The Cultivation of Creativity in Foreign-Language Education: Association Practices in a Japanese-language Classroom

Figure 1. As shown in Figure 1, the pedagogy utilizes vocabulary free association practice, vocabulary compulsory association practice, and vocabulary association writing practice to mature creative thinking skills and the exercises are meant to improve students’ language expertise. In addition, creative activities elevate their learning motivation and association practices promote their creativity by activating the three components of individual creativity. Figure 2.The mind map shown in Figure 2 is the worksheet of vocabulary free association practice.Starting from the central word presented on the worksheet of vocabulary free association practice, students write, within a given time limit, those words that immediately come to mind on the empty lines surrounding the central word. Figure 3. The worksheet shown in Figure 3 is used for the vocabulary compulsory association practice.Starting from the central word presented on the worksheet of vocabulary compulsory association practice, students write associative vocabularies based on specific items within a given time limit. Figure 4. The pictures shown in Figure 4 are used to guide the vocabulary association writing practice.At first glance, there is no relationship among the pictures. The instructor might show students three pictures simultaneously and ask them to associate based on their existing knowledge. By associating, students can write down key words and summarize the contents to write an essay. Figure 5.An answer example given by a student on the thinking theme test is shown in Figure 5. The student wrote the answers in the Japanese language. In the post-test, this student wrote more ideas in different categories than in the pre-test, and the unusualness of ideas increased. Figure 6. The items shown in Figure 6 are the evaluation criteria in the thinking theme pre-test and post-test corresponding to fluency, flexibility, and originality. They all increased in the post-test. Figure 7. An answer response to the vocabulary association writing test by a student is shown in Figure 7. The student wrote the answers in the Japanese language.In the post-test, the number of associated vocabulary words increased, and the quality of students’ vocabulary, grammar, and writing abilities had all improved. Figure 8. Results of Japanese-language expertise assessment.It shows that the scores on the post-test were statistically higher than those on the pre-test. Figure 9. Results of motivation questionnaire.It showed that about 80% of the students gave a good evaluation of all items. Table 1. These results showed that the association practices increased the number of ideas, variety of ideas, and unusualness after the practical lecture and that they promoted creative thinking. Table 2. It confirmed that students’ Japanese-language expertise had significantly improved.图1。如图1所示，本教学法采用词汇自由联想练习（vocabulary free association practice）、词汇强制联想练习（vocabulary compulsory association practice）以及词汇联想写作练习（vocabulary association writing practice），以锤炼学生的创造性思维能力（creative thinking skills），相关练习旨在提升学生的语言素养（language expertise）。此外，创意活动可提升学生的学习动机（learning motivation），而联想练习则通过激活个体创造力（individual creativity）的三大构成要素，助力学生创造力的发展。 图2。如图2所示的思维导图（mind map）为词汇自由联想练习的工作表。以该练习工作表上呈现的中心词为起点，学生需在规定时限内，在中心词周围的空白栏中写下即刻浮现于脑海中的词汇。 图3。图3所示的工作表用于词汇强制联想练习。以该练习工作表上呈现的中心词为起点，学生需在规定时限内，依据特定条目写出关联词汇。 图4。图4展示的图片用于指导词汇联想写作练习。初看之下，这些图片之间并无关联。教师可同时向学生展示三张图片，并引导其结合既有知识展开联想。通过联想，学生可写下关键词并总结内容，进而撰写短文。 图5。图5展示了一名学生在思维主题测试（thinking theme test）中的作答示例，该生使用日语作答。在后测（post-test）中，该生相较于前测（pre-test），写出了更多不同类别的观点，且观点的新颖性有所提升。 图6。图6展示的条目为思维主题前测与后测中对应流畅性（fluency）、灵活性（flexibility）与独创性（originality）的评价标准。在后测中，各项指标均有所提升。 图7。图7展示了一名学生在词汇联想写作测试中的作答结果，该生使用日语作答。在后测中，学生的关联词汇数量有所增加，其词汇、语法及写作能力的质量均得到提升。 图8。日语语言素养评估结果。该结果显示，后测得分在统计学上显著高于前测得分。 图9。学习动机问卷（motivation questionnaire）结果。结果显示，约80%的学生对所有条目均给出了良好评价。 表1。上述结果表明，经过本次实践授课后，联想练习可增加学生的观点数量、丰富观点的多样性，并提升观点的新颖性，同时可促进创造性思维的发展。 表2。该结果证实，学生的日语语言素养得到了显著提升。