Enhancing primary students’ language creativity through reading book-length fairy tale fiction in a computer-enriched environment

• A new conceptual framework for creative generative reading is proposed and applied to book-length fairytale fiction reading instruction. • Creative-enhanced generative reading provides a way for primary pupils to read long texts in depth. • Generative fairy tale fiction reading instruction in a computer-enriched classroom effectively enhances pupils’ language creativity. • Generative reading fairy tale fiction improved pupils’ flexibility and originality aspects of creativity. Creativity is a core competency for students to adapt to the needs of society and to promote social progress in the 21st century. Reading has been suggested as a potential way to cultivate and enhance students’ language creativity. However, few studies have explored effective methods to improve students’ creativity through book-length fiction in computer-assisted environments. The objective of this study was to develop a generative reading method for reading book-length fairy tale fiction in a computer-enriched classroom setting and to investigate its impact on primary school children's creativity. Two intact classes in the second grade of a Chinese primary school were recruited and randomly assigned to two groups: the experimental group ( n = 34) and the control group ( n = 32). The experimental group engaged in creativity promotion-based generative reading of book-length fairy tale fiction in a computer-enriched classroom setting, whereas the control group read the fiction through a conventional technology-supported reading approach in the computer classroom. The results indicated that generative reading can enhance creative performance, especially in terms of flexibility and originality. Conversely, conventional technology-supported reading can better increase students’ scores on Chinese knowledge tests. This study expands the theoretical framework of “creativity-enhanced by generative-reading” and presents a book-length fiction reading instruction method to promote language creativity through book-reading.