Fostering Fluency in EFL Adult Learners through Flipped Learning
Student: Wendy Katherine Rey Cárdenas
Adviser: Sandra Marina Palencia González
Bachelor’s Degree in Basic Education with emphasis on Humanities and Languages
School of Education
Universidad Libre
Bogota, November 4th, 2020
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Dedication
This research project is dedicated to the memory of Matilde Palomino, my grandmother
who nowadays is not physically with us, but has always been my example of courage and endeavor.
I miss her a lot and through this work I want to honor her memory. Nonita, this is for you. Thank
you for never giving up, raising all your children and giving us your unconditional love until the
last of your days. Thanks for every piece of advice, every smile and every ice cream. I love you.
Also, this is for my grandmother Myriam García whom I love very much and who with her
actions has taught me to be strong despite the storm because the sun always rises the next day.
Grandma, thank you for teaching me to fight for what I want until the end. I admire you and honor
your bravery. You are the strongest woman I have ever met. Never give up.
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Acknowledgements
First, I want to thank God because without him I wouldn't be here. He is the reason for my life
and my inspiration. To him I owe everything I have achieved. I acknowledge that he has helped
me in every moment of my existence, giving me faith and courage to continue. In moments of
loneliness and sadness, there he was offering me his hand and telling me not to give up because he
was with me and would never leave me alone.
I would like to thank my parents and sister for always being there with me and for teaching me
values and principles that guided me on the path of righteousness and faith. Thank you for giving
me all your love and patience. I’m grateful for all your prayers to God for me and my dreams.
I cannot express enough thanks to my academic adviser Sandra Palencia who never gave up on
me and believed in me before I did. Thank you for all your teachings, your love and your patience
towards me. There is no better advisor in this universe. Since I met you in the first semester, I
knew that you were going to have a very important role in my process to become a teacher. You
will always be in my best memories.
To all the members of the ILET research group, to Professor Clara Onatra, Doctor Héctor
Beltrán, Professor Deisy Baracaldo, Professor Myrian Cruz and Professor Augusto Carrillo, a big
thank you.
Last, but not least, I would like to express my deep gratitude to my love Caleb Garzón for
supporting me every single day of this journey. For loving me with all his heart and for showing
me that everything is possible if we believe. I love you to the moon and back again.
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Contents
Introduction 7
1. Research Problem 8
1.1 Problem Description 8
1.2. Research Background 11
1.2.1. Local Research background 11
1.2.2. National Research background. 14
1.2.3. International Research background. 15
1.3. Justification 17
1.4. Research Question 18
1.5. Objectives 18
1.5.1. General Objective 18
1.5.2. Specific Objectives 19
1.6. Theoretical Framework 19
1.6.1. Oral Production 19
1.6.2. Flipped Learning 27
1.6.3. Andragogy 37
2. Research Methodology 42
2.1. Approach and Type of Research 42
2.2. Techniques and Instruments for Data Collection 44
2.2.1. Diagnostic Activity 44
2.2.2. Participant Observation and Field Notes 46
2.2.3. Surveys 47
2.2.4. Audio Recordings 49
2.3. Population and Sample 49
2.4. Pedagogical Proposal 51
2.5. Data Analysis 59
3. Analysis and Findings 60
3.1. Analysis of results 60
3.1.1. The role of FL in EFL learning 60
3.1.2. Oral fluency development in adult learners 67
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3.1.3. FL in the development of adult learners’ oral fluency 74
3.2. Conclusions 76
References 78
Appendices 83
Appendix A. Initial Diagnostic Activity 83
Appendix B. First Contact Survey 84
Appendix C. Field Journal #1 86
Appendix D. Note-taking System (Adapted from Pauk, 2001) 87
Appendix E. Bloom’s Taxonomy Pyramid 87
Appendix F. Lesson Plan #3 88
Appendix G. Periodic survey 89
Appendix H. Rubric to assess oral presentations 91
Appendix I. Fluency Check Cards 92
Appendix J. Final Diagnostic Activity 93
Appendix K. Audio Recordings Transcripts (Diagnostic Activity #1- Students 1 and 2) 96
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List of Tables
Table 1. Pedagogical Proposal…………………………………………………………………54
List of Figures
Figure 1. Action Research Cycle (Ferrance, 2000) …………………………………………….43
Figure 2. Criteria to choose sample …………………………………………………………….51
Figure 3. Emerging themes ……………………………………………………………………..60
Figure 4. Initial Diagnostic Activity Results …………………………………..……………….69
Figure 5. Final Diagnostic Activity Results ………………………………………………….…71
Figure 6. Students’ initial and final average score regarding technology mastery ……………..74
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Introduction
This project arises from the need that adult students in group 1B have in terms of oral
communication, specifically in the development of fluency in speech. To contribute to this aspect,
Flipped Learning was chosen, considering its role in the EFL teaching-learning process. In this
way, this project aimed at determining the influence of Flipped Learning in the development of
oral fluency in English of adult learners at a basic level. To achieve this goal, it was necessary to
diagnose students’ initial level in terms of fluency, to encourage students’ fluency in English by
means of the implementation of Flipped Learning and to analyze and evaluate the effect of Flipped
Learning on students’ oral fluency.
