The effect of Flipped-classroom approach on EFL students' oral performance and their attitudes - An experimental study in Ton Duc Thang University

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

HO CHI MINH CITY OPEN UNIVERSITY

THE EFFECTS OF FLIPPED-CLASSROOM APPROACH ON EFL

STUDENTS’ ORAL PERFORMANCE AND THEIR ATTITUDES:

AN EXPERIMENTAL STUDY IN TON DUC THANG UNIVERSITY

A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements

for the degree of Master of Arts in TESOL

Submitted by LE THI THU HIEN

Supervisor: Pham Vu Phi Ho (PhD.)

Ho Chi Minh City, 2019

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

HO CHI MINH CITY OPEN UNIVERSITY

LE THI THU HIEN

THE EFFECTS OF FLIPPED-CLASSROOM APPROACH ON EFL

STUDENTS’ ORAL PERFORMANCE AND THEIR ATTITUDES:

AN EXPERIMENTAL STUDY IN TON DUC THANG UNIVERSITY

Major: Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL)

Code: 60 14 01 11

MASTER OF ARTS IN TESOL

Supervisor: Pham Vu Phi Ho (PhD.)

Ho Chi Minh City, 2019

i

STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP

I certify that this thesis entitled “The Effects of Flipped-Classroom

Approach on EFL Students’ Oral Performance and Their Attitudes: An

Experimental Study in Ton Duc Thang University” represents my own work.

Except where reference is made in the text of the thesis, this thesis contains

no material published elsewhere or extract in whole or in part from a thesis by

which I have qualified for or been awarded another degree or diploma.

No other person‘s work has been used without due acknowledgment in the

main text of the thesis.

This thesis has not been previously submitted for the award of any degree or

diploma in any other tertiary institution.

Ho Chi Minh City, 2019

Le Thi Thu Hien

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to firstly show my gratitude to my advisor, Dr. Pham Vu Phi

Ho, without whom, this thesis would not have been possible. Thank you for all of

your precious help and guidance. It is also a pleasure to thank my colleagues and

the administration department in CLC – Ton Duc Thang University for their

support. Thank you for opening the door for new ideas and offering me all the

facility I need. And lastly, I would like to thank the students participating in this

study, who have confined in me and gave me very valuable in-puts.

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ABSTRACT

This study looks into 2 English Speaking classes of a course named

Communicative English 1 in the first semester of school year 2017-2018. 51

participating college students in these 2 classes were enrolled and completed all the

course requirements in 2 different teaching methods. The control group is taught

with traditional face-to-face instruction approach and the experimental group is

taught with flipped-classroom approach. In the experimental group, the teachers‘

instruction was recorded in videos and uploaded to the internet for the students to

watch in advance. Also, the practice for that content was done online as a form of

homework. Then, while in class, the teacher could save the lecturing time for more

collaborative activities so that the students could have more communicate practice.

At the end of the course, there results of pre-test and post-test, unit tests, and

online homework were calculated by SPSS program to examine the progress of

students‘ speaking performance. Secondly, the qualitative data was also collected

through interview to identify the attitudes of the students. The findings of the

analysis of both formal and informal data came out very clear. The flipped

classroom approach proved to be more effective as it improved the students

performing better compare with the traditional face-to-face class. Also, the

interview results showed that students in the experimental group have more positive

attitudes towards the teaching approach as well as their English learning. They

expressed higher motivation and better impression about the class. However, they

also admitted having to struggle to overcome some difficulties like learning

experience, technology literacy and English proficiency level in the preparation

stage.

In summary, this paper opens the door for the possibility of using flipped

classroom in foreign language teaching contexts. Especially in educational

institutions which can offer sufficient technological support to their teachers as well

as their students in the preparation stage.

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CONTENT

STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP ............................................................................ i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .......................................................................................ii

ABSTRACT..............................................................................................................iii

CONTENT ................................................................................................................ iv

LIST OF FIGURES................................................................................................. viii

LIST OF TABLES .................................................................................................... ix

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION ...............................................................................1

1.1 Background of the study..........................................................................1

1.2 Statement of the problem.........................................................................2

1.3 Research aims..........................................................................................3

1.4 Research questions...................................................................................4

1.5 Scope of the study....................................................................................4

1.6 Significance of the study .........................................................................5

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW ....................................................................6

2.1 Definitions of terms.................................................................................6

2.1.1 Oral performance ..........................................................................6

2.1.2 Flipped-classroom Approach........................................................6

2.1.3 Blended language learning ...........................................................7

2.1.4 Students attitudes..........................................................................8

2.2 Theoretical framework.............................................................................9

2.2.1 Theory-based approach to Flipped-classroom..............................9

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2.2.2 A combination of Flipped-classroom Approach and Blended

