Creative Writing Courses Research Articles

Exploring Malaysian ESL Students’ Unguided Written Reflections of an Online Poetry Engagement Activity

Self-reflection has become a popular practice in teaching and learning as it provides a space for self-assessment with numerous benefits to both learners and educators. As part of their Creative Writing course requirement, a group of Malaysian ESL students participated in an online poetry engagement activity. While a traditional instructor observation method was employed for grading students’ performances, little is known about the utilisation and integration of professional and positive attitudes toward this task from students’ perspectives. The purpose of this case study was to utilise unguided written reflections to shed light on matters of concern and importance from the students’ perspective and describe experiences related to the tasks’ intended learning outcomes. Purposive sampling was used to recruit study participants who met the sampling criteria. This approach can enhance the depth and richness of the data collected, as it ensures that the gathered are particularly relevant to the research questions. They were invited to write and submit an unguided self-reflection of the online poetry engagement activity. Inductive thematic analysis was then used to organise and elicit meaning from the collected data. Results indicate that the unguided reflections emulated academic writing convention with introductory statements at the beginning, descriptions and explanations of experiences as the body of writing, and ended with gratifications. The findings also indicated the participants’ achievements of the ethics and professional learning outcome. The findings suggest the inclusion of reflective writing for course tutors and programme administrators to improve assessment quality and reliability, especially for learning outcomes that focus on applying and developing generic skills.

On the Scent Trail: Arts-Informed Method Development to Support Perception and Expression of Olfactory Experiences in Aromatherapy of Women With Gynecological Cancers

Background: Talking about personal olfactory experiences is challenging because subjective, often latent reactions to odor are difficult to perceive and express. In qualitative empirical research on the effects of Aromatherapy (AT), this issue needs to be considered in data collection. Therefore, we developed a new data-collection method to support participants in perceiving and articulating their own olfactory experiences. The method development was embedded in the background study arth4WOMEN about AT for women with gynecological cancers. Method: The data-collection method was developed in five steps inspired by A rts-informed R esearch (AIR) and Creative Writing (CW). A workshop on scent and writing was conceptualized for an existing CW course ( n = 8) (step 1). The findings were condensed (step 2) into the new data-collection method called the Olfactory Journey (OLFJ), then pilot tested, discussed with qualitative research experts and adapted (step 3). The final version of the OLFJ was carried out with 15 participants of the background study arth4WOMEN as one part of a qualitative interview concept (step 4), then analyzed via qualitative content analysis (step 5). Results: The analysis of the workshop showed that pictures can be a useful tool to focus on olfactory experiences and find words to express them. Thus, in the OLFJ inner visuals were stimulated by an olfactory trigger and brought into focus through a guided instruction. The inner visuals were used as a tool to talk about the olfactory experiences. The resulting descriptions were characterized by many pictorial associations and marked by contrasts and comparisons. Discussion: The OLFJ as a data-collection method has potential to support participants in their verbal expressions of their olfactory experiences. The inclusion of creative art forms in the development process of the OLFJ was helpful and should be encouraged in future research. Further research is needed to test OLFJ validity and reliability.

Exploring students’ perception on the use of Instagram as a platform in Creative Writing course

As a product of Information and Communication Technology (ICT), the commonly-used social media Instagram offers a new platform of digital writing with unique features that could facilitate and accommodate the exploration of creative writing genre. Through this study, 27 university students’ perception were explored with qualitative descriptive study using open-ended questionnaire, interview and documentation to find out how they perceived this new platform in their writing journey in comparison to university website or traditional means like printed paper. For the findings, variety of students perception were showed in three different spectrums using thematic analysis: 1) majority of the students perceived their experience as positive one due to Instagram benefits as source of inspiration, creativity endeavour and larger engagement for their writing product; 2) some of the students also offered their negative experience in regards to word limitation and insecurity of uploading to public; 3) meanwhile, the more neutral one admitted that Instagram’s benefit was just similar to other platforms. This study’s significant can help future lecturer/teacher in adapting and evaluating the advantage and disadvantage of this application implementation for the improvement of future class.

The Development of Short Story Creative Writing Teaching Materials in Wetland Environment

This research objective was to design teaching materials containing short story writing material for students taking Creative Writing Courses. Writing short stories is a complex competency, even for undergraduate students. Various problems arise in the creative writing process. One is the lack of learning materials that suit the students’ needs. Therefore, this research aimed at developing materials to solve the lack of teaching materials related to writing short stories. The object of this research and development consisted of students who took creative writing courses at the Indonesian Language and Literature Education study program, Faculty of Teacher Training and Education, Lambung Mangkurat University. This research procedure included (1) conducting needs analysis, (2) developing teaching materials, (3) designing and conducting formative evaluations, (4) revising teaching materials, and (5) conducting summative evaluations or product trials. The material that has been completed has gone through a trial phase for students and showed an increase in students’ knowledge and skills in writing short stories.

