10/2/2017 VDMIS Newsletter - July 2015

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FLIPPING THE CLASSROOM AND ITS APPLICATION TO FORWARD TO A FRIEND
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Evelyn Doman, Marie Webb, & Kerry Pusey
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Background

The flipped classroom has developed into a hot

topic among various educational circles. The
model, which can be described in basic terms as a
teaching methodology in which homework (i.e.,
completing problems or writing papers) is done in
class and class work (i.e., lectures or other
teacher-fronted instruction) is done at home.
Having originally started in the U.S. K12 system
as a way of promoting student-centered learning
Evelyn Doman
by moving away from teacher-fronted instruction,
University of Macau
flipped teaching has now spread rapidly into
Macau, China
tertiary education around the world, and has even
taken root in courses that are not traditionally
thought of as lecture-based, such as second
language classrooms.

As inquisitive teachers, the three of us were keen

to see if the flipped approach was applicable to
our context at that timewithin an English
language centre of a university in Macau, China.
Because very little research existed about the
flipped approach when we began our
investigation, we believe that we have made,
albeit small, contributions to this area of inquiry. Marie Webb
MiraCosta College
Our presentation at the 2015 TESOL International San Diego, USA
Convention in Toronto, Ontario, Canada was part
of our larger 2-year experiment on the applicability
of the flipped approach to teaching and learning
across cultural contexts in Macau, the United
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States, and Colombia. As a means of promoting

student engagement and meaningful interaction,
linking classroom activities with out-of-class
assignments, addressing higher-order thinking
skills, and producing autonomous language
learners, the flipped method seemed ideal to us.

By initially only flipping modules of a commonly

taught course with identical learning outcomes at
our university in Macau, we found that the flipped
approach was an effective means for enhancing Kerry Pusey
learner engagement. Students confirmed that they Universidad del Norte
enjoyed the videos and screencasts of Barranquilla, Colombia
minilessons, as well as the explanations of
assignment details and rubrics that were given for
homework, as this allowed for more in-class time to engage with the
materials and receive individualized instruction (Webb, Doman, & Pusey,
2014). By using technologies such as Moodle, Screencast-o-Matic, and
Voicethread to interact with students outside of class, the boundaries of the
classroom became more flexible, thus allowing content to be viewed
anywhere at any time. Teachers also enjoyed the new relationships that they
formed with the online personas of students, many of whom were reluctant to
speak in front of others while in class, but thrived in the online platform when
the anxiety of being watched was removed (Doman & Webb, 2015).

By the second year of our study, more aspects of the class were flipped, and
the three of us were now teaching in three separate contexts. We collected
additional data from both experimental (flipped) and control (nonflipped)
classrooms, and we moved away from investigating learner satisfaction with
the model (see also Doman & Webb, 2014) toward looking into student
perceptions of the flipped approach in aiding digital literacy and language
acquisition. For example, in one online tutorial, participants watched a
screencast about how to annotate academic texts. We used a speak-aloud
method to scaffold the annotation, demonstrating how a text should be
annotated either electronically in a Microsoft Word document or with paper
and pencil (see also Pusey, 2014). As a follow-up activity to the screencast,
learners had to annotate their syllabus in class. In the following session,
students exchanged their annotations and provided feedback according to a
guideline sheet created by the teacher.

For our data collection, the instruments varied over the course of our 2-year
flipped experiment. In the beginning of our study, we collected information
from surveys, interviews, and teaching journals. During the second year, we
added teacher field notes and observations (see Doman & Webb, 2015),
focus group sessions, and reflective essays (in addition to surveys). Now at
the end of the second year of our study, we are also investigating how the
flipped classroom helps improve student learning outcomes (SLOs) and
whether flipped classes show greater gains in learning over control classes.
In particular, we are looking at improvements in the learning of grammar
through flipped instruction.

During our presentation at TESOL 2015, participants were shown the

benefits and drawbacks of flipping, the difficulties that can be encountered
when embarking on the flipped journey, tools that can be used to flip
minilessons, and resources to supplement the flipped approach. Additionally,
those in attendance had the opportunity to see video snippets of our flipped
classrooms and software that we use to flip. Our research questions and
data, which are briefly summarized below, were also detailed during the
presentation.

For our presentation, the following four research questions (RQs) related to
the use of technology for language learning were addressed:

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RQ1: Do students in flipped classes experience a change in attitude toward

the use of technology for language learning over time?

RQ2: Do students in a flipped class differ from those in traditional classes in

their attitudes toward the use of technology for language learning?

RQ3: Does the cultural context of instruction have an effect on students

attitudes toward the use of technology for language learning?

