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VNU JOURNAL OF FOREIGN STUDIES, VOL. 37, NO. 3 (2021)

149

THE IMPLEMENTATION OF FLIPPED CLASSROOM

APPROACH INANACADEMIC ENGLISH COURSE

Nguyen Thi Thinh*

VNU University of Languages and International Studies

Pham Van Dong, Cau Giay, Hanoi, Vietnam

Received 16 December 2020

Revised 23 March 2021; Accepted 17 May 2021

Abstract: Since flipped classroom (FC) approach was first implemented over a decade ago, it

has been gathering great momentum with more and more research conducted in different fields over the

past years. As an attempt to better understand this promising new model, this study aimed to apply it in

an academic English language course and examine its effects on student’s perception and the quality of

their assignment together with the instructor’s self-reflection. The participants were 21 sophomores

attending an academic English course (integrated reading and writing section) at a state university in

Hanoi, Vietnam. Combining both quantitative data from survey and qualitative data from feedback

forms together with the instructor’s reflection and analysis of students’ work, findings of the study

indicated positive perception towards flipping learning mode from both the students and instructor’s

perspective and the analysis of the submitted end-of-course assignments showed a good mastery of essay

genres, argument development and text selection. However, synthesizing skill as well as the use of APA

in-text citations and references needed more guidance and required more practice. The study also

pointed out some limitations and recommendations which further research should take into

consideration for a better implementation of a flipped classroom.

Key words: flipped classroom approach, English Language Teaching/ELT, English as a foreign

language/EFL

1. Introduction^*

Over the past six years, the

lesson rife with theoretical concepts is often

too much for students to absorb, which leads

to boredom and regular attention drop during

class time. One unit is normally presented in

approximately 15-20 pages in the course

book. If students do not read the course book

in advance, they could not understand

thoroughly what lecturers deliver in class.

As a matter of fact, it is also unfeasible for

teachers to cover all the knowledge during

the limited teaching time. Some (mainly

practice tasks/exercises) must be set as

homework for students, but very often end

up being omitted because students view

researcher has identified one problem with

conventional teaching practices: no matter

how extensively knowledge was introduced

during lecture time, students were still likely

to make unexpected mistakes in their

submitted assignments (e.g. citation errors,

paraphrasing problems, and so forth). A

hypothesis is hence put forward that the

blame might be on the lack of on-the-spot

guidance and feedback from the teacher

when students do the work. Firstly, each

^*Corresponding author.

Email address: [email protected].vn

https://doi.org/10.25073/2525-2445/vnufs.4649

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them as “minor” or “unnecessary” and

thereby ignoring them at home. Therefore,

class time is mostly allocated to theory

instead of practice. In addition, the practice

tasks in the course book are too few and

mostly deliberately decontextualized for

drilling purposes. These tasks are not

supportive to the assignment they have to

carry out. Apparently, the core contents are

not fully covered, students do not get

sufficient practice to successfully apply the

taught knowledge into their assignment, and

teachers do not have time to check students’

understanding and evaluate their study

process to support them when needed. These

are assumed to result in the problem under

discussion.

would be saved for much more practical

activities such as assignment guidance.

Basal (2015) highlighted that the most

important benefits of flipped model lie in the

in-class time dedicated to tackling complex

knowledge and concepts, having more

interactive discussions or carrying out more

activities, instead of just the usage of lecture

videos to replace live lectures.

Besides, the world of technology is

changing at a fast pace and now equips our

young generations with devices of all kinds

connected to the Internet, which gives

teachers necessary conditions to flip their

classroom with ease. In other words, flipped

classroom appears to be more suited to the

current era and targeted learners than the

traditional course setting. Therefore, a

gradual switch to new technology-based

approaches like FC is an inevitable trend in

education. Flipped classroom approach

offers teachers a great opportunity to make

use of the equipped technologies inside and

outside classroom to make teaching and

learning more effective and flexible. In

terms of technology involvement, Francl

(2014) claimed that flipped classroom with

its recorded lectures available at any time,

any places could successfully gain an

advantage in the competition for students’

attention against other technological

distractions.

Thanks to the 2019 ULIS National

Conference held at University of Languages

and International Studies - Vietnam National

University (ULIS-VNU), the researcher was

inspired with the idea of flipped classroom

approach by several colleagues’ research

reports on the effectiveness of this approach

in positively changing students’ classroom

attitudes (increased participation and

improved atmosphere) and boosting the

acquisition of knowledge. In addition, an

American co-teacher also shared his

personal experience flipping his own

classroom and gave quite a favorable review

on it. These particular occurrences have

sparked a daring idea of applying this new

method to tackle the aforementioned

problem.

The purpose of the study is to

introduce flipped classroom model into an

academic English course as an intervention

replacing the conventional lecture way. The

research expects to get insight into students’

and instructor’s perception of FC and

examine its effect on the quality of the

participants’ assignment. The following

questions guided the research:

As the Cambridge Dictionary (2020)

points out, flipped classroom is defined as a

teaching method which encourages students

to examine and study the needed learning

materials online at home and then discussing

more about them in class. At first glance, this

reverse operation could somehow solve the

problem of a classroom too theoretical and

lacking practice or interaction time between

teachers and learners. If students were more

proactive in taking in the knowledge through

self-study at home, the precious class time

1. What is the students’ perception of

flipped classroom approach in an academic

English course?

2. What is the instructor’s perception

of flipped classroom approach?

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3. How does the approach impact the

quality of the students’ assignment?

flip movement (Raine & Gretton, 2014).

Raine and Gretton, in their story of flipping

a cosmology classroom about three decades

ago, pointed out that the unavailability of

technology at the time not only caused

difficulties in applying flipped classroom,

but also led to the limited literature on this

teaching strategy back then. Recently, the

rapid development of technology has made

it possible for almost all students to have

online access at home. As a result, the

flipped model has gained momentum as

more and more research in various

disciplines (STEM subjects (Bergmann &

Aarons, 2012); medical education (Chen et al.,

2017); language teaching (Turan & Akdag-

Cimen, 2020) and so on) have been

conducted on the subject matter in the past

years. This revolutionary movement could

be attributed to the fact that educators and

instructors globally are in search of more

suitable way to the new era of technological

advances and differentiated teaching

methods catering for different student

profiles and needs.

