Creative potential of primary school students in written expression

Abstract

The essays of primary school students were studied as a potential source of data about their creative capacities in the field of writing and, more extensively, in the domain of linguistic expression. Sixth and seventh grade students (N=142) wrote an essay the creativity of which was evaluated by three teachers. Based on teachers' evaluations, two extreme groups were formed, which were then mutually compared: the students who wrote creative stories (N=17) and those who did not (N=19). A mixed method approach was applied in analyzing the data about students and their essays. The quantitative research results indicate that the authors of creative stories are characterized by a considerably higher creative potential as measured by the Word Production Test and Urban-Jellen Drawing Test (TCT-DP), a better school achievement and greater knowledge in Serbian language, a wider range of interests and a more pronounced interest in language and humanities. Analysis of narratives of the two groups of stories reveals important differences between the creative and noncreative group in the format, themes and components of creative written expression. The following are perceived in the papers assessed as creative: good composition, existence of a title, a guiding idea, originality, emotional expressiveness and ethical dimension. In the concluding part the authors discuss the advantages of combining the quantitative and qualitative procedures in studying the creative potential in school context.