An Empirical Study of the Flipped Edult Education English Writing Classroom

Wang+Xiaojing

[Abstract]Recent technological developments have given rise to blended learning classrooms. An flipped classroom is a specific type of blended learning design that uses technology to move lectures outside the classroom and uses learning activities to move practice with concepts inside the classroom. This article aims to introduce the flipped classroom to edult education English writing classroom. A QQ group is established as the basic communication platform for carrying out the experiment and a video lecture resource tank is created by editing online open recourses and filming self-made videos with some softwares. Data are collected through one semesters practice of flipping the college English classroom. Analysis of data reveals that not only the adult students performances in exams show some obvious improvement than traditional classroom， it also improves students self-perception and self-evaluation.

[Key words]flipped classroom； adult education， English writing course； students performance

Introduction

The flipped classroom is an emerging teaching method. According to McDaniel and Caverly[1]， a traditional and flippeded classroom can be compared and contrasted as follows： In a traditional classroom lectures are used to introduce the material and students must process the information， solve problems and reach conclusions outside of the classroom. An flipped classroom leverages technology to “flip” the standard lecture model. Online material is used to provide the first introduction to course topics and classroom time is used to process the information and solve problems. The primary elements of an flipped classroom are online lecture materials， in audio/video format， that students can access on-demand， and a classroom environment that is conducive to working with peers， problem solving and answering questions[2]. The movement was inspired partly by the work of Salman Khan， who created a library of free online tutoring videos spanning a variety of academic subjects， known as the Khan Academy， which many view as a touchstone of the flipped-classroom technique. Quite a number of educators and scholars have explored further into the flipped classroom both theoretically and practically. Gannod et al.[3] applied this concept to a software engineering course and claimed that “the approach takes advantage of the benefits of both collaborative learning and distance learning while at the same time targeting the millennial student”. Chinese educators are doing an energetic job in introducing and applying successful experience from abroad and explored further to find out the essence and establish typical models of flipped classroom.[4] Generally speaking， existing study focuses more on theoretical analysis than empirical research. Courses that have been flipped are basically primary school science lessens like mathematics and physics. Few studies are based on adult aducation language courses. This study will carry out an empirical study on flipped adult education English writing course and try to find out whether the flipped classroom will improve student performance in adult education English writing classroom.

1.Preparations for flipping a Classroom

A variety of software tools and hardware equipments are needed to create a digital environment for flipped classroom. QQ as the most prevalent communication platform among students and teachers provides powerful communicative and cooperate tools， such as emailing， group discussion， video chat， personal homepage， visitor remarks and so on， which caters the needs of flipping a class and is considered as an ideal platform. Firstly， a QQ Group consisting of all the students in the class and the English teacher is set up. Each student logs onto it with their real name plus student number so that the teacher is able to keep track of students learning process. Before class， teaching videos and quiz papers are uploaded to the share area of the QQ group. Then students are informed and required to learn the online course and finish the quizzes. Students can ask the teacher about puzzled questions or discuss the problem with their peers. The teacher can monitor their activities through the QQ group and gather students learning information. Clarification will be given during class. Besides the QQ group， other social networking software are also employed to promote communication， among which are Wechat， Microblog and so on. Portable devices like smart-phone and tablet PC are used by students as the first two most favored terminals to access to the online course.

Videos needed for flipping a class come from various sources. National Essential Courses， Open Courses from famous universities of foreign countries， Netease open courses and Chaoxin videos are edited with Windows Live software to adapt to classroom use. For the major part， the teacher makes his own teaching course through ScreenCap software to better keep pace to particular teaching curriculum. Considering the fact that many students may have problems in keeping up with the lecture in foreign language， subtitle is added to the teaching video and text files can be downloaded online.

2.Flipping Adult Education English Writing Class

By referring to successful flipped classroom model like Clintondale high school and Robert Talberts research， after considering the features of adult Englihs writing course， the writer designs the process of flipping adult education English writing class （see Table. 1）

In an flipped classroom， knowledge points are imparted before class through teaching videos/audios. As is demonstrated in Tab.1， the teacher should get the teaching materials ready one week before class， upload the materials to the QQ platform and instruct students to learn new language points by themselves. Students supervise each other to watch the teaching video before class and help each other understand what is taught within the video. Questions or difficult points can be discussed through QQ， Wechat or Micro blog. The teacher may participate or monitor student discussion and explain difficult points. Common mistakes or questions are identified and explain further within class.

