A Need Analysis on Development of Creative Thinking Skills: A Phenomenological Study

This study adopts a qualitative research design aiming at investigating the perceptions of English language teachers about creative thinking skills in their courses. Six teachers working at the School of Foreign Languages at a state university participated in this study. They had similar educational backgrounds and different years of experience. In terms of teaching English, participants were interviewed in-depth about the conceptualization of creative thinking skills. The purpose of the study was to identify teachers’ perspectives and their ways of implementing sub-dimensions of creative thinking in both face-to-face and online lessons. Semi-structured interview questions were used to collect data in the study and the data were analysed through content analysis method using NVivo 12. The findings of the research are grouped under the following headings: Barriers to Creating a Thinking Class Environment, Existing Supporters, and Defining the Concept. Results revealed that the teachers have defined the ability to think creatively considering the basic perception they had about the concept which is mainly creating new products. It is also understood that they evaluated the concept and associated the sub-dimensions accordingly. It can be inferred that a deeper understanding and well-organized teaching of creative thinking skills are required to be blended into the foreign language education.