Within the framework of the qualitative approach and action research, this project contains three
chapters. The first one reports the description of the problem from which this research project
arises; the local, national and international research background; the motivations and reasons that
validate this research project; the research question that this study attempts to answer; the
objectives to be achieved; and the theories and the concepts that support it.
The second chapter has to do with the approach and type of research carried out, the techniques
and instruments used for data collection, and the population and sample under study. In the last
chapter, considering the “thematic analysis”, the themes or patterns that emerged during the
process of analyzing the data will be introduced. Some charts and fragments, taken from the data
collection instruments, to support the findings will be presented. Finally, the conclusions reached
by the pre-service teacher after this research process will be shown.
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1. Research Problem
This chapter reports the description of the problem from which this research project arises; the
local, national and international research background; the motivations and reasons that validate
this research project; the research question that this study attempts to answer; the objectives to be
achieved; and the theories and the concepts that support it.
1.1 Problem Description
Universidad Libre is a high quality private educational institution with multi-campus
accreditation received in 2016. One of its campuses is in Bogota (Colombia) in the “Bosque
Popular” neighborhood. This campus has a School of Education that offers bachelor’s degrees in
either Physical Education, Children's Pedagogy, and Humanities and Languages. This last program
provides the community in general with English and French courses headed by Professor Héctor
Beltrán.
The aforementioned courses were usually taken by teenagers and adults belonging to strata that
range between 2 and 4. These language courses were offered in two shifts: from 1 to 3 pm and
from 3:30 pm to 5:30 pm on Saturdays at the facilities of the School of Education, Economic
Sciences, and Universidad Libre School. As it can be seen, class length was 2 hours every
Saturday, meaning that students could have an interaction with the language within a very reduced
number of hours a month. Also, it was noticed that students did not have a learning culture that
allowed them to review the topics and practice the skills learned in class during the week in their
spare time. This situation made the learning process more difficult since the only moment where
students had contact with the language was those 2 hours that were taken to explain grammar
topics and practice was left to do at home. Sometimes, that time was not enough to finish a
grammar lesson and students had a lot of questions without an answer.
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“2 hours are not enough to cover all planned activities. It is important to free up time in the
classroom in order to bring speaking activities for students to practice fluency. Flipping the
grammar component is a good idea” (Field Journal #1, February 15th, 2020)
The main objective of these courses was to help students become proficient users of the target
language, giving priority to communication skills (writing, speaking, listening, reading) through
interpretative, argumentative and productive competences, meaning that students must show their
progress with outcomes such as oral presentations and writings, among others, periodically.
English courses consisted of ten groups distributed in three levels as follows:
Basic level: 1A, 1B, 1C, 1D, 1E, 1F
Intermediate level: 2A, 2B
Advanced level: 3A, 3B
According to the Common European Framework, within the linguistic competences that an
English learner must develop, oral production is a primary element for the interaction and learning
of the language, given its outstanding role in communication. In the case of students of a basic
level, a diagnostic activity (see Appendix A) was implemented. Results showed that 5 students
could express themselves orally. Although they made some mistakes, they hazard speaking. The
other students did not speak at all during the session.
