Effects of creative writing on writing skill improvement for first year students in ibd program at neu

This study shows that using creative writing through short stories and poem s are o f great benefits fo r both teachers and students.. It helps teachers create an enjoyable an d creative

M IN IS T R Y O F E D U C A T IO N A N D T R A IN IN G

H a N oi U n iversity

T R A N T H I P H U O N G H IE N

EFFECTS OF CREATIVE WRITING ON

WRITING SKILL IMPROVEMENT FOR FIRST YEAR

STUDENTS IN IBD PROGRAM

A C K N O W L E D G E M E N T S

Firstly, I w ould like to acknow ledge and express my deep gratitude and sincere appreciation to my supervisor, Ms Ngo Tuyet M ai, M Ed for her intensive revisions, patient guidance, encouragem ent, insightful suggestions and kind support throughout

my research

Secondly, m y special thanks go to Dr Vu V an Dai and Ms N guyen Thai Ha, M Ed o f the D epartm ent o f P ostgraduate Studies for their constant support and concern w hile the w ork w as in progress

Thirdly, I also w ish to thank all my colleagues for the stim ulating and creative work environm ent; and m y students at N ational Econom ics U niversity for their interest, creativity and kind assistance during the tim e I collected data for the study

Finally, I am deeply indebted to all the support and encouragem ent that my fam ily has

so lovingly offered me

w riting skill im provem ent and its effects on the firs t yea r IBD students ’ writing skill

im provem ent at intermediate level o f English proficiency at National Economics University (NEU) An experim ental research was chosen to carry out for the study.50 students were divided into 2 groups (the experim ental and the control group) o f 25

p articip ated in the study Both o f two groups are given the pre-test to make sure that they are p retty much o f w riting level The experimental group was taught by the researcher using creative w riting activities to teach them w riting lessons The control group however was taught through a different writing course o f traditional writing activities suggested in the designed syllabus A fter the experiment time, the post test was used to measure stu d e n ts' writing skill improvement The data collected fro m the

p re-test and post-test results was com puted and analyzed by means o f t-tests, using paired-sam ple a nd independent-sam ple t-tests A t the end o f this course, questionnaires are distributed to get these stu d e n ts' feed b a ck on the evaluation o f

w riting in general and creative w riting in particular with suggestions and comments

to make the course better This study shows that using creative writing through short stories and poem s are o f great benefits fo r both teachers and students It helps teachers create an enjoyable an d creative writing learning environm ent which

m otivates students to learn w riting lessons Students can therefore improve their

w riting ability, vocabulary and enrich their im agination as well Creative writing through short stories and poem s is therefore highly recom m ended being used in English language classrooms.

TABLE OF CONTENT

A C K N O W L E D G E M E N T S I

A B ST R A C T II TABLE OF C O N T E N T I ll LIST OF A B B R E V IA T IO N S V LIST OF T A B L E S VI LLIST OF FIGURESIST OF FIG U R E S VI

CH A PTER 1: IN T R O D U C T IO N 1

1.1 Rationale 1

1.2 Statement o f problems 2

1.3 Purpose o f the study 4

1.4 The significance o f the s tu d y 4

1.5 The organization o f the th e s is 5

CH A PTER 2: LITERATURE R E V IE W 6

2.1 W ritin g 6

2.1.1 Definitions o f w riting 6

2.1.2 Types o f writing 7

2.2 Creative w riting 8

2.2.1 Definitions o f creative w ritin g 8

2.2.2 Types o f Creative W ritin g 9

2.2.4 Creative writing m ethodologies in ELT classroom s 13

2.2.5 W riting poem and short stories in the classroom 14

2.3 S u m m a ry 17

C H A PTER 3: M ETH O D O LO G Y 18

3.1 Experim ental research 18

3.2 Subjects o f the s tu d y 18

3.3 P ro ced ures 19

3.3.1 Designing pre-test and p o s t-te s t 21

3.3.2 Schedule o f the m ain activities for the study 22

3.3.3 Q uestionnaires 23

3.4 D escription o f data analysis tools 24

C H A PTER 4: RESULTS AND F IN D IN G S 26

4.1 Influences o f applied activities on experimental students 26

4.2 The results o f the writing tests 28

4.2.1 The test results o f the control group 28

4.2.2 The test results o f the experimental group 30

4.2.3 The test results between control and experimental groups 32

4.3 Discussion o f the test results 35

4.4 Questionnaire a n a ly sis 37

4.4.2 Students’ attitude toward Creative Writing o f short stories and poetry 38

4.4.3 Students’ difficulties when approaching creative w riting 41

4.4.4 Suggestions on course improvement 42

4.5 Summary 44

C H A PTER 5: R ECO M M EN D ATIO N S AND C O N C L U SIO N 45

5.1 Recommendations 45

5.2 Conclusion 47

R E FE R E N C E S 49

A ppendix 1: Definitions o f ten types o f creative w riting 52

A ppendix 2: Description o f applied a ctiv ities 53

Appendix 3: Sam ple tests and m arking schem es 57

Appendix 4: Stories o f “T he Goose and the Golden Egg” and “The Boy and the N uts” 60

A ppendix 5: Q uestionnaire 62

A ppendix 6: Students’ real w o r k 66

A ppendix 7: Suggested w ebsites for creative w riting id ea s 79

Appendix 8: Some other Poetry’s p ersp ective 80

Appendix 9: Pre-test and post-test results 81

Appendix 10: Response results o f questionnaires 84

L IS T O F A B B R E V IA T IO N S

NEU: National Economics University

1BD: International Business Department

EFL: English as s Foreign Language

CG: Students o f control group

EG: Students o f experimental group

Table 1: Four forms o f writing

Table 2: Five factors o f language learning framework

Table 3: Design o f the main study

Table 4\ Pre- and Post- test Results o f the Control Group

Table 5: Pre- and Post-test Results o f the Experimental Group

Table 6: Test Results between Control group and Experimental Group

Table 7: The Section Test Results between Control Group (CG) and

Experimental Group (EG)

Table 8: Creative W riting activities students enjoyed most

Table 9: Students’ suggestions for im provem ent

LIST OF FIGURES

L IST O F T A B L E S

Figure 4.1: Pre- and Post- test Results o f the Control Group

Figure 5.1: Pre- and Post-test Results o f the Experimental Group

F igure 6.1: Test Results between Control group and Experimental Group

F igure 7.1: The Section Test Results between Control Group (CG) and

Experim ental Group (EG)

F igure 8: Students’ attitude tow ards w riting in general

F igure 9: Students’ attitude toward creative w riting in general

F igure 10: Attitudes o f students tow ard Creative W riting o f short stories and

poems

F igure 11: Difficulties in doing Creative W riting activities o f short stories and

poems

m ore than others, but everyone can do it if they w ant to W riting is pretty m uch sim ilar as it requires practice, tools and motivation W riting helps students achieve academic mastery or academic success.

