The Effectiveness of Adopting Flipped Learning Approach in an Applied Linguistics Course for University Students (Published)
As students enter the fourth year of an English Department, an increased responsibility for a lot of linguistic information is highly desirable. Students need to do a lot of efforts inside and outside the class. Students who arrive in class with assigned tasks completed, notes reviewed, and prepared for classroom activities are developing the ability to be self-directed learners. Limited classroom contact time can be effectively utilized by focusing on further review and explanation. This paper investigated the effectiveness of adopting flipped learning approach and the changes implemented to “Introduction to Applied Linguistics” course at English Department, College of Administrative and Human Science in Qassim Private Colleges. The students were asked to do some tasks inside and outside the classroom. These tasks included short pre-class assignments and quizzes that were designed to increase students’ preparation for the next class meeting, as such flipping class meeting preparation to outside the classroom. A benefit of these changes is that the instructor can significantly reduce the time spent lecturing and focus on students’ understanding of linguistics and focusing on students’ activities in-class. This focus fosters student-centered learning with the student having the responsibility to prepare for each class session. Participants were 33 fourth level students in English Department from Qassim Private Colleges in Saudi Arabia. The pre-posttest comprised five different types of questions including multiple choice, true or false, defining linguistic terms, compare between the advantages and disadvantages, and analyzing structures. Results of the t. test analysis revealed that adopting flipped learning Approach yielded significant effects on students’ linguistic level.
Keywords: blended learning, face to face instruction, flipped learning, online learning