The effectiveness of the student response system (SRS) in English grammar learning in a flipped English as a foreign language (EFL) class

ABSTRACT

Flipped classes are well-known for reversing the typical in-class lecture and out-of-class homework structure by instructing students to learn by themselves from on-line learning materials and inviting them to ask questions based on their individual difficulties in class. Many attempts at integrating this teaching method into English as a foreign language (EFL) classrooms have proven to be beneficial to students’ learning achievement and motivation. However, there is little research on how to organize interactive, engaging and effective in-class activities for an EFL flipped classroom. In this study, a student response system (SRS) is proposed to support teachers in organizing in-class activities in a flipped class. To investigate the effectiveness of this approach, a quasi-experiment was conducted in an EFL classroom in an engineering school. The experimental group used the SRS to do in-class activities while the control group followed the conventional method. The results showed that the use of the SRS increased students’ learning motivation and self-efficacy in learning English grammar and improved their participation and engagement in the in-class activities of the flipped learning process. Furthermore, the questionnaire results showed that students accepted the SRS as an instructional method in an EFL flipped class. However, the use of the SRS was not effective in improving students’ grammar learning achievement.

KEYWORDS:

• Flipped class
• student response system
• EFL grammar

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Chenchen Liu is a Doctor in Educational Sciences in the University of Strasbourg. Her research interests are integrating technology into teachers’ instruction in class and evaluating the effectiveness of technology in improving student achievement.

Sarah Sands-Meyer is a Senior Lecturer in English in the Humanities Department of the National Institute of Applied Sciences, an Engineering School in Strasbourg, France. She is currently finishing her doctorate at the University of Strasbourg in Education Science. The title of her thesis is “Failing the TOEIC: From Linguistic to Communication Competence, What is the Role of the Language Learner? The Case of Engineering Students at INSA-Strasbourg”. Her research concentrates on EFL, student motivation and standardized testing.

Jacques Audran is a Professor of Education in the Humanities Department of the National Institute of Applied Sciences of Strasbourg, France. He is also the head of the LISEC-Alsace educational laboratory. His research concerns the study of the development of online teaching-learning, and focuses more particularly on the analysis of the role of interactions in distance education. His publications include books, articles, and chapters on topics such as online communities of practice, technological mediation of knowledge, and online formative assessment.

ORCID

Chenchen Liu http://orcid.org/0000-0001-9522-8312

Sands-Meyer Sarah http://orcid.org/0000-0001-9018-9916

Jacques Audran http://orcid.org/0000-0003-3481-4005