W riting is usually a m atter o f concerns for students when they are at school

N ot all students find it easy to express their ideas in w ritten form even in their m other tongue, not to mention in a second or foreign language So how to encourage students

in such as way to make them feel com fortable in w riting in their second language is a question for teachers to make effort to answer W hen a student writes something, it

m eans that his or her w riting is a product o f a thinking process from brains storming ideas to writing them on papers And he or she expects that his or her writing product should be better or m ore interesting than others His or her w riting is required to be more creative to m ake differentiation in the m ind o f readers According to Rozakis (1997), creative w riting is writing that expresses the writer's thoughts and feelings in

an im aginative, often unique, and poetic way A nd creative w riting is guided more by the w riter's need to express feelings and ideas than by restrictive dem ands o f factual and logical progression o f required w riting under orders o f teachers or rules o f courses/program s This is one o f the reasons why creative writing can be used as a tool to inspire students and get them involved in the second language In many w ays,

it can help students im prove their academic writing skills as required by the program Though it is hard to have a clear definition o f creative writing, it can simply refer to

w riting o f short stories or poetry rather than o f essays or thesis In creative writing,

m eaning bursts out o f the words used, and meanings com e as much from the heart as from the mind

Having attended the latest w orkshop on creative writing hosted by Hanoi University in 2007, the researcher was attracted by presenters coming from a w'ide range o f countries and teaching contexts who have an enthusiasm for creative writing, which inspired the researcher so much about the impacts o f creative writing on removing fear to wTite something in L2 W ith the desire and enthusiasm to make students improve writing skill through creative writing, the researcher wants to conduct an experimental research on teaching writing creatively and believes that course will gain a significant success.

Concerning creative writing, there are various text types available for use Each type has its own purposes, advantages and disadvantages According to Rozakis (1997) there are top ten types o f Creative W riting including article, autobiography, biography, drama, essays, fantasy, novels, poetry, short stories and song lyrics (see Appendix 1 for description o f these types) H owever, not all ten text types o f creative

w riting are equally interesting or m otivating for students Drama, fantasy and song lyrics do not seem to be favored in the writing curriculum because it takes a lot o f time to understand them, and it is difficult for students to m aster them for a short tim e

o f tw elve weeks For four other types o f autobiography, biography, articles and novels, they seem to be too tough for both students to write in L2 and teachers to find the sources and design suitable activities This research has therefore decided to

choose p o etry and short stories to design activities for students during writing lessons

in class as both o f these two text types are very fam iliar to students In addition, it is believed that sources o f short stories and poetry are various, and students will find it motivating to understand short stories and poem s and interesting to write Though it might be argued that poetry or/and short stories are not always easy to write even in

m other tongue, this research proves that as long as teachers are provided with suitable teaching m ethodologies they can make it an easy and effective activity

1.2 Statement o f problems

The first problem o f writing classes is the lack o f flexible and relaxing ways o f writing A writing classroom in university contexts often starts w ith and focuses on writing for academic purposes because teachers always expect their students to be able to use their writing to present inform ation under the rules o f academic writing that displays a clear understanding o f a subject in assignments W riting teachers seem

to be usually to follow the footprints o f previous generations o f teachers with the same writing curriculum, same writing lesson plans o f teaching academic writing Therefore, writing becom es impersonal for the students since everything is being overly controlled by them because students are busy to keep up with the teachers’ dem ands and rely on teachers' corrections Students may feel that they are incapable

o f expressing their own ideas They usually feel bored with learning writing because

o f some reasons such as low motivation writing application, linguistic difficulty, vocabulary barrier, or even methodology o f teachers

The second problem is the lack o f teachers’ openness to the new text types Hargeaves (1989) has asserted that change in the curriculum will not work effectively

if there is no change in the teaching methodology Thus, the teaching method is also very crucial to quality o f teaching writing Because if a teacher knows how to involve students into lessons and make them released to share ideas with other students, or help them to clarify the m otivation and objective o f theirs to get what they want, students will study better For exam ple, by using activities or creating a lot o f interaction between students and lessons, teachers may help students improve their vocabulary, know ledge and imagination A lthough the problem o f achieving effective teaching method challenges teachers, they are encouraged to overcome

The paper holds the view that creative writing through poetry and short stories may address these problem s o f both teachers and students It helps students how to produce their creative expressions through exciting exercises that expand their

im agination and creativity N othing is m ore wonderful than writing their own stories

or com posing their own poems because they can express their own feelings, emotions, critical and logical thoughts and feel free to write w hat they w ant without being worried about obeying strict rules o f academic writing assignment in the course books Creative w riting makes them realize that they can reinvent or self-discover their insight talent Goodwin (2007) said that people have lost dozens, hundreds, thousands, o f ideas because they haven’t captured them By having an idea notebook

o f som e kind at all times, people can jo t these ideas down when they first come to Then, once w ritten down, they begin to take on a life o f their own The more ideas people write down, the more people let the ideas flow, the more freely they’ll come to people, and the better they get

Last but not least, there is a lack o f “creative writing’’ concepts in EFL classroom In Vietnamese school curriculum , there is no subject o f creative writing Very few researches so far touch on the concepts, some teachers who had attended creative writing courses or w orkshops in which “creative w riting” was introduced do not want to choose creative writing as a writing activity On the other hand, schedules for w riting teachers imposed by the current w riting syllabus are so tight and does not allow for creativities or flexibility There is a lack o f tools to assess merits o f their students’ creative writing work Some o f them may have doubts that they can get their students interested in writing poems, dramatic sketches or short stories.

1.3 Purpose o f the study

With a focus on w riting skill improvement, the current study is designed to exam ine the effects o f creative w riting through poetry and short stories on w riting skill im provem ent by com paring two ways o f teaching: teaching writing skill with and

w ithout creative w riting o f poetry and short stories

Therefore, the study aims at answering the two following research questions:

1 What are the links between creative writing o f short stories and poem s a n d writing sk ill im provem ent f o r IB D f ir s t ye a r students in NEU?

2 H ow can the links have their im pacts on teach ers’ teaching m ethods o f writing skills and stu d en ts’ writing perform ance?

1.4 The significance o f the study

As stated earlier, creative w riting seems to be a new concept for English language teachers in Vietnam though it has been long applied in many countries Only som e courses on creative w riting for teachers have been organized so far This study

is expected to suggest a new approach to teaching w riting for university teachers o f English in V ietnam ese contexts In addition, this study takes into consideration the

w riting m otivation for students and their awareness o f writing skill’s importance It helps students be confident in discovering and exploiting their own talent to play w ith language creatively Furtherm ore, throughout the study, some relevant teaching experience in using creative w riting for English writing lessons in IBD program is also shared

It is strongly believed that the research result helps Vietnamese university teachers o f English be more open to and better equipped with a new approach to teaching w riting contributing to the im provem ent o f Vietnamese students’ writing performance.

