Development of verbal creativity by bilingual and English as foreign language learners in kindergarten to 8th grade schools
Abstract
Bilingualism has long been within the scope of creativity studies that investigate creativity and problem solving. This study aims to explore the possible effect of bilingualism on the verbal creativity of English language learners. Participants from a bilingual and an English as foreign language teaching program within the same school were selected as an experimental and a control group respectively to compare verbal creativity. A series of creative English writing tasks designed by the authors were assigned to a total of 86 third grade (aged 7–8) students. Both the English as foreign language group (N = 42) and the bilingual group (N = 44) were subject to assessment and evaluation in terms of verbal creativity. The two cohorts completed the same creative writing tasks that were then assessed by a board of five English teachers from the same school who were trained by the authors to assess verbal creativity using a Student Product Assessment Form. An independent samples Student’s t-test was conducted and descriptive statistics of both cohorts for 9 of the assessment form were analyzed. The results showed that the students on the bilingual program outperformed those on the English as foreign language program in terms of verbal creativity. The study offers implications for English language teaching in primary schools with reference to developing creative verbal language skills at early ages.
Keyword : early bilingualism, convergent thinking, creativity, divergent thinking, verbal creativity
How to Cite
Yemez, N., & Dikilitaş, K. (2022). Development of verbal creativity by bilingual and English as foreign language learners in kindergarten to 8th grade schools. Creativity Studies, 15(1), 25–39. https://doi.org/10.3846/cs.2022.12603
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
References
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Doğancay-Aktuna, S. (1998). The spread of English in Turkey and its current sociolinguistic profile. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 19(1), 23–39. https://doi.org/10.1080/01434639808666340
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Guilford, J. P. (1967). McGraw-Hill series in psychology. The nature of human intelligence. McGraw-Hill.
Hommel, B., Colzato, L. S., Fischer, R., & Christoffels, I. K. (2011). Bilingualism and creativity: Benefits in convergent thinking come with losses in divergent thinking. Frontiers in Psychology, 2. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2011.00273
Karakaş, A. (2013). The expansion of the English language across Turkey: Threat or opportunity? Mediterranean Journal of Humanities, 3(2), 159–171. https://doi.org/10.13114/MJH/201322477
Kharkhurin, A. V. (2010). Bilingual verbal and nonverbal creative behavior. International Journal of Bilingualism, 14(2), 211–226. https://doi.org/10.1177/1367006910363060
Kharkhurin, A. V. (2017). Bilingualism and creativity: An educational perspective. In W. E. Wright, S. Boun, & O. Garcia (Eds.). The handbook of bilingual and multilingual education (pp. 38–55). John Wiley & Sons, Inc. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118533406.ch3
Kharkhurin, A. V. (2012). Bilingual education and bilingualism. Multilingualism and creativity. N. H. Hornberger (Series Ed.). Multilingual Matters.
Kharkhurin, A. V. (2008). The effects of linguistic proficiency, age of second language acquisition, and length of exposure to a new cultural environment on bilinguals’ divergent thinking. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 11(2), 225–243. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1366728908003398
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Kharkhurin, A. V. (2011). The role of selective attention in bilingual creativity. Creativity Research Journal, 23(3), 239–254. https://doi.org/10.1080/10400419.2011.595979
Kharkhurin, A. V., & Wei, L. (2015). The role of code‐switching in bilingual creativity. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, 18(2), 153–169. https://doi.org/10.1080/13670050.2014.884211
Lambert, W. E. (1972). Studies in bilingual education. Bilingual education of children: The St. Lambert experiment. Newbury House Publishers.
Lasagabaster, D. (2000). The effects of three bilingual education models on linguistic creativity. International Review of Applied Linguistics in Language Teaching, 38(3–4), 213–228. https://doi.org/10.1515/iral.2000.38.3-4.213
Lee, H., & Kim, K. H. (2011). Can speaking more languages enhance your creativity? Relationship between bilingualism and creative potential among Korean American students with multicultural link. Personality and Individual Differences, 50(8), 1186–1190. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2011.01.039
Lee, H., & Kim, K. H. (2010). Relationships between bilingualism and adaptive creative style, innovative creative style, and creative strengths among Korean American students. Creativity Research Journal, 22(4), 402–407. https://doi.org/10.1080/10400419.2010.523409
Leikin, M. (2013). The effect of bilingualism on creativity: Developmental and educational perspectives. International Journal of Bilingualism, 17(4), 431–447. https://doi.org/10.1177/1367006912438300
Leikin, M., & Tovli, E. (2014). Bilingualism and creativity in early childhood. Creativity Research Journal, 26(4), 411–417. https://doi.org/10.1080/10400419.2014.961779
Mayer, R. E. (1999). Fifty years of creativity research. In R. J. Sternberg (Ed.), Handbook of creativity (pp. 449–460). Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511807916.024
Morgan Reis, S. (1981). An analysis of the productivity of gifted students participating in programs using the revolving door identification model [PhD/Doctoral Thesis, University of Connecticut]. Storrs, Connecticut, United States [unpublished source].
Okoh, N. (1980). Bilingualism and divergent thinking among Nigerian and Welsh school children. The Journal of Social Psychology, 110(2), 163–170. https://doi.org/10.1080/00224545.1980.9924242
Ricciardelli, L. A. (1992). Bilingualism and cognitive development: A review of past and recent findings. Journal of Creative Behavior, 26, 242–254. https://doi.org/10.1002/j.2162-6057.1992.tb01183.x
Sampedro, A., & Pena, J. (2019). The effect of bilingualism level on creative performance during preadolescent period. The Spanish Journal of Psychology, 22, E12. https://doi.org/10.1017/sjp.2019.17
Selvi, A. F. (2011). World Englishes in the Turkish sociolinguistic context. World Englishes, 30(2), 182–199. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-971X.2011.01705.x
Simonton, D. K. (2008). Bilingualism and creativity. In J. Altarriba & R. R. Heredia (Eds.), An introduction to bilingualism: Principles and processes (pp. 147–166). Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
T.C. Cumhurbaşkanliği mevzuat bilgi sistemi. (2013). Millī eğitim bakanliği ortaöğretim kurumlari yönetmeliği. Resmi Gazete Tarihi: 07.09.2013. Resmi Gazete Sayısı: 28758. https://www.mevzuat.gov.tr/mevzuat?MevzuatNo=18812&MevzuatTur=7&MevzuatTertip=5
Ward, Th. B. (2007). Creative cognition as a window on creativity. Methods, 42(1), 28–37. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ymeth.2006.12.002
Wei, L. (2011). Moment analysis and translanguaging space: Discursive construction of identities by multilingual Chinese Youth in Britain. Journal of Pragmatics, 43(5), 1222–1235. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pragma.2010.07.035
Zhang, Y., & Guo, Y. (2017). Exceeding boundaries: Chinese children’s playful use of languages in their literacy practices in a Mandarin–English bilingual program. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, 20(1), 52–68. https://doi.org/10.1080/13670050.2015.1037713