Learning.................................................................................................12

2.2.3 Academic debates on Flipped Classroom Approach..................16

2.2.4 Reported benefits of Flipped-classroom.....................................19

2.3 A review of imperial studies related to this topic..................................23

2.4 Research gap..........................................................................................34

2.5 Chapter summary...................................................................................35

CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY ......................................................36

3.1 Research design .....................................................................................36

3.2 Research site and participants................................................................37

3.2.1 Creative Language Center – Ton Duc Thang University...........37

3.2.2 Participants .................................................................................38

3.3 Data collection .......................................................................................39

3.3.1 Instruments .................................................................................39

3.3.2 Sampling Procedure....................................................................46

3.3.3 Procedures of the study...............................................................47

3.3.4 Training procedures....................................................................48

3.3.5 Validity of the study ...................................................................55

3.3.6 Reliability of the study ...............................................................56

3.4 Data analysis procedures .......................................................................56

3.5 Chapter summary...................................................................................58

CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION ......................................................59

4.1 Research Question 1: How does Flipped-classroom Approach affect the

learners‘ second language oral performance?................................................59

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4.1.1 Pre-test and post-test...................................................................59

4.1.2 Unit Tests....................................................................................61

4.1.3 Students‘ Progress ......................................................................63

4.2 Research question 2: How effective is the homework in each approach

in improving students‘ oral performance? How valid and reliable are the

homework in both approaches?......................................................................65

4.2.1 Effectiveness of online homework .............................................65

4.2.2 The reliability of the homework .................................................67

4.2.3 The validity of the homework ....................................................68

4.3 Research Question 3: How does Flipped-classroom Approach affect the

learners‘ attitudes? .........................................................................................70

4.3.1 Students‘ general impressions about the class............................70

4.3.2 Students‘ problems in traditional class & in flipped-classroom.71

4.3.3 Students‘ stress of workload.......................................................72

4.3.4 Students‘ motivation...................................................................73

4.4 Discussion..............................................................................................74

4.5 Chapter summary...................................................................................75

CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS............................76

5.1 Conclusion .............................................................................................76

5.2 Recommendations..................................................................................76

5.3 Limitations and recommendations for further studies...........................77

REFERENCES..........................................................................................................79

APPENDIX...............................................................................................................95

APPENDIX A: COURSE BOOK..................................................................95

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APPENDIX B .............................................................................................. 101

APPENDIX C .............................................................................................. 122

1 APPENDIX D.............................................................................................. 136

2 APPENDIX E .............................................................................................. 140

3 APPENDIX F............................................................................................... 146

4 APPENDIX G.............................................................................................. 148

5 APPENDIX H.............................................................................................. 152

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LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 2.1: Psycho-Educational Origins of Student-Centered 15

Learning Theories

Figure 3.1: Facebook group of the experimental class 42

Figure 3.2: The video of language instruction for the experimental group 43

Figure 3.3: The class on LMS 45

Figure 3.4: The students‘ scores on LMS 46

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LIST OF TABLES

Table 2.1: Published Studies of the Flipped Classroom 28

Table 3.1: Reliability of the test results between the interlocutor 47

and inter-rater

Table 3.2: Framework for the controlled group 52

Table 3.3: Framework for the controlled group 54

Table 3.4: Comparison of the 2 procedures 56

Table 4.1 Differences between the pre-test results of the 62

control group and the experimental group

Table 4.2: Differences between the post-test results of the 62

control group and the experimental group

Table 4.3 Students‘ speaking performance in pre-test and post-test 63

in both groups in general

Table 4.4 A comparison of speaking performance in pre-test and 64

post-test in both groups

Table 4.5: The comparison of the percentage of online homework 65

between the control and experimental groups

Table 4.6: The correlation between the percentage of 66

online homework and student‘s progress in controlled group

Table 4.7: The correlation between the percentage of 67

online homework and student‘s progress in experimental group

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Table 4.8: The correlation between the average of unit tests 70

and students progress in controlled group

Table 4.9: The comparison of the average of unit tests between 71

the controlled and experimental groups

Table 4.10: The correlation between the average of unit tests and 71

59 students progress in experimental group

1

1 CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background of the study

In the trend of education revolution, educationalists always try to look for

innovative ways to maximize the effectiveness of teaching and learning process.

The technology development in the world nowadays is bringing about a tremendous

support to teachers and learners, and enables more effective teaching methods and

approaches. As a result, it can significantly change the face of education.

