The Flipped Classroom

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This article (based on material from our Delta Module One course) deals with the concept of the flipped classroom. What does the term mean, and what are the  advantages and disadvantages of the format?

So what is the flipped classroom?

 1. The flipped
classroom involves a kind of blended learning, where a part of the lesson that
was traditionally done in class – particularly as far as EFL is concerned the
presentation of a new language item -  is
now done at home. In a typical approach to flipped learning, students watch a
teacher’s explanation of something on video at home, possibly do some
controlled practice activities, but then spend class time on freer practice
activities.

 2. However,
flipped learning  does not necessarily
involve technology. The presentation/practice material could be a book like
Murphy’s “English Grammar in Use”. This is an alternative if some learners in
the class do not have adequate computer/internet access or skills, and it is
therefore unfair/impossible to incorporate a method which is dependent on
technology into the course.

What are the advantages?

 3. If learners have to miss a lesson, they still have access to
the most important input and can still "keep up" with the course. Eg
in a traditional classroom, if a learner missed a lesson introducing a new verb
form, the T. would have to re-present it when they returned. The flipped
classroom makes this unnecessary and saves time. There are few group classes
where no learner ever misses a lesson, but this can be particularly useful in
Business English classes where the T and participants know in advance that
there are times when one of other of the group will be away for business trips,
important meetings or just pressure of work.

4. Ls can work
through the input materials at their own pace, watching or reading them two or
three times if they wish to. This allows slower learners (who might not fully
understand a lockstep class presentation) to benefit without holding up the
rest of the class.

5. The flipped
classroom means there is more time in class for practice and application
activities. This means there is more student centred work and the T. can
diagnose the problems that learners are having and spend more time dealing with
those.

And the disadvantages?

6. Most published courses are not written for the flipped classroom – an exception being
Macmillan’s “Gateway” series. The more specialised or individualised the course
(eg ESP classes, 121 classes) the less likely there is to be ready made
materials available, This means that the institution, or even the individual
teacher, is either “pushed” into choosing from a very limited range of
materials (including traditional grammar presentation and practice materials
such as those by  Murphy – see above), or
has to spend time and money developing their own.  If the same course will be taught repeatedly afterwards,
it may be worth it. If the course is a "one-off" - eg a 121 course
based on specific needs, it may not be.

7. In a
traditional classroom "homework" tends to be consolidation work (eg
workbook exercises). Ls who don't do it may not make the same progress as others
but don't hold the class up. In the flipped classroom, a learner who comes to
class without having studied the input has no chance of participating in the
follow up activities. This may not be a problem in a teaching context where
homework is compulsory (eg state school teaching), but does create difficulties
in eg an adult private language school class where learners cannot be compelled
to do work outside the class. 

8. There may be
learners who are unwilling to do any work outside the classroom lessons. This
may be due to lack of time but eg I have taught a class composed of retired
learners whose main reason for studying was to get out of the house once a week
and meet up with a group of people of their same age. Their interest in English
was for travel purposes, plus a general feeling that they wanted to keep their
minds active. However, their primary motivation towards the course was
definitely social and several stated from the outset that they didn’t want
homework. A flipped format is impossible with a group of this type.


9. If a learner does not understand
the presentation, there is no teacher “on hand” to resolve the problem
immediately, which could cause frustration. They will have to wait till the
following lesson to seek help. This could be a particular problem with
beginners – who will not have enough language to understand explanations in
English, but also at higher levels with concepts which are radically different
from those in the L1.  If the materials
have been prepared for a monolingual situation this problem can be partially
resolved by providing explanations in the Ls’ own language, but this is not
possible in a multilingual situation or with published materials intended for a
global market. This may result in the T having to repeat the presentation in
class in any case.

 10. The flipped classroom pushes the
course into (at worst) a deductive approach and (at best) a PPP type approach.
Some published materials do provide interactive software using a Guided
discovery approach, but there is no room for other lesson formats such as Test-Teach-Test
where the T. can make an on the spot decision about how much time to spend
on  focusing on the TL, or how much of
the TL to focus on, dependent on Ls’ performance in the first test stage. All
the learners are presented with the same material regardless of their strengths
and weaknesses.

11. Similarly, although the extra
time available for practice in the lesson may allow for a focus on emergent
language, there is no chance of basing the course on a Dogme style approach
where there is no a-priori syllabus. The syllabus must be pre-decided in advance
in order for the presentation materials to be produced. This leads the teacher
back to adopting  what Thornbury has
coined a "Grammar McNuggets” approach to course design and management.