Creativity, Topic Familiarity, and L2 Performance in Story Continuation Writing Tasks

Abstract

An increasing number of studies have integrated creativity into second language (L2) speech/writing and task-based language teaching frameworks, investigating its associations with L2 task performance and, in some cases, the moderating influence of task characteristics. Against this backdrop, the present study examines the role of creativity in L2 performance of story continuation writing tasks (SCWTs) that differ in topic familiarity while controlling for L2 proficiency. Seventy-six Chinese high school students learning French participated in the study by completing a French placement test, a series of creative thinking assessments and personality scales, and an SCWT on either a familiar (n = 37) or unfamiliar (n = 39) topic. Correlational and regression analyses indicated that, after controlling for L2 proficiency, learners’ creative capabilities significantly predicted their performance on unfamiliar L2 SCWTs. Creativity played a more pronounced role in content-related dimensions of task performance compared to linguistic aspects. Furthermore, only the cognitive dimensions of creativity, i.e., divergent and convergent thinking, showed significant correlations with L2 SCWT performance, while socio-personality dimensions of creativity did not exhibit significant effects. These findings enhance a more refined comprehension of creativity as an individual difference variable, highlighting how it interacts with task-related components in shaping L2 performance outcomes.