Abstract:

The flipped classroom (FC) method has been extensively adopted in STEM disciplines at the university level and garnered favourable results in synchronous learning, while less focus has been directed to its effectiveness on language teaching and learning at school. This experimental study aimed to explore how the flipped classroom approach affected EFL learning performance in the 6th grade. A 16-week semester-long flipped approach with pre-class materials and in-class interactive activities was implemented in two experimental and control EFL learner groups from a public general education school in Vilnius, Lithuania.
The study found that the experimental FC group obtained significantly higher marks on five out of nine topics covered throughout the semester and, importantly, on the final mark for the marking period. In addition, the FC group employed markedly more sophisticated vocabulary and sentence structure as well as made fewer grammar mistakes. Lastly, the FC group exhibited more engagement, exploration, explanation, elaboration and evaluation, the five phases which align with the constructivist flipped classroom approach.

Keywords:

Flipped classroom, EFL teaching and learning, classroom activities, learning performance.