Linguistic creativity in language learning: investigating the impact of creative text materials and teaching approaches in the second language classroom

This paper presents the rationale for Linguistic Creativity in Language Learning, a classroom-based research project. The project investigates the impact of using literary texts on learners’ second language literacy, motivation and linguistic and non-linguistic creativity. It also explores how different teaching approaches (‘creative’ versus ‘functional’) may modulate the effects of exposure to texts. The participants in the study are learners of French and German in English secondary schools in Year 9 (age 14). The initial pilot study results presented in this paper suggest that learners view language learning as difficult but generally worthwhile, and express an interest in experiencing ‘real-life’ applications of the second language. The project aims to address this need by generating pr