English as a Foreign Language Teachers’ Creativity: Does Principals’ Leadership Behavior and Job Satisfaction Matter?

Abstract

Background: Creativity greatly helps English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teachers flourish and succeed in the teaching profession. Given the immense influence of creativity on EFL teachers’ professional success, it is crucial to ascertain the factors that trigger teachers to bring more creativity into the educational setting. To address this necessity, many scholars to date have probed the role of various personal factors in teachers’ creativity. Nevertheless, the contextual factors that encourage teachers to adopt creative teaching have somehow been disregarded by both educational and L2 researchers. Purpose: To bridge this gap, the present study addressed the role of two contextual factors, namely job satisfaction (JS) and principals’ leadership behavior (PLB), in EFL teachers’ creativity. Furthermore, this study assessed the potential association between JS, PLB, and teacher creativity. Research Design: The study employed a quantitative research design using self-report scales and Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) to explore relationships among the variables. Study Sample: A total of 339 English teachers were selected from different schools and colleges in China. Data Collection and/or Analysis: Three self-report scales were distributed among the participants to investigate their perceptions of PLB, JS, and creativity. Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) was run through the latest version of the Mplus program to analyze participants’ perceptions. Results: Results indicated that both PLB and JS are closely related to Chinese EFL teachers’ creativity. Results also demonstrated that PLB and JS can bring about positive and meaningful changes in Chinese EFL teachers’ creativity. Conclusions: The findings suggest that principals’ leadership behavior and teachers’ job satisfaction play pivotal roles in fostering creativity among Chinese EFL teachers. The results of the current study would be instructive and beneficial for all educational principals, notably those working in language education settings.