Cycles of Creativity The Concept of Creative Thinking Ability 1. Nature of Creativity

which existing ideas, images, or expertise are combined or synthesized in original ways as well as the ability in which one is employed hisher thought, reaction, and work imaginatively, and these are indicated by a high degree of innovation, divergent thinking, and risk taking. The rubric consists of six dimensions such as acquiring competencies, taking risks, solving problems, embracing contradictions, innovative thinking, connecting, synthesizing, and transforming the detail of creative thinking value rubric, see Appendix III. 10 Creative thinking ability encompasses a number of dimensions or components. These components are commonly used as the indicators to assess the divergent thinking ability or creative thinking ability. The dimensions comprise: a. Fluency constitutes the ability to produce the number of different ideas. b. Flexibility constitutes the ability to produce the various ideas. c. Originality constitutes the ability to produce unusual ideas. d. Elaboration constitutes the ability to produce details of ideas. 11 Baer and Kaufman points out that the four dimensions above are assessed through making lists of things as many as possible of in a particular time constraint, for instance listing uses of bricks, boxes or tin cans. 12 In addition, Treffinger et al asserts the four dimensions above work together with metaphorical thinking ability constituting the personal creativity characteristics. 13 In this case, the explanations and descriptions of the dimensions above are provided in detail as follows: a. Fluency refers to the ability in which a large number of ideas in response to an open-ended question or in reference to one’s thinking process is generated. It is the stimulus that can create both novel and useful ideas. b. Flexibility constitutes the ability in which the direction of one’s thinking is shifted or the ability to make point of view changed. It is indicated through 10 Association of American Colleges and Universities, Creative Thinking Value Rubric, http;www.accu.org, 2015. 11 John Baer and James C. Kaufman, Being Creative Inside and Outside the Classroom: How to Boost Your Students’ Creativity—and Your Own, Rotterdam: Sense Publishers, 2012, p. 21. 12 Ibid., p. 16. 13 Donald J. Treffinger et al., Assessing Creativity: A Guide for Educators, Sarasota: The National Research Center on the Gifted and Talented, 2002, p. 11. ideas or experiences in unexpected or varied ways are involved that lead to the discovery of surprising and promising possibilities. c. Originality constitutes the ability in which new and unusual ideas are generated. It involves the ability to generate unusual or statistically infrequent options or the ideas that might be offered by only few people. d. Elaboration constitutes the ability in which details are added and expanded. It deals with the ability to make ideas richer and more interesting or more complete. e. Metaphorical thinking refers to ability through which new connections are made through employing comparisons or analogies. 14 Moreover, Treffinger et al also assert that the dimensions of creative thinking above can be observed through several things as follows: a. Making a prediction, speculation, and forecast through a question: What will happen if . . .? and so forth. b. Making new possibilities through combining or changing parts. c. Considering the metaphors or analogies of things. d. Looking over ideas produced first before making a judgment or criticism about them. 15

B. The Concept of Writing Skill 1. Definition of Writing

Like other language skills, writing is considered as the important language skill. It is the skill that can give a space for people to express ideas, feelings, and opinions, particularly in the written form. Due to its importance, a number of experts propose some definitions related to writing. The definitions are discussed and unraveled in details here. Ploeger points out that writing is the activity in which one tries to discover things that heshe knows and feels, and it is the activity to have a communication 14 Ibid, p. 12. 15 Ibid, p. 13. to readers about the things. 16 Based on Ploeger’s view above, writing can be considered as an activity which covers two steps, i.e. discovering things, may be in the form of ideas, feelings, etc., and communicate them to the readers in the written form. For instance, as one wants to write about the Javanese culture, heshe must recall anything that heshe knows or feels about Javanese culture, for instance from its language or the way the Javanese people behave; then when heshe writes those knowledge related to Javanese culture down into a piece of paper to be read by hisher readers. In addition, Broughton et al reveal that writing is considered as an activity which is both private and public. 17 This notion can be interpreted that writing is private due to the fact that it is done by the writer alone, whereas it is considered public activity because it involves others or audiencereaders, i.e. the writers try to communicate their ideas to readers, and sometimes the piece of writing is determined by the readers’ needs. Moreover, Langan states that writing is a skill that can be learned as well as it is a process of discovery entailing a number of steps. 18 This definition gives a description of writing that writing is a skill that can be learnt by anyone, certainly through continuous practices, whereas it is considered as a process of discovery due to the fact that to have a good final draft of writing, one should follow a number of steps through editing or revising until heshe finds that the writing has served its needs. To sum up, based on the definitions of writing above, writing can be considered as a complex activity which is done alone by the writer through a number of steps started from searching the existing knowledge to publicizing the composition to readers. The more people practice to write the more skillful they create a composition. 16 Katherine Ploeger, Simplified Paragraph Skills, Lincolnwood: NTC Publishing Group, 2000, p. 5. 17 Geoffrey Broughton et al., Teaching English as a Foreign Language Second Edition, New York: Routledge, 2003, p. 116. 18 John Langan, Exploring Writing: Paragraphs and Essays, op. cit., pp. 7—9.