1.5 The organization of the thesis

This thesis is divided into five chapters C hapter 1, the introduction, states the

reason for the choice o f the research topic and some desirable targets (objectives) that the study aims at achieving It also states the research questions to be answered as

well as the research direction Chapter 2, the Literature Review, explores various

definitions o f creative writing while it focuses on the selected types o f creative writing It shows a gap in literature by reviewing and analyzing the previous researches related to the same topics o f teaching w riting in question Chapter 3, the

m ethodology, explains the research m ethods chosen for the study, which involves the

four basic com ponents o f the experimental study: the subjects, variables, data

collection instrum ents, and the research procedures Chapter 4, the fin d in g s includes

the presentation o f the findings resulted from the investigation, analyses o f the data as

well as practical im plications and recom m endations Chapter 5, the conclusion

addresses the limitation o f the research before giving some practical im plications for both teachers and researchers o f writing skills for their further studies

CHAPTER 2: LITER ATU R E REVIEW

Chapter 2, Literature Review, is com posed o f three sub sections The first section studies the theoretical background o f writing including the definition o f writing, and forms o f writing The second section outlines some aspects o f creative writings such as benefits o f for using creative writing in the classroom and the benefits gained from using it for language learners and teachers The questions o f how

to m ake it work and what to write in the classroom are also addressed The third section sum m arizes key points studied in this chapter

2 1 W ritin g

2.1.1 D efinitions o f writing

There is a variety o f writing definitions Byrne (1991) shared the standpoint o f writing

in saying "W riting is a sequence o f sentences arranged in a particular order and link together in a certain way” Byrne has given the priority o f writing as the consequence

o f sentence order To him, when a person connects sentences together and writes them dow n on paper, that’s writing In her book, Rozakis (1997) further points out that

“ W riting is a way o f com m unicating a m essage to a reader for a purpose” Her

em phasis is on the com m unicative function o f writing as w hat Leki (1976) once also wrote: “ W riting is com municating Good writing gets your ideas out o f your head and into the reader’s head w ithout losing or distorting those ideas” In fact, an effective writing requires a contribution to organization in the developm ent o f ideas and inform ation, accuracy to make sure that there is no am biguity o f m eanings, careful choices o f vocabulary, grammatical patterns and sentence structures to get a suitable style for the subject m atter and even the readers From a slightly different point o f view, Rhodes (1995) stresses the rewards gained from the hard work o f writing The rew ard here is not as obvious as when you have a sum o f bonus money and you can count it immediately, it can be seen after a process o f hard-working to produce the writings and to m ake it exist for a long time Structured from a com m on code, writing

is considered to be more durable than other private life events like loving, raising children, and doing the housework Taking a book as an exam ple, it can live a longer life than any o f us and its popularity can stay perm anent with time

However, Brannon, Knight and N ever-Turk (1982) have seen writing as a piece o f art that any o f us can create It is the product o f our creativity A ccording to this “ W riting is a creative act, not an assem bly-line operation o f locking words together into sentences and bolting sentences together into paragraphs in accordance with a predefined plan’’ “W riting is like painting - a creative process o f continually making choices” Writing requires creativeness and it is seen as an art work.

In general, writing should be creative because creativity means that authors are good at using lexis, grammar, form and style to turns ideas into sentences and make them group together; and when the authors express their feeling and em otions through words it also means that they are com municating In fact, writing is not a mysterious activity in w hich only few people can succeed; rather it is a craft, like weaving or playing an instrum ent that can be learned by alm ost anyone w illing to invest the necessary tim e and energy W riting is a creative process in transferring feeling,

em otion and ideas o f writer to reader o f m aking choice but still follows the basic rules

Narration -writing that tells a story

-tells about real events includes biographies and autobiographies and deal with fictional events include short stories, myths, narrative poem s, and novels.

Description

-creates a word picture o f what something or som eone is like.

- made up o f sensory details that help readers form pictures in their minds

- uses images, words that appeal to one or more o f our five senses: sight, hearing, taste, touch, or smell Imagery can be found in all sorts o f writing (and should be) but it is most common in poetry.

Exposition -explains, shows, or tells about a subject - the most common type o f everyday

writing -includes news articles: memos; business reports, and notes.

Persuasion -tries to m ove an audience to thought or action (e.g newspaper editorials,

advertisements, and letters to the editor)

Table 1: F our fo rm s o f writing

All four types o f writing share one crucial element - the reader, or the audience Because when something is written down, it always aims at a certain

destination which writing wants to send messages to The message o f writing is its content and the m essage is presented in a variety o f ways In this study, the researcher

is in favor o f description because with this form, teachers can help students build their own world w ithout any barriers They write because they want to com municate ideas, want to learn something, fulfill a dream, and have inform ation to share or speak with their passion; or because writing satisfies their soul

2.2 Creative writing

2.2.1 D efinitions o f creative writing

Creativity in writing seems com plicated to define yet it can be viewed that in some ways o f w riting (short stories, poetry) are more creative than others (essay writing, thesis writing) Both teachers and students find it difficult to teach and write and too hard to reach It sounds like the famous and great works o f famous people

A ccording to Rozakis (1997), ‘All w riting is creative’ but ‘creative writing is different from everyday-ordinary-com m onplace w riting’ It means that when writings are produced, more or less they are products created out o f creativity But the products are unique in themselves, and they them selves bring different value to their writers

At the creative writing w orkshop at the Hanoi Open U niversity in 2006, M aley kept repeating the great originality creative w riting offers us W hen we write something like short stories or poems, we create things that no one has ever done before Those ideas originated from our own creativity Rozakis (1997) also states: “Creative

W riting is a kind o f writing that uses language in im aginative and bold ways” Being able to create something “aesthetically pleasing” or in other words “artistically appealing” in a foreign language not only helps us to notice the language being used but also gives us the pleasure o f accom plishm ent

W hen w riting an expository text we are essentially instrum entally motivated

We have facts, ideas, and opinions to put across We have to follow rules and conventions o f gramm atical and lexical accuracy The aim o f expository writing is to

be logical, consistent and im personal to the reader In contrast, creative writing is

aesthetically motivated It deals less in facts than in the im aginative representation o f

em otions, events, characters and experience Creative writing doesn't mean breaking the rules o f the language; it also has forms, patterns that we have to follow Creative

w riting aids language developm ent at all levels: grammar, vocabulary, phonology and discourse As learners manipulate the language in interesting and dem anding ways attem pting to express uniquely personal m eanings, they necessarily engage with the language at a deeper level o f processing than with expository texts The gains in gram m atical accuracy, appropriacy and originality o f lexical choice, and sensitivity to rhythm , rhyme, stress and intonation are also significant

In addition, according to Maley (2006) ‘Creative writing is a personal activity, involving feeling" The ingenuity o f a plot or the intricate structure o f a poem is not the product o f unthinking mind It gives the person who writes it the opportunity to express som ething about themselves, gives writers the chance to express our personal meanings, w hat writers are feeling, thinking or w hat we know However, an important quality o f creative writing is the way it can evoke sensations Unlike expository writing, it can be read at many different levels and is multiply interpretable

