The Art of English - Everyday Creativity Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

The Art of English - Everyday Creativity - Essay Example During an ordinary day, a person engages in activities which might appear mundane and petty but if looked into with an open mind and with a thorough eye, one is bound to stumble across the element of creativity in it at one point or another. People interact with texts in their own special ways and no two people can have identical views and perception of the same text. Many aspects of a man’s environment and his self can influence his texts and the nature of his interaction with them. According to Barton and Hamilton (2002), these literacy practices hold different meaning for different people. They tend to be personal and are influenced by every aspect of his life. A person’s culture, society, personality and his environment in general determine the manner in which the meaning of any text is comprehended. For that matter, it can be expected that two persons, dealing with the same scenario would indulge in textual interplay of the situation in manners entirely or partiall y varying from each other. This is also a slightly unorthodox form of creativity experienced by people. The influence of culture in texts of a person cannot be denied. There is a strong link between one’s culture and the way his writings or texts are formulated. This has also been ascertained by Maybin and Swann (2007). Moving onwards, Calo (2011) suggests that human beings are social entities and that there exists a strong correlation between social environment, creativity and texts of any person. In all aspects of daily life, one comes across incidences that are associated with textual practices such as keeping a diary, making a note, writing a receipt and others which do not follow a set guideline. It is in these instances that a human mind is allowed to roam free and create something on its own. It need not be a masterpiece to be deemed creative. A single sentence or a group of words is sufficient to justify that the text is specific for the person in question and that it is to be associated specifically with him, the creator of the text. The art and science of literacy practices begins even before a child begins school and continues throughout his life. These activities take many forms from writing, coloring, all the way to singing and others. In all these activities, it is important to visualize and find the concept of ubiquitous creativity as proposed by Banaji and Burn (2007). It is the same concept elucidated by Pahl (2007) and labels creativity as an inherent characteristic of every person. In order to detect the element of creativity in any text or literacy practice, it is worth noting that the aim is to look beyond the visible text that meets the eye of the observer. One has to look in depth at the idea behind a text or the way in which a person has perceived a text. This is done by first setting a definition of creativity in one’s mind. Anything that did not exist beforehand or something that was introduced for the very first time by a person can be labeled as creative because it is the person’s own genius in action. In the same context every single act of human literacy practice is a depiction of his genius and creative abilities. This can be elaborated by taking into