Creativity as a Challenge in the EFL Classroom

Abstract

Сreative skills have been a lot in the limelight of pedagogical research recently. Creative tasks have become an integral part of modern textbooks including those for foreign language studies. The authors link the relevance of students’ creativity with the growing need of the Russian economy for individuals who can think outside the box, easily adapt to constant social changes and successfully communicate in multicultural professional environments. The research attempts to present the development of creative skills in students as a process associated with difficulties in its practical implementation. The article identifies popular tasks aimed at promoting creativity in EFL classes, lists the main difficulties that teachers face when using creative tasks, and suggests ways to overcome these difficulties. It is a descriptive and analytical study of the existing pedagogical research on the interpretation of the concepts of creativity, creative thinking and creative abilities, as well as on the use of creative tasks in the EFL classroom. The scope of analysis included review articles advocating for creative skills in modern society published in 2001–2019. In addition, action research articles published over the past three years describing the experience of using creative tasks when teaching foreign languages were analyzed. In the course of the study, a set of methods was utilized: review, observations in conversational English classes with students majoring in linguistics, an expert survey of foreign language teachers generated on the Google Forms platform, and interpretation of the data obtained.