In short, concepts o f creative w riting above share the same point o f creativity

w hich helps people develop im agination and express their feelings and thoughts

w ithout breaking the language rules o f language Creativity should therefore have a

m ore and m ore im portant place in teaching and learning English writing Creativity activities may allow teachers to make good use o f their students’ im agination and get the m ore involved in learning process W ith the wide range o f classroom activities, students are helped to build up confidence in doing their learning tasks as they learn

to view other people as unique individuals In addition, students can enrich their vocabulary through the process o f learning creative writing, and rem ove the barriers

o f ideas for w riting when they work in pair or group because they can learn ideas from their friends during discussion Furtherm ore, students will realize how creative they are through their w riter work and how they can explore their im agination and put into their w riting learning

2.2.2 Types o f Creative Writing

V arious types o f creative writing can be found in many newspapers, m agazine, publishes, or on the Web However, A ccording to R ozakis (2007) there are the best

students in school (see A ppendix 1 for detail definition o f top ten types o f creative writing) All types o f creative writing mentioned above can be used to design activities for students in class, but the im portant thing is what kinds o f creative activities are available for teachers to find sources to design activities for the writers who are beginner as the first year students in 1BD program at NEU Each o f them may have his/her own kind o f writing they are able to write or good at writing Therefore, two popular kinds with variety o f sources for teachers to take as reference and help students enhance their im agination and creativeness w ithout many difficulties in

m astering through activities in classes are poem s and short stories among ten types

2.2.3 Benefits o f creative writing in the classroom

A ccording to Powell (1996), applying creative w riting in classroom is very important Because for students, it is like a new way o f encouragem ent in individual

w riting for individual purposes and concerns, rather than tasks set by their teacher Powell had m entioned the benefits o f poem s and short stories as the reason for using creative w riting in the class room that they are a useful tool o f encouragement for students to write creatively It also helps the students be led tow ards better English because this may help to im prove vocabulary and standards o f grammatical accuracy

W hen talking about Poetry in the Adult ESL Classroom (1999), Eric also stated that

poetry provides adults with rich learning opportunities in language, content, and com m unity building Repetition o f words and structure typifies poetry, and poetry encourages language play w ith rhythm ic and rhym ing devices Poetic themes are often universal; at the same tim e, giving insights into individuals’ lives, cultures, beliefs and practices W hen teachers and learners write and read poetry together, they connect w ith texts and w ith one another in pow erful way

Blue (1997) has encouraged ESL students to get “outside the box” o f

traditional academ ic research paper by com bining Creative writing with Academ ic research He engaged the students’ creativity energy w hile not scaring students

through what he called a creative research story The assignm ent proposed by Blue (1997) follows T.S.Eliot’s belief that “am ateurs borrow ; professional steal” by having students try to imitate a story they have read by a professional author After thoroughly researching the author’s m ethods, style, symbolism, and so on, his

stu dents will then "b orrow " (they are am ateurs after all) these ideas to create stories o f their ow n.

To summarize, above m entioned previous studies show the benefits o f creative w riting in general and short stories and poetry in particular for students in classroom Firstly, it is an effective means which is innovative, challenging, effective and learner-centered for L2 students who want to practice their English and culture and w riting styles o f native writers Secondly, it creates academic benefits in terms

o f text analysis and com prehension, both for content and forms which students can steal or borrow from professional authors Finally, creative writing can provide a creative and em otional counterbalance to the rather cerebral nature o f academic study

For language learners: When discussing benefits o f Creative W riting for the

process o f language learning, H arm er (2001) insists that “It helps us ‘notice’ language” He claimed that ‘noticing’ the use and meanings o f words and patterns at the sentence and discourse level is central to the acquisition o f an additional language, and that it helps learners becom e more independent in their learning We cannot write with creativity if we do not notice patterns M uch o f what we teach in creative w riting classes focuses on the patterns, rather than others form and invites learners to try out their patterns (and change them) Viete (2006) also states that

“creative w riting makes learning m otivating and fun”; because w riters seeking words

to m ake m eaning are m otivated to expand their vocabulary And m ore than that, creative writing helps learners express them selves, which helps them learn about each other Another benefit o f Creative W riting under the view o f Powell (1973) is

“ It gives us ownership o f language” Because according to Powell, we often associate creative writing with ‘good’ w riters and ‘good’ writers with the mythical

‘native speaker’ concept, we often believe that we will never fully belong in the language W riting creatively can help us to believe in ourselves as owners o f the language and even beginners can achieve this Last but not least, “It expands what others can do with language”, thus reinvigorates language Kramsch (2003) has given exam ples o f poems w ritten by L2 learners o f English in two or three languages (in the same poem ), which are perfectly com prehensible to an audience that does not speak all o f these languages

In general, creative writing courses allow learners to have an opportunity and

an avenue by which they can not only express them selves creatively, but they also will be able to bring their ideas to life, especially the dedication and the pride they will feel when they see their work come to life Students can create stories, poems, or other works that would allow them to infuse their personality as well as their "story"

to express themselves Besides, with creative writing activities from teachers, students can have a chance to open their eyes to the joys o f self-expression, and to encourage them to write their own truth and not someone else And in trying to understand the motivations o f their characters in a story, they will learn to understand other people's points o f view In contem plating the different things that can happen in a story, they will realize the possibilities in their own lives In striving to make others understand what they're trying to convey students will be more adept in the use o f language, and will benefit them in any endeavor that requires oral or written expression As a result, creative writing and its benefits are crucial tools for developing those abilities for students

For language teachers: Creative W riting does not only bring benefits for

language learners but also for language teachers Franz Andres M orrissey (2003) revealed in the research o f “W hat can Creative W riting do for the teachers?” that the feeling o f being able to create im ages or worlds w ith words, o f getting a memory or

an idea crystallized into words, is one o f the most exciting and stim ulating intellectual experience as a teacher Creativity provides a boost to teachers’ morale w hich is borne out by participants’ responses to the question as to w hether they feel the seminars o f creative w riting can benefit them It fills teachers w ith the kind o f enthusiasm that

m akes them want to make other people try the same thing

Supporting for enthusiasm o f teacher to m ake others try creative writing, Franz (2003) adm itted that a creative w riting sem inar is useful and highly appreciated because a lot o f language teachers find personal stim ulation in writing As a lot o f writing, especially present-day w riting is rather playful, an additional benefit for teachers can be that through teachers’ w riting they learn to explore other facets o f the language than the ones they normally (have to) teach This too can be quite a liberating experience as our way o f dealing w ith language tends to be somewhat norm ative and prescriptive It is therefore not surprising that many o f the teachers say

in personal conversations or in the “rem arks section” o f their feedback questionnaires that such writing seminars are a way o f recharging their batteries, o f being allowed to give their im agination free rein and to discover abilities they didn 't know they had and w ould like to continue to explore Obviously, in-service teacher training can 't be reduced to making participants feel good about them selves, but it stands to reason that

a teacher who has experienced success in an unexpected field or has found a possibility to exercise her/his mental faculties enjoyably while requiring nothing more than a notebook and a pencil will return to the classroom with renewed vigor