Flipped learning has emerged in the past few years as an innovation in

educational technology that has huge potential to generate outcomes in both

improved motivation and enhanced mastery (Jamaludin & Osman, 2014; Kong,

2014). At first, the approach was applied mainly in science and math (e.g.,

Bergmann & Sams, 2012; Hamden et al., 2013). However, with the rise from three

(in 2013) to more than thirty speeches (in 2015) at the TESOL Convention, the

potential for the field of TESOL has been evidently confirmed. In 2015, the

Electronic Village Online (EVO) initially held a session about flipped learning with

approximately 300 attendees from more than 70 countries. There was also an article

reported on a computer-aided language learning (CALL) Technology Showcase Hot

Topics session at the 2015 TESOL Convention. The issues such as features of

flipped learning, the elements leads to its success, the assessment‘s role in a flipped

classroom, and a description of how a flipped classroom is conducted in an

intensive English program were discussed in details (IEP).

Looking at the English teaching condition in Vietnam, especially at colleges and

universities, we can see that there is a promising future for flipped-classroom

method to bloom. The trend of using ICT (information and communication

technology) and blended learning in language teaching is getting more and more

popular. Cimigo‘s studies found that, in 2012, 80 % students in Vietnam have

access to the Internet, which take the highest percentage (33 %) of total Internet use

2

in the whole country (Cimigo Netcitizens & Cimigo Express, cited in VNEconomy,

2012). Also in this report, it is noticed that Vietnam has a tremendous growth in

Internet use of 135%. Moreover, Government‘s Decision No. 32/2012/QĐ-TTg

about the Plan for Country‘s Telecommunication System Development stated that

100% communes in the countries must have internet access points by 2020. So,

nowadays, after 6 more years of dramatic growth in Internet use and also in

technology advancement, the situation in Vietnam universities is good enough for

promoting Blended Learning and applying ICT in language learning.

According to Rivers (1981), in real life communication listening and speaking

skills are used much more often than writing and reading. He stated that speaking is

used twice as much as reading and writing; and listening, in its turn, is used twice as

often as speaking. Besides, speaking and listening are also the most often used skills

inside the classroom. Both teachers and learners recognized these skills as critical

for functioning in an English language context (Brown, 1994). Moreover, when

learners are at low literacy levels (in English or in their first language) or have

limited formal education, or when they are from language backgrounds having a

non-Roman script or a predominantly oral tradition, speaking and listening skills are

also logical instructional starting points. Furthermore, with the desire to integrate

workforce readiness skills to adult EFL teaching, practice time is being dedicated to

such speaking skills as clarifying, reporting, negotiating, and problem solving

(Grognet, 1997). Therefore, if we want to improve students‘ oral performance, we

must increase the time for production in class. The flipped-classroom method can

help us to do this.

1.2 Statement of the problem

In traditional EFL classes in universities in Vietnam, both the students‘ time

for studying in class and students‘ time for homework are not utilized to the most.

In class, a significant part of the class time is used for teachers‘ lecture

(presentation), and that mean there are less time for students to practice and

3

reproduce the language, which is essential for improving oral performance. It

depends on the teaching method and the techniques the teachers use, but the

presentation stage does take a considerable part of the class time. Even in CLT - a

more innovative approach to EFL classroom which emphasizes communication in

the classroom, and student involvement – a part of the class time is use for pre￾teaching the language. Although this time for instruction in CLT classroom is much

smaller compare with other teaching methods, it is still very useful if teachers can

save this time for students to have more communicative practice in class.

In addition, in traditional classes, we cannot guarantee the effectiveness of

the presentation stage for all students because each student has their own learning

style and pace. Some may need teachers‘ repetition or more explanation while

others may feel annoyed or lose their interest if the pace is slow. Moreover, most of

the homework is control practice, which is not suitable for the post-stage of the

learning procedure. Occasionally, the homework is written production, which

follows the learning procedure but does not directly strengthen students‘ oral

performance. And even if they did, students still don‘t have enough assistance from

the teachers except for the short feedback in the next class. These problems cause

students to be confused and demotivated.

1.3 Research aims

Firstly, the study aims to investigate the effectiveness of using Flipped￾Classroom approach. If we let students use ICT to study the grammar rules,

vocabulary, and pronunciation instruction as well as to do some controlled practice

at home and do more speaking activities in class, does their oral performance

improve? Will this approach help them to understand and remember the lessons

better and apply them more successfully in the production stage in class?

Secondly, since there is a significant difference in the roles and the

procedures of homework between the traditional face-to-face instruction and the