The effect of creative writing practices on students' writing anxiety and creative writing skills in primary school 4th grade Turkish course

The purpose of this study is to examine the effects of creative writing practices in primary school 4th grade Turkish course on students' writing anxiety and creative writing skills. The study was conducted with the participation of 48 fourth grade students studying in a primary school in Onikişubat district of Kahramanmaraş province in the 2023-2024 academic year. Within the scope of the research conducted in a quasi-experimental design with pre-test - post-test control group, a total of 16 hours of practice was carried out for 8 weeks, two hours per week in the experimental group. The data were collected using the Writing Anxiety Scale for Primary School Students (WASPSS) and the Assessment Criteria for Creative Writing Form (ACCWF). The collected data was evaluated with quantitative analysis methods. As a result of the study, it was found that creative writing activities implemented in the 4th grade Turkish course significantly decreased students' writing anxiety and significantly increased their creative writing skills. Creative writing activities allowed students to reduce their anxiety in the writing process and to develop their creative thinking and expression skills. In addition, the practices showed similar success in all students regardless of gender.