Abstract:

This paper reports a pilot study on the development and use of a web-based application for smartphones and conducted by researchers at universities and research institutions in Japan. It aims to foster student outside-of-class collaborative learning in a university English as a foreign language (EFL) flipped learning (FL) course. FL in this course-based action research was defined as blended learning wherein students in groups of 4-5 people engaged in outside-of-class collaborative learning tasks on the web-based application developed for in-class collaborative learning activities. Collaborative learning is defined as the interaction between people that is expected to create learning mechanisms which make the primary purpose of collaborative learning possible, in other words, the achievement of the desired learning product. The application provides a learning environment for the smartphones of students and the teacher. In order to sustain the motivation levels needed for on-going engagement in the outside-of-class collaborative learning tasks, messages were sent by the teacher to the students. Various kinds of data such as the list of the students and teachers, course text materials and comprehension questions of the texts, and student performance data were stored in a learning management system on the application. The course texts are studied using the application outside of class in collaborative learning tasks, and in-class collaborative learning tasks engage students in various forms of discussion and presentations of the content of the key aspects of the course text materials. The student course evaluations revealed that the students described the preparatory materials on the application as interesting, and that they conducted research on the topics of the online reading texts by using URL research-site links related to the materials. The students reported that the messages sent by the teacher encouraged them to collaborate with each other on the online tasks. Moreover, the students said that both in class and outside of class, they were active participants in collaborating with other members in the group in making summaries of the text and also in preparing and making presentations based on these summaries of the text.

Keywords:

Web-based application, Collaborative learning, Flipped learning, Smartphones, English as a foreign language (EFL).