CHAPTER II REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
A. Theoretical Framework
1. Teachers’ Perceptions of Creativity
Beghetto explained in Kaufman and Stenberg of Cambridge’s handbook of creativity, teachers' perceptions and beliefs about creativity are critical for understanding creative processes in the classroom.33 Teachers plan their teaching methods and how they incorporate creativity into the teaching process based on their own beliefs. It is because they viewed that teachers’ prior schooling experiences have provided them with a foundation for creativity in
33Ronald A. Beghetto, “Creativity in The Classroom. In J. C. Kaufman and R.J.
Stenberg (Eds.), Cambridge handbook of creativity”, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010), pp. 447-463.
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the classroom, which they can apply to their teaching process.
Furthermore, some teachers will value creativity as a product that the student must achieve, such as in art and creative writing, whereas others will use creativity as an educational goal in the daily learning process.34 Additionally, Beghetto also found teachers typically viewed the ideal student as compliant and conforming. Researchers have reported similar findings in recent years, demonstrating that teachers associate creativity with nonconformity, impulsivity, and disruptive behavior. Anyway, not all teachers have been found to have a negative attitude toward creative students. nonetheless, it is understandable that teachers would regard conformity and compliance as ideal in the context of highly convergent approaches to teaching.35
In addition, Mullet stated creativity is viewed by teachers as a subject-specific experience or activity that requires imagination and intelligence and results in a tangible product.36 Teachers also agree that creative products necessitate original or innovative ideas as well as multiple attempts to solve a problem; however, teachers struggle
34Ibid
35Ibid, p. 473
36Diana R. Mullet, et.al.,“Examining Teacher Perceptions of Creativity: A Systematic Review of The Literature. Thinking Skills and Creativity, Volume 21, 2015, pp.11-12.
doi:10.1016/j. tsc.2016.05.001
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to define creativity in specific terms.37 They also stated that teachers viewed creativity as synonymous with the arts and alluded to how restricting it was for them to view creativity stereotypically in terms of curriculum. That limited perspective resulted in missed opportunities to create an engaging and creatively stimulating curriculum. They linked creativity to art subjects in their studies, specifically theatre, music, and visual art.38
Kettler, Lamb, et.al. also stated although teachers recognize those novel products are an important part of the creative process, they frequently overlook the usefulness of the quality of creative products. Although some teachers acknowledge that context and personality play a role in the creative process, they are unable to describe how these factors influence creative outcomes.39 furthermore, these explained how teachers perceived creativity concerning the discipline in which they thought. They believed language art teachers may have slightly more favorable attitudes toward creative students. Teachers may fail to recognize the development of creative characteristics in students because their
37Ibid
38Ibid
39Todd Kettler, Kristen N. Lamb, et.al., “Teachers’ Perceptions of Creativity in The Classroom", Creativity Research Journal, Volume 31, No. 2, April 2018, p. 165.
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focus is frequently on classroom order and management. Teachers emphasize positive social characteristics such as kindness or fairness over creative behaviors such as risk-taking or imagination in the primary grades because they believe rote learning provides a strong foundation for the rest of the student’s learning career.
Besides, teachers who lack confidence in their content knowledge or pedagogy discourage students from providing creative responses and questions. 40
2. Education in Creativity and Educational Creativity as A Future Economic and Psychological
In an educational context, creativity should refer to human characteristics and behaviors. In this sense, creativity is a synonym for creative attitude, which is a consistent life disposition that manifests itself in various behaviors of an innovator and refers to the personological dimension of creativity.
Educational creativity is most likely a practice rather than a theory. Different approaches to this practice are influenced by and reliant on various educational strategies. Its evolution has historically paralleled that of theories of teaching and learning.
40Ibid
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Psychology, cultural psychology, and philosophy have all backed up educational advancements by discovering theoretical evidence for the effects of creativity in the classroom.41
Therefore, creativity studies in the classroom have revealed that these two educational perspectives are not always related.42 The paradox of creativity in education, according to both perspectives, is that, while creativity is lauded as a means of future economic and psychological survival, little attention is paid to developing easily accessible information materials for educators. This is due, in part, to the challenges that pedagogical innovations face in higher education when curricular and systemic changes are involved, but it is also due to specific attitudes toward creativity.43
The goal of encouraging creativity in education is to address a variety of issues. To summarize, this includes dealing with ambiguous problems, adjusting to a rapidly changing world, and facing an uncertain future.44 In addition, in education (schools), there has been a shift in recent decades from viewing creativity as a
41Tatiana Chemi and Chunfang Zhou, “Teaching…”, p. 15.
