What Suppresses Learners’ Creativity? Creativity Barriers Of English Students At M’sila University, Algeria

Abstract

Creativity is a valuable element in teaching and learning. Nevertheless, some factors may get in the learners' way of creativity .Accordingly, the aims of this paper is to uncover the possible barriers that hinder creativity and to highlight the strategies that boost it in the classroom. This study is based on the hypothesis that university students can be negatively affected by a number of factors. To test the hypothesis the descriptive method was adopted. A questionnaire was distributed to 37 students of English at M’sila university. Findings of the study reveal that the majority of students are not facing obstacles; however, one clearly noticed barrier to creativity is ‘time inadequacy’. On these bases, some implications are suggested to help learners foster their creativity and overcome whatever barrier they may encounter.