Flipped class is quite a new

pedagogical approach which has not been

around as long as the lecture way; however,

research across the globe has been

conducted to report the implementation and

its effectiveness on student’s perceptions,

attitudes, or learning outcome in different

subjects or courses. Although there is still a

lack of empirical studies to prove it is a

completely efficient way of teaching and

learning, the recorded findings make it a

promising approach for educators and

teachers to try it out. Upon completion, this

study hopes to make a humble contribution

to the corresponding body of literature,

specifically the application of flipped class,

with an emphasis on students and lecturer’s

perceptions and its effect on student’s

quality of end-of-term written product. This

research is believed to be relevant to all

teachers, especially those who have

experienced the sample problem as the

teacher-researcher has described above and

been seeking for feasible solutions. The

results and the recommendations, as well as

the acknowledged limitations are given in

the hope of providing support to the teachers

who are considering flipping their own

classroom.

The term Flipped Classroom was

commonly believed to be first coined in

2012 by two leading pioneers Jon Bergmann

and Aaron Sams, two high-school science

teachers in the USA even though these two

authors, in the book Flip your classroom,

refused this credit. This new teaching model

soon captured immediate attention of

international researchers ((Flipped Learning

Network [FLN], 2014); Chen et al., 2017).

As its name suggests, flipped classroom

could be simplistically understood as

“school work at home and home work at

school” (FLN, 2014). This plain definition

may not be regularly cited in scientific

research, but it works perfectly well for any

teachers (regardless of their experience with

this practice) to get a basically adequate

understanding of the concept at once and

maybe seriously take it into their

considerations to utilize it in the classroom.

In addition, in order to prevent any possible

2. Literature Review

2.1. Flipped Classroom Approach

Although the first studies on flipped

classroom were mostly recorded to take

place within the last decade, some forms of

flipping were already seen much earlier,

such as Peer Instruction (Eric Mazur,

Harvard, Physics, 1991), Team-Based

Learning (Larry Michaelsen, Oklahoma,

Management, 1974), Modeling Instruction

(Hestenes, Arizona, Physics, 1989). Flipping

was tried and tested predominantly in STEM

subjects in general and particularly physics

in the USA for many years before this recent

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misconceptions or myths of the approach, a

“formal definition” was proposed by the key

creatively in the subject matter

(FLN, 2014, p. 1)

pioneers,

also

experienced

Flipped

It is also noteworthy that the two

terms “flipped classroom” and “flipped

Educators as follows:

Flipped learning is a pedagogical

approach in which direct instruction

moves from the group learning space

to the individual learning space, and

the resulting group space is

learning”

should

not

be

used

interchangeably. While the former refers to

the alterations initiated from teacher’s side,

the latter is more of learners’ adaptation or

transformation in case of their classroom

flipped. Moreover, flipped classroom does

not necessarily always result in flipped

learning. These key leaders also suggest “the

Four Pillars of F-L-I-P^TM” which are in fact

the four criteria educators must meet to bring

out flipped learning:

transformed into

a

dynamic,

interactive learning environment

where the educator guides students

as they apply concepts and engage

Figure 1

The Four Pillars of F-L-I-P^TM(adapted from FLN, 2014)

• Flexible learning modes

• A more learner-

centered approach

• Flexible expectations

and assessments of

student learning.

Flexible

Environment

Learning

Culture

Intentional

Content

Professional

Educator

• Some materials taught;

others explored by

students

• A more important and

demanding role in the

process

• Less visibly prominent

roles in the classroom

The term flipped classroom could be

used interchangeably with other education

models such as blended learning, reverse

instruction, inverted classroom, or 24/7

classroom in certain contexts because of the

noticeable similarities among them

(Bergmann & Sams, 2012).

2014; Yang et al., 2018). Take video use as

a prime example, from the approach theory,

it has not been explicitly stated that the use

of lecture videos is of a mandatory

requirement for pre-delivering materials

(Raine & Gretton,

2014), numerous

examples of research show the utilization of

recorded lecture videos or downloaded

videos from the Internet. This is defined as

“pure” flipping in which readily produced

videos to replace live lectures are supposed

to “have underpinned the excitement around

Although numerous attempts to

implement FC were reported internationally,

it was hard to find a rigid flipped procedure

agreed upon by all the practitioners (Francl,

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the flip movement” (p. 6). Bergmann and

Sams (2012) agreed that using screencast

videos as a substitute for lectures realized

their own flipping, but showed that other

teachers could also flip their class without

Figure 2

using videos at all. In order to facilitate the

implementation process in this study, the

following steps suggested by Francl (2014)

in his study were used as the key guidance:

Sequencing Activities in FC (adapted from Francl, 2014)

Topic presentation viewed by the

student outside of the classroom

Practice exercises and critical thinking

projects in the classroom

Formal discussion and review in the

classroom

Brief self-quiz to check understanding

and retention

2.2. Related Studies on FC

Similar to other new approaches in

pedagogy, flipped classroom received both

positive reactions and disagreeable

criticisms from educational experts and

educators. The conflict between the

advocates and the opponents of the approach

has aroused a heated debate in literature and

thereby encouraging more research

undertaken in the field. While some findings

indicated promising results of the flipped

classroom, the others proved otherwise,

worse or no difference found.

teacher or peers. To put it differently, flipped

approach closely complies with the revised

Bloom’s Taxonomy proposed by Anderson

and Krathwohl (2001). Besides, some

research (Yang et al., 2018) also based their

flipping research on other theoretical

frameworks such as Vygotsky’s (1979,

2005) socio-cultural theory, or Piaget’s

(1967) theory of cognitive conflict. Another

reason why it is more effective than

traditional class is it promotes two factors of

success – student-centred learning and

autonomy (Amiryousefi, 2017; Han, 2015,

as cited in Turan & Akdag-Cimen, 2020).

Francl (2014) has listed several studies on

FC which indicate the widespread

implementation of this approach at tertiary

level in the US, including Satullo (2013)

reporting “students [in Pennsylvania

community colleges] are doing better than…

traditional classroom” with students’ deeper

engagement and increased teacher’s

approachability, and Kucher (2013)

referring to an impressive growth by 30% in

the pass rate in an electrical engineering

course at San Jose State University.

Generally, the qualitative data on

improvements in student engagement are

significantly positive (Johnson, 2013). In his

Is flipped classroom a genuine

revolution in pedagogy in the 21^stcentury

education?

