Ekphrastic Practices in Catalysing Creative Writing in Undergraduate ESL Classrooms

Abstract

Teaching creative writing to second language learners demands a more enterprising approach from the teachers, since in such an environment, there are various literary, social, cultural, as well as historical stimuli (both local and foreign) that can be engaged creatively in a creative writing classroom. Owing to the vast range of its meanings, ekphrasis, in this context, can serve as a means of integrating texts and mixed media in ESL creative writing practices. However, my study does not merely stop at engaging ekphrasis in an ESL creative writing class, it also brings within its ambit the impact of the native culture of the ESL writers. This study, therefore, presents activities that incorporate ekphrasis and subsequently analyses the various nativisation patterns that are engendered in the compositions of the ESL creative writers.