An Analysis Of PBSI Students' Ability and Component Levels Of Narrative Texts

This research was structured with two objectives, the first, to describe the ability to write personal narrative essays of PBSI USD students with Storybird media. Second, describe what components of narrative writing need to be improved in Creative Writing lectures. This research is included in quantitative descriptive research. The population in this study were sixty-nine PBSI USD students who took the Creative Writing course. The source of the data in this study is the result of a narrative essay made by the sixty-nine PBSI USD students who took the Creative Writing course. To determine the level of ability to write narrative descriptions, the components of narrative writing that have not been mastered by students include orientation, complications, evaluation (if any), resolution, code, linguistics of narrative essay, and spelling. This research data collection was carried out using a narrative writing test using the Storybird media. Based on the results of calculations and data analysis, two results were obtained from this study. First, the ability to write narratives of personal experiences of PBSI USD students using Storybird is in the medium category with an average of 5,33, the standard deviation of 1.94, and is in the score interval of 4.36-6.2. Second, there are two narrative components that need to be improved in creative writing training, especially in narrative writing. The two components include the structure of the narrative text and linguistic components at the phonological, morphology, syntax, and spelling levels.

Analysing Students’ Needs in Creative Writing Course: An Exploratory Case Study in an Indonesian Higher Education

This study aims at investigating what students expect when taking a Creative Writing course. To obtain the required data, an exploratory case study was utilized by distributing a questionnaire to the students and conducting interviews with the writing lecturer and the head of the study program. 60 students, one writing lecturer, and the head of the Indonesian Language Study Program were involved in this study. Findings in this study indicated that students expected to learn by having more practice in writing. Four emergent topics were discussed, namely building creativity and accuracy in writing, effective learning methods, available learning resources, and considering students' ability and interest in writing. They wished to write by following the writing process explained by the lecturer. This study concluded that it is required to design a learning model which facilitated students to learn in Creative Writing courses in a better way. The learning model is expected to provide students with the writing process and grammar.

The Effectiveness of Learning Model of Contextual Writing Poetry Based on Literary Ecology

This research aims to describe the effectiveness of contextual learning models of creative writing based on the literary ecology of Indonesian Language and Literature Study (PBSI) students at Education Faculty (FKIP) Muhammadiyah University of Tangerang. The research method used in this research is Research and Development (R&D). The population in this study were all students of the Indonesian Language and Literature Education Study Program in Academic Year 2020/2021 of semester VII who have taken Creative Writing courses while the sample in this study were 20 students of the Indonesian Language and Literature Education Study Program of Muhammadiyah University of Tangerang. The results of this study showed that after pre-test and post-test trials in creative writing courses based on literary ecology in PBSI students at FKIP Muhammadiyah University of Tangerang the learning model used had positive results and had a significant increase the students’ poetry writing skills. This can be seen in the results of the pretest signification test obtained an average of 3.5 and post-test results obtained an average of 7.05. Therefore, researchers can conclude that the learning model developed by researchers in creative writing courses based on literary ecology is feasible and effectively to be used. The learning model made was final and has fulfilled the requirements to be implemented in the classroom.

KAJIAN PERSEPSI PELAJAR TERHADAP PENGAJARAN DAN PEMBELAJARAN (PdP) ATAS TALIAN BAGI KURSUS PENULISAN PANTUN KREATIF (Student Perception Study on Online Teaching and Learning for Creative Poem Writing Course)

Online teaching and learning (PdP) is a new trend that is happening everywhere, including in Malaysia. The process of seeking knowledge that was previously face to face with teachers or lecturers is now only on the computer screen or smatrphone respectively. This change occurred due to the Covid-19 epidemic that hit the whole world at this time it is certain that this sudden change is affecting the ongoing PdP process. This study is to look at students' perceptions on the effectiveness of the online PdP process for creative poem writing courses. The study will involve approximately 60 students who registered for this course in semester 2, academic session 2020-2021. This study will use a questionnaire to obtain research data which is also the main instrument of the study. The focus of this study is to see the effectiveness of the PdP process of this course is conducted online, especially in terms of input achieved by students after attending this skills-shaped course. This study is important to see if there are any KAJIAN PERSEPSI PELAJAR TERHADAP PENGAJARAN DAN PEMBELAJARAN (PdP) ATAS TALIAN BAGI KURSUS PENULISAN PANTUN KREATIF (Student Perception Study on Online Teaching and Learning for Creative Poem Writing Course) weaknesses in the implementation of the PdP of the online Creative Poetry Writing course and follow -up steps that need to be taken to improve the weaknesses that occur. The results of this study are also important to be used as a guide in sustaining the skills course in the future if the PdP process is still happening online. Keywords: Online teaching and learning; Covid-19 pandemic; Poetry writing