Flipped classroom approach is

believed to be more effective and sensible

than the traditional ones. When the

classroom is flipped, the work requiring

lower

cognitive

level

including

remembering and understanding could be

finished before class. As a result, higher

cognitive levels of learning (analyzing,

evaluating, and synthesizing) take place

during class time in which students could get

more support and guidance from their

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own master thesis, Johnson (2013) stated

that there was a remarkable improvement as

regards to content delivery, in-class

activities, and assessment. Basal (2015)

reported some benefits of FC as perceived by

the participants, including learning at one’s

own pace, advanced student preparation,

overcoming the limitations of class time, and

increased participation. Choe and Seong

perspective”. In this article, he also

categorized flipping model as one of

educational fads in the history which was

born to fade in the history. One of the main

problems of flipping model which constantly

copes with judgment from the opponents is

its success mostly relies on students’

motivation to attend to the online

lectures/videos at their leisure. Another issue

is the additional work for already-busy

teachers because they have to spend more

time preparing materials, or record their

lectures (Taylor, 2015). The case-study

experiment with flipping model at Coventry

University London Campus showed lower

student performance and satisfactory level

compared to non-flipped in the previous

semester, echoing the negative finding in

DeSantis et al. (2015, as cited in Lo & Hew,

2017). First and foremost, the researcher

explained the reasons may lie in

technological issue, lack of instructor

contact, considerable workload of material

preparation for teachers and student

disengagement to partake in flipped

activities. In case students do not study the

materials before class, they could not take

advantage of the class time to explore the

lesson at greater depth as expected.

Secondly, this model is not accessible and

affordable for every student because not

everyone could have all the required

equipment such as tablet, smartphone or

computer connected to strong Internet as

well as a certain level of computer literacy.

In addition, Burton (2013, as cited in Taylor,

2015) emphasized the investment in creating

materials such as slides or video could be

“labor intensive and onerous” for teachers.

Last but not least, flipped classroom raised a

concern about the lack of essential rapport

between teachers and students which is

gradually built up through direct

communication during lectures. Lo & Hew

(2017) in their review of flipped classroom

studies also indicated several challenges in

the use of this approach and categorized

(2016)

adapted

Johnson’s

(2013)

questionnaires to retrieve both quantitative

and qualitative data in their implementation

of FC in a foreign language course (a general

English course) at college level in South

Korea which indicated a largely positive

result in terms of better chances of

communication

in

English,

greater

participation, preparedness, feedback and

deeper understanding of the course content.

In a survey conducted in 2014, Faculty

Focus collected data from 1,089 people to

“gain a better understanding of their views

on flipped learning”. The key findings

showed that a significant proportion of the

participants have tried flipped classroom

approach and intend to continue for better

student engagement and improvement. More

than 60% of those who had flipping

experience considered it a positive one for

both themselves and the students. The reason

may lie in boosted students’ collaboration

and more questions received.

Orisitjustapassingeducationalfad?

Besides the supporting studies,

flipped classroom model also gained

criticisms. Pettigrew (2012) in an Macleans

article which explained why he did not flip

his classroom questioned the source of

motivation students needed to watch the

online videos in their spare time. Although

the proponents of flipped learning criticized

the tedious and hour-lasting lectures as the

main motive behind flipping decision,

Pettigrew pointed out lectures when done

properly did more than transferring

information but also “context and

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them into student-related (familiarity,

student workload, lack of support, etc.),

faculty (familiarity, preparation) and

operational difficulties (IT skills and

of the participants. The questionnaire

collected the demographic information (age,

gender, hometown, major, program), their

first-year GPA and final mark in the

prerequisite course 2B, length of their

English learning time, their computer use

and experience with flipped classroom

resources,

outside-class

monitoring).

Besides positive results, Choe and Seong

(2016) noted that dissatisfaction was also

found in some students due to time

requirement of the online homework and

quizzes, video quality and activity varieties.

Some reviewed studies (Chen, 2016; Clark,

2015; DeSantis et al., 2015; Kirvan et al.,

2015) showed no significant differences in

student achievement between flipped and

traditional class.

approach

before.

No

identification

information was collected from this survey

to ensure the anonymity of the participants.

Regarding their demographics, the

majority of the class is female students

(90.5%), while male students and other

genders (LGBTQ+) account for the

remaining 9.5%. All the participants aged

from 19-20 are all sophomores and majored

in English (fast-track program). Their

hometowns scatter in the northern region of

the country (with 23.8% living in big cities).

Through literature review, several

points could be concluded: 1) more and more

studies

of

the

development

and

implementation of flipped class are

undertaken and reported in journal

publications; 2) mixed results are discovered

to show both advantages and challenges of

the approach; 3) more empirical research

needs carrying out to prove its effectiveness

on student achievement or performance and

contribute to the growing body of

knowledge in the subject matter; and 4) a

significant lack of related research in

Vietnam, which emphasizes the increasing

demand for more implementation guidance

to provide Vietnamese teachers necessary

support to apply innovative teaching

practices in the context of the national

education reforms.

The average GPA at the end of their

first year is 3.12/4.0 (range 2.7-3.58), and the

final mark in the prerequisite course (2B) is

7.9/10 on average (range 7-9.1). Their time

exposure to English varies: more than half of

the students (57.1%) have studied English

for 5-10 years; 33.3% from 10-15 years and

9.5% for less than 5 years. Meanwhile, the

students are quite similar in terms of

technological experience and computer use.

The average time they spend on the Internet

is 4 hours, with a few exceptions of some

claiming longer hours 6, 8, or 20 hours per

day. A vast majority (90.5%) equally used

their computer for education and

entertainment

purposes;

66.7%

for

3. Methods

communication or socialization; 42.9% for

information updates; and just 14.4% for job-

related purposes. 71.4% reported no

previous experience with flipped approach

before the course, while 28.6% selected

affirmative reply.

