Creativity is considerably needed in today’s expeditious, fluctuating world (Gabora & Unrau, 2019). It is also considered as the solution to various problems and challenges of the 21st century. The present study adopted a mixed-methods sequential explanatory design to explore the status of supporting creativity in Iranian EFL classrooms. Quantitative data were obtained from randomly selected 214 teachers and 216 students through the two Persian versions of the Creativity Fostering Teaching (CFT) index (Soh, 2000). Moreover, qualitative data were gathered both via students' reports on twelve classroom aspects and interviews with teachers to find out the factors influencing the teachers' success or failure in adopting creativity-supporting strategies in the classrooms. The results are presented in four steps. First, the results of an independent samples t-test indicated a significant difference between the teachers' and the students' responses regarding creativity-supporting practices of Iranian EFL teachers. Second, deductive thematic analysis coding of students' reports revealed two themes, namely, environment and interaction which were regarded as the central factors influencing the creativity-supporting practices of the teachers. Third, the means of item subscales of the teachers' responses to the CFTI indicated that the teachers do not frequently use creativity-nurturing strategies in the classroom. Fourth, deductive thematic analysis of teachers' interviews led to the extraction of five themes, that is, school environment, absence of involving procedures, lack of rapport, absence of teacher training and collaboration, and testing and assessment which were considered as attributes to the failure of Iranian EFL teachers in adopting creativity-supporting strategies. The findings imply that the existence of performativity in Iranian EFL classrooms creates pressure and dilemma for EFL teachers to teach for creativity. Issues such as time, tests and exams, and pressures of the curriculum strictly constrain the creativity-supporting practices of these teachers. Furthermore, although most Iranian EFL teachers want and try to adopt strategies and activities to develop or support creativity in their classrooms, the findings demonstrated that Iranian EFL students do not experience the classrooms as a locus of supporting creativity. In other words, creativity is not implemented and supported in Iranian EFL classrooms. Accordingly, modifications need to be supported in various aspects of teaching English in Iran to help the teachers support creativity in the classrooms, for example, teacher-training programs should be modified in a way that equip Iranian EFL teachers with the knowledge and strategies of creativity-supporting instruction.