42Alane Jordan Starko, “Creativity in The Classroom School of Curious Delight”, (New York: Routledge, 2017, p. 277
43Tatiana Chemi and Chunfang Zhou, “Teaching…”, p. 5.
44Robina Shaheen, “Creativity and Education”, Creative Education, September 2010, Vol. 1, No. 3, p. 166.
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talent reserved for the most gifted and capable individuals to something that we all possess to varying degrees and that can be encouraged, nurtured, and developed.45
Furthermore, the school environment is constantly changing, and each change is unique and forces teachers to constantly improve and learn new skills. It also presents new challenges and tasks, as well as the redefinition of values, standards, and patterns of behavior, as well as the restoration of the teacher-student relationship, in which the teacher is a master and guide in a world of knowledge, values, and life, who organizes ideas, corrects errors, dissolves doubts, and points to what is important.46
3. The Development of Students’ Creativity
The development of creativity is one of the most important challenges that teachers face. Herein lies the challenge. Teachers, according to Hill in Aljughaiman and Reynolds, must identify creative personality traits, recognize creative production, understand the cognitive processes used by creative students, and ultimately
45Norman Jackson, “Developing and Valuing Students’ Creativity: A New Role for Personal Development Planning?”, Surrey Centre for Excellence in Professional Training and Education,University of Surrey, Accessed on January 2006, p. 2.
46Anna Mroz and Iwona Ocetkiewcz, “Creativity…”, p. 573.
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create an environment that promotes the child's interests to foster student creativity.47
a. Creative Person
A creative person is sensitive to their surroundings and thinks clearly and independently. They can think creatively, transform things, and have an analytical and synthetic mind.
They can think for themselves, recognize ambiguities, are adaptable, optimistic, and believe in themselves. A creative person does not fear taking risks, is open to new experiences, and is highly disciplined and persistent. Today, creativity is a determinant of success in terms of external goal achievement and task completion, as well as self-improvement.48
Although creativity appears to be a simple concept, its application is extremely difficult. Creative people have unique and high-quality ideas. Further explains that the following are signs of a creative person: "(1) recognize the value of a broad knowledge base and work constantly to expand it; (2) are open to new ideas and actively seek them out; (3) locate source
47Abdullah Aljughaiman and Elizabeth Mowrer-Reynolds, “Teachers’ Conceptions of Creativity and Creative Students”, The Journal of Creative Behavior, Vol. 39, No. 1, 2005, p. 17.
48Anna Mroz and Iwona Ocetkiewcz, “Creativity…”, p. 574.
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material in a wide range of media, people, and events; (4) organize and reorganize ideas into different categories or combinations and then assess whether the results are interesting, new, or useful; and (5) use trial and error when unsure how to proceed, viewing failure as an opportunity to learn."49
We need to promote creativity habits if we want to encourage creativity. That means we must no longer regard it as a bad habit.
We must resist efforts to promote a view of accountability that encourages students to accumulate inert knowledge that teaches them to think neither creatively nor critically.50 To better understand the nature of creativity, Todd Lubart proposed an Investment Theory of Creativity.51 Creative people, according to this theory, are those who are willing and able to "buy low and sell high" in the realm of ideas. Buying low entails pursuing ideas that are unknown or out of favor but have growth potential.
When these ideas are first presented, they frequently face opposition. The creative person perseveres in the face of this
49Laksmi Dewi and M. Ridwan Sutisna, “Designing Project-Based Learning to Develop Students’ Creativity in The Fourth Industrial Revolution”, Advances in Social Science, Education and Humanities Research, Volume 239, 2019, p. 120.
50Robert J. Stenberg, “Teaching…”, p. 397
51Robert J. Stenberg and Tord I. Lubart, “An investment theory of creativity and its development. Human Development”, Human Development, Volume 34, Number 1, 1991 pp. 1–31.