3.1. Sampling, Participants and Setting

The sampling method used in this

study is non-probability based on

convenience. The chosen class was

randomly assigned to the researcher for the

academic English course during the first

semester of AY2020-2021. A background

questionnaire was sent out to collect the

background information of the whole class

in order for the instructor to get a better grasp

The course in the study is a 4-credit

academic English one, designed for English-

majored students. The course lasts 15 weeks

(one semester) with no required mid-term or

end-term tests. It consists of two sessions:

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Reading-Writing and Listening-Speaking,

taught separately by two teachers. This study

involves the former section only. The

assessment is an on-going assignment which

requires students to collect reading materials

and select information from these to develop

their own arguments/claims in a written 600-

word essay. Students have to choose a topic

(either argumentative or discursive one) in

the first week; finish selecting reading

materials by week 5 to seek teacher’s

feedback and approval; submit the essay

outline in weeks 8-9; submit the first draft of

the essay in week 11; then get feedback,

revise and submit the final package in week

15. The reading portfolio accounts for 40%

of the final mark, and the essay 60%.

idea of applying flipped classroom was

triggered and the researcher prepared the

needed materials for the upcoming flipped

lessons. Then flipped method was used from

week 4 to week 12 in which the lectures

contained all the core knowledge of the

course. From week 13 to week 15, the

students had to present their text and

argument selection in reading panels and

then finalize their portfolio to submit in

week 15, so there was no flipped class during

this phase.

One week before each class meeting,

the students were sent all the materials for

self-study through posts in a private class

Facebook group. The pre-class materials

generally include: 1) Must-study folder

(week 4 - week 12) which contains: a ppt

slide, video(s) and supplementary handouts

and 2) Optional folder (week 6 – week 12)

contains: more videos and/or supplementary

handouts. The structure of a flipped class in

the study could be illustrated as follows.

3.2. Implementation Procedure

In the first three week, due to the

impact of Covid-19 pandemic, online classes

via Zoom using traditional lecture teaching

mode were carried out. Over this period, the

Figure 3

The Structure of Activities in the Flipped Class

Flipped class

Pre-class learning

Classroom learning

Facebook group

Materials uploaded on

Google Drive

interaction (chat,

Review + Q&A session

comments, reactions)

Assignment

preparation/practice

and teacher's on-site

feedback

Must-study folder

Optional folder

The slides predominantly contain all

the core contents based on the course book,

examples to illustrate or explain the theories,

and the answer keys to the exercises in the

book. In fact, according to the suggested FC

activities, each Powerpoint lecture should be

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self-recorded videos or voice-overs.

However, due to the time limit for

preparation, the researcher decided to use

Powerpoint slides only, supplemented by

lecture videos from prestigious universities

globally downloaded from the Internet (i.e

James Cook University-Australia, Monash

relevance and credibility. The students were

advised to go through all of the materials in

the must-study folder and only proceeded

with the other one if they really want to. The

items in the optional folder adhered to the

lecture objectives and thereby supplying

related materials to further students’

understanding of the contents. As

Wantanabe (2014, as cited in Yang et al.,

2018) suggested the connection between

pre-viewing material and the in-class

activities as a way to boost previewing rate,

the instructor designed review part to test

University-Australia,

University

of

Minnesota-USA, HELPS University of

Technology Sydney-Australia, Athabasca

University-Canada, to name a few).

Bergmann and Aaron (2012) suggested

creating self-made videos or using someone

else’s videos be both acceptable, and insisted

on not making one for the sake of making a

video. In case of time shortage, discomfort

in front of camera, or technophobia, teachers

do not need to record themselves and should

opt for the latter choice. This semester the

instructor did not have time to create her own

videos, so selecting videos on the Internet

was a safety net. In addition, a few

supplementary materials were carefully

selected to provide more useful knowledge

and information in the light of their

Table 1

students’

understanding

and

remembering/knowledge retention for 15-30

minutes before any class. The review part

could take form of a set of reviewing

questions (mostly) or Kahoot! quizzes

(occasionally).

The following table, adapted from

FC model at University of Texas at Austin

(Choe & Seong, 2016), shows the teacher

and students’ responsibility in different

phases of the flipped class in this research.

Teacher and Students’ Roles in Flipped Class

Students

Teacher

Pre-

class

Access and study the provided materials Prepares and uploads materials

Take notes of main ideas and questions

(if any)

Keeps track of students’ study process

through instant feedback (Facebook

comment)

Discuss with their peers about questions

and assignment

Class Answer teacher’s review questions of

Helps students to review learned

knowledge/skills

time

the previous weeks (brief review)

Attend mini-lectures (if any) and ask

prepared questions (Q&A)

Answer students’ questions

Guides the process with feedback and mini-

lectures (if necessary)

Practice performing skills which they

have learned

After Continues to apply their

class

knowledge/skills after clarification and

Posts any additional explanations and

resources as necessary

feedback

Continues to provide feedback or grade

Seek teacher’s help when they need it

students’ work

Reflection via after-class feedback forms Continues to guide students towards deeper

(6) understanding

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3.3. Data Collection

The study utilized both quantitative

and qualitative data in order to provide a

balanced and objective view on the subject

matter. The instruments were selected

carefully to answer the intended research

questions.

1 to 5 (1 means strongly disagree, 5 means

strongly agree). The survey measures

student perception in terms of five constructs

including 1) mastery of the main contents of

the course (5 questions), 2) evaluation of

provided previewing materials on Google

Drive (4 questions), 3) material studying

engagement (5 questions), 4) evaluation of

class time (5 questions) and 5) preference for

the flipped format (2 questions). The

questions of each construct were then mixed

randomly in order to avoid transparency and

enhance the internal validity and reliability.

Quantitative data

An end-of-course questionnaire

was developed to examine the students’

perception of flipped classroom. The survey

was based on Johnson’s (2013) and Jaster’s

(2017) questionnaires. Although both of

these surveys were used for mathematics

courses, some constructs (i.e. Johnson’s

survey: contribution of FC to the mastery of

the main contents of the course, flipped

classroom; or Jaster’s: video viewing

engagement, preference for the flipped

format) proposed by these researchers are

relevant to a language course using flipped

classroom. Jaster’s (2017) survey seems to

be more relevant and better validated than

Johnson’s (2013); therefore, five questions

from the former was borrowed and/or

adapted to put in this study questionnaire

while only one came from the latter. The

questionnaire consists of twenty-one closed-

ended ordinal scale items with responses

given on a 5-point Likert scale ranging from

After piloting the questionnaire with

eight students (~38%) chosen voluntarily out

of the sample, Cronbach’s alpha was

calculated for each of the survey constructs

to estimate the consistency of responses

between the items corresponding with the

construct. Four out of five constructs had

desirable reliability scale values, whereas

question items 15 and 20 in Material

studying engagement appeared to lower the

reliability of the construct. As a result, these

two items were deleted and the final

Cronbach’s alpha of this construct was

0.717.

