Abstract:

One of the obvious consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic in education is the continuous use of remote learning. Remote, especially, online learning offers the obvious advantage of flexibility and convenience. That is particularly important in the field of adult education since adults cite work-related lack of time as one of the main reasons preventing them from participating in education.

Educators working in an online modality need to create programs that facilitate learning and accommodate content and assessment, which requires thorough preparation and planning. This can take various forms, including combinations of synchronous and asynchronous modalities, thus using different ways of the flipped classroom, which has lately gained significant popularity. While adult course providers are often constrained by circumstances out of their control, having data on the effectiveness of learning helps in selecting an optimal format.

This paper analyzes students’ perceptions and knowledge retention in an online hybrid English as an Additional Language (EAL) program for adults delivered in two different structures at Riga Technical University (RTU) Riga Business School English Language Center (RBS ELC) in Latvia. The program, based on a social constructivist theory, has the same basic content, and employed principles of the flipped classroom but was structured differently for two demographically similar cohorts of adult students. Students attending ELC evening classes after work (n=31) spent more time in class and less time on pre-class tasks, and RTU academic staff studying English within the framework of an EU-funded project (n=35) had less classroom time and more substantial pre-class tasks.

The objective of this research was to discover whether a course structure affects the effectiveness of learning. As it was meant to inform practice, we employed a pragmatic worldview and used quasi-experiment as a research method, and all data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. To find out students’ opinions, standard student evaluations of teaching (SET)s collected after every course were analyzed. Those are survey forms combining a Likert-type questionnaire with values ranging from 1 to 4 with open-ended questions and administered on the last day of a course. Mean values were compared for each survey item. Knowledge retention was assessed by comparing the results of delayed proficiency English language tests, administered one year after the course, to the levels achieved in the course.

The results show a slight preference for the structure with shorter classes and longer pre-class tasks. However, although the group that studied in this format demonstrates better knowledge retention, the differences are not statistically significant. That might be due to the small sample as few students agreed to take a delayed language test. Collecting more data from adult students will continue to be a challenge but may provide further valuable insights for adult educators.

Keywords:

Online learning, flipped classroom, English language teaching, adult learners, learning effectiveness.