As we have seen, creativity brings teacher rem arkable benefits, it appears to be encouragem ent for teachers to make effort to find out exciting and stimulating teaching method In addition, creative writing can help teachers improve language developm ent and train themselves through feedback and designing activities for students out o f the course book they are using to teach

2.2.4 Creative writing m ethodologies in E L T classroom s

Warm-up activities: In article “ Write on! - Creative writing as language practice ” Franz Andres M orrissey views that less confident students may feel under

pressure to turn in a m asterpiece, which m ay block them in their writing To prevent this, they should let students do som e activities either orally and/or in groups Students can first explore an idea together, possibly w ithout com m itting themselves

on paper If we want to explore a whole range o f activities connected to a given field

in class, for exam ple, in characterization, it pays to introduce the topic w ith a playful opening or lead in activity, ideally connected to the sort o f language games students may play in their own language or in class, and to make use o f the fact that most people find talking easier than writing This opens ways into the field that are easy and non-threatening

Classroom Activities: Blair (2008) said that “Every student has the potential for writing well W riting activities will m otivate students to write and will make teaching w riting interesting for teachers” M uch o f writing can happen outside the classroom w ith the exception o f activities that require interaction, for exam ple if two students write alternate lines o f a poem in a 'ping-pong1 writing activity (both partners write, say, a line o f a poem, then exchange their sheets and write the next

line to the one the partner wrote and continue until the text is finished) Teachers will give be responsible for designing activities and let students a chance to show their creativity and im agination by guiding them and giving feedback after activities Students should also be encouraged to rewrite first drafts (which improves the language and the choice o f vocabulary) For the first time, it seems to be a little bit hard for students to write something in creative way because they have not understood the process o f creative w riting but later when they have already written som ething down on papers without any barriers o f gramm atical rules or formal style everything becom es less difficult Because they can free to write what they have in their mind with the im agination w ithout worrying it is wrong or write.

Presenting and feedback: Viete (2006) has shared idea that standing in the

point o f students, creative writing invites more feedback about our language use She explains when we write creatively, we need to share it, not ju st to get a response, but

to get a response that focuses on the way we put the words together The feedback can help to understand the effects o f our words better, and also expands our alternatives A very im portant part o f the creative w riting process generally is presentation o f texts for feedback to be incorporated in re-writes For language training this opens up a range o f possibilities, from suggestions for im provem ent o f the text to group discussions In addition, by presenting their products in class they can learn from their friends, they know w hat their friends are thinking about and they may realize that how creative they and their friends are They can show their

im agination, ability o f w riting and creativeness for others’ valuation On the other hand, feedback from teachers can help them im prove their vocabulary and writing style o f students From com ments and suggestions o f teachers students can know

w hich m istake they have made and w hat they need to improve if they w ant to write som ething in creative way

2.2.5 Writing po em and short stories in the classroom.

There are no limits in creative writing as far as genre is concerned as well as in

w hat types o f creative w riting students m ay learn to write in class Students can try short stories, dialogue in short dramatic scenes and poems The main constraint is tim e and therefore space M ost texts will have to be relatively short Eric (1999) view ed that it may be useful to focus on poetry as beginning And Viete (2006)

considered short stories are a good type o f w riting for students develop their imagination M oreover, it also has the double advantages that the brevity o f poems allows us to write a first draft (or much o f it) in class and to present a text in class with discussion For some teachers, the problem with poetry is that they are uneasy about it because they see it as the most sublime form o f writing For students this is much less o f a problem and their writing o f poems can become rather im pressive once they realize that formal constraints, especially rhyme, are not indispensable for a good poem Therefore, the poem s and short stories for students to write in class should be carefully considered in order to make them ease to writing Short stories can come from daily life, for instance, and poem s will be started with some certain templates already which are only fulfilled with words resulting from ideas

According to Flanagan, there is a variety o f poetry; however, another one defined poetry as "the spontaneous overflow o f powerful feelings “Poetry is the chiseled

m arble o f language; it's a paint-spattered canvas - but the poet uses words instead o f paint, and the canvas is you Poetic definitions o f poetry kind o f spiral in on them selves, however, like a dog eating itself from the tail up Let's, in fact, get gritty.” (Flanagan said) Poetry com es from an im aginary place m eaning that it m ust be creative A poem is the product o f sincere and deep feeling, and it touches the heart and appeals to the em otions It is an expression in beautiful language o f some experience that appeals to the human heart A real poem will m ake reader feel what the poet who wrote it felt, so that reader will really experience w hat he experienced The poet has the pow er o f using words so as to produce in us a sort o f enchantment Furtherm ore, there is variety o f po em ’s perspective (see A ppendix 7) but not all perspective is relevant for designing activities for students in classroom Among them, the view o f poetry as the highest form o f human expression o f Charton and poetry as an outlet in w hich author can express inner most thoughts and feelings o f Kuperavage may help students feel free to w rite w ithout worrying and enjoyable when learning writing lessons

In general, each person perceives Poetry in his own way But all o f them can help its w riters share em otions, thoughts and inner life (often through m etaphor), and

to m ake them learn about each other By using creative writing activities o f poem teachers can m ake students use poems as the way o f expressing them selves or sending

message to readers Students feel like releasing their emotions, speaking their souls, com m unicating with the world or they want to use language to describe the most beautiful and wonderful things in the world They believe that, by this way the world will becom e better and they them selves can harm onize and integrate with the world

by pow er o f language

It is also believed that creative w riting o f short stories is a fantastic way to encourage the im agination as well as increase learning Actively writing in English is the only way to gain a true understanding and appreciation for the language Starting with fam iliar objects, people around, or even though it is the feeling, em otion or secret o f students they want to share, to express in the second language Keegan

(1999) expressed his ideas o f “What is a short sto r y ? ” that the short story is an

illustration o f one facet o f human nature Often a character undergoes some event and experiences som ething w hich offers him change This is why it's said that short stories usually "say something", often a narrow or small something, but sometimes delivered with such precision that the effect is exquisite, even a life-m om ent for the reader, som ething akin to a religious experience or seeing a never-to-be-repeated scene in nature

Keegan (1999) also said that the perfect short story is written with a poet's feel for language, with a poet's precision, and that the shape and sounds and rhythms

o f the words are more commonly part o f the work's effect than is usually seen in the novel In a poem, the bare words are virtually never the complete meaning They interact, their sounds do things, and how they are placed on the page matters From this point o f view, we can see the relationship between the poetry and short stories in term o f creative writing and they supposed to improve writing skill in general.

