(mis)alignment in efl teachers’ beliefs and practices while assessing creativity in efl learners’ writing performance

Recent decades have witnessed many studies on the pivotal role of creativity in l2 pedagogy. one of the crucial factors in understanding the process of creativity is teachers’ beliefs about creativity. in the educational system, especially in second language learning, the development of creativity depends on how teachers perceive creativity. since teachers’ beliefs about creativity are crucial in understanding the process of creativity, this study aimed to examine the efl teachers’ beliefs while assessing creativity in efl learners’ writing performance. moreover, a (mis)alignment between their beliefs and practices in assessing creativity was also investigated. to that end, we followed a descriptive narrative design in which the autobiographical narratives of seven iranian efl teachers and their practices were collected and analyzed. the deductive-thematic analysis revealed that although teachers believed in addressing the factors of creativity, including elaboration, flexibility, originality, and fluency, there was a misalignment between their beliefs and practices. we conclude that some factors such as teachers’ knowledge, teachers’ responsibility, lack of specified rubrics to assess creativity in writing, and teachers’ conception of creativity could be the reasons for the misalignment between teachers’ beliefs and practices while assessing creativity in the learners’ writing performance. this study carries some implications for teacher educators to enhance their knowledge about the concept of creativity and how they can creatively instruct their learners.