A Narrative Inquiry into Novice and Experienced English Language Teachers’ Beliefs about Assessing Creativity in the English Language Learners’ Writing

Creativity has been recognized as a critical skill for success in the 21st century. In today’s world, creativity is not just limited to artistic expression but is essential in problem-solving, innovation, and entrepreneurship. As a result, educators have been exploring ways to promote creativity in their students (Scott-Barrett et al., 2023). Teachers play a crucial role in promoting creativity in their students. They are responsible for creating an environment that fosters creativity and providing opportunities for students to develop their creative skills (Hill, 1992; Kozbelt et al., 2010). However, if teachers lack an understanding of creativity, they may not be successful in fostering it. Therefore, it is important to explore teachers' beliefs and practices regarding creativity to better understand the challenges and opportunities they face in promoting creativity in their students. Assessing creativity is a challenging task as it is a complex concept that cannot be easily defined or quantified (Runco, 2014). Creativity involves producing something new or original that has value. It is not just limited to the arts but can be seen in various fields, including science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. In this study, we aim to investigate the beliefs and practices of experienced and novice English language teachers regarding assessing creativity in their students' writing skills.

In this study, we aimed to investigate the beliefs and practices of experienced and novice English language teachers regarding assessing creativity in their students' writing skills. We used a qualitative research method. To that end, a descriptive narrative design was employed, and autobiographical narratives of ten English language teachers (4 experienced and 6 novice) were collected and analyzed. We analyzed the autobiographical narratives through deductive-inductive thematic analysis. Moreover, we addressed the credibility, transferability, and dependability of the study.

The findings showed that experienced and novice teachers had different beliefs about assessing creativity in their students' writing skills. Experienced teachers believed that assessing creativity is important and identified elaboration, fluency, flexibility, and originality as crucial elements. However, their performance did not align with their beliefs. They did not provide enough opportunities for their students to develop their creative skills and did not use creative methods in their classrooms. On the other hand, novice teachers also believed that creativity should be taken into account, with elaboration being the most important element. However, their performance did not match their beliefs. They did not have enough knowledge or experience in promoting creativity in their students.

The lack of alignment between teachers' beliefs and practices suggests that there is a need for more education and training in the field of creativity education. Teachers who are familiar with creativity principles and have gained experience in this field are more likely to use creative methods in their classrooms (Scott, 2015). By providing teachers with the necessary knowledge and skills, we can create an environment that fosters creativity and helps students develop their creative skills. We conclude that there is a need for more education and training in the field of creativity education. By providing teachers with the necessary knowledge and skills, we can create an environment that fosters creativity and helps students develop their creative skills. Therefore, the educational system should familiarize teachers with the concept of creativity, the general methods of assessing it and the techniques for applying creativity, especially during teacher training courses and in-service programs.