. The students in the experimental group did a pre-questionnaire to evaluate their attitudes towards writing, and the results indicated that the students’ common attitudes towards writing were negative. The two groups did a midterm exam where they wrote a paragraph on a given topic, and in the end performed another exam. In the first exam the control group scored higher, but did not change in the final exam. On the contrary, the experimental group who scored lower than the control group in the first exam, scored significantly higher than the control group in the final exam after their creative writing course. The experimental group’s attitude towards writing had also changed for the better in the post-questionnaire, and the participants
now felt excited and comfortable with writing, compared to uncomfortable and stressed in the pre-questionnaire. The data collected was the questionnaire to compare the pre- and post-perspectives of students, the collecting of the exam results to see the success, and the students’ portfolios during the study where they collected writing-lesson activities.
The majority of the researchers in this study agree that creative writing is not only good for confidence and vocabulary, but also for academic writing. Tütüniş and Küçükali (2014) helped to further cement this theory with their study specifically aimed towards that subject.
A clear similarity between different articles have been the short amount of time over which they have been conducted. Most studies range over a few weeks or months, but there is no study done over a longer period of time. This could make it difficult to see the outcome of creative writing further into the education of the students. Dougherty (2015) somewhat breaks this pattern with his two comparative studies with a five year difference between them. Though it was two different groups of students, and not a follow-up of the first group, his study was largely the same, as was the outcome.
5. Discussion
As mentioned in the theoretical background both Randolph (2011) and Venuta (2020) argue that taking ownership of a text is of great importance to students and to the process of learning. Without a sense of self or a voice of their own, the text the students create might feel very foreign to them. Without a feeling of ownership, it might be more difficult to learn or take in what it is the students themselves are writing. Students might feel that instead of choosing their own words, they parrot what other academic words they have found, with a risk of not understanding the words they use. It is not too uncommon to see words in academic texts which sound out of place from the students’ usual writing. By just repeating a word they read in another academic text, the student might not feel like they are able to take ownership of their text. This is not only because of their feelings of wanting to use bigger and more “impressive” words, but also a product of the confinements of an academic text. This was also seen in the studies done on creative writing. The students in Dougherty’s (2015) study claimed, due to creative writing they felt more comfortable with using the language, hence dared to use it outside of the classroom, and trusting themselves more in their writing in the academic approach as well. Arshavskaya (2015) also claimed that through the use of creative writing, students can develop this sense of self that can be critical to writing. Creative writing is not confined to the strict rules of its academic writing counterpart. Through the help of this freer method of writing, students can feel more safe in experimenting with their texts, searching for synonyms that they might otherwise not, as Smith (2013) also mentioned.
One interesting finding in Tütüniş and Küçükali’s (2014) study was that their experimental group
who had lessons in creative writing scored better in a test than the control group who just had
regular writing lessons. The experimental group’s attitude towards writing was also changed for
the better in the end of the study. This experiment indicates the benefits previously mentioned,
when the students have a better attitude and feel that it is their voice in their writing, they
perform better. Most of us could probably agree that it is easier and more enjoyable to do
something when you do not feel forced or uncomfortable doing it. By teaching creative writing
and to be creative in one’s writing the task of writing can become more enjoyable, and less
demanding since the students learn creative thinking and how to work with the language in a
creative way. As Williams (2003) mentioned, making the students feel like writers and gaining the
confidence in writing that they need will benefit their writing overall, and the stress of feeling out
of their comfort-zone writing in another language could be reduced.
The result in multiple studies and articles show that the feeling of anxiousness is not linked to a specific age, sex or region, rather it is the feeling of uncertainty to write in a scholary way in a language that they are still learning. By letting students be creative in their writing and practice writing in different forms than academic ones, their confidence and self-esteem can increase. This will help them master the academic field as well, something that Iida’s (2012) study showed. A rise in the students' confidence and self-esteem improved their writings as well. This rise in the students' confidence is mentioned by Şenel (2018) too, who saw an improvement in the students’ academic approach as well, since they now felt more engaged and involved in their own writings. Having the students find their own voice in their writing will not only benefit their writing skills, but also to feel this ownership over their own creations. In the curriculum for English, the students are asked to integrate and produce different types of text, where it would be beneficial for them to have this confident feeling of ownership over their own texts. Meanwhile, the curriculum mostly asks for formal and academic texts, we have seen that this is a stress factor all over the world. The students often doubt their knowledge and ability to write in a second or foreign language. By practicing writing in a more unbound environment that lets the students practice their creative thinking and writing skills, but still put effort in grammar and punctuation, the students might discover a different view of writing in English that they take with them in the academic writing as well. At the moment, creative writing takes a minor place in the teacher training programme, and little to no place in the syllabus of English, which could be due to a limited amount of time for teachers to go outside of the framework. Although we still believe that the view on writing has become one sided. Combining academic writing with creative writing would provide the students with the best conditions possible for becoming a better writer in all areas. The formal, precise, and unbiased form of academic writing meets the personal, emotive, and grandiose in creative writing, and lets the students explore and create their own writing style.
For further empirical research more studies with control and experimental groups, as in Tütüniş
and Kü çükali’s (2014) study, needs to be done. It would be pertinent to research whether
creative writing can have any negative impact on students' academic writing. It would be of great importance to make the differences between creative and academic writing clear. The students could mistakenly confuse the different writing styles, and end up using a more creative approach in their academic writing. This is, of course, something that must be worked against, to ensure the best possible outcome for the students' writing.
6. Conclusion
In sum, creative writing is seen as a neglected way of teaching despite the fact that it can be very helpful and motivational for ESL/EFL students. There is a common occurence of worry and anxiety when students are faced with writing in another language. This anxiety can stem from the worry about the difference in sentence structures in the other language, and that the students’ vocabulary might not be enough for the text assignments in question. The differences in structures and lacking vocabulary can impede the students’ feelings of ownership of their texts. Creative writing is a bridge from the feeling of a foreign text to that of their own. Through the students’ sense of self and ownership, they find motivation towards writing and reading in another language. Through the use of creative writing, the students acquire a way of creative thinking, which helps with different outlooks of a text. The new way of thinking is also an aid when reading academic texts further into their education. However, since creative writing often is neglected during education, it is a difficult subject to study and conduct research on. Most studies are only during a short amount of time with one class, and the longer lasting effects of creative writing are difficult to determine. This is something visible through our findings when searching for studies, and some authors agree on the idea that creative writing is something to be researched further in the future. However, the studies are not all conducted in the same time period, and the findings from earlier years come to the same results as the later. While this shows proof of the benefits of creative writing in said studies, there are no studies on the long-lasting effects. There is a risk that the students use it for a short amount of time, but later revert to their old ways of writing.
Even though this might pose an issue, and further research is of interest, more studies over shorter periods of time are not something to be neglected. Shorter studies should not be viewed as something that has already been seen, and that there would be no need for them again. However, language is an always changing entity. The language of today differs from that of several years ago, and as the language changes through the years, the study on creative writing will always find new ways of importance.
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