Tracing EFL students’ flipped classroom journey in a writing class: Lessons from Malaysia

ABSTRACT

The study explored English as a Foreign Language (EFL) low proficiency students’ reflections and experience of learning in a structured flipped writing program, in a foreign university branch campus in Malaysia. It investigated the areas in which students showed improvement after flipped classroom learning. Qualitative data collected from semi-structured interviews of a sample of 18 students revealed that most students had positive experiences of the use of flipped classroom, reporting that they had greater time preparation before class; increased practice, engagement, interaction, motivation and immediate feedback during class, and a higher level of self-efficacy after class. Some shortcomings of this approach included the feeling of boredom and that it was time-consuming.

KEYWORDS:

• Flipped classroom
• grammar
• essay structure
• EFL students
• low English language proficiency

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Rebecca Lee Su Ping

Rebecca Lee Su Ping is a postgraduate student as well as an English Language Coordinator in the School of Foundation Studies, at Swinburne University of Technology in Malaysia. Her research interests include flipped classroom, English writing instruction and English as a Foreign Language (EFL).

Elena Verezub is Associate Director of Learning and Academic Skills Centre at Swinburne University of Technology, Australia. Her professional and research interests are in the area of Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, and in particular, Student Experience and Student Enrichment.

Ida Fatimawati bt Adi Badiozaman is an associate professor at Swinburne University of Technology in Malaysia. Her research interest involves studying student engagement in mainstream settings where content is taught/learned through English as a second language, the challenges of learning academic literacy in L2 and bridging the transition for postgraduate international students to mainstream study.

Wang Su Chen is a senior fellow of the Centre for Communication Skills, Singapore Institute of Technology. Her research interests are in TESOL.