The objective of the research is to develop a language creativity program, and examine the effect of the Korean language class that applied the creativity program on elementary school students.
The research measured language creativity based on thre...
The objective of the research is to develop a language creativity program, and examine the effect of the Korean language class that applied the creativity program on elementary school students.
The research measured language creativity based on three aspects of creative thinking: fluency, flexibility and originality. The research compared students' improvement in creativity by gender.
The research surveyed third graders in an elementary school located in I city, Jeonlabuk-do. After securing primary homogeneity of the group according to gender ratio and participation in extracurricular private education, the research organized a test group and a control group for students who marked average score in E.P. Torrance's CI (Creative Personality Index) test.
Both groups consisted of ten male and ten female students. Pre-test was conducted with language A type of TTCT (Torrance test of creative thinking), and post-test was conducted with language B type of the same test.
Based on Osborn-Parnes's CPS (Creative Problem Solving) model, students in a test group went through 15 sessions of Korean language class for five weeks, from third week of March 2009 through third week of April 2009, that adopted creativity components of the language creativity program developed by the researcher. Students in a control group attended regular Korean language class that centered on a textbook and a teacher's guidebook in accordance with the seventh national curriculum.
After going through class that adopted language creativity program, students took a post-test with language B type of CCTC to measure improvement in language creativity and difference in effect by gender. The result was statistically analyzed.
The following summarizes result of the language creativity program that was applied to Korean language class. Firstly, the language creativity program showed statistically significant effect in improving fluency. Secondly, the same program also showed statistically significant effect in increasing flexibility of students. Thirdly, originality did not show significant improvement after applying the language creativity program, however, average score increased and the program was regarded to have positive effect on students' originality. Lastly, the language creativity program did not affect students' creativity elements differently by gender. In other words, the program was effective in improving creativity for both male and female students.
The result suggests that the language creativity program is effective in improving elementary school students' creativity regardless of their gender. It also demonstrated a possibility of applying the program to a regular Korean language class. Based on principles of improving students' language creativity, teaching-learning materials need to be developed that are applicable to Korean language class.
Use of creativity program in a class turned out highly effective in stimulating students' creativity, and the language creativity program showed a possibility to enhance students' creativity through a class. The research demonstrated that the language creativity program has positive impact on elementary school students' creativity. Korean language curricula need to be modified and teaching-learning method should be improved with consideration for creativity. Also, policy support is required to implement language creativity program at schools.