The role of creativity in second language writing performance

Abstract

Our study seeks to answer the question of what the impact of creativity is on teenage Hungarian L2 learners' performance in a written argumentative and narrative task. Ninety-five participants at an intermediate level of language proficiency wrote a story based on six unrelated pictures and an argumentative essay in English. Participants also completed the Megújított Barkóczy-Klein Kreatív Potenciálteszt (MKB, Revised Barkóczy-Klein Creative Potential test). A latent variable analysis using structural equation modelling was used to examine the relationship between two latent components of creativity: adaptivity (estimated by scores of elaboration, resistance to early closure and abstractness of title) and innovation (estimated by creative fluency and originality scores) and the latent variable of L2 writing which was estimated by rating scores of five assessment criteria. The results show that the argumentative essays of L2 learners characterized by high levels of creative fluency and originality demonstrated lower levels of writing quality. On the other hand, the argumentative essays of participants who scored higher on the adaptation aspects of creativity were more highly rated.