The Place of Creative Writing in an EFL University Curriculum

When L2 writing is taught at university level in Japan, the direction of travel tends to be towards academic, expository forms. Students are taught to write in academic modes with a heavy emphasis on correct citation and referencing. While this is a necessary part of L2 acquisition, it is not the whole story. This singular focus ignores two rich and vital aspects of linguistic development: creativity and self-expression. This article puts forward the argument for creative writing (CW) to be included alongside academic writing in any four-skills curriculum, for any age and level, but with a special emphasis on university level students. The article discusses definitions of creative writing and reasons for creative writing’s persistent absence from many courses, before moving on to analyse the different ways in which creative writing benefits the L2 learner, drawing evidence from ESL/EFL contexts and previous studies in the fields of writing and developmental psychology.