In the end, a questionnaire of

nineteen items were administered to the

sample to collect required data (see

Appendix A)

Table 2

Questionnaire Reliability With Cronbach’s Alpha Before and After Pilot Revision

Questionnaire

items after

revision

Cronbach’s

Alpha after

revision

Questionnaire

items at pilot

Cronbach’s

Alpha at pilot

Survey construct

Mastery of the main

contents of the

course

1, 2, 7, 12, 13

0.969

1, 2, 7, 12, 13

3, 8, 18, 19

0.969

Evaluation of

provided previewing

materials on Google

Drive

3, 8, 19, 21

0.941

0.361

0.941

0.717

Material studying

engagement

4, 11, 14 (deleted

15 & 20)

4, 11, 14, 15, 20

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Evaluation of class

159

5, 9, 16, 17, 18

0.936

5, 9, 15, 16, 17

0.936

0.874

time

Preference for the

flipped format

6, 10

0.874

6, 10

marks, the instructor’s affection/mood and

the on-going instruction.

Qualitative data

Six after-class quick feedback

forms from lesson 1 to lesson 6 (08/09 –

27/10/2020): The forms mainly used 8-9

open-ended questions to collect students’

feedback after the first six classes so that the

teacher could make necessary adjustments to

the practice.

Survey data: The survey data were

quantitatively analyzed using SPSS 20.0 to

produce

descriptive

statistics

for

understanding students’ perception of

flipped class. A measure of central tendency

(mean) and a measure of variability are

calculated and included for each construct in

the survey.

The instructor’s self-reflection on

flipped class experience: The four pillars of

F-L-I-P^TMwhich was developed by FLN

(see Appendix B) was used to guide the

instructor’s own reflection on her flipping

experience.

Feedback forms: The qualitative

data were coded to look for any existing

common patterns, themes and categories.

The entailed interpretation was to relate the

found patterns to the research questions.

The instructor’s observations of

the quality of students’ assignments: A

checklist of reviewing aspects was

developed to examine the quality of

students’ assignments with reference to

selection of reading materials; paraphrasing,

summarizing and synthesizing skills;

developing arguments in two essay genres;

and the use of APA citations and references.

This process utilized students’ submission

package and teacher’s feedback and grading

papers to retrieve needed information to

tackle the last research question.

Instructor’s self-reflection: The

field notes written by the instructor during

the course were collected and analyzed

based on four themes: flexible environment,

learning culture, intentional content and

professional educator.

Observation of students’ work:

The students’ on-going assignment together

with the assigned marks and the teacher’s

feedback were qualitatively analyzed to

point out the strengths and weaknesses in

terms of knowledge mastery and application.

3.5. Ethical Considerations

3.4. Data Analysis

The participation of the students in

this study is voluntary. Before the

implementation, the instructor introduced

the approach to the whole class with all

necessary information (including both

advantages and disadvantages) so that they

could make a well-informed decision

whether they want to have their learning

flipped or not. The students also answered

the questionnaire and attended the interview

at their own will and could withdraw from

the study at any time.

All the after-class feedback forms

were anonymous so that the students could

honestly express their ideas or opinions

towards the course approach or the

instructor.

The questionnaire and interview

were carried out after all the assignments

were graded and the grades together with

teacher’s feedback were sent to all the

students in order to guarantee the results

from these instruments would not affect the

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160

Both the feedback forms and survey

did not collect any identification information

of the participants so that all the provided

information was kept anonymous. Besides,

the survey was administered to the students

only when the course had finished and all the

grades had been informed to them. The

researcher also made it clear that their

answers in the questionnaire would not

affect their final mark at all.

Evaluation

of

provided

previewing materials on 4.3452 .539

Google Drive (EM)

Material

engagement (ME)

studying

3.4444 .618

Evaluation of class time (EC) 4.1667 .713

Preference for the flipped

4.1667 .713

format (P)

As regards the first construct

Mastery of the main contents of the course

(M), the mean of 3.99 suggested that the

respondents felt that the flipped classroom

helped them to learn the course contents

better than the traditional one, and that they

have been able to acquire the core

knowledge and skills required in the course

including: how to write a research-based

argumentative or discursive essay (mean of

4.10), how to evaluate materials (4.05), how

to develop an effective search strategy

(3.90), and how to use APA in-text citations

and references (3.81) (arranged with

descending means). The students appeared

to be the most confident about writing two

kinds of research-based essays introduced in

the course and the least about APA citations

and references, which was then confirmed in

the analysis of their submitted work at the

end of the semester. The aspect of APA in

the written essay got the lowest mark of all

because students make frequent and critical

mistakes in both citations and references.

4. Results

4.1. Research Question 1: Student

Perceptions

Survey data and feedback forms

Quantitative data collected from the survey

was analyzed to reveal student perceptions

of flipped classroom as regards research

question 1. The mean and standard deviation

of the responses to all questionnaire items in

each construct were calculated and reported

in Table 3. The supplementary data from six

after-class feedback forms (mostly in

qualitative data because the forms mainly

comprise open-ended questions) was also

utilized to further capture and characterized

the perceptions.

Table 3

Descriptive Statistics for Survey Constructs

Survey construct

M

SD

Mastery of the main contents

of the course (M)

3.9905 .618

Table 4

Descriptive Statistics for Each Question Item in One Construct

Theme

Mastery of the main contents of the course

1

Code

M

SD

I believe that I am able to learn the course contents better with

Item 1

flipped classroom instruction than with traditional lecture-based

one.

M1 4.10 .700

M2 4.10 .831

I feel that I have learned how to write a research-based

argumentative or discursive essay well in flipped classroom.

Item 2

Item 7

I feel that I have learned how to develop an effective search strategy M3 3.90 .768

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I feel that I have learned how to use APA in-text citations and

references well in flipped classroom.

Item 12

M4 3.81 .680

M5 4.05 .805

I feel that I have learned how to evaluate materials well in flipped

classroom.

Item 13

The second construct named

Evaluation of provided previewing materials

on Google Drive (EM) consists of the

questions asking the students to evaluate the

provided materials before each class. The

highest mean of 4.35 and lowest standard

deviation of .539 would indicate that the

students highly valued the material package

prepared by the teacher in terms of diversity

of types (mean of 4.67), relevance (4.33),

quantity (4.24), and usefulness (4.14).

Table 5

Descriptive Statistics for Each Question Item in One Construct

Theme

Evaluation of provided previewing materials on Google Drive

2

Code

M

SD

I think that the number of provided materials before class is

sufficient to meet each lesson’s objectives.

