Journal Review 4: Creative EFL Writing as a Means of Intensifying English Writing Skill Acquisition: A Ukrainian Experience

Tarnopolsky, Oleg. (2005). Creative EFL Writing as a Means of Intensifying English Writing Skill Acquisition: A Ukrainian Experience. TESL Canada Journal/ Revue TESL Du Canada 83 Vol. 23 No. 1, Winter 2005, p76-88

In this research, Tarnopolsky investigates how the technique of creative writing can develop writing skill for EFL (English for Foreign Language) learners in Ukraine. Firstly, Tarnopolsky explains the theory of creative writing and the condition of it in Ukraine EFL teaching. Then, he mentions the technique used in this research, which is the combination of process and genre approach. For this research, Tarnopolsky takes a small group of students who have not learned English before they have it as their major in the university. The research is conducted for the whole academic year of September 2001-May 2002. The technique of creative writing is later divided into three stages and periods. The first stage is approaching creative writing. In this stage, students are prepared by asked to write an essay with independently chosen topic. There is a session of giving comments from the teacher to the students’ writing. The second stage is writing literary works. In this case, students start to focus their writing to be in the form of short story and begin to give comments on other students’ writing. There is also a literary contest where students can perform their writing by reading aloud. The last stage is developing skills in commenting and critique. This stage is similar to the previous stages. The only difference is only the emphasis of comments in written form. Based on the research findings, Tarnopolsky finds that almost in all stages, the students’ enthusiasm and writing ability are improved by applying creative writing technique.