“Only 5 students went on to present on the role of women in a given country, with a well-
designed visual aid. The others did not speak or express their opinions about the performances
of their classmates” (Field Journal #1, February 15th, 2020)
Another aspect that was observed during the diagnostic activity was the use of isolated words
such as tradition, culture, obligation, people, among others, and short and bad structured
sentences. For example:
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“The girls not has the right of decide” (Student 1)
“Zero love in that country” (Student 5)
“Much hungry in that place” (Student 3)
“The country no advance” (Student 4)
In addition, they used Spanish to communicate with their classmates as it can be seen in the
examples below:
“¿Cómo se dice solución?” (Student 5)
“Listo” (Student 1)
“Profe ¿Cómo se deletrea?” (Student 3)
“¿Te lo deletreo?” (Student 4)
“Presentations lasted from 1 to 3 minutes and many filler sounds, long pauses and hesitation
were heard. Also, students said isolated words like "tradition, culture, obligation, people,
women, children" and poorly structured sentences in terms of grammar” (Field Journal #1,
February 15th, 2020)
All in all, it was evidenced that they had difficulty expressing themselves orally in English due
to different factors such as fear of speaking in public and lack of vocabulary. In addition, the results
of this diagnostic activity were confirmed by a survey students answered (see Appendix B). The
main goal of this survey was to inquire into students’ perceptions regarding oral production and
the reasons why they think they could not express their ideas orally in the foreign language, as
well as their thoughts regarding mastery of technology. As a result, 100% of the students said that
they had difficulty speaking in English and pronouncing because they lacked fluency, and 40% of
them deem they were not able to communicate their ideas in the target language because of the
fear of speaking in public. Students also expressed that they wanted to be fluent when speaking by
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the end of the course. The aforementioned aspects did not allow them to produce long and/or short
statements with accuracy and fluency. In addition, field notes (see Appendix C) were taken by the
pre-service teacher and they were used as confirmation or support of the results of the diagnostic
activity and the survey.
“Students are aware that they need to improve their oral production and agree that speaking
skill is one of the most important in the process of learning a foreign language” (Field Journal
#1, February 15th, 2020)
In accordance with the results of the diagnostic activity and the first contact survey, it seems
that most of the students are at an A1 level as stated in the Common European Framework of
Reference for Languages (CEFR thereafter) with regards to oral production. This fact shows a
delay in the learning process since students of this group should have reached an A2 level in oral
production by the time this research project started.
“It is necessary to work on these fluency issues so that students can overcome the fear of
speaking in public and what they are saying can be better understood. Also, some students used
Spanish to communicate with classmates and the teacher. It indicates that they feel in their
comfort zone when using their mother tongue” (Field Journal #1, February 15th, 2020)
1.2. Research Background
This section presents the research background at local, national and international level. They
were chosen considering the variables for the development of this research project: Oral
Production, Flipped Learning, English as a Foreign Language and Andragogy.
1.2.1. Local Research background
Within the local background, Luna and Barón (2018) in their research project entitled "The
Impact of Flipped Learning on Fifth Graders’ Oral Production" shared their experience as pre-
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service teachers with fifth graders at a public school in Bogotá and the effect that the Flipped
Learning approach had on students ‘oral production. During their teaching practicum, they
observed that students had a low level in the speaking skill, an issue that was proved by using the
Cambridge Starters Standard Test. In the English class, students tended to communicate in Spanish
maybe due to the fact that they did not have an English teacher and their exposure to the language
was reduced to two hours a week.
Hence, the researchers started to include dynamic resources to their classes such as videos,
games, among others, which made students be engaged with the class and participate more by
using the foreign language. After working on the speaking skill in the Group Learning Space that
was liberated by moving the theory and grammar home, students showed an improvement in the
quality of the pronunciation. Also, oral statements were longer than at the beginning,
demonstrating a good level of fluency for their age. They also liked the material that was being
used and they considered that the hardest part of the learning process was being developed in class
(homework). For this reason, pre-service teachers determined that the use of the Flipped Learning
approach was a good way to enhance students’ oral production skills.
As a conclusion, it was evidenced that students improved their speaking skills with the help of
different activities proposed by the Flipped Learning approach, result that was proved by the
application of the Cambridge Starters Standard Test at the end of the implementations in which
students obtained a better score in the speaking part of the test, compared to the one they had at
the beginning of the classes. Also, it was shown that students increased their engagement to the
lessons because of the use of technology. Since students had already watched a video about the
lesson topic, they were not lost during the Group Learning Space activities and could internalize
the topics better.
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This research project contributes to the present one because it shows the way the Flipped
Learning approach can improve students’ engagement to a lesson and their oral production level.
