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Is there any relationship between learner creativity and language learning?

Evidence-based answer · Last updated · How it’s made

The short answer

Yes — research consistently finds a two-way relationship between creativity and language learning: learners who score higher on creativity tests tend to achieve more in a foreign language, and the process of learning a foreign language itself appears to boost creative thinking abilities. The relationship isn't simple, though — it varies by which type of creativity is measured, the learner's proficiency level, and other traits like personality and motivation.

Answered for language learning in general. No specific language was set for this question, so the findings are drawn from general second-language research rather than one language’s literature.

Creativity predicts language achievement

Several studies found that learners who score higher on creativity tests tend to get better grades or higher proficiency ratings in their foreign language, sometimes even more strongly than personality traits predict achievement.1,4,8

Learning a language appears to boost creativity

Comparisons between advanced foreign-language learners and monolinguals, and between bilingual and monolingual children, found the language learners scored higher on standard creativity tests — including measures of how many ideas they generate, how original those ideas are, and how flexibly they can switch between ideas.3,16

In plain terms

The tests used (like the Torrance Test of Creative Thinking) score people on four qualities: fluency (how many ideas you produce), flexibility (how varied your ideas are), originality (how unusual your ideas are), and elaboration (how detailed your ideas are).

Not all types of creativity relate the same way

Creativity isn't one single thing — studies distinguish 'divergent thinking' (generating many possible ideas or solutions) from 'convergent thinking' (finding the one best answer), and these two types relate differently to language ability. One study found only the 'thinking' side of creativity (divergent and convergent) predicted writing performance, while the more social/personality side of creativity did not.4,7,15

In plain terms

Divergent thinking means coming up with many different possible answers to an open-ended problem; convergent thinking means narrowing down to the single correct or best answer. These are the two main ways psychologists break creativity down.

Effect is often modest and sometimes contradictory

Even where a link between creativity and language proficiency shows up, it is often small in size and inconsistent — one study explicitly described creativity's influence on language proficiency as 'stronger but contradictory' compared to personality traits, and another found no correlation at all between general creativity and creative use of language despite a positive effect of daily language contact.1,5,10

Creativity relates to richer vocabulary use

More creative learners retrieve a wider variety of words and give more unusual answers when asked to list vocabulary on a topic, suggesting creativity taps into how flexibly a learner's mental vocabulary store is organized and accessed.6

Creativity matters more for advanced learners

One study found that for beginner and intermediate learners, motivation to learn (not creativity) was the stronger driver of achievement, but among very advanced 'expert' learners, motivation no longer mattered while creativity became the trait that correlated with achievement.9

Task design and instruction style shape creativity gains

Teaching approaches that give learners real tasks to complete (rather than just drills) and approaches that treat English's global variation as acceptable rather than insisting on one 'correct' native-speaker standard both appear to encourage learners' creative use of language, alongside gains in confidence and willingness to speak up.2,11,12

Creativity is intertwined with other psychological factors

Creativity does not act alone — it shows up in the research bundled together with related traits like self-esteem, willingness to communicate, anxiety, and personality traits such as openness to experience and extraversion, all of which interact with each other and with language achievement.5,13,14

First-language creativity outperforms second-language creativity

When bilinguals are tested on creativity tasks in their first versus second language, they generally do better in their first language, though higher second-language proficiency is linked to better divergent-thinking scores even in that weaker language.7,15

What to do with this

  • If you want to use creativity as a lever for language learning, look for or create tasks that require open-ended, imaginative output rather than single-right-answer drills — story continuation, problem-solving discussions, and task-based activities have all been linked to creativity gains and better engagement.
  • Because creativity seems to matter more once you're past the beginner stage, don't worry if drills and structured grammar work feel like the main driver early on; focus on maintaining motivation then, and lean into creative, open-ended language use as you advance.
  • Since a global-Englishes, less-perfectionist teaching style has been linked to more creative risk-taking and lower anxiety, seeking out learning environments that don't punish 'non-native-like' phrasing may help both your creativity and your comfort speaking up.
  • Also consider that creativity is bundled with confidence and willingness to communicate, so building those alongside creative tasks (e.g. through group problem-solving or low-stakes conversation) may reinforce each other.

