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Her Story or their own stories? Digital game-based learning, student creativity, and creative writing

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 June 2019

Sangmin-Michelle Lee Open the ORCID record for Sangmin-Michelle Lee [Opens in a new window]
Sangmin-Michelle Lee*
Affiliation:
Kyung Hee University, Republic of Korea (sangminlee@khu.ac.kr)
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Abstract

This qualitative study investigates a media transfer project in which a digital game was used to promote student creativity in an English as a foreign language (EFL) class. The paper first addresses the potential of opportunities for stimulating student creativity and motivation. Creativity has been highlighted as a core competency and has garnered considerable interest in many fields in recent years; however, creativity and creative writing are rarely cultivated in EFL writing classrooms. This study uses a digital game and designs a creative writing project to provide an authentic learning opportunity through which students were able to develop their creativity, use the target language in a meaningful way, and enjoy learning. A murder mystery game, Her Story, was selected because it provides a springboard for creative writing due to its fragmented and ambiguous narrative. Based on the game plot, 25 Korean university students reimagined the narrative in creative writing projects of their own. The study analyzes the students’ writing according to three constructs in Torrance’s model of creativity: originality, flexibility, and elaboration. The results demonstrate how the students’ writing exhibits considerable creativity in all three constructs. Student reflection papers and surveys indicate that participating in the project enhanced the students’ motivation for and engagement in learning.

Keywords

digital game-based language learningcreativitycreative writingEFL writing
Type
Regular papers
Information
ReCALL , Volume 31 , Issue 3 , September 2019 , pp. 238 - 254
Copyright
© European Association for Computer Assisted Language Learning 2019 

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