RQ4: What do students in flipped classes think about the use of technology
for language learning? Do they share common attitudes and perceptions? If
so, what are they?

Participants and Data Collection

A total of 128 students participated in the study. Students from the USA were
enrolled in an intermediate listening and speaking course at a community
college and represented a variety of ethnic backgrounds. Students from
Macau were in an intermediate EAP integrated skills course at a 4-year
public university; the group consisted of 70% Macau locals and 30%
Mainland Chinese. The Colombian students were in an intermediate EAP
integrated skills course at a 4-year private university and were all nationals of
Colombia. Course lengths ranged from 17 weeks in the USA with 48 hours of
instruction, to 14 weeks in Macau with 40.5 hours of instruction, to 3 weeks
in Colombia with 64 hours of instruction (this was an intensive winter course).
All of the flipped courses included formal assessments directly connected to
the flipped materials.

Surveys, focus groups, and reflective essays were used to collect data in
order to answer the RQs stated above. Four constructs were measured in
the 5-point Likert Scale survey: instrumentality, comfort, digital literacy, and
anxiety. The survey instrument received a reliable Cronbachs Alpha level.
Other statistical tests were run in SPSS, such as the Wilcoxin Signed Ranks
Test, the Mann-Whitney U statistical procedure, and the Kruskal-Wallis test.
Data was triangulated from surveys, focus groups, and reflective essays in
order to gain a fuller picture of students attitudes and perceptions toward the
flipped approach.

Discussion

For RQ1, we found that, overall, students in flipped classes in each cultural
context did develop more favorable attitudes toward using technology for
language learning over time. However, statistically, only students in the USA
group showed significantly different attitudes across all four constructs from
pre- to posttest time.

For RQ2, student attitudes in the flipped classroom differed from control (i.e.,
nonflipped) classes. Ratings of instrumentality, digital literacy, and anxiety
became more favorable at the level of statistical significance.

RQ3 revealed that cultural context of instruction may not have had a strong
effect on student attitudes toward using technology for language learning.
Although learner attitudes in Macau, the USA, and Colombia were different at
pretest time, they became more uniform by posttest time, with only anxiety
ratings between the USA and Colombia students remaining significantly
different. Thus, flipping was viable in all contexts regardless of cultural
environment.

Finally, RQ4 was answered by analyzing the focus group and reflection data.
Corroborating these with responses to the surveys indicated that students in
flipped classrooms felt technology aided in mastery of English skills, was
important for future careers and classes, helped them stay organized and
practice materials, was more engaging than teacher-fronted classes, and
provided more opportunities to practice English.
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Though our study shows support for the flipped models success across
ESL/EFL contexts, there was no formal assessment of student achievement
in the study, which is one major limitation. In addition, curricular content was
not controlled, which may have influenced the results to some extent.
However, new studies are currently being undertaken to assess student
improvement in grammar skills with controlled content to address this gap.

Our journey into flipping has led us to approach teaching differently. By

integrating Screencast-o-Matic, Voicethread, and other video and multimedia
platforms, we feel that we are addressing the needs of our 21st-century
learners better. Our study has demonstrated that the flipped approach can be
useful to university-level ESL/EFL students all over the world, no matter what
their cultural context is.

References

Doman, E., & Webb, M. (2015). Benefits of flipping an EFL classroom in

Macao. In E. Doman (Ed.), Reframing English Education in Asia (pp. 157
176). Salt Lake City, UT: American Academic Press.

Doman, E., & Webb, M. (2014). The flipped and non-flipped EFL classroom:
Initial reactions from Chinese universitystudents. Thai TESOL Journal, 27(1),
1343.

Pusey, K. (2014, July 14). Using screencasting to assess annotation. On

CALL [On-line]. Retrieved from
http://newsmanager.commpartners.com/tesolcallis/issues/2014-07-08/5.html

Webb, M., Doman, E., & Pusey, K. (2014). Flipping a Chinese university EFL
course: What teachers and students think of the model. Journal of Asia
TEFL, 11(4), 5387.

Evelyn Doman is the director of the English Language Centre at the

University of Macau. Her research interests include learner autonomy,
Processability Theory, peer tutoring, TELL, and teacher beliefs.

Marie Webb is an associate faculty member of ACE/ESL at MiraCosta

College, ESL instructor at San Diego State Universitys American Language
Institute, and an adjunct ESL instructor at San Diego City College. Her
research interests include student and teacher beliefs, learner autonomy, and
learning strategies.

Kerry Pusey has taught in the United States, Asia, and South America. His
research interests include instructed second language acquisition, language
assessment, and experimental teaching methodologies. He is currently an
instructor at the Instituto de Idiomas, Universidad del Norte, Colombia.

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