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opposition, eventually selling high and moving on to the next new or unpopular idea. According to investment theory, creativity necessitates the convergence of six distinct but interconnected resources: intellectual abilities, knowledge, thinking styles, personality, motivation, and environment.
Although the levels of these resources are a source of individual differences, the decision to use the resources is often a more significant source of individual differences. Finally, creativity is about a system of things rather than a single thing.52
b. The Methods for Developing Creativity
Many experts have proposed ways to develop creativity;
Guilford is one of the psychologists who focuses on improving and measuring.53 Guilford, for example, operationalized creativity as divergent thinking with four sub-facets: fluency (the ability to generate a large number of relevant ideas), flexibility (the ability to generate relevant ideas from different categories or themes), originality (the ability to generate statistically rare ideas), and elaboration (the ability to implement
52Martindale Csikszentmihalyi, “Implications of a systems perspective for the study of creativity”, In R. J. Sternberg (Ed.), Handbook of creativity (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1999, pp. 313-335)
53Seyedahmad Rahimi and Valerie J. Shute, “First…”, p. 3.
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an idea in detail and high quality).54 Torrance also considered fluency, flexibility, and original thinking as essential characteristics of creativity. Fluency refers to the number of original ideas generated. Flexibility refers to the ability to 'change tack,' to not be bound by an established approach that no longer works efficiently. Originality is defined statistically: an answer that is uncommon, occurring only infrequently in a given population, is considered original. Nonetheless, a significant component of creative potential.55 Hudson followed a similar strategy. When he asked students how many they used that they could think of for a brick, he collected all of their responses and gave higher scores to those rare (occurring only infrequently) than to those common. Fluency, flexibility, and originality thus constitute one dimension of the model, one that can be described as a personality trait, the characteristics of the creative individual.56
54Ibid
55Weiping Huand Philip Adey, “A Scientific Creativity Test for Secondary School Students”, International Journal of Science Education, Vol. 24, No. 4, 2002, pp. 390-391.
56Ibid
25 4. The EFL Teaching for Creativity
a. Teaching English for Creativity
Teaching for creativity and teaching creatively are not always synonymous. Creative teaching is defined as "using imaginative approaches to make learning more interesting and effective".57 Teaching for creativity is defined as using methods of instruction that focus on developing students' own creative thinking and behavior.58 According to Jeffrey and Craft, to achieve creative learning, teaching creatively and teaching for creativity must be intertwined. Teachers must know when to step back and organize an enabling context that includes flexible time and space to foster the development of possible thinking and learner agency and creativity.59 Teaching for creativity necessitates a facilitative, enabling, responsive, open to possibilities, and collaborative pedagogy that values process as much as outcomes. Teachers work in highly structured cultural
57Svanborg R. Jónsdóttir, “Narratives…”, p. 130.
58Ibid
59Teresa Cremin, Pamela Burnard, and Anna Craft., “Pedagogy and possibility thinking in the early years”, Thinking Skills and Creativity, Vol 1, No. 2, p. 108-119.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tsc.2006.07.001
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and procedural environments, which have a significant impact on what they can do as educators to foster students' creativity.60
A teacher should consider six components when implementing a lesson: developing lesson objectives that focus on developing student knowledge, skills, and attitudes, identifying content and related teaching methods and teaching modes, building a classroom environment, and managing time and the classroom.61 Teaching for creativity is defined by Tran et al. as a process of providing students with a) knowledge of a specific discipline and related areas; b) knowledge about creativity; c) creative skills such as using creative methods and tools to explore, imagine, and produce creative products; and d) the design of creative classroom environments in which students can freely express their creativity.62
b. Techniques in Teaching English for Creativity
Students have varying levels of creativity, and teachers should help students reach their full potential by establishing goals for creativity development and identifying creative
60Norman Jackson, “Developing…”, p. 12.
61Stiliana Milkova, “Strategies for Effective Lesson Planning”, University of Michigan: Center for Research on Learning and Technology, accessed in http://www.crlt.umich.edu/gsis/p2_5.
62Thi Bich LieuTran, Thi Nat Ho, and Robert J. Hurley, “Teaching…”, p. 1027.
