Reading and Scholarly Creativity: A Study with Spanish and Chilean Preservice Teachers

The main aim of this study is to analyse whether scholarly creativity can be linked to the reading process (reading preferences and reading metacognition) of preservice teachers. The research was carried out using a quantitative, descriptive, exploratory, cross-sectional design. The sample consisted of 254 Spanish and Chilean preservice teachers, who were administered online three previously validated questionnaires on creative self-perception, reading preferences and reading strategies. Both descriptive and inferential statistical analysis have been used. The results show a medium-high level of reading metacognition, with a preference for the use of problem-solving strategies while reading and for reading in digital format for academic purposes. There were statistically significant differences both in reading preferences, strategies and creative self-perception according to country (with Chilean students scoring higher in all of them), but no differences were found according to gender. There were positive correlations between creative self-perception in the scholarly domain and reading preferences (=.275 for academic digital and =.433 for academic print) and metacognition (=.445). Academic reading in printed format and global reading metacognition were also found to be significant predictors of self-perception in scholarly creativity, which support the theories of the need of skills in a specific domain to be able to develop creativity in such domain. The study concludes by assessing the implications of this relationship between reading and creativity, proposing the suitability of promoting both metacognitive reflections on the way to consolidating a learning focusing on the process, especially important in the case of future teachers. Keywords: reading preferences, reading metacognition, scholarly creativity, preservice teacher