During class， common mistakes or questions are explain further so that students get the basic essence of the knowledge imparted through video lecture. After that， a variety of activities should be organized by the teacher to consolidate the newly learnt language points. For example， students are required to work in group and write a story with some given words and phrases， which will be reported to the whole class. Different groups compete with each other to be the best story teller， who will be rewarded with some credits. In this way， students are motivated to produce the best story they can create. Among other activities is role play， news report， movie dubbing and so on. These activities are not only useful supplements to the lecture， but are also interesting and practical， extending the scope of classroom to reach students real life， stimulating learning passion and daily use. During the process of classroom activities， the teacher should be sensitive to some common difficulties encountered by most students， give specific instructions and explanations， and finally lead the students to arrive at certain enlightenment.

After class， students are required to reflect on the classroom activities， gather extensive reading materials related to the topic discussed during class， and make a PPT presentation or video a real life situation where students use the communication language skills learnt through class to interact with foreign friends or classmates. These activities are designed to consolidate students knowledge

3.Survey Results

In the spring of 2015， Adult Education English Writing Course was converted to an flipped format for a semester， after which a survey was carried out in order to solicit information about their comfort with technology and their impressions of the flipped course. In order to evaluate the teaching efficiency， elements involved in the teaching system should be evaluated comprehensively， including the evaluation of teaching quality， evaluation of learning results， evaluation of teaching contents and teaching media[5]. In an flipped classroom， knowledge is imparted through audio/video profiles before class， and classroom activities are aimed to internalize and consolidate knowledge. An important element of the inverted classroom is student satisfaction； if this teaching method is an improvement over traditional methods then students should report that they enjoy the format （Justin G. 2012）. A survey is conducted to evaluate the teaching proficiency of an inverted classroom from four aspects， namely， students academic achievements， the quality of teaching materials （teaching audio/videos）， and the organization of classroom activities. 59 students who attended the inverted classroom are surveyed， 59 copies of the questionnaire were sent out and recovered， among which 58 copies are effective questionnaires. Data are analyzed with the SPSS 17.0 software.

4.Results of Students Academic Achievements

Student academic achievements in the flipped classroom are compared with those from a compare group who are taught by the same teacher with the same course by traditional teaching method. For the 59 students that involved in the inverted classroom the average final grade in the course was 85.25 points， while the average for students in the compare group was 79.85. Students that took part in the flipped classroom performed better in the final examination， the difference is statistically significant. In the meanwhile， when students were asked to evaluate their own academic achievements with the flipped course， they generally agree that they have mastered the language skills expertly. Students perceptions about learning in the flipped classroom were positive： 54% of the students agreed or strongly agreed that they are learning more than they would have if the flipped classroom was not used， while 64% reported that they agreed or strongly agreed that the flipped class leads to higher grades （see Table. 2）.

Not only test scores show an obvious surge than the compare group， students in the study also report a high level of satisfaction with the inverted course. They indicated that they learnt better in the flipped classroom.

5.Survey Results of the Quality of Teaching Videos

As knowledge is imparted through videos before class， the quality of videos may influence learning results and whether in-class activities could be carried out smoothly. A survey on students evaluation of the teaching videos shows that the majority of students think that the teaching videos can reveal the difficult and important points within a lesson. The videos are kept at reasonable length ranging from five to 20 minutes and can stimulate their learning interests. The audio scripts accompanying the videos help them to understand the teaching better. But they think teaching audios are less interactive than in-class teaching， which may not able to sustain the attention for a long time （Table. 3）.