In short, with an illustration o f im agination and nature as well as the openness to inner life o f people, short stories can help students use all the vocabulary and ideas to write w hat they want By this way, they can improve their vocabulary as well as their w riting style in creative way

2.3 S u m m a ry

In short, there are a lot o f definitions concerning writing in general and creative writing in particular but it can be sum m arized with some main points First, writing or creative writing requires creativity and imagination However, with creative writing it is freer for writer to express their em otions and feelings as well as develop their imaginations It is not the only way to breathe new life into a language class but provides interesting, lively opportunities for language practice Second, both o f writing and creative w riting requires precision and accuracy in expression and vocabulary Third, it is not writing about anything and everything but allows us to focus on specific ideas, forms or literary texts, there are a lot o f creative writing types but not all o f them are available and suitable for teachers to design activities in classes for students Forth, writing poem and short stories is not out o f reach for m ost o f students but they create opportunities for students to explore their language and their

im agination Finally, creative writing o f poem s and short stories is not a substitute or

a replacem ent for oral com m unication but represents a lively, stim ulating way to give new m eaning to a som ewhat lesser-used language skill In addition, students can start creative w riting with poetry and short stories w hich are fam iliar with them at school and in daily life As the result, it could be proved that creative writing activities can help im prove students’ w riting skill with rich source o f vocabulary, variety o f writing styles, freedom o f writing, ideas from readings and bloom ing imaginations

C H A P T E R 3: M E T H O D O L O G Y

This chapter discusses all aspects related to the design and execution o f the main study It starts by presenting the research question and operations o f the relevant concepts It also describes in detail research design, participants, treatm ents (writing activities o f poems and short stories) and tests Reliability and validity issues are also studied in this chapter

3.1 Experimental research

The present study is concerned itself with the process and the relationship between the process (creative writing activities) and the product (acquisition) and is predom inantly cognitive in nature It investigates language learning within a fram ew ork originally developed by Jenkins (1979) and adapted and expanded by

H ulstijin (1989) This framework com prises five factors:

processed by the learner

features to be learned

the input

Table 2: Five fa cto rs o f language learning fram ew ork

In this research, target structures will be considered as ideas and vocabulary

w hich students can use during the works o f activities they have to do in the class’s lessons and in the post-test Activities in classes are tools to inspire students them selves to learning w riting skill, and help them avoid being bored and difficult

w ith w riting lessons they have to consume

3.2 Subjects o f the study

The subjects o f the study are first year 50 students o f level 2 - intermediate level (including o f 2 classes I4A and I4D) o f Intake 4 in the International Bachelor Degree (IBD) program at National Econom ics University This is an English based

training program During their first year o f the program they study English as their

m ajor with 5 periods each day and 4 days a week There are 4 levels upgraded from Pre-Interm ediate to Advanced equivalent to IELTS 6.0 after first year o f studying English as major They will then study m ajor econom ics subjects in English only The course books o f English language used for this program vary due to the skills focused

These students according to the researcher are the m ost appropriate subjects for this study because o f following reasons First, this is an English based course in collaboration with Sunderland U niversity and National Econom ics University Therefore, it receives lots o f attention and care from the board o f directors as well as teachers Second, passing the level 4 equivalent to IELTS 6.0 is com pulsory for the students who want to continue with other m ajor subjects in the program Thus, these students take learning seriously to avoid being kicked out h alf way Third, the teachers who are selected among teachers o f the Foreign Language Faculty o f NEU find it a unique chance to experim ent and apply new ideas and methods in language teaching into the classroom without having to follow as closely the syllabus or lesson plans o f the course book as those w ith other non-m ajor and m ajor classes here at this university N ew ideas are encouraged and supported to make teaching successful and learning fruitful

A ccording to research questions, the independent variables are two methods o f teaching during the experiment The first one is teaching w ith creative writing, in

w hich the teacher, besides following syllabus o f the program, will apply activities o f short stories and poem s and use w riting form o f description during the tim e o f teaching w riting for experimental group o f IBD students And the second one is rigidly following the set syllabus, using tradition a non-creative w riting activities The dependent variable is w riting skill perform ance o f experimental group with creative

w riting The result will be described in stu d e n ts' post test scores based on the m arking and assessm ent criteria.

To find answers to the research questions, this study uses writing test as the data collection instrument, the pre-test and the post-test with the same format to evaluate efficiency o f creative w riting teaching on students’ writing performance

im provem ent more precisely The pre-test will be conducted to find out the quality o f students’ writing papers o f both groups before applying creative writing in teaching

w riting skill for the experimental group A fter the first week o f pretest, the applied activities o f creative writing activities for students to do right during the last one third period o f time in class (shown in the next part) were applied

The pre-test also shows if the two classes are really o f the same ability as assumed The post-test will be conducted to exam ine students’ im provement in

w riting skill after the applied activities Pretest will m easure writing ability o f students based on four sections o f organization, ideas, vocabulary and accuracy (see

A ppendix 2 for marking scheme o f pre test) The post test for students has the same form with pretest with four sections o f m arking scheme, however, unity and coherence o f a good paragraph are put into evaluation because students at the end o f the course they have understand what a good paragraph is Vocabulary and additional inform ation will be used to evaluate effect o f creative writing activities for experim ental group com pared to control one Each test takes 30 m inutes to complete The scores range from 0 to 10 The two tests (pre and post) may be the same

A fter conducting the pre-test on both groups, applying creative w riting o f poetry and short stories to the experim ental group and traditional teaching to control group until the end o f semester, then the questionnaire will be distributed to experim ental students to find out attitudes, feelings, expectations, problem s and progress or im provem ent in their process o f learning writing skill In addition, a small contest can be held between two groups, candidates from each group are chosen randomly The result can be used to support the questionnaire data as well as exploring students’ attitude, expectations in learning writing

3.3.1 D esigning pre-test and post-test (See A ppendix 3 for sam ple tests and

m arking schem es)

Pre-test (appendix 3) with the aim at finding out the quality o f students'

writing papers to make sure that both o f groups have the same ability in using English

as the second language And this kind o f the pre-test is often used in IBD program as

a part o f writing test for the final test o f level 1 and 2 The researcher has decided to

use one o f test in the program to m easure the writing skill for each level o f IBD

students as the pre-test for students in both groups, the subjects o f the study are

students who start the level 2 (interm ediate level), at this level students will learn how

to brainstorm , generate topics, organize ideas, w rite cohesive paragraphs and organize

them into clear, logical expository com positions The course book for the level 2 o f

IBD students is ‘ Writing fro m Within ' o f Cutis Kelly & Arlen Gargagliano.