Also, this study motivates the researcher to continue working with this approach since the impact
of the use of technology in the Individual Learning Space is positive, students can access the
content at their own pace and have the opportunity to be ready for their class in advance. In class,
students can participate more because they already know what the lesson is about and are ready to
take part in the different activities designed for their significant learning.
Ramírez (2018) in her article called “Flipping a Pronunciation Lesson for a Teacher Training
Course” shared the way in which she carried out a connected speech lesson applied in a teacher
training blended course at a private university in Bogotá with adult students. This course consisted
of an 8-week training with 2 hours of face-to-face sessions a week and 4 to 6 hours of weekly
autonomous work. Students stated they were motivated to take the course because they wanted to
improve their pronunciation and learn different ways to teach it in their own classes. In one of the
lesson plans, the author implemented discussions to clarify doubts, a recording task feedback and
a listening song activity were included. The platform used to develop the online sessions was
Fronter which allowed students to upload a variety of content formats as well as to participate in
the forums created by the tutor.
The researcher found that students improved their pronunciation at the end of the course,
especially in consonant sounds and linking words. Also, they replicated the communicative
pronunciation classes in their own contexts, including the variety of strategies learnt in each lesson.
This study contributes to this project because it gives guidance regarding the creation of a lesson
plan within the Flipped Learning implementation. Moreover, the population of both studies is
similar: adults. Teaching this type of public is not the same as teaching children or teenagers.
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Likewise, it sheds light on how to use virtual resources such as online platforms to create learning
environments for the individual learning space.
1.2.2. National Research background.
Valencia (2015) presented a research project entitled "Oral competence in an L2 supported
using ICT in high school". It aimed at strengthening oral competence in students from 15 to 17
years old of “Normal Superior de María de Rionegro School”. This study was based on three
specific virtual resources: Digital Storytelling, Voki and Edmodo. Moreover, instruments such as
field journals were used to register the observations made to students in the follow-up period to
verify their progress with this method based on online platforms. The researcher concluded that
the use of these platforms allowed the strengthening of oral production and an improvement in the
attitudinal area of students in and outside class. In this way, this study contributes to this project
because it contains virtual resources that are meant to create meaningful learning environments,
and this is the purpose for implementations in this project: that students can participate in a very
enriching learning process with the help of different virtual tools.
Another selected research is authored by Gómez (2016) who carried out a thesis project entitled
"El modelo Flipped learning en la pronunciación del inglés: un estudio exploratorio con docentes
en formación de lenguas extranjeras.". This project was developed with students of the Bachelor
of Foreign Languages at a private university in Antioquia, Colombia. This was a quasi-
experimental study in which two groups of students were included: The Flipped Learning
methodology was applied with one of them and the traditional way of teaching continued to be
used with the other. At the beginning of the study, it was noticed that students presented difficulty
in oral production in English, mainly in pronunciation. The author pointed out that 21st century
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education must move towards the use of technology in teaching-learning processes, which is why
he selected the Flipped Learning approach to carry implementations out.
Throughout the project, platforms such as Schoology and Edpuzzle were used, which
contributed to the significant learning of the participants and it is concluded that the Flipped
Learning approach had a positive impact on the dynamics of the classroom and virtual classes,
having as the main achievement interaction and motivation of students, as well as autonomy and
collaborative learning. The author expressed that there was an improvement in the optimization of
time thanks to the use of videos and technological platforms in the individual learning space.
This study has a positive effect on this project as it proposes the use of two technological tools
as useful for the development of pronunciation in young and adult students. In addition, it provides
a strategy to address grammar topics using videos, which is: giving students written instructions
through a platform, before, during and after watching the video.
1.2.3. International Research background.
Telenchana (2019) developed a research study called "The Flipped Classroom Method in
English Speaking Skill Development" with young students at a school in Ambato, Ecuador. At first,
it was identified that students found it difficult to express themselves orally in English because the
way of teaching was the traditional one which consisted of explaining a topic in class with a board
and marker in front of a group of students who were supposed to take notes and pay attention. This
aspect did not allow students to be motivated towards the foreign language. The researcher found
that students needed to improve their oral production skills by including technology in and outside
the classroom in order to prepare the lesson before class. That is why she decided to implement
the Flipped Learning approach in order to improve her students' speaking skills.
