Creativity is a buzzword in advertisements, in the workplace and even in the classroom. But what is “creativity”? How can we estimate whether teachers or students are “creative”? Dr Rodney H. Jones, Acting Head of the Department of English at the City University of Hong Kong, gave a lecture on “Creativity in Language Teaching” at UIC on 25 October.
Humorous Dr Rodney H. Jones
“Creativity is more than a game, and is really essential. It is a central skill relating to emotions, intelligence, expressions and communication. It is about intelligence and having fun, about connecting things, and relates to the willingness to take risks.”
He spoke about divergent thinking, which allows humans to discover all possible answers to a question, and about convergent thinking, which allows one to find the right answer in a mountain of data.
“Creativity is very close to language learning.” Dr Jones listed six reasons for this: language is ambiguous; meaning is situated; communication is unpredictable; communication is always about making connections; communication is about being a certain kind of person; and communication is an aesthetic experience.
He also explained how instructional activities could be designed to help students develop creativity. “Give students opportunities to have real conversations. Find something they are not able to do and destabilize their language use. Make them imagine interesting identities.”
When asked if there are particular rules for creativity in teaching grammar or examinations, Dr Jones answered, “Creativity requires rules. However, if you are only concerned about grammar rules, creativity will be killed.”
The lecture was organised by the Division of Humanities and Social Sciences.
Reporter: Zhang Jiadi
Photographer: Wei Shen
Editor: Deen He
(from MPRO, with special thanks to the ELC)
