PEEKING INTO THE TEACHING TOOLBOX: FLIPCHARTING IN THE EFL CLASSROOM

In an educational environment understood as a dynamic teaching and learning space designed and monitored by inspired and passionate teachers following clear educational goals, the instructional content and the methods supporting the assimilation of knowledge often rely on a variety of teaching aids. While the flipchart is held in high regard in industrial, business and training environments (Lucas, 1999), ensuring the success of lively, informative and audience-friendly presentations, this low-tech tool has been slightly pushed aside in EFL classrooms by the latest high-tech computers and fancy applications. In the first part of the paper we provide a classification of teaching aids from various criteria and discuss the difference between teaching aids and teaching resources. In the second part of the paper we review the advantages and disadvantages of flipcharting in various instructional environments and argue that in the area of foreign language instruction flipcharting may contribute to a reconfiguration of both teacher and student roles.