Page 8 - ELG2408 August Issue 491

RESEARCH NEWS .

Mapping SCAMPERing

Guidance can improve brainstorming techniques for essay writing.

rainstorming techniques their essays. For week two, they
improve creativity in wrote a similar style essay on
writing tasks, especially laptops but using the SCAMPER
Bwith additional structured technique.
guidance, according to a study by In week three, and four, the
Hyun-Ju Kim, Stewart Gray and task was to write argumentative
Christopher Lange at Dankook essays. The topic for week three
and Hankuk Universities, South was global warming using the
Korea. mind mapping technique. In
Writing is generally found week four the topic was student
to be the most difficult of the cheating, using the SCAMPER
four English language skills and technique.
this can be compounded for Guidance for both techniques
the many students who already began with the same first two
find writing challenging in their steps:
first language. Brainstorming
techniques such as mind Step one: write the product/
mapping aim to elicit initial ideas topic name in the circle on the
on a writing topic to bridge the worksheet.
gap from the blank page to topic Step two: brainstorm three
paragraphs. characteristics of the product/
This study compared two topic and write those in circles
brainstorming techniques; the extending from the centre.
better-known technique of mind
mapping and the more structured For mind mapping, there was
technique known as SCAMPER, just one third step: brainstorm
developed by Robert Erle in the ideas for improving the three
late 1990s. The aim was not only characteristics and write those
to see how well either of these ideas in extending circles.
techniques could support essay But for SCAMPER, guidance After each essay task, students significantly more effective and
writing, but also which technique gave the following Steps three to were given a questionnaire to creative.
best supported students who nine: assess how they perceived their This self-perception did not
generally struggle with creative own work in terms of uniqueness, differ between higher and lower
writing. Step three: Substitute a function of flexibility, effectiveness and the TTCT scoring students. It may
Mind mapping begins with a one characteristic with something overall, holistic impression of be that one of the major benefits
central topic or idea in the middle better. their essay’s creative content. of SCAMPER lies in promoting
of the page then branches out Step four: Combine something In addition to this self- motivation and confidence.
to related key words, subtopics, with one characteristic to make assessment, the six highest- Overall, brainstorming techniques
themes or ideas as they occur. it better. scoring and the six lowest-scoring are helpful in supporting students
These additional components Step five: Adapt one characteristic students on the TTCT were to formulate and organise ideas for
then each have their own to make it better. selected for objective assessment their essays, and providing more
branches to related terms. The Step six: Modify one characteristic. by teachers not part of the study. structured guidance, in this case in
student can then pick out clusters Step seven: describe how one Two essays from each of these the form of SCAMPER, improves
of terms and connections as characteristic could be Put to students, one using mind mapping confidence and may improve
writing prompts. another use. and one using SCAMPER, were performance.
SCAMPER is a much more Step eight: explain what can be assessed. It seems likely that some
structured technique for Eliminated from one characteristic Overall, both techniques helped students will prefer and do better
stimulating creative thinking. to make it better. both lower and higher TTCT with a more structured approach
When presented with an object, Step nine: move one aspect of scoring students write effective, to brainstorming than others and
situation or problem, the student one characteristic to a different creative essays, with essays written that this would also depend on
applies these seven prompts: place (Reverse). by students using the SCAMPER essay topic and style. Offering a
substitute, combine, adapt, technique tending to be rated choice of approaches to students
modify, put to another use, Before the study began, each higher, although too few essays could be an effective option.
eliminate, and reverse. student took the Torrance Tests were objectively assessed to
The 39 Korean undergraduates of Creative Thinking (TTCT), meaningfully test significance. REFERENCE
recruited for this study were given developed by the psychologist The biggest difference between n Kim, H-J., Gray, S. and Lange,
a weekly writing task. In week Paul Torrance in the 1960s. the techniques was found when C. (2024) Instructional Guidance
one they were asked to write a These tests have two main analysing the students’ self-report for Promoting Creativity in English
compare and contrast style essay components that assess creative questionnaires. After using the as a Foreign Language Writing
about smartphones using the thinking through verbal and SCAMPER technique, students Classrooms: A Korean Case Study.
mind mapping technique to plan figural tasks. judged their own work to be RELC Journal 55(1): 79-95.
8 August 2024