Item 3

EM1 4.24 .768

EM2 4.67 .658

EM3 4.33 .658

EM4 4.14 .793

The provided materials are of various types (videos, slides,

handouts)

Item 8

I find all the materials academic, reliable and relevant to each

lesson’s objectives

Item 18

Studying the provided materials before class helps me feel more

prepared and confident in class.

Item 20

In after-third-class feedback forms,

while 90.9% of the participants rated the

materials as “very useful and relevant to the

lesson”, about 9% thought that the materials

were quite good, but needed little

improvement. When asked to specify their

idea of improvement, one student wanted to

have “more detailed information in the

slides” to understand the lesson more deeply

because the slides were believed to be only

“the summary” of the lecture. In fact, the

slides contain all the content the instructor

intends to deliver to the students because she

is well aware of the lack of instructor support

at home when students study the course by

themselves and no recorded live lectures are

included in the folder to further explain the

ideas. However, this cannot assure that

students could get everything they need from

the materials; that is why the importance of

brief review, mini-lectures and Q&A

sections should not be neglected.

In the fourth feedback form, there are

several direct comments on the materials as

follows.

Table 6

Student Responses on the Provided Materials

Student responses

Must-study “important and useful – when I have any difficulties, I could open the folders again

folder and review the noteworthy points.”

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“sufficient numbers, good quality and the contents are good. Lots of new

information is out of the course book but extremely useful”

“Fairly useful, plenty of information relevant to the course book and updated”

“sufficient in quantity, useful, and help me to master the knowledge”

“… provide illustrative examples, so help us to understand [the content] more

easily”

“I find them useful because it helps me to get all the main ideas of the lesson. I can

also check my exercises with provided answer keys. However, the number is too

many, so I can only study half of them carefully”

“I can learn several things from the Optional”

“I always study the Optional and find them very relevant with necessary knowledge

and skills to the lesson”

Optional

folder

“I think it will be useful because you (the teacher) have selected them, I will study it

at the mid-term break”

Thirdly, the construct of Material

survey data suggest that some students are

more engaged in studying the materials than

the others, and that although the Optional

folder was thought to be quite necessary for

learning, more students chose to study Must-

study folder only. The Optional, as one

student said, was saved for mid-term break

or whenever they had more leisure time.

studying engagement was designed to

examine the frequency of student self-study

on the previewing materials including Must-

study and Optional folders. This third

construct got a mean which is slightly higher

than the midpoint of 3 and had a standard

deviation of .618 shown in Table 3. The

Table 7

Descriptive Statistics for Each Question Item in One Construct

Theme 3

Material studying engagement

Code

M

SD

Item 4

I only study Must-study folder all the time

ME1 3.48 .981

ME2 3.24 .944

Item 11 I study both Must-study and Optional folder all the time

Item 14 I feel that the Optional folder is necessary for my learning ME3 3.62 .921

Finally, the fourth and fifth

constructs of Evaluation of class time (EC)

and Preference for the flipped format (P) had

the same mean of 4.1667 and the standard

deviation at .713. The statistics indicate that

the students highly appreciate the use of

class time and show a fairly strong

preference for flipped model. The main

reasons might be that more useful feedback

was given (mean of 4.33) and they had more

time for practice (4.38) instead of listening

to hour-long lectures.

Table 8

Descriptive Statistics for Each Question Item in One Construct

Theme 4

Evaluation of class time

Code

M

SD

I like being able to speak with my instructor during class and

receive individual help when working on the assignment.

Item 5

EC1 4.19 .873

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163

I can get more useful feedback from the teacher in flipped

classroom than traditional one.

Item 9

EC2 4.33 .730

Flipped classroom offers me more opportunities to collaborate

with my teammate(s) during class time

Item 15

EC3 4.14 .793

EC4 4.38 .669

EC5 4.05 .921

Item 16

Item 17

I have more time to practice in class

The class time in flipped classroom is more effective than

traditional one.

Table 9

Descriptive Statistics for Each Question Item in One Construct

Theme

Preference for the flipped format

5

Code

P1

M

SD

Item 6

I would like to have another flipped classroom in the future.

4.33 .856

4.00 .775

I prefer the flipped classroom format to the traditional lecture

format.

Item 10

P2

Through the feedback forms, some

of student thoughts were captured as

follows:

four pillars of F-L-I-P namely flexible

environment, learning culture, intentional

content, and professional educators with

respect to research question 2.

After the second class:

“The atmosphere is more exciting

and we can do more practice”

4.2.1. Flexible Environment

The flipped classroom provided

“Very useful because we can deal

with the difficulties in doing our assignment

directly. Besides, we can practice with the

sources we have found. I think it is truly

effective”

flexible learning modes for the students

In terms of the flexibility of space

and time, the instructor uploaded learning

materials about one week before every class

meeting. This is to make sure the students

had sufficient time to study the materials and

seek for peers’ or instructor’s help if

necessary. They would have time to try

applying the knowledge in completing the

assignment and figure out any popped-up

problems in their private space. The students

shared that they could study the materials at

their own pace, in their most comfortable

place and at their most convenient time.

Simultaneously, the teacher could save a

significant amount of class time to guide

students’ practice instead of delivering

theories. Thanks to this, she was also better

aware of the students’ problems and needs to

accommodate while progressing through the

assignment.

After the third class:

“Very practical because our work is

commented and then revised right at class”

“More effective because we can

continue to work on our assignment”

“Very detailed and the teacher gives

us some helpful suggestions”

“She (the teacher) reviews all the

learned materials, comments on the found

reading texts and guides us on directions”

4.2. Research Question 2: The Instructor’s

Self-Reflection on the Flipped Classroom

Practice

The instructor’s self-reflection was

analyzed by four main themes adopted from

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The flipping model set flexible

4.2.2. Learning Culture

expectations and assessment of learning

Flipped classroom was more

Two folders of materials were given,

but the instructor did not expect all of the

students would study both of the folders

completely all the time. The feedback form

responses show that most of the students

(40-60%) were more likely to study all or

part of the Must-study folder, while a

minority (around 10%) of them also studied

Optional folder. From the observation of

review and Q&A session, several students

were more willing to share their

understanding of the knowledge than others

while most of the others remained silent

unless being asked. During class time, the

students were allowed certain periods of

time (10-30 minutes) to discuss with their

partners, work on their assignment and raise

questions to look for the instructor’s support.