The pre-test is adopted from the W riting exam ination - Tyndale English

Language Level 2 Certificate - D ecem ber 2008 The researcher found it suitable

w hen using the test o f the program to evaluate the ability o f students The content o f test has reflected what students learned in level 1 concerning grammar, sentence

building, and vocabulary as well as using the provided inform ation as the guide to

write They haven’t learned what is called a paragraph with topic sentence,

concluding sentence or coherence as well So the m arking scheme (see appendix 3) is

also not focus on w riting a good paragraph, it is about organization and using

provided inform ation with accuracy in gram m ar and vocabulary

The post test (appendix 3), firstly, is to make sure to evaluate the objective o f the w riting course they’ve learnt - w riting a good paragraph But it has the same form

w ith pre test to ensure the validity o f both two tests for m easuring the im provem ent o f students, and it is more realizable to com pare between two groups and within one

group before and after treatments However, w ith the post test students have to write

an em ail by them selves w ithout having the sample beforehand, because they have

learnt about good paragraph and how to write email due to the course book and

syllabus Secondly, the test can measure the criteria o f creative writing the researcher

is experim enting to explore the links between creative w riting o f short stories and

poem s and effective writing skills for students in the study W ith this test, writing skill

on making a good paragraph is evaluated; on the other hand, the researcher can

measure and evaluate students' im provement after experiencing creative writing o f

poems and short stories during the course o f experimental group

As for m arking schemes o f both pre-and post-test, ideas and vocabulary are

focused to measure influence o f creative w riting o f short stories and poem s

accom panied by evaluation o f good paragraph So the researcher can check the

writing perform ance o f students and clarify the effect o f short stories and poem s

between the two groups o f study based on the score o f the test

3.3.2 Schedule o f the main activities f o r the study (See the descriptions o f

applied activities in A ppendix 2)

Pre-test

2-10

Weekly Activity: Cinquain poem s

Weekly Activity: Chain stories / M ulti

authored stories

Weekly Activity: D iam ond-shaped poem s

Weekly Activity: Truth telling card

Weekly Activity: Love Poem s

Weekly Activity: A cting in the stories o f

‘The Goose a n d the Golden E gg ’ a n d ‘The

Boy and the N uts ’

Weekly Activity: Collaborative poem s

W eekly Activity: ‘‘Parents never say ”

Weekly Activity: The p erson I adm ire

The stories can be varied due to the teacher

another topic involving in describing people also

3.3.3 Q uestionnaires (see A ppendix 5)

A questionnaire was conducted am ong 25 students o f experimental group after the course o f teaching creative w riting o f poems and short stories The questionnaire was employed for the following reasons: it is economical and not time consum ing compared to interviews and classroom observation; students may also feel safe and com fortable when their names are not identified and the information they provide is promised to be treated confidential Therefore, there is a higher chance for the reliability o f the questionnaire

The questionnaire is com posed o f three main sections with tw elve questions

to be answered The first section is filter questions concerning getting students to provide some personal inform ation around their age, gender, level o f English proficiency, length o f English study, num ber o f English classes per week The second section is to ask them a few questions about their attitudes tow ards writing in general The focus o f the questionnaire is located right at the end concerning opinions o f students on creative writing These questions were designed based on the Likert model with the answ er o f five scales from strongly agree to strongly disagree This model can measure the expectation and satisfaction o f correspondents in the field they involved The question on the difficulties o f learning to write poem s and short stories is meant to help the researcher to make im provem ents for the future courses Their ideas on how to make the course even a m ore success are o f great

im portance to the study The last question for these students to answer is if they wish

to have it included in the curriculum That data after being analyzed quantitatively and qualitatively will be discussed to m ake the finding m ore convincing

Some m ain contents o f the questionnaire w ere consulted by my colleagues who also attended creative writing workshops and applied some o f creative writing activities for their class for one sem ester for non-m ajor English student in 2007 and some time

as w arm -up activities for the w riting lessons They have made contribution to perfecting questionnaire by sharing their experience and observing w ith their classes

U nder which, the researcher can take their ideas to make questionnaire in accordance with the content o f study concerning short stories and poem s only However, the questionnaire concludes closed-ended questions which bring some certain

shortcom ings such as respondents do not have their own opinion or answ er because the questionnaire asks respondents to choose provided responds.

3.4 D e s c rip tio n o f d a t a a n a ly s is to o ls

To get data and result o f students after one experimental semester, SPSS is used to analyze data and find out that creative w riting can help students to take interest into writing and make it better or not, under which they can improve their

w riting skill

T-tests are used for data analysis in this study According to W ikipedia “A t- test is any statistical hypothesis test in which the test statistic follows a Student's t distribution if the null hypothesis is true It is m ost com monly applied when the test statistic w ould follow a normal distribution (a continuous probability distribution that describes data that cluster around a m ean or average) if the value o f a scaling term in the test statistic were known When the scaling term is unknown and is replaced by an estim ate based on the data, the test statistic (under certain conditions) follows a Student's t distribution.” In this kind o f test, the null hypothesis is usually rejected and the alternative hypothesis is accepted if the probability value - (p) value (which is a num ber obtained from the research results using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS), produces the scores w hich is less than or equal to the significance level 0.05 (p < 0.05) It means that if (p) is less than or equal to 5% and the results declared statistically significant at 0.05 or 5% significance level On the contrary, if (p) is greater than 0.05 the null hypothesis is not rejected and the results are declared

to be statistically non-significant The reason to choose SPSS is that it is among the

m ost widely used program s for statistical analysis in social science It is used by

m arket researchers, health researchers, survey com panies, government, education researchers, marketing organizations and others By this model, it is easy to compare not only the over all results among two groups or w ithin one group, but also each pair

o f criteria in m arking to write out specific relationship between subjects

In this study H ypotheses can be seen as:

N ull h ypothesis: creative writing activities o f short stories and poem s would not significantly improve w riting skill o f IBD students

A lte rn a tiv e hypothesis: creative w riting activities o f short stories and poems would significantly improve w riting skill o f IBD students

Two types o f t-test (independent group and paired samples) will be used to analyze the collected data, basing on the assum ption that the data meet the rule o f normal distribution First, the results o f the pre-test are compared between two groups

to check their writing paper quality Independent group t-test is conducted for this purpose Second, the results o f pre and post test are compared within each group, using paired samples tests, to determine how the teaching method (either using creative w riting or not) affects students' improvement Third, the post tests results are analyzed, using independent groups to com pare writing skill im provem ent between two groups after the experiment Finally, questionnaire will be conducted to find out students' attitudes tow ard writing in general and creative writing in particular

Through data analysis, the truth will be exposed to answer the question o f the researcher on the effectiveness o f the two kinds o f creative writing on first year students’ w riting skill im provem ent in IBD program at NEU

CHAPTER 4: RESULTS AND FINDINGS

The aim o f this chapter is to report the results o f the study and to present some discussion o f the m ajor findings The results which have been collected from the research, the pre-test, post-test and questionnaires will be presented and analyzed in this chapter The answers for the research questions o f the experimental study will be revealed through evaluation o f applied activities, the result o f pre-test between groups, the result o f post-test between groups, the result o f pre-test, post-test within groups, discussion o f the test results and a summary

4.1 Influences of applied activities on experimental students (See Appendix

6 for some students’ real work)

After introducing and integrating some activities o f creative writing in class for experim ental group o f students, the research reveals some interesting findings have been revealed for both teachers and students in teaching and learning creative writing lessons

