The relationship between teacher mindfulness and creative teaching of college English foreign language teachers: A multiple mediating model

Abstract

Creativity is a key ability, and teachers' creative teaching ability can subtly affect students' creativity. Therefore, teachers' creative teaching is particularly important. However, in creative teaching, whether cognitive factors or motivational factors have a greater impact on creativity is still inconclusive. In this study, the mindfulness in teaching scale, cognitive flexibility scale, creative self-efficacy scale and creativity fostering teacher index were used to measure 403 college English foreign language teachers. The findings indicated that teacher mindfulness positively predict creative teaching (β = 0.363, p < 0.001), cognitive flexibility plays a mediating role between teacher mindfulness and creative teaching (β = 0.171, p < 0.001), and creative self-efficacy plays a mediating role between teacher mindfulness and creative teaching (β = 0.126, p = 0.001). Cognitive flexibility and creative self-efficacy play sequential mediating roles in teacher mindfulness and creative teaching (β = 0.029, p = 0.034). This research enriches the creativity investment theory, and the research proves that the individual's thinking style has a greater impact on creative teaching than the individual's motivation. This conclusion will provide a new literature reference for the existing creativity investment theory, and also provide a reference for the practice of English education in colleges.