1. Creativity in Language Teaching
Professor: Dr. Azizeh Chalak
Presenter: Seyed Ehsan Afsahi
English Department, IAU, Isfahan Branch
Isfahan, Iran
May, 2017

2. Definitions
The Oxford English Dictionary defines creativity as: “The use of the imagination or original ideas, especially in the production of an artistic work.” This is fine, albeit somewhat limited to the world of art. This is how many view creativity, however, we fail to see that creativity is part and parcel of our daily life.
Businessdictionary.com has a more fitting definition of creativity: “A mental characteristic that allows a person to think outside of the box, which results in innovative or different approaches.” The reason this latter definition is more suitable is the fact that it talks about “thinking outside the box”, in other words, looking at something in a different manner with fresh eyes. It mentions results; therefore it is concerned with a tangible outcome that can be measured in some way. Finally, “innovative or different approaches to a particular task” confirm the notion that tasks, no matter how mundane, can be given a new lease of life.

3. How Creative Are You?
A teacher has just called in sick. You are going to teach her 50-minute spoken English class, lower intermediate level, in 5 minutes. Your only teaching aid is a glass of water. What will your lesson look like?

4. The Teacher’s Solution
1) Teacher would start by showing the glass and ask students to form groups and brainstorm for five minutes to come up with the names of as many different kinds of containers as possible. They would then group them according to their functions.

5. The Teacher’s Solution
For example things that contain food, things that are used to carry things, things that are used to store things in and so on.
Teacher would model how they should do this and suggest the kind of language they could use. (10 minutes).
2) Students would present their findings to the class to see who had come up with the longest list. (10 minutes).

6. The Teacher’s Solution
3) For a change of pace and to practice functional language teacher would do some dialog work, practicing asking to borrow a container from a neighbour. First teacher would model the kind of exchange Techer asks them to practice. Then students would plan their dialog following this outline :
a) Apologize for bothering your neighbour.
b) Explain what you want and why you need it.
c) Your neighbour offers to lend you what you want.
d) Thank your neighbour and promise to return it on the weekend.

7. The Teacher’s Solution
Students would then perform their dialogues.

8. Creating Creative Teachers
Professionally independent and curious, creative teachers are aware of themselves as creative beings, although for some this may be a relatively new insight.
They model, demonstrate and foster a questioning stance and the making of connections, and a marked degree of autonomy and ownership; in the process they value and nurture originality and the generation/evaluation of ideas. Through such practice they seek to develop the creative dispositions of their students.
Teaching Skills
Creative potential

9. Characteristics of Creative People
Guilford suggests that divergent production facilitates problem-solving, something which language teachers are faced with on a daily basis in their classes - and that we know enough about the creative process to be able to train individuals. Here are the four main characteristics of the creative process that he describes (op. cit.):
Producing lots of ideas (fluency)
Producing ideas of various types (flexibility)
Building on and embellishing existing ideas (elaboration)
Producing clever and original ideas (originality).
Lateral thinking
Flexible thinking
High productivity
High originality
Variety of solutions
Independence of view

10. The Role of the Trainer and/or the Institution
Helping teachers to develop their ability to think creatively, including creative thinking skills training, is not going to be enough, and the effects of this training may not be sustainable unless there is a positive culture encouraging and facilitating as well as demonstrating creativity.
Trainers need to model creative behaviors themselves by using a variety of ways of handling course input, from training games to loop input – an idea suggested by Woodward (1991) – not in a relentless pursuit of fun and games but in accordance with the topic and focus of each session.
In addition, work on team-building, generating trust amongst trainees, is essential from day one and needs to be followed through systematically, either through activities such as those suggested by Hadfield (1992), or through social activities in a school setting or a self-help group.
Creativity needs to be inspired by inspired leadership that nurtures and appreciates teachers who make the effort to be creative.