In this part, most of the students showed that

they were well aware of the tasks and less

hesitant to ask questions or call for support.

learner-centered than the traditional one

A significant amount of class time

was allotted to the students’ pair work to

practice the skills or apply the learnt

knowledge in doing the assignment. For

example, they developed their own search

strategy to look for relevant and academic

readings in week 4 and then evaluated these

to select the best ones for their essay writing

in the following weeks. While doing so, they

could always get instant feedback from the

teacher,

or

watch

the

teacher’s

demonstration with a sample before

attempting to carry out by themselves. So the

flipped model gave them opportunities to

engage in meaningful activities without the

teacher being central.

In terms of differentiation, the

researcher holds a firm belief in students’

differences and individual preferences in

learning.

However,

differentiating

With respect to different ways to

learn content and demonstrate mastery,

normally, students only have a course book

to study in the course. With the uploaded

materials, the participants had more choices

ranging from written ones (worksheets,

handouts) to audio/visual ones (slides,

videos) which were believed to cater for

different learning styles. However, it was a

pity that the course did not offer a variety of

ways for mastery demonstration. The

students all had to submit the same

assignment of a reading diary and a written

essay. In order to improve this limitation, the

instructor informed them of rewarding a

bonus mark up to 0.5 if they showed

creativity in presenting their work

(suggested as video, blog, vlog, newspaper

article, etc.). Nevertheless, no students did

this at the end of the course. All of the

submissions were in written form.

instructions to a class of 20-30 students

within a limited time stretch is not always

feasible task, sometimes undoable even.

Meanwhile, flipped class offers more

interactive one-to-one time between teacher

and student, and thereby making

differentiation more possible and realistic.

Admittedly, not much differentiation as

expected was seen in the course although the

teacher attended to different pairs differently

in terms of allocated time and feedback

depending on their need. Some pairs were

faster in the process and could get feedback

on their work, but the others who were

slower could get more advice in certain

steps. The instructor could spend more time

with more struggling students and provide

more constructive feedback for fast-finishers

(often stronger students) to better their work.

By this way, struggling students could get

more help and attention from the teacher.

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4.2.3. Intentional Content

the stage” to more of “guide on the side”

(Choe & Seong, 2016). While the students

were discussing or working on their

assignment, the teacher usually walked

around to offer support. Whenever they had

a question, it could be handled right away.

Besides, the teacher also encouraged the

students to email or text her via Messenger

or Facebook comments if they encountered

any problems out of class.

In the course there were many

important concepts new to the students such

as active reading, search strategy, research-

based writing, or APA style, to name a few.

In a non-flipped classroom, these concepts

would require a considerable amount of

lecture time to get through to students. After

the lectures finished, there would hardly be

anytime left for practice so it was very often

set as homework and became neglected.

Using flipping model, the teacher could send

the materials which explain these concepts

thoroughly beforehand and then spend a

more reasonable amount of class time

reviewing, and answering students’

questions regarding these concepts or

demonstrating how to do it visually. By

doing this, much more time was saved for

more meaningful practice activities, whereas

the concepts were still understood much

better than in traditional lecture type.

With respect to feedback, students

only get feedback once they submit their

assignment in conventional class. Flipped

classroom provides them a chance to get

feedback step by step along the way and

thereby making necessary adjustments

before the final submission.

After each module of main content

ended, the teacher would assess the students’

work and give feedback. For example, after

learning how to create an effective search

strategy and make a good evaluation, the

students had to find and select three reading

texts reliable and relevant to their essay

topic. The teacher would take a look at all

pairs’ selection and either approved if they

met the requirements or otherwise asked

them to redo the selection process.

Additionally, through observation in review

section of every class, some students were

asked to re-study the materials in case they

showed a lack of understanding and/or

mastery. However, admitted as a limitation

of the course, the instructor did not arrange

any online quizzes or tests for the students to

do their own self-assessment after studying

the materials. This is a big missing point.

Each lesson was planned to include

all the following sections: brief review

Q&A, mini-lecture, student practice with

teacher’s feedback and support. However,

not all of these sections were delivered, but

which ones depend on student’s

understanding and mastery of the contents.

Mini-lectures were carried out only when

students showed the need for further and

direct instructions and explanations.

Otherwise, the time would be spent on

student practice and teacher feedback.

4.2.4. Professional Educators

Students have to work harder in FC

in order to get a good grasp of the lectures all

by themselves, so does it mean instructors

either become redundant or get “a free ride”?

In fact, instructors, now “the facilitators of

learning” have a more challenging role of

After-class feedback forms were

recorded to make essential modifications in

order to guarantee the participants’

satisfaction. Six students’ quick feedback

forms which were administered in the first

six weeks of the implementation together

with the instructor’s own observation were

two main sources of information for

adjustments. Some of the modifications have

giving

more

insightful

one-on-one

consultations to students and tapping into

deeper learning of the subject matter (Francl,

2014). The role is switched from “sage on

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166

been done:

- In the second feedback responses, a

earning their gratitude for the constructive

comments.

student wanted the materials to be sent

earlier so that they could arrange self-study

time more conveniently for different

courses. After that, the instructor set the time

one week before the due class for the

materials to be handed out since then.

4.3. Research Question 3: The Quality of

Students’ Assignment

The students were divided into 10

groups (9 pairs and 1 group of three), and

they all submitted their assignments on

schedule.

- In the first five weeks, the materials

were all compulsory. From week 6 onwards,

the instructor added the optional folder

which provided more materials for those

who were willing to study more deeply. The

must-study folder was minimized to the core

knowledge one must absorb to do the

assignment, which reduced the workload for

weak students to some extent.

Each assignment was then assessed

based on the course rubrics. The reading

section was marked in terms of 1) the

selection of texts, 2) interactions with the

texts, 3) notes and 4) reading panel. The

essay rubric evaluates student work with

respect to 1) task response and quality of

arguments, 2) coherence and cohesion, 3)

language use, mechanics and formality, and

4) APA citations and references.

Last but not least, the teacher had to

spend more time preparing each lesson than

before. These added tasks included making

slides, searching for and selecting materials,

uploading them and writing feedback for the

students. Sometimes, it was true pressure to

keep up to the uploading schedule and

feedback returns; however, it was really

worth the effort when observing more of the

students’ improvement and less of their

confusion and disengagement in class,

In this study, the quality of students’

assignments would be reviewed with

reference to certain aspects which are the

main contents of the course. This is to

examine the effectiveness of flipped

classroom on students’ mastery of the main

contents shown in their own end-term

product and thereby tackling research

question 3.