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methods and resources in lesson plan design.63 Researchers believe that questioning is the best way for teachers to foster students' curiosity and higher-order thinking). The students’
imaginations are developed through the use of "What if..."
questions and imaginative exercises.64 De Bono in Starko stated about six thinking and lateral thinking tools. SCAMPER (S:
substitute; C: combine; A adapt; M: modify; P: put to another use; E eliminate; R: reverse/rearrange), mind maps, and creative writing and drawing can all assist students in generating new ideas. SCAMPER is primarily used to modify, add, or remove parts or functions of objects, or to alter the use of an object to create new functions or a new design for that object.65 ICT tools (for example, creative software, games, and social interaction networks) are regarded as effective means of fostering creativity.66
63Anna Craft, Teresa Cremin, Pamela Burnard, and Kerry Chappell, "Teacher stance in creative learning: A study of progression", Thinking Skills and Creativity, Volume 2, Issue 2, November 2007, pp. 136-147 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tsc.2007.09.003.
64Patricia A. Dischler, "Teaching the 3 Cs: creativity, curiosity, and courtesy:
activities that build a foundation for success", (CA: Sage Company, 2009, p. 129)
65Alane Jordan Starko, “Creativity…", p. 163
66T.B.L. Tran, Thi Nat Ho, etc., “Developing…”, p. 12.
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5. The EFL Teachers’ Difficulties in Teaching Creativity a. The EFL teachers’ problem in teaching creativity
Christensen explained in her article about the problem of teaching creativity, she stated, we encounter this issue repeatedly when teaching creativity: how do educators remove their own biases to allow for natural creative insights? How do we, as advocates for fostering creativity in the workplace, get out of our way? Rather than attempting to teach creativity (the act of generating unique and valuable ideas), it is more beneficial to teach and actively promote the characteristics that comprise creativity. For instance, exercises that foster confidence, encourage curiosity and exploration, and require participants to be resourceful are all worthwhile endeavors that foster creativity.67 Those characteristics can be taught without impeding the teaching or grading process. Therefore, she also stated that teachers should focus on the individual characteristics that drive it, rather than just the act of coming up with ideas.
Look at the various characteristics that cause creativity to teach and encourage. When those elements are developed or
67Tanner Christensen, “The Challenge with Teaching Creativity”, in https://creativesomething.net/post/84942658350/the-challenge-with-teaching-creativity, accessed on May 6, 2014.
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strengthened, the result is almost always some level of creative output.68
b. The EFL teachers’ challenges in teaching creativity
Teachers as an important role to develop the students’
creativity so they must have the challenges that they have to face in the teaching-learning process. Especially teaching English is a challenge to each student as their understanding and fluency of the English language. Therefore, Mcllroy in Septiyanti and Fajriah stated that teachers are required to use creative and innovative ways of delivering material to students, including creativity in using media and appropriate learning methods.69 Besides, teachers are also required appropriate learning strategies and encourage each student to be creative.70
According to Jackson, the challenges in developing students’
creativity are pedagogies for creative development, drawing inspiration from the discipline, and recognizing learners’ own creative lives.71 Then, Jackson explained pedagogies that engage
68Ibid
69Siti Nur Azizah Septiyanti, Yustika Nur Fajriah, “The Challenges…”, p. 107.
70Ibid
71Norman Jackson, “Developing Students’ Creativity through a Higher Education”, Conference: International Symposium on “The Cultivation of Creativity in University Students”Macao Polytechnic Institute, November 2013, pp. 1-2.
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learners with the unfamiliar, perplexing, complex, and unpredictable, that encourage them to take risks without punishment if they fail, and that involves them in challenges that demand new understandings, meanings, and capabilities are more likely to require them to use their creativity than activities that only require them to replicate what they already know and can do. Many students are passionate about their studies and aspire to be practitioners in their field. The disciplines themselves serve as sources of creative inspiration. It is allowing students to see how creativity is used in disciplinary practice will increase its relevance to their academic lives. Higher education can do much more to recognize and value the creative development of the learners it serves by adopting a lifetime concept of education (a lifetime curriculum) that encompasses all the spaces and places for learning, personal development, and self-actualization in a person's life.72