Using Qualitative Methods as a Needs Analysis for Developing a Creative Writing Course: A Thematic Analysis

Designing a creative writing (CW) course involves a lengthy, non-linear and multifaceted process. Needs analysis can be used as a starting point for data collection to explore the needs of the course from the perspective of the involved key players and the related areas. This present study is the first round of needs analysis which is part of a larger PhD project. It uses qualitative methods of data collection, namely, non-participant unstructured observations and semi-structured interviews as the first round of data collection at the University of Birmingham (UoB). Thematic analysis has been used to interpret the data and categorise the recurring themes inductively, which will later be compared to the Subject Benchmark of Creative Writing in the UK. The results of this study will be used in the second round of data collection for needs analysis at Salahaddin University-Erbil (SUE) in the larger project that aims to design a CW course at English departments at SUE in the Kurdistan of Iraq (KRI).

The road retaken: remix for (re)vision in creative writing

ABSTRACT The paper posits that the practice of remix offers students new learning pathways for process-based writing beyond the traditional workshop method and invites students to engage in creative writing practices beyond producing exclusively print-based texts. The paper details a Remix For (Re)vision assignment in an undergraduate Introduction to Creative Writing course. Students revise one of their written works by reinventing it in a new literary genre or remediating it as a multimodal text. The paper draws on interdisciplinary research – composition studies, literacy studies, and creative writing scholarship – alongside classroom praxis to demonstrate how the process of reconstituting an original work facilitates four key teaching and learning benefits: Remix (1) invites participation in a literary tradition (and popular online practice) of authorial borrowing and reinvention of existing works; (2) frames revision as imaginative play for active student engagement, agency, and discovery in the rewriting process; (3) enables the transfer of creative writing strategies and prior knowledge across genres and modes to develop multiliteracies; and (4) acknowledges that creative writing in the twenty-first century is increasingly engaged with digital communication practices and multimodal aesthetics. The paper outlines a sample student’s project and addresses best practices for assignment design and assessment.

Teaching in the Age of the Essential Online Classroom: Pandemic Playwriting and the Emancipated Spectator

Unfortunately, the current state of emergency that has become the rule is not disappearing any time soon. [...]rather than treating the internet-based classroom as a temporary, bothersome detour, it might be time to embrace it as the place where we teach, as well as an opportunity to revamp how we teach, including within the physical classroom. Unsurprisingly, the online workshopping of plays through Zoom is not as effective as in-person workshopping, which is due not only to the lack of the physical presence of actors and spectators, but also to unreliable wi-fi connections, faulty laptops, and distracting cell phones. Students from the introductory Creative Writing course, however, were informally telling some of the more interesting personal stories during our Zoom sessions. [...]although the Creative Writing students had just begun studying writing for performance, I decided to utilize the assignment early in the course’s section on playwriting also. [...]many of my students, less privileged than me, had a keener sense of COVID-19’s dire impact on everyday life.

Do que estamos falando quando falamos de Escrita Criativa

O presente ensaio discute a Escrita Criativa como um espaço de encontro. A discussão se alicerça por meio de uma cartografia de definições de Escrita Criativa, mesclada às reflexões advindas da experiência do autor como ministrante de oficinas e pesquisador da área. A metodologia consiste em investigar fontes diversas, como sites de universidades, trabalhos acadêmicos, livros teóricos, manuais, centrais de acolhimentos de escritores e, por fim, relatar experiências pessoais como ministrante de oficinas e cursos de Escrita Criativa para propor uma definição própria. A base teórica inclui Karen Lockney, D. G. Myers, Paul Dawson, Mark Mcgurl, João de Mancelos e Luiz Antonio de Assis Brasil.

Scriptorium: Creating an Open-Access Creative Writing Journal in Brazil

Since 2012, Creative Writing has been an official concentration within the Graduate Program in Letters at the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio Grande do Sul (PUCRS) in Porto Alegre, Brazil. PUCRS is still the only institution offering Creative Writing courses across all levels (undergraduate, MA, PhD, workshops, non-credit courses) in the country. Within this context, we created Scriptorium, our first Creative Writing Studies journal. Linked to the Graduate Program in Letters and EDIPUCRS (the university press), Scriptorium publishes articles on the creative process, literary translation, Creative Writing pedagogy, as well as fiction and poetry. In our editorial team, we have faculty members, graduate, and undergraduate students. Every article is peer-reviewed, and the journal is open access and published online. The present paper aims to offer an account of the creation of our journal, drawing from my experience as editor. I will share our publishing process, the challenges in the dialogue between Creative Writing and Academia in Brazil, and our views for the future of this kind of publication, hoping that our experience can prove useful to other researchers and institutions wanting to publish similar open access journals.