Table 10

Reviewing Aspects of the Assignment

Selection of

reading

materials

Paraphrasing,

summarizing and

synthesizing skills essay genres

Developing

arguments in two

The use of APA

citations and

references

Targeted

aspects

Were they able to Were they able to

Were they able to

search for and

paraphrase,

write a proper essay cite the sources

select academic

readings relevant synthesize the

and useful for

their writing?

summarize and

(argumentative or

discursive) as

requested?

properly (both in

text and in

reference list)?

Guiding

questions

information from

the texts?

Were they able to

develop effective

arguments?

All of the groups Of three skills, 3

chose from 3 to 6 groups did not write could develop

reading texts synthesis effective arguments this aspect. 80%

The majority (80%) They had the

Teacher’s

Evaluation

lowest point for

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167

which are all

relevant to their

essay topic and

taken from

academic

sources.

paragraph(s) in

their notes, while

all groups did the

paraphrase and

summary.

with claim-warrant- got 5.5 or 6, and

grounds in the

whole essay.

just 20% had over

7 (out of ten).

Two groups (20%)

showed a lack of

warrant in one

For those with

5.5 or 6, they

made frequent

4/10 (40%) groups

The genres of the showed good

argument. Either of mistakes in both

reading texts are

predominantly

journal articles.

Three pairs also

used

encyclopedia

entries, or

conference paper, work at 80%. The

paraphrasing skills, them also provided in-text citations

and the same figure irrelevant ground or and references. 4

with synthesis. On

the other hand,

ineffective claim

once in the essay.

groups even had

the whole

summarizing skill

had a much higher

percentage of good

reference list in

inaccurate

format.

They all got 8.5-9.0

(out of 10) for task

response and

quality of

arguments.

For those getting

over 7, they made

several mistakes

in both citations

and references,

except for one

group getting 8

who showed no

mistakes in in-

text citations.

or book, or

dissertation as

their references.

rest needed more or

less improvement,

except for one

group which

synthesized the

information quite

badly.

As shown in Table 10, the students

showed good mastery of text selection and

argument development although there still

remained occasional missing warrants or an

irrelevant ground or an ineffective claim.

These were followed by the set of three

writing skills in which the participants

demonstrated good summarizing skill, but

were somewhat not confident in

synthesizing one. Last but not least, the

students are not adept at the use of APA style

in both citations and references. Some

common mistakes they mostly made were:

no hanging indent, use of bullet points,

missing required information (pages,

volumes, DOI, links, etc.).

materials and class time use. This echoed the

results found in the previous research:

improved engagement (Satullo, 2013;

Johnson, 2013; Basal, 2015; Yang et al.,

2018), more meaningful use of class time

(Yang et al., 2018), better understanding of

course content (Choe & Seong, 2016). The

plausible reason for this could be flipping the

course has truly offered them more time for

practice right in class. Compared to the

traditional lecture-based classroom, students

have

more

practice

opportunities

individually and in small groups. More

importantly, because the teacher is freed

from the lecturing and task checking role, the

students could always seek for the teacher’s

direct support or instant feedback on their

work. This resulted in better satisfaction of

class time. Besides, flipping model

witnesses more questions asked and issues

raised by students mostly due to the fact that

there is more silent time in class in which

students feel less hesitant to raise their voice

5. Discussion

Regarding the first research question,

the study findings show positive perceptions

of the students towards flipped classroom in

almost all respects asked in the survey,

especially affirmative feedback on provided

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without interrupting their instructor. As a

result, the quality of their assignments was

significantly improved compared to those of

previous cohorts studying in traditional

classroom. Based on the instructor’s own

experience teaching the same course for six

consecutive years, students of previous

academic success and retention of

knowledge (Boyraz & Ocak, 2017) or

positive impact on language skills

(Amiryousefi, 2017) or idiomatic knowledge

(Chen Hsieh et al., 2017). What is new in this

finding is the humble impacts of the teaching

mode on synthesizing and APA referencing

skills. A possible explanation is these skills

are among the advanced ones and hard to

master at once. The students definitely need

more guiding demonstration and real

practice in research over time.

cohort

were

confused

between

argumentative and discursive essays and

thereby getting subtracted points in task

response. What is more, they also made

worse selection of texts in terms of reliability

and/or relevance. They had not had as much

support and guidance from instructor as

these participants did.

In the literature, there were a number

of studies undertaken in general English

courses which mainly focus on listening and

speaking skills. The findings reported here

shed new light on the effectiveness of

flipped classroom in an academic English

course focusing on reading and writing

components. Among the constructs in the

survey, while four of them could be

replicated in almost all kinds of courses or

subjects, the first construct namely the main

contents of the course was made very unique

to the subject; and therefore, it indicated an

original finding which contributed to our

understanding whether the flipping mode

was effective in delivering such complex

academic knowledge to students. This was

confirmed positively in the answers to the

first and third questions, which was shown

through affirmative student perception of

mastering the contents as well as the

significantly improved quality of submitted

works.

In answering the second question,

from the instructor’s perspective, there was

no need to spend hours talking and

explaining, but very often fail to finish the

lesson on time. The contents in academic

English course, especially reading and

writing, could be quite long and not easy to

acquire at once. Therefore, the learning

opportunities afforded by flipped activities

before class have facilitated the acquisition

of these main contents. Together with brief

review, mini-lectures and Q&A sections in

class, students would have had a good grasp

of knowledge by the time each class meeting

ended. Additionally, students also get

exposed to more materials than usual when

the course book has been studied in advance

outside class in their spare time. The self-

reflection revealed flipped classroom truly

afford more time for practice, feedback and

one-on-one interactions. Despite the

mentioned challenge of extra workload

(preparation and feedback) which leads to

occasional pressure, the instructor also

echoed the positivity of the students about

this teaching approach.

6. Conclusion

The implementation of flipped

classroom in this study has its own

limitations in some respects. Firstly, because

of a lack of preparation time, no recorded or

voice-over self-made videos were used in

the course. The videos are curated from the

Internet, so students may not feel as

connected to the video teachers as their own

instructor. Secondly, although there has not

In terms of the last question, the

quality of the students indicated radical

improvement although the use of

synthesizing skill and APA reference did not

live up to the instructor’s expectation. This

finding is similar to other studies: improved