11. Activities Promoting Fluency
Brainstorming
This is perhaps the most frequently used activity
and will be familiar to all who are involved in teacher development programmes. The value of getting teachers in groups to brainstorm lots of ideas, focusing on quantity at the initial stage and quality later, when these ideas are discussed, evaluated and the most suitable ones chosen, is highly conducive to this aspect of divergent production.
Different ways of asking the same question
Different ways of using the same activity
20 activities

12. Practical Suggestions and Activities
Problem solving activities
These are activities that again may focus on your teaching situation, e.g. your beginning students are very reluctant to use English in class. Suggest a number of different solutions to the problem of persuading them to use English in class.
Desert island
Trainees are given a list of teaching supplies and a desert island brief and are asked to decide which 8 (or other suitable number) essentials they would take with them if they had to teach a class at a specified level of instruction with no other supplies or facilities.
Putting creativity to work
As previously suggested, the activities are listed under one heading but some do more than just one thing. Overall, It is considered these activities as practice opportunities focusing both on the content and on the cognitive mind-set. However, trainees need to apply the skill to their designated planning, design and teaching tasks, and this is where, ultimately, these practice opportunities are leading: to enable teachers in training (and at work) to create more, better and with more ease.

13. Sources and Practices of Creative Teaching:
The Teachers Use Activities that have Creative Dimensions
Challenge
Interesting Content
The Personal Element
The Novelty Element
The Intriguing Element
Individual Choice
Tasks that encourage risk taking
Tasks that encourage original thought
The Fantasy Element

14. Creativity in Context
The concept of creativity is of course itself complex and there is a range of divert expert opinions. We need to understand how well-established concepts such as CLT is negotiated and understood by language teachers working in different contexts within a situated view of professionalism.
Cook (2000) presents the distinction between learners’ needs and wants. His arguments relate directly to perceptions of relevance and believes about the value and purposes of language learning in a specific contexts.

15. Creativity as Risk Creative teachers are risk-takers
The creative teacher is willing to experiment, to innovate, and to take risks. Risk-taking reflects the flexible mindset of creative teachers as well as their self-confidence.
They are willing to try things out, even if at times they may not work quite the way they are intended.
So the teacher is willing to rethink or revise, or if necessary abandon her original plan and try something else. But this is seen as a learning moment and not an indication of failure.

16. Creativity
Solving problems in original and valuable ways that are relevant to goals
Seeing new meanings and relationships in things and making connections
Having original and imaginative thoughts and ideas about something
Using the imagination and past experience to create new learning possibilities

17. Creativity: Two Dimensions
Creativity as a product
Creativity as a process
The Nature of Creative Teaching
1. The qualities creative teachers possess.
2. How teachers apply creativity in their teaching.
3. How creativity can be supported in the school.

18. 1. The Qualities Creative Teachers Possess
Creative teachers are knowledgeable
Drawing on knowledge of texts
Drawing on a pedagogical principle
Creative teaching requires confidence
Creative teachers are committed to helping their learners succeed
Following learners’ progress

19. 1. The Qualities Creative Teachers Possess
Creative teachers are non-conformists
Making lessons unique experiences
Creating effective surprises
Creative teachers draw on a wide range of strategies and techniques
Varying tasks and activities
Creative teachers are risk-takers
Pausing to rethink
Trying something new

20. 1. The Qualities Creative Teachers Possess
Creative teachers seek to achieve learner-centred lessons
Using student-selected content
Making connections to students’ lives
Creative teachers are reflective
Reflecting through journal-writing
Getting feedback from learners

21. 2. How Teachers Apply Creativity in Their Classrooms?
Creative teachers make use of an eclectic choice of methods
Creative teachers use activities which have creative dimensions
Making use of a personal element
Encouraging original thought
Creative teachers teach in a flexible way and often adjust and modify their teaching during lessons
Making the most of teachable moments

