Exploring the Role of Personal and Digital Resources in EFL Students' Creative Writing Development

Chusnul  Chotimah; Euis Meinawati; Jimmi; Chodidjah

doi:10.55909/jpbs.v5i4.1769

Authors

Chusnul Chotimah Program Studi Pendidikan Guru Sekolah Dasar, Universitas Tribhuwana Tunggadewi, Jawa Timur
Euis Meinawati Prodi Sastra Inggris, Universitas Bina Sarana Informatika, DKI Jakarta, Indonesia
Jimmi Prodi Sistem Informasi, Universitas Bina Sarana Informatika, DKI Jakarta, Indonesia
Chodidjah Prodi Manajemen, Universitas Bina Sarana Informatika, DKI Jakarta, Indonesia

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.55909/jpbs.v5i4.1769

Keywords:

role of personal, digital resources, EFL student, creative writing development

Abstract

This study explores the role of personal and digital resources in EFL students' creative writing and investigates how these resources shape the development of students' stories throughout the writing process. A qualitative approach employing thematic analysis was adopted. Data were collected from 40 undergraduate EFL students through reflective journals, semi-structured interviews, and creative writing outputs in the form of short stories. The analysis showed that students primarily drew on personal experiences, such as childhood memories, friendships, family life, and emotionally meaningful events, when generating story ideas. These experiences provided an authentic foundation that students subsequently developed into fictional narratives through creative adaptation. Alongside personal experiences, students relied on digital resources, including YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, Pinterest, Wattpad, and ChatGPT, to visualize settings, expand ideas, revise drafts, and improve narrative coherence. Reflections written during the project also demonstrated that students regarded both personal experiences and digital resources as complementary rather than competing sources of creativity. Synthesizing evidence across the three data sources suggests that creative writing developed through an interaction between experiential knowledge and digital support. Personal experiences initiated the narrative, while digital resources enriched and refined it without replacing students' own voices or originality. These findings extend current understanding of creative writing development by demonstrating how authentic experiences and digital technologies can work together throughout the writing process. The study also offers practical implications for creative writing instruction by encouraging teachers to integrate students' lived experiences with purposeful use of digital resources in ways that foster originality, reflection, and sustained creative engagemen

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