Converting a conventional flipped class into a synchronous online flipped class during COVID-19: university students’ self-regulation skills and anxiety

ABSTRACT

Flipped learning has emerged as an innovative teaching and learning model, in part due to the critical role it plays in transforming the nature of student-teacher interaction in and out of the classroom. With the spread of COVID-19, a new concept has appeared: online flipped learning, which essentially refers to flipping synchronous online classes. In this study, the researchers adapted the principles of the conventional flipped learning model to an online environment and amassed favorable feedback from students. Data on students’ perceptions gathered through semi-structured interviews revealed that the flipped learning model facilitated speaking practice. However, the results of the questionnaire given to students before and after the intervention revealed that the flipped learning model was ineffective in alleviating students’ foreign language anxiety levels compared to synchronous learning, and it did not make a significant difference in students’ self-regulatory behaviors. At the end of the study, students did not report any differences between the conventional and online flipped learning models in terms of instructional practices, materials and classroom activities.

KEYWORDS:

• Online flipped learning
• self-regulated learning
• foreign language classroom anxiety
• speaking skills

Acknowledgement

The study is based on the Ph.D. thesis of the first author and was supervised by the second author. The authors express their gratitude to the students and the instructors who volunteered to participate in this study for all their support and patience during the data collection.

Ethical issue

The ethical approval was provided by Hacettepe University Ethics Commission on 4th September, 2018 with the registration number of 35853172-300.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Sezen Korkmaz

Sezen Korkmaz is an English instructor at the Department of Basic English at Middle East Technical University. She received her PhD from Hacettepe University. Her research interests include blended learning models, mobile-assisted language learning and distance education.

İsmail Hakkı Mirici

İsmail Hakkı Mirici is a full-time professor at Hacettepe University in Ankara, Turkey. He has been lecturing at universities for about 35 years. He has about 20 books and more than 90 academic studies published in various academic journals and conference proceedings. He is also the ELP National Contact Person of the Ministry of Education, Turkey in the Council of Europe. His main fields of studies are English language teaching, teacher training, European policy of foreign language education, and curriculum and instruction.