As for students, the first influence should be recognized is the considerable

im provem ent o f writing class atm osphere in w hich m ost students feel comfortable, achievable and excited about writing in class They are interested in activities in stead

o f being bored with w riting traditional classes They try their best to com plete poems and try to reach the critical and creative thinking to produce the best product, share ideas or discuss to find out the best one for their product Take diam ond shaped poem (appendix 6) as an exam ple, at first students had not drawn in their mind how they can

w rite a poem but later w hen they had a sample and teachers’ input, they came up with

a lot o f ideas and urged to make poem interesting and in ju st a short period o f time Students showed their m otivating surprise at the idea o f being able to com pose their own poem s in a foreign language Especially, at the stage o f presenting their work, the class w as filled with an atm osphere o f fun and relaxation All the students laughed and enjoyed their own and their friends’ w ritten products when they were read out loud Those ideas or prom pts concerning real contexts and real need to write, that were developed by students, make the researcher think o f the real m otivation behind writing That can be the dem ands o f expressing them selves, or sharing with friends through words they use

The second influence is students' active engagement in the writing lessons

L et's take an exam ple o f "truth telling" (appendix 6) card writing Students in the class found it the one and only chance for them to express their true feelings or thoughts about their friends Some took this chance for them to express their true feelings or thoughts about their friends Some took this chance to expose their personal em otions to their secret beloved persons, to say what could be hard to be expressed verbally Some teased their classm ates ju st to make the class laugh To

m ake it more fun, when these students were asked to write down what parents or what they expected their parents to let them do At that time, they wanted to write, they needed to release em otion through words; they wrote with whole heart without any barriers The more they got involved in the process o f writing, the m ore excited they seemed to be As the result, they found that w riting is not difficult as they thought

In addition, students are inspired that during these activities to use dictionary

to find a good word, which helps them learn a lot o f useful and new words to enrich their vocabulary For exam ple, when they write poem s they have to choose the word

w hich has the link with other ones or contain a lot o f meanings to express feelings and

em otions Or when they read stories they can learn not only knowledge which is concluded in the book but also writing style including the way o f using vocabulary, way o f critical thinking o f the author, under w hich they can im itate for their writing in sim ilar contexts As for teachers, these benefits are w hat they w ant students can gain from a w riting lesson

Last but not least, in creative w riting activities the teacher only played the role

as a facilitator By introducing and leading students into the w riting activities, the teacher activates students to do all the work individually, in pairs or in groups depending on the requirem ents o f each activity All activities require students to consider and think about ideas in logical way before writing down In this way,

im agination o f students has a good chance to develop, they can learn from their friends if they have nothing in their mind about the topic given to them M oreover, they are very pleasure to do it because after that they realized how creative they are, how exciting the writing lessons are and how much know ledge they can gain from activities Thus, the teacher has succeeded in letting students be active in their writing

4.2 T h e r e s u lts o f th e w r itin g te s ts (See A ppendix 9 for all sections and overallscores o f tests)

4.2.1 The test results o f the control group

In th is se ctio n , the resu lts o f pre-test and p o st-test o f each group w ere a n alyzed and com p ared by u sin g p aired -sam p le t-test in order to d eterm in e w h eth er there w a s any

im p ro v em en t in reading co m p re h e n sio n in each group after ex p erim en t T he test resu lts o f the con trol group

Table 4 and Figure 4.1 present the results o f pre- and post-test o f control group

Section 1 Section 2 Section 3 Section 4 Total

Figure 4.1: Pre- and Post-test R esults o f the Control Group

in Figure 4 indicates that in spite o f the little im provem ent in writing skill o f control group betw een the pretest and post test with the m eans o f 66.4 and 66.8 respectively, how ever there was not significant difference betw een section 3 and 4 o f the pre- and post-test results (p = 1.0 for section 3 and 0.524 for section 4 > 05) which are mainly used to measure the influence o f creativity on w riting skill im provement for experim ental group In fact, the post-test m ean increased by 4.4 but the standard deviation decreased by 1.11599 in com parison w ith the pre-test m ean but p value o f 0.001 is sm aller than 0.05 This shows that there is significant difference between the results o f pre test and post test And this difference here is a little bit im provem ent in writing skill how ever it happens in term s o f section 1 and 2 concerning organization, using provided inform ation coherence and unity w ith p value o f 0 and 0.032

By com paring results o f before and after the w riting course with paired sample t-test, we can easily see the relationship betw een not only the total results but also score o f each section Therefore, the researcher can consume that the difference betw een pre-test and post-test results was not statistically significant in two sections (3 and 4) involving in influence o f creative w riting on writing skill improvement

4.2.2 The test results o f the experim ental group

In this part, the results o f pre- and post-test o f the experimental group were analyzed and compared to see w hether there was any the links between creative writing o f short stories and poems and writing skill performance im provem ent for IBD first year students in NEU and how they can impact on teaching m ethods o f writing skills and students’ writing perform ance in testing conditions The results o f pre-test and post-test o f the experimental group are described in Table 5 and Figure

Section 1 Section 2 Section 3 Section 4 Total

Figure 5.1: Pre- an d Post-test R esults o f the E xperim ental Group

The results o f paired-sam ple t-test shown in Table 5 reveal a positive

im provem ent in writing skill between pre- and post-test o f the experimental group (pre-test: M = 62.8, SD =9.79796 and post-test: M = 70.4, SD = 7.89515) It is easy to calculate that there was an increase o f 7.6 points between pre- and post-test mean scores This difference was statistically significant (p = 000 < 05)

M oreover, the im provem ent was not only reflected in the total test results, but also in the test results o f all four sections Specifically, the results o f paired-sam ple t- test shown in Table 5 indicate that there w as significant difference in positive direction between pre- and post-test results in all four sections (Section 1: p = 005 < 05; Section 2: p = 003 < 05; Section 3: p = 025 < 05; Section 4: p = 002 < 05) In fact, the post-test mean scores o f all four sections increased in com parison w ith the pre-test results The post-test mean score o f section 1 was higher than that o f the pre­test by 1.4 points (pre-test M = 16.6 v post-test M = 15.2); there was also an increase betw een pre-and post-test in section 2, section 3, and section 4 equivalent 1.6 points,2.4 points and 2.2 points respectively

In general, the p-value o f less then 0.05 shows the significant difference betw een the results o f pre- and post-test o f experim ental group; and the m ean o f post test is higher then the mean o f pre-test It also can be seen easily in figure 5.1 the result o f post test is higher than pretest It means that there is im provement in writing

skill especially in term o f using vocabulary and additional details for supporting ideas because students experienced activities o f creative writing o f short stories and poems.

4.2.3 The test results between control an d experim ental groups

In this section, the results o f pre- and post-test o f two groups o f students were analyzed and compared by using independent-sam ple t-test in order to exam ine the difference in the perform ance o f the two groups on the w riting pre-test before the experim ent; and to find the effectiveness o f creative w riting o f short stories and poem s on the w riting skill im provem ent o f the experimental group compared with that

o f their counterparts in the control group

Table 6 and figure 6.1 present the pre- and post-test results o f the control group and the experimental group

.888

.003

Table 6: The Test Results between C ontrol group an d E xperim ental Group

Group

Experim ental Group

Figure 6.1: The Test Results between C ontrol group an d E xperim ental Group