Creativity In Language Teaching Research Articles

Enhancing or Hindering? AI's Role in Sparking Creativity in Language Teaching: Insights from Private High School EFL Teachers

The integration of artificial intelligence in education presents both opportunities and challenges, particularly in the field of language teaching. This study aims to investigate Turkish EFL teachers' perceptions of AI's role in fostering or hindering creativity in language teaching. Through semi-structured interviews with 10 EFL teachers from private high schools, the research explores the potential benefits and challenges of AI integration. Key findings reveal that AI enhances student engagement, provides personalized learning experiences, and offers timely feedback. However, concerns about insufficient training, technical issues, and over-reliance on AI potentially undermining fundamental skills were also expressed. While AI tools support improvements in language skills and foster creative thinking, there is apprehension about standardization and the risk of diminishing originality. The study underscores the necessity for effective teacher training and a balanced approach to AI integration, ensuring it complements rather than replaces traditional teaching methods. These insights provide valuable guidance for educators, policymakers, and technology developers to optimize AI use in EFL education while fostering a dynamic and creative learning environment. Future research should explore innovative ways to integrate AI into language teaching without compromising creativity.

Creativity in Language Teaching

Creativity in Language Teaching

Understanding agency and constraints in the conception of creativity in the language classroom

Abstract In this paper we investigate the ways in which creativity is understood and enacted by language teachers. Although the term ‘creativity’ has gained enormous traction in language pedagogy, and in education more generally, we suggest that the concept remains a floating signifier carrying different personal connotations that are shaped by wider institutional and professional constraints. We report on interview data with practising language teachers who discuss their interpretation of creativity and how it manifests in their classrooms. Our analysis considered how teachers positioned themselves and their students in relation to each other and how the agency of the different actors was shaped by discursive constructions (of creativity) which were, in turn, underpinned by broader socio-historical and disciplinary frames. In particular, we focus on distinctions between creative language and creative language teaching and how these are construed differently across professional contexts. While teachers are keen to adopt creative approaches, findings show that there are significant differences in their interpretations of the concept that point to deeply rooted epistemological dissonances in the perception of language and personhood in the pedagogical encounter. In the final section we develop the implications of these findings for professional cultures and identities, in particular some of the critical but under-explored issues surrounding the idea of creativity in language teaching, including the ever-present ‘teacher-ledness’, the curricularised nature of taught languages and the absence of personal development.

Preserving cultural heritage by teaching idioms to young learners as part of imaginative language in Setswana

Teachers need creative strategies and techniques when teaching idioms in Setswana. However, they do not know what idioms are nor are they aware that through idioms cultural heritage can be preserved and that idioms can be taught as part of imaginative language, especially in Grade 3. As a result, teachers and learners in Grade 3 Setswana classes lack the understanding of the role of idioms and language proficiency in using and writing idioms. The aim of this paper was to show how intervention could help teachers with new strategies for teaching idioms. Constructivism and the five subtheories of decoding idioms were used (Liu 2008). The project consisted of two research-based phases and the findings showed that teachers can now use their own initiative and creativity in language teaching and the learners learned and retained the idioms they have learnt.

Book Review: Creativity in Language Teaching: Perspectives from Research and Practice

Book Review: Creativity in Language Teaching: Perspectives from Research and Practice