Creative Writing in Maritime English and Foreign Language Development

Abstract

Writing as a meaningful activity, can arouse curiosity and let the students develop their writing practices. Therefore, learning process should be meaningful and enjoyable for the learners. Writing is a new experience for many students, especially for the ones who are studying at a maritime university. During higher education, students are mainly responsible for writing assignments and reports and they need to master in writing. Mainly, Product and Process writing are used. However, they are controlled, guided or semi guided studies supported by mechanical exercises. There comes the problem like lack of student involvement, student disinterest, and students’ assumption that the work is useless. On the other hand, in every field, nowadays, there is a need for creative people who can improve themselves and contribute to their environment. Creative writing does not do modelling or duplicating the prescribed patterns. Creative writing helps students to involve personally in the writing process. A system like encouraging the students and making them realize their own ability of writing can be beneficial. As a result, the boring analysis of writing evaluation gets its deserved value. Students feel free to express themselves. They become eager to talk and comment on any kind of topic because their papers are valued according to their content not according to their linguistic problems. This study investigates the effect of a creative writing programme on EFL students’ success in writing classes in a maritime university