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