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In order to achieve that, the author designed several worksheets to work at home in the
Individual Learning Space. Students had to work on this material before, while and after watching
a video recommended by the teacher. Worksheets were designed taking into account students’
likes regarding music and movies, an aspect that enhances their motivation and engagement with
the lesson topic. Also, there was some material which was created with the help of different
technological tools such as: Quiz Box, Keynote, Moodle, Edmodo and YouTube.
After that, Telenchana arrived at the conclusion that using the Flipped Learning approach was
an effective way to improve students’ oral production skills, along with their motivation and
interactivity in and outside the classroom. Also, it was evidenced that this approach helped students
to increase their grades and autonomy in the activities proposed during the implementation of the
strategy.
This thesis contributes to this project because it shows how Flipped Learning can help students
to get better grades and, based on their likes regarding music, movies or another aspect, they can
be more engaged in their learning. This is something that makes me think that choosing this
approach was a good decision and that it is necessary to create meaningful, didactic and striking
material in order to generate interest and motivation in students.
Finally, Quyen and Loi (2018) with their quasi-experimental study "Flipped model for
improving students’ English speaking performance", aimed at determining the impact of the
Flipped Learning model in a focus group speaking performance while another group was receiving
traditional classes. The participants of this study were 60 undergraduate students who were
enrolled in two groups of General English 3, a subject at a university in Can Tho, Vietnam. These
students had some difficulty in their speaking performance, an observation that was confirmed by
applying a questionnaire, a speaking test and a semi-structured survey.
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Researchers used different tools to flip the grammar component of each unit with the focus
group by using several tools for students to work in the Individual Learning Space, such as videos
and reading materials which were uploaded on Facebook, a platform that allowed students to
interact with their classmates and teachers live. The results showed that the focus group, to which
the flipped model was applied, improved considerably more than the non-flipped classroom, in
terms of speaking performance. Also, students had good perceptions on this approach since they
stated that this had a positive effect on their autonomous and significant learning.
What this study contributes to this project is that, first, the researchers made use of a platform
on which students can easily access and exchange information with each other and with the teacher,
quickly and effectively. This allows instant resolution of doubts and promotes collaborative
learning. This is a good idea to implement in my project since, based on this study, it can have
good results. Secondly, this study shows, as well as those that were previously exposed, that
Flipped Learning is a useful and effective strategy when working on improving oral production in
different populations, from children to adults.
1.3. Justification
At present, learning a foreign language is a synonym of new opportunities and challenges at the
workplace. Therefore, the present research project will impact the selected population as it
attempts to contribute to the improvement of an important skill (oral production) for their best and
most optimal performance in English. In addition, the importance of this study lies in its innovation
since there are few studies on Flipped Learning in relation to oral production in English as a foreign
language in adult students. That is why this study will shed light on future work related to the
following variables: adult students, oral production, virtual resources, Flipped Learning, and
learning English as a foreign language. Moreover, this study is meant to contribute to the author’s
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teaching practices since it will help her find different strategies when it comes to adult learning
and technology.
On the other hand, it is considered that carrying out this study is feasible because it arises from
an already existing need, the human resource is ready (teacher, students of the course) and a small
amount of economic resources is required to start it. Finally, the benefits that this research work
will bring can be classified into two groups: benefit to students of the English course and benefit
to Universidad Libre – Bosque Popular. Benefit to students because when making part of the
research process, they will enhance their oral production skills in English, and they will see results
in a short-term. It should be noted that they will enjoy participating in classes with an innovative
strategy. Likewise, benefit to Universidad Libre since the extension courses will gain prestige for
being of high quality having contributed to the development of students’ oral production. This will
serve so that more people want to study at the University.
1.4. Research Question
After having established the research problem to be studied, this project attempted to answer
the following research question: ‘What is the incidence of the use of Flipped Learning in the
development of fluency in English of adult learners with a basic level?’
1.5. Objectives
The goals that had been proposed to be achieved with the development of this research project
are presented below.
1.5.1. General Objective
To determine the incidence of the Flipped Learning approach in the development of fluency in
English of adult learners with a basic level.
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1.5.2. Specific Objectives
To diagnose the initial level of students’ fluency in English.
To encourage students’ fluency in English by means of the implementation of Flipped Learning.
To analyze and evaluate the effect of Flipped Learning on students’ oral fluency.
