There are doubts that EFL students can write works of literature. When their language proficiency is still progressing, they might have difficulties expressing themselves due to language barriers, for instance, vocabulary. In the EFL context, however, writing literary works through creative writing practices is beneficial for learners. Therefore, this study proposes investigating the benefits of writing literary works through creative writing practices in the EFL context. To reach the objective, the researcher observed the creative writing practices in the English Letters Department, Universitas Sanata Dharma, Yogyakarta. The data were collected from creative writing works and semi-structured interviews with selected students. The study concluded three benefits of writing literary works through creative writing practices in the EFL context. First, it improved EFL learners’ language proficiency. Second, it allowed students to express their identities and emotions in their creative writing outputs. Finally, it empowered students because they had the sense of accomplishment of writing the literary works. The findings may give some insights that EFL learners can write literary works appropriate for the standard of a creative writing class. Teachers may also better understand that writing literary works in creative writing practices offer various benefits to EFL students.

Affiliation: Universitas Sanata Dharma, Yogyakarta, Indonesia

Email: ewi@usd.ac.id