6.Survey Results of the Classroom Activities

Classroom activities play an important part in accelerating knowledge internalization. The survey results show that the majority of students think pretty much creative activities like brain storming， group discussion， story writing and TV live show are organized in classroom to stimulate students interests while classroom lecture are kept at reasonable amount. When students are required to describe the frequency of volunteered speaking-up in front of the class， the majority has a low self evaluation about speaking up in front of the class （Fig. 4）， which accordingly result in an inactive class （only 26.8% of students consider the classroom as very active）. Responses to the question “the teacher does an excellent job in raising questions and inducing the students to answer reveal that the inactivity in classroom should not simply blame the teacher for failing to raise inspiring questions （4.7% of the students agree to the above statement very much， 34.4% agree， 42.2% do not agree nor disagree， the rest disagree）. Lacking of an active classroom culture consists an important reason for that. 75% of student experience certain point of anxiety at the thought of speaking in front of classmates. Time and energy are required to foster an active classroom atmosphere and learning culture.

7.Discussions and Conclusions

By analyzing the data collected within an inverted college English classroom， we find that students performance in exams show obvious improvement than that in a traditional classroom， while the flipped format of teaching improves students self-perception and self-evaluation. Analysis of the data identifies two factors which influence students performance in an flipped classroom： the quality of teaching videos and the organization and carrying out of classroom activities. The length of teaching videos should be kept within five to twenty minutes to catch students attention within a short time span. More interactions should be embedded to teaching videos. When it comes to classroom activities， students prefer innovative and creative activities to lectures. Much efforts should be given to form an active learning culture， which led the students to participate classroom activities eagerly and voluntarily.

In order to better flip edult education English writing classroom， both teachers and students should be aware of the change in their traditional roles in classroom. A teacher needs to equip himself or herself with modern educational technologies to fulfill his or her responsibilities in creating original teaching videos. The design of effective classroom activities requires the teacher to take on an open mind， be quick in accepting and introducing new ideas into class and play their role as a filmmaker， a director and an adviser. Students also need to adapt to the new classroom environment and take part in the classroom activities with a positive attitude.

In conclusion， flipping an edult education English writing classroom is primarily proved workable and effective. Further research and practice should be carry out to adapt to the teaching model which is believed to be the dominant teaching model in near future.

Reference：

[1] McDaneil，S.， and D. Caverly. “The Community of Inquiry Model for an Inverted Developmental Math Classroom.” [J] Journal of Developmental Education 34， No. 2 （2010）.

[2] Justin G. Gardner. “The Inverted Agricultural Economics Classroom： A new way to teach？ A new way to learn？” [C] Selected Paper prepared for presentation at the Agricultural & Applied Economics Associations 2012 AAEA Annual Meeting， Seattle， Washington， August 12-14， 2012

[3] Gannod， G. C.， J. Burge， and M. Helmich （2008） “Using the Inverted Classroom to Teach Software Engineering”. [C] Proceedings of the 30th international conference on software engineering. Leipzig， Germany， ACM， pp. 777-786.

[4] Zhang Jinlei，Wang Ying & Zhang Baohui. “Introducing a New Teaching Model： Flipped Classroom” [J] Journal of Distance Education， 2012（4）： 46-51.

[5] Song Caiping， Wang Jianghong. “A Study of the Teaching Efficiency”. [J] Journal of Educational Theory and Practice Community. 2001（2）： 28-31.

作者簡(jiǎn)介：

王曉靜（1984.11-）：女，山東德州人，濱州醫(yī)學(xué)院外國(guó)語(yǔ)與國(guó)際交流學(xué)院教師，講師，于2010年畢業(yè)于山東大學(xué)外國(guó)語(yǔ)學(xué)院，獲碩士學(xué)位。研究方向：英語(yǔ)語(yǔ)言文學(xué)，英語(yǔ)教學(xué)。

項(xiàng)目資助信息：

濱州醫(yī)學(xué)院2014年度成人高等教育教學(xué)研究立項(xiàng)課題，編號(hào)：BYCJY201406，名稱：普通醫(yī)學(xué)院校成人教育英語(yǔ)寫作翻轉(zhuǎn)課堂實(shí)證研究；濱州醫(yī)學(xué)院教學(xué)改革與研究項(xiàng)目，編號(hào)：JYK201506，名稱：基于名校SPOC平臺(tái)的大學(xué)英語(yǔ)翻轉(zhuǎn)課堂教學(xué)模式研究。