Creativity, Culture, and Communicative Language Teaching: Cross Cultural Conceptions of Creativity in an English as a Second Language Setting

The relationship between the behaviour of English as an Additional Language (EAL) learners and teacher expectations is often discordant. Communicative Language Teaching is a theoretical model currently being used in EAL classrooms and requires a high level of active participation from the learner. The creative individual, from a modernist perspective, would adapt comfortably to the Communicative classroom. The implication of a teaching methodology that accommodates a specific concept of learner participation impacts all levels of classroom culture: evaluation, the teacher-learner relationship, and teacher-learner expectations. The goal of this study is to highlight the various modern and traditional conceptions of the term creative, to explore the role of creativity as a learner trait, and to suggest techniques for using the communicative method with cultural awareness with EAL learners. This research should be of interest to EAL instructors who are currently working with diverse cultural groups and using Communicative methodology in their teaching.

Karen Densky, MA: Currently teaches Academic Preparation English and Teacher Training at Thompson Rivers University, British Columbia, Canada. Areas of interest, research, and experience are international teacher training, cross-cultural teaching methodology, and the relationship between teaching beliefs and practice.