Abstract:

Second (foreign) language (SL/FL) proficiency is one of the most important competences of a person in modern global world. Numerous studies show that the process and the result of the second (foreign) language acquisition (SLA / FLA) can influence human development in different areas. For example, A.V. Kharkhurin considers bilingualism (multilingualism) as a factor in the development of human creativity.
In our previous study, we tested the hypothesis of a positive relationship between SLA and the level of students' creativity. But, contrary to the hypothesis, we revealed only few correlations between the creativity indicators and SLA assessments. We assumed that the relationship between creativity and SLA may vary depending on the level of creativity and / or SLA, because it is necessary to divide the sample into parts according to the level of the studied variables in order to test this assumption.

Based on this, the purpose of present study is to compare the features of creativity among students with different SLA levels. The sample includes 128 (82% – female) first- and second-year university students in the Linguistics Department, all students learn English as their major SL. The creativity was measured with the Abbreviated Torrance Test for Adults (ATTA). The ATTA includes one verbal creativity task and two non-verbal creativity tasks. We used indicators for each tasks separately, total indicators of fluency, originality, elaboration, flexibility, and the total creativity index (CI).

To assess SLA we used:
(1) the semester final grades by English (from 0 to 100), and English teachers’ assessment of SLA in their students by authors’ expert scale (10 indicators related to different aspects of SLA such as audition, reading, writing, vocabulary, speaking, communication, phonetics and so on).

The descriptive statistics methods, coefficients Cronbach’ α and McDonald's ω, Kruskal-Wallis test, and Spearman rank correlation analysis were used for processing the data. Statistical processing was carried out in the R software environment for statistical computing and graphics, version 3.5.2.

The research results confirm that there are differences in creativity among students with different SLA levels. The most significant differences between students groups with different SLA levels are revealed on the flexibility indicators: students who more proficient in English show greater flexibility in solving creative tasks. Thus, we confirmed the hypothesis of a non-linear connection between creativity and SLA level.

Keywords:

Second Language Acquisition, Creativity, ATTA, Linguistics students, English as a Second Language.