THE ANALYSIS OF PROBLEMS ENCOUNTERED BY BEGINNER WRITER IN WRITING A SHORT STORY: A Case Study in Creative Writing Class

Creative process is the journey that a writer takes in order to create a piece of creative writing. During this process a writer, especially a beginner writer, encountered numerous obstacles which influence the writing performance. This study was aimed to analyze the problems faced by the students of Creative Writing course in Ganesha University of Education and describe how the students deal with the problems. The problems analyzed consist of three major aspects of writing fiction, namely literature elements, technical problems, and students’ self-perception. The study found out that the majority of the students experienced similar problems from certain elements, meanwhile there were also problems found that appeared to be different from one another. This leads to further findings that the students conducted various attempts to deal with the problems..

Teaching Creative writing in a foreign language in China

Creative Writing courses have been running in the English Department of Sun Yat-sen University for more than eight years. Compared with sim ilar courses offered by the few universities in China, the teaching of creative writing at all levels and beyond the traditional classroom at Sun Yat sen University makes it the most vigorous , among Chinese institutions of higher learnin g, in promoting cre ative writing in English as a foreign language in the areas of of teaching, research, outreach and international collaboration . This paper presents how the multi faceted pedagogical framework of creative writing is incorporated into the goal of creative li teracy and education, then moves on to outline the extracurricular activities including book club events, the National Creative Writing Compet it ion in English, and in particular the Sun Yat sen University Writers’ Residency . The Residency bring s in a teach ing and educational element to the non traditional classroom, and serves the purpose of improving students’ English proficiency, creative literacy, interpersonal interaction, critical thinking and personal reflection, as well as providing literary and cult ural experience for the writers in residency.

Unoriginal Genius: Student Poems Made from Tender Buttons

In teaching Gertrude Stein’s Tender Buttons (1914) to undergraduates in a course on modern poetry, I have asked them to think about these prose poems through the act of making a poem in response. While this is a literature and not a creative-writing course, the strategy of assigning a creative-writing exercise is effective in Stein’s case because through making a poem the

Teaching the Practice of Writing Poetry in an Academic Environment

How students in a university Creative Writing course can be taught to identify the characteristic features and identifiable traits of their poems in draft form in order to bring each poem to what it wants to say and to be, rather than what the student wants it to be and to say.

Ukutshona Kwelanga: The Drowning of the Sun: Introducing Translation into Creative Writing Courses

Students in Creative Writing classes involving poetry – and especially those whose first language is not the medium of the class – should be encouraged to engage in translation work. Recent experiments in the writing of South African poetry where more than one language is employed, or where the wealth of the original is apparent in translation, are models which could be profitably examined in this context.

Should Creative Writing Courses Teach Ways of Building Resilience?

This paper explores some contemporary practices in using creative writing in recovery from mental illness to consider ways in which undergraduate and postgraduate creative writing programmes might integrate resilience-building techniques for those students who may find some writing exercises ‘triggering’ or detrimental to their mental health. The question is also raised as to whether creative writing programmes should and can integrate resilience techniques, as many students draw upon material from their personal lives, and this can often prove upsetting, if not traumatising. The article argues that resilience techniques might enable students to manage ‘raw’ material and personal narratives in a positive way, and therefore become better creative writers. The article concludes by proposing a creative writing intervention that incorporates resilience and other strategies that support mental wellbeing.

Writing, Sharing and Growing: Creative Writing in English at a Mainland Chinese University

The teaching of Creative Writing in the Department of English at Sun Yat-sen University in South China has its own particular characteristics. First, to my knowledge, this is one of the very first English Creative Writing courses taught by Mainland Chinese faculty to students for whom English is a second language. Another important factor is that the Creative Writing program at Sun Yat-sen has developed not only as a writing experience, but also as a context for counselling and therapy for students. The students taking these courses write from the experience of their own lives, and the workshops that are integral to the program have provided a context where students can share the experiences they write from. Students have come to regard the program as a safe space where they can share their experiences about growing up, as well as their personal relationships with family and friends. Teaching this course over the last year has led me to believe that Creative Writing not only serves to improve students’ writing ability, but may also provide an educational context that helps students share experiences, and enables them to grow as people.