Retrospective accounts of materials development in the applied linguistics literature speak to the relationship between creativity and textbook writing, but this study forges another path by examining how an expert ELT (English language teaching) textbook writer deploys creativity during ongoing coursebook production. Qualitative content analysis of data collected via concurrent verbalization, during which the author thought aloud while producing textbook chapters, pre- and post-concurrent verbalization interviews, field notes, and a diary record revealed the creativity that characterized her work at both the process and product levels. Creativity ultimately helped her navigate the publishing constraints in place for her project, including appropriateness controls (e.g. taboo topics), and maintain her focus on learning, teaching, product usability, and publication goals. This study reveals how creativity impacts textbook production during unfolding writing sessions, making an empirical contribution to the research field of materials development. It also provides a view of the constraints associated with commercial publishing, showcases the operations of a skilled author, and demonstrates the usefulness of concurrent verbalization to materials development research: contributions relevant to ELT practitioners interested in textbook production.
AlredG.J.ThelenE.A. (1993). Are textbooks contributions to scholarship?College Composition and Communication, 44(4), 466–477. https://doi.org/10.2307/358382
AtkinsonD. (2020). Engaging in textbook writing as deliberate practice: How two expert ELT textbook writers use metacognitive strategies while working to sustain periods of deliberate practice. Journal of Writing Research, 11(3), 477–504. https://doi.org/10.17239/jowr-2020.11.03.03
AtkinsonD. (2021b). Reconciling opposites to reach compromise during ELT textbook development. Language Teaching Research. Advance online publication.
6.
BaaijenV.M.GalbraithD. (2018). Discovery through writing: Relationships with writing processes and text quality. Cognition and Instruction, 36(3), 199–223. https://doi.org/10.1080/07370008.2018.1456431
7.
BaoD. (Ed.). (2018). Creativity and innovations in ELT materials development: Looking beyond the current design. Multilingual Matters.
8.
BereiterC.ScardamaliaM. (1993). Surpassing ourselves: An inquiry into the nature and implications of expertise. Open Court.
9.
BosompemE.G. (2014). Materials adaptation in Ghana: Teachers’ attitudes and practices. In GartonS.GravesK. (Eds.), International perspectives on materials in ELT (pp. 104–120). Palgrave Macmillan.
10.
DubinF. (1995). The craft of materials writing. In ByrdP. (Ed.), Material writer’s guide (pp. 13–22). Heinle & Heinle.
11.
EricssonK.A. (2018). The differential influence of expertise, practice, and deliberate practice on the development of superior individual performance of experts. In EricssonK.A.HoffmanR.R.KozbeltA.WilliamsA.M. (Eds.), The Cambridge handbook of expertise and expert performance (2nd ed., pp. 745–769). Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781316480748.038
12.
EricssonK.A.HoffmanR.R.KozbeltA.WilliamsA.M. (Eds.). (2018). The Cambridge handbook of expertise and expert performance. (2nd ed.).Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781316480748
FoxM.C.EricssonK.A.BestR. (2011). Do procedures for verbal reporting of thinking have to be reactive? A meta-analysis and recommendations for best reporting methods. Psychological Bulletin, 137(2), 316–344. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0021663
16.
GartonS.GravesK. (2014). Materials in ELT: Current issues. In GartonS.GravesK. (Eds.), International perspectives on materials in ELT (pp. 1–15). Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137023315_1
17.
GrayJ. (2002). The global coursebook in English language teaching. In BlockD.CameronD. (Eds.), Globalization and language teaching (pp. 151–167). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203193679-17
18.
HadfieldJ. (2014). Chaosmos: Spontaneity and order in the materials design process. In HarwoodN. (Ed.), English language teaching textbooks: Content, consumption, production (pp. 320–359). Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137276285_11
HarwoodN. (2014). Content, consumption, and production: Three levels of textbook research. In HarwoodN. (Ed.), English language teaching textbooks: Content, consumption, production (pp. 1–41). Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137276285_1
HarwoodN. (2021). Coda: An expanding research agenda for the use of instructional materials. The Modern Language Journal, 105(S1), 175–184. https://doi.org/10.1111/modl.12683
JohnsonK. (2005). The ‘general’ study of expertise. In JohnsonK. (Ed.), Expertise in second language learning and teaching (pp. 11–33). Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230523470
25.