Now pick something to do it with

Each of these opens an overview of the apps, courses and immersion material worth a look for that — filtered to exactly what the advice above points you at:

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Worth knowing

  • Most of these studies are correlational, meaning they show creativity and language achievement moving together but cannot prove that one causes the other — it's equally possible that some third factor (like general cognitive ability, motivation, or an enriched learning environment) drives both.
  • Sample sizes in several studies are small (as few as 20–40 participants), and many focus on specific populations — Iranian, Chinese, Spanish, or Pakistani EFL students, for example — so findings may not generalize to all learners or languages.
  • The exact size of the creativity-achievement link varies a lot across studies, and a couple of sources found weak or no correlation for certain creativity measures, so this is a real but not always large or consistent effect.

Want a deeper literature dive?

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  1. [1]I. Novikova, Nadezhda S. Berisha, A. Novikov, D. Shlyakhta. Creativity and Personality Traits as Foreign Language Acquisition Predictors in University Linguistics Students. Behavioral Science 2020. doi.org/10.3390/bs10010035
  2. [2]Marzieh Souzandehfar, Khaled Ahmed Abdel-Al Ibrahim. Task-supported language instruction in an EFL context: impacts on academic buoyancy, self-esteem, creativity, and language achievement. Asian-Pacific Journal of Second and Foreign Language Education 2023. doi.org/10.1186/s40862-023-00218-0
  3. [3]Behzad Ghonsooly, Sara Showqi. The Effects of Foreign Language Learning on Creativity. English Language Teaching 2012. doi.org/10.5539/elt.v5n4p161
  4. [4]Wangjiao Wu, Jie Qin. Creativity, Topic Familiarity, and L2 Performance in Story Continuation Writing Tasks. International Journal of Applied Linguistics 2025. doi.org/10.1111/ijal.12737
  5. [5]Chengchen Li, Li Wei. The enhancement of creativity through foreign language learning: Do personality traits matter?. Bilingualism Language and Cognition 2024. doi.org/10.1017/s1366728924000476
  6. [6]Almudena Fernández Fontecha. The role of learner creativity in L2 semantic fluency. An exploratory study. System 2021. doi.org/10.1016/j.system.2021.102658
  7. [7]Gyulten Hyusein, Tilbe Göksun. Thinking creatively in two languages: Effects of mental imagery vividness, foreign language proficiency and hand gestures on bilingual creativity. Bilingualism Language and Cognition 2025. doi.org/10.1017/s1366728925100151
  8. [8]Reza Pishghadam, Ebrahim Khodadady, Reza Zabihi. LEARNER CREATIVITY IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE ACHIEVEMENT. DergiPark (Istanbul University) 2011. https://profdoc.um.ac.ir/articles/a/1024387.pdf
  9. [9], XiXi Du. Foreign language acquisition, motivation and creativity. . doi.org/10.58809/gcel7863
  10. [10]Ágnes Sántha-Malomsoki. The Effect of Second Language Proficiency on Linguistic Creativity. 2016. doi.org/10.17165/TP.2016.1-2.7
  11. [11]Asep Budiman, Asep Budiman, Xinyu Liu. Beyond standard English: how Global Englishes enhances creativity, reduces language anxiety, and increases willingness to communicate. Frontiers in Psychology 2025. doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1611630
  12. [12]Tingting Zhang. Effects of self-regulation strategies on EFL learners’ language learning motivation, willingness to communication, self-efficacy, and creativity. BMC Psychology 2024. doi.org/10.1186/s40359-024-01567-2
  13. [13]Fatima Aslam. Relationship of Anxiety Willingness to Communicate, Creativity and Self Esteem in Academic Success/Failure: Standpoint of Pakistani EFL Undergraduates. Journal of Language, Literature & Social Affairs 2025. doi.org/10.63056/jllsa.1.1.2025.1
  14. [14]Jian Gao, Dan Xu, Daniela Romano, Daniela Romano, Xuhui Hu, Xuhui Hu. Acculturative stress, loneliness, smartphone addiction, L2 emotions, and creativity among international students in China: a structural equation model. Frontiers in Psychiatry 2025. doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2025.1585302
  15. [15]Emily Pifer. Creativity in Two Languages. 2021. http://books.google.ie/books?id=uZKSzgEACAAJ&dq=divergent+thinking+L2+proficiency&hl=&source=gbs_api
  16. [16]Rahim Yousefi, Mehran Soleimani, Samira Ghazanfariyanpoor. Comparison Between Switching and Creativity Among Bilingual and Monolingual Children. Journal of Rehabilitation 2017. http://rehabilitationj.uswr.ac.ir/browse.php?a_code=A-10-398-9&slc_lang=en&sid=1