Flipping an on-campus general English course: a focus on technology complexity of instruction and learners’ levels of impulsivity

• Autores: Shakiba Zarrinfard, Mehrak Rahimi, Ahmad Mohseny
• Localización: International Journal of Educational Technology in Higher Education, ISSN 2365-9440, Nº. 18, 2021
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • The current study compared the efects of two types of fipped instruction (FI) (lowand mid-tech) with two other class conditions, a blended course and a conventional teaching, on learning outcome of language learners with diferent levels of impulsivity in an on-campus General English (GE) course. To attain such a goal, four GE classes consisting of 100 freshmen (25 students in each class) were selected and organized into 3 experimental (mid-tech FI, low-tech FI, blended instruction) and 1 control group (conventional teaching). In low-tech fipped class, the students were provided with the vodcasts and podcasts of the instructor’s teaching. For the mid-tech fipped class, the podcasts and vodcasts were integrated into an educational website where all instructional and supplementary materials were available. The blended group accessed the educational website after the instructor’s teaching as the extension of the class activities. The control group received the GE conventional instruction (chalk and talk approach). The participants’ learning outcome was assessed by reading paper of Preliminary English Test and their level of impulsivity was measured by BIS-11. The quantitative data were analysed by a two-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) and the results revealed a statistically signifcant diference in reading profciency of the four groups after the study, in favour of the mid-tech FI. Moreover, while the type of instruction had no efect on reading profciency of students with diferent levels of impulsivity across groups, within group comparisons revealed that only mid-tech group members with diferent levels of impulsivity benefted equally from the instruction. The results of the qualitative data analysis revealed that the majority of students in both groups had positive attitudes towards the experience, although they expressed their needs for some modifcations in teacher role, their own role, and the way the instructional materials are prepared and presented.