The flipped classroom in second language learning: A meta-analysis

Abstract

Flipped learning has become a popular approach in various educational fields, including second language teaching. In this approach, the conventional educational process is reversed so that learners do their homework and prepare the material before going to class. Class time is then devoted to practice, discussion, and higher-order thinking tasks in order to consolidate learning. In this article, we meta-analysed 56 language learning reports involving 61 unique samples and 4,220 participants. Our results showed that flipped classrooms outperformed traditional classrooms, g = 0.99, 95% CI (0.81, 1.17), z = 10.90, p < .001. However, this effect had high heterogeneity (about 86%), while applying the Trim and Fill method for publication bias made it shrink to g = 0.58, 95% CI (0.37, 0.78). Moderator analysis also showed that reports published in non-SSCI-indexed journals tended to find larger effects compared to indexed ones, conference proceedings, and university theses. The effect of flipped learning did not seem to vary by age, but it did vary by proficiency level in that the higher proficiency the higher the effects. Flipped learning also had a clear and substantial effect on most language outcomes. In contrast, whether the intervention used videos and whether the platform was interactive did not turn out to be significant moderators. Meta-regression showed that longer interventions resulted in only a slight reduction in the effectiveness of this approach. We discuss the implications of these findings and recommend that future research moves beyond asking whether flipped learning is effective to when and how its effectiveness is maximized.

Probing the Flipped Learning Literature in Social Sciences and Humanities Education

“…Qassem (2020) mentioned that as learning writing in English language learning, technology devices play a crucial role in enhancing English writing training. Another reason may relate to that English language is based on numerus skills (reading, speaking, writing etc..) and that evidenced flipped learning as effective tool in enhancing English language skills (Vitta & Al-Hoorie, 2020). Furthermore, flipped learning technique provide students with suitable space for the exchanging the ideas more than another course (Hamdani, 2019).…”

Directed motivational currents: A systematic review

“…Real-time analysis of DMCs may shed light not only on whether language learning indeed becomes more effective during this experience, but also how. It is equally important to uncover the process leading to the outcome as it is to investigate the outcome (Al-Hoorie & Al Shlowiy, 2020;Vitta & Al-Hoorie, 2020). Several studies have used self-plotted graphs, sometimes asking the participant to retrospectively rate their motivation over the course of a whole previous year.…”

The Opportunities and Limitations of Blended Learning and the Flipped Classroom for Second Language Teaching

“…Such unfocused tasks create conditions to practice poor students' output competence, which internalizes and reinforces their understanding of new information [17]. Accordingly, some experts conjectured that the flipped classroom has the most efficacy in conceptual and procedural learning [16]. The reason is that teachers can activate students' high-order mental processes with flipping facilities, such as problem-solving, critical thinking, and strong students' engagement [2].…”

“…Fortunately, one recent study speculated that current technology development is narrowing the digital divide gap, such as open access to information sharing data resources [15]. Lastly, learners with lower proficiency may not benefit from independent learning before the class [16] because it has strict requirements for students' self-study ability. Therefore, the success of the flipped classroom strongly relies on students' pre-class preparation and self-discipline.…”