22. 2. How Teachers Apply Creativity in Their Classrooms?
Creative teachers look for new ways of doing things
Giving learners choices
Creative teachers customize their lessons
Personalizing activities from the textbook
Creative teachers make use of technology
Using Digital Games

23. 2. How Teachers Apply Creativity in Their Classrooms?
Creative teachers seek creative ways to motivate students
Using activities that showcase students’ talent
Encouraging creative collaboration
They use activities which have creative dimensions
They teach in a flexible way and often adjust and modify their teaching during lessons
They look for new ways of doing things

24. 2. How Teachers Apply Creativity in Their Classrooms?
They customize their lessons
They make use of technology
They seek creative ways to motivate students

25. 3. How Can Creative Teaching Be Supported In The Schools?
Characteristics of a creative school
The creative school is a place where individuals, pupils and teachers are:
Motivated
purpose, ultimate goals and shared destiny;
openness to new ideas, innovation and enquiry;
passion to succeed, willing to take risks, accepting difference and diversity;

26. 3. How Can Creative Teaching Be Supported In The Schools?
Characteristics of a creative school
Given time and responsibility for creative activity, involving;
all in the search for creative solutions;
being tolerant of mistakes in the search for better solutions;
avoiding impulsivity, allowing time for practice and for ideas to come;

27. 3. How Can Creative Teaching Be Supported In The Schools?
Characteristics of a creative school
Able to collaborate with partners to share creativity and ideas including:
learning partners to generate, extend and provide feedback on ideas;
collaborating as part of a team on creative projects and productions;
developing creative connections and links beyond the organization.

28. 3. How Can Creative Teaching Be Supported In The Schools?
When the curriculum, tests, and constant monitoring drives teaching and teachers cannot depart from established or approved practices. There is too much of an emphasis on book learning, rote learning and test scores
When teachers are not given time to be creative
When teachers are not encouraged to be creative and innovate or to develop an individual and personal teaching style
When teachers are stuck with fixed routines and procedures

29. 3. How Can Creative Teaching Be Supported In The Schools?
The school helps teachers recognize and share what is creative in their own practice.
The school encourages creative partnerships
Through team teaching
Through peer observation
Through shared lesson planning
Using shared lesson-planning

30. 3. How Can Creative Teaching Be Supported In The Schools?
The school rewards creative teachers
by acknowledging them when appropriate
by giving them opportunities to mentor novice teachers
by encouraging them to share their ideas with others through brown-bag lunch sessions, participation in seminars and workshops

31. Conclusions
There are many other important dimensions to effective teaching. But adding the concept of creative teaching to our understanding of what it means to be an effective language teacher has benefits for teachers, for learners, as well as for schools. For learners, creative teaching helps learners develop their capacities for original ideas and for creative thinking. It also improves the quality of the experiences learners receive and can help learners develop increased levels of motivation and even self-esteem. For the teacher, it provides a source of ongoing professional renewal and satisfaction – since when learners are engaged, motivated, and successful, teaching is motivating for the teacher. For the institution, it can lead to increased levels of satisfaction for both teachers and students as well as contribute to the quality, effectiveness, and reputation of the school. To summarize, creative learners need creative teachers and teachers need to work in schools where creativity is valued and shared.

32. References
Bruner, J. (1962). The process of ducation. Harvard: Harvard University Press.
Burton, P. (2010). Creativity in Hong Kong schools. World Englishes, 29 (4),
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Fisher, R. (2004). What is creativity? In R. Fisher & M. Williams (Eds.), Unlocking creativity: Teaching across the curriculum (pp. 6-20). New York: Routledge.
Dornyei, Z. (2001). Motivational strategies in the language classroom. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Jones, R. (Ed.). (2012). Discourse and creativity. Harlow: Pearson.
Maley, A. (1997). Creativity with a small ‘c’. The Journal of the Imagination in Language Learning and Teaching, 4. Retrieved from
Sternberg, R. J. (ed.) (1999). Handbook of creativity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.