Teacher resistance is real: incorporating creativity into primary ELT

Abstract This study investigated the intentions of experienced Korean primary school teachers to incorporate creative tasks into their English lessons. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with four teachers who had participated in a working group for six months to develop and implement open-ended tasks to enhance creativity. Although the teachers developed positive attitudes towards the use of creative tasks as they implemented the developed lessons, they remained reluctant to use these lessons in their English classes, citing the national curriculum and English textbooks as major contextual constraints. However, further analysis of the interviews revealed that their resistance was more closely related to the tension between their stable beliefs about EFL teaching in general and their dynamic beliefs regarding creativity-based instruction. This study suggests that innovative pedagogies should be introduced by identifying and reworking the underlying beliefs that shape teachers’ intentions.