Creative Thinking in Language Classrooms: A Qualitative Study of Instructional Practices, Divergent Thinking, and Curriculum Constraints

Abstract

This study explores how creative thinking emerges in language classrooms through the interaction of instructional practices, learner cognition, and curriculum constraints. Grounded in an integrated framework that combines Vygotsky's sociocultural theory, Guilford and Runco's divergent thinking theory, and Amabile's componential creativity theory, the study adopts a qualitative interpretivist design based on semi-structured interviews with 22 English as a foreign language (EFL) teachers in Amman, Jordan. Thematic analysis reveals that dialogic and interactive instructional strategies enable creative engagement by stimulating fluency, flexibility, and originality in language use. However, rigid syllabi, limited instructional time, and the high-stakes Tawjihi examination constrain these practices. Crucially, curriculum constraints do not merely reduce creativity but reshape how teachers operationalize creative pedagogy, leading to adaptive practices such as "small creativity” brief, compressed creative episodes embedded within examination preparation lessons. The study also identifies second language (L2) proficiency as a condition shaping the expression of creative thinking, showing that lower-proficiency learners may struggle to demonstrate creative thinking even when instructional conditions are supportive. The study concludes that creative thinking is mediated, bounded, and a proficiency-conditioned process, not an individual cognitive trait. This research contributes to the EFL creativity literature by documenting how Jordanian teachers negotiate the interaction of pedagogy, learner cognition, linguistic proficiency, and curriculum constraints under the Tawjihi system, while identifying the adaptive practice of "small creativity" as a contextually situated pedagogical response to institutional constraints. The findings extend understandings of creativity in language education by demonstrating how teachers adapt creative pedagogies within examination-oriented environments rather than abandoning them.