JohnsonK.KimM.LiuY.F., et al (2008). A step forward: Investigating expertise in materials evaluation. ELT Journal, 62(2), 157–163. https://doi.org/10.1093/elt/ccl021
MaleyA. (2013). Creative approaches to writing materials. In TomlinsonB. (Ed.), Developing materials for language teaching (2nd ed., pp. 167–187). Bloomsbury.
MishanF. (2021). The global ELT coursebook: A case of Cinderella’s slipper. Language Teaching. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0261444820000646
35.
MishanF.TimmisI. (2015). Materials development for TESOL. Edinburgh University Press.
36.
MukundanJ. (2008). Agendas of the state in developing world English language textbooks. Folio, 12(2), 17–19.
37.
PalmerD.J.StoughL.M.BurdenskiT.K.Jr.GonzalesM. (2005). Identifying teacher expertise: An examination of researchers’ decision making. Educational Psychologist, 40(1), 13–25. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15326985ep4001_2
38.
ProwseP. (2011). How writers write: Testimony from authors. In TomlinsonB. (Ed.), Materials development in language teaching (2nd ed., pp. 151–173). Cambridge University Press.
39.
RichardsJ.C. (2014). The ELT textbook. In GartonS.GravesK. (Eds.), International perspectives on materials in ELT (pp. 19–36). Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137023315_2
40.
RichardsJ.C. (2015). Creativity in language teaching. In ChikA.CostleyT.PenningtonM.C. (Eds.), Creativity and discovery in the university writing class: A teacher’s guide (pp. 15–44). Equinox.
41.
RichardsJ.C.CotterallS. (2016). Exploring creativity in language teaching. In JonesR.H.RichardsJ.C. (Eds.), Creativity in language teaching: Perspectives from research and practice (pp. 97–113). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315730936
42.
RichardsJ.C.SchmidtR. (2002). Longman dictionary of language teaching and applied linguistics. (3rd ed.).Longman.
43.
RisagerK. (2018). Representations of the world in language textbooks. Multilingual Matters.
44.
SaldañaJ. (2011). Fundamentals of qualitative research. Oxford University Press.
45.
SalisburyK. (2005). The edge of expertise? Towards an understanding of listening test item writing as professional practice. [Unpublished doctoral dissertation]. King’s College, University of London. https://kclpure.kcl.ac.uk/portal/files/2936144/419477.pdf
46.
SamudaV. (2005). Expertise in pedagogic task design. In JohnsonK. (Ed.), Expertise in second language learning and teaching (pp. 230–254). Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230523470_12
47.
SantosD. (2013). ‘This activity is far from being a pause for reflection’: An exploration of ELT authors’, editors’, teachers’ and learners’ approaches to critical thinking. In GrayJ. (Ed.), Critical perspectives on language teaching materials (pp. 88–110). Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137384263
SchriverK. (2012). What we know about expertise in professional communication. In BerningerV.W. (Ed.), Past, present, and future contributions of cognitive writing research to cognitive psychology (pp. 275–312). Psychology Press. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203805312
TimmisI.MukundanJ.AlkhaldiA.A. (2009). Coursebooks: Soft or fair targets?Folio, 13(2), 11–13.
54.
WajnrybR. (1997). Death, taxes and jeopardy: Systematic omissions in EFL texts, or life was never meant to be an adjacency pair. International Education – EJ, 1(2).
55.
WatersA. (2009). Advances in materials design. In LongM.H.DoughtyC.J. (Eds.), The handbook of language teaching (pp. 311–326). Wiley-Blackwell. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781444315783
WeisbergR.W. (2006). Modes of expertise in creative thinking: Evidence from case studies. In EricssonK.A.CharnessN.FeltovichP.J.HoffmanR.R. (Eds.), The Cambridge handbook of expertise and expert performance (pp. 761–787). Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511816796
58.
WeisbergR.W. (2018). Expertise and structured imagination in creative thinking: Reconsideration of an old question. In EricssonK.A.HoffmanR.R.KozbeltA.WilliamsA.M. (Eds.), The Cambridge handbook of expertise and expert performance (2nd ed., pp. 812–834). 2nd edition.Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781316480748.041
ZemachD. (2006). Working with an editor. Folio, 10(2), 37–39.
61.
ZiebarthS.W.HartE.W.MarcusR., et al (2009). High school teachers as negotiators between curriculum intentions and enactment: The dynamics of mathematics curriculum development. In RemillardJ.T.Herbel-EisenmannB.A.LloydG.M. (Eds.), Mathematics teachers at work (pp. 171–189). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203884645
