Promoting creativity through language play in EFL classrooms

Abstract

Teaching creativity in second language (L2) education has recently received increasing attention. Despite its central role in language creativity, language play in L2 classrooms has not been fully explored. This article revisits the theoretical grounding of creativity in language education, particularly focusing on language play, and provides pedagogical suggestions for its implementation in L2 classrooms. We propose five different types of language play with example activities to help language teachers understand and integrate them in their instruction. We argue that language play can promote L2 learners’ creativity by motivating students to communicate their ideas and raising their metalinguistic awareness. Especially in an English as a foreign language (EFL) setting where teachers face challenges in implementing the principles of communicative language teaching (CLT) and creativity, language play can be a good tool for teachers to foster students’ communicative competence and build a space that encourages them to be creative and explorative. As a conclusion, we provide guidelines for teachers on how to integrate language play in their classrooms.

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