1.6. Theoretical Framework
This section includes the main theoretical foundations which support the development of this
study: Oral Production, Flipped Learning (FL thereafter), and Andragogy. The first construct,
highly valued by teachers and students, is taken into consideration because it was identified that
students often fail to express their thoughts and feelings fluently when they are asked to participate
in communicative activities. The second one endorses this study as the approach that promotes
active learning and students’ engagement, essential to enhance students’ oral skills, fluency in this
particular study, in a foreign language. Finally, Andragogy takes into consideration the main
characteristics and principles related to adult learning, which is the population under study.
1.6.1. Oral Production
According to Goh and Burns (2012), oral production, also labeled as speaking, “is a highly
complex and dynamic skill that involves the use of several simultaneous processes—cognitive,
physical and socio-cultural—and a speaker’s knowledge and skills have to be activated rapidly in
real time” (p. 166). Also, oral production is an interactive process of constructing meaning that
involves producing, receiving and processing information. Thus, this is the process by which the
individual transmits what s/he thinks verbally, using the word. In this process, several aspects such
as pronunciation and fluency, being affected by socio-cultural and affective factors, must be
considered.
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When speaking, there are several factors that are involved, and speakers must be able to manage
the communicative situation without the opportunity of planning what they will say in advance. In
this way, Burns (2016) states there are three different factors that take place in the act of speaking:
cognitive, social and affective.
Cognitive factors. These factors refer to the fact that speakers must have previous knowledge
of what they are going to say. This process is called ‘Conceptual preparation’ which takes part
before or during the moment of speaking and exchanging information. This is based on the idea
that we cannot talk about something we do not know. That is why the speaker needs to have a
background knowledge to be able to establish a conversation or even give a presentation about a
specific topic to a certain public.
Also, there is another aspect that is relevant when talking about cognitive factors:
metacognition, which refers to speakers bringing into focus the strategies they use for consciously
thinking about the way they communicate (Vandergrift and Goh, 2012). According to Burns
(2016), metacognitive awareness comprises three dimensions: metacognitive, experience,
metacognitive knowledge, and strategy use.
Metacognitive experience can be seen when the speaker is in an interaction moment and he is
aware of a demand that is being asked by the other speaker involved, but he cannot bring to his
mind the appropriate vocabulary to maintain the conversation. In this case, the speaker, being
aware of this situation, needs to use “circumlocution” which means to express an idea with other
words, a resource that allows him to be understood.
Metacognitive knowledge consists of the self-knowledge the speaker has that involves
understanding the purpose of his speaking task and his effectiveness to achieve communication
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goals. It is important to highlight that the speaker must also know his role in the interaction by
considering the cognitive, social and affective factors that are immersed in the exchange.
Last, but not least, in the strategy use, we find that the speaker needs to reflect about his
performance in terms of oral interaction and the use of communication tools which can facilitate
the interaction and discourse. Successful learners think about their learning and consciously
develop ways to promote it (Alexander, 2008). In the classroom, learners should be given the
opportunity to reflect about their own development of speaking skills. Teachers should provide
them with feedback about their process and performance which can be given in general or detailed.
Even though it is true that students must show fluency, it is also necessary to sometimes let them
prepare some of their speaking tasks. This moment of preparedness can allow them to think about
their background knowledge and the metacognitive factors that may be involved in the oral
interaction.
Social factors. When communicating, it is important, not only to have the required knowledge
about the topic in an exchange, but also to recognize all the pragmatic and social aspects of oral
interaction. There are different scenarios in which the speaker must handle both transactional and
interactional skills. In fact, according to Burns (2016), “From a cultural point of view, in relation
to these goals, speakers need to understand and use the range of genres (or culturally patterned
stages in discourse) to achieve transactional or interpersonal interactions in ways that their
interlocutors can recognize and follow” (p.3) These patterns of discourse are acquired when having
oral interactions and when using the language in context, either in a communicative space recreated
in the classroom or in a real life situation outside the educational field.
It is important to highlight that when working on oral production in the ELT (English Language
Teaching thereafter) classroom, it is necessary to consider two key concepts which refer to the
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type of skills students can develop when communicating. They are the Transactional and
Interactional skills.
Nunan (cited in Peña & Onatra, 2009) considers that the transactional skill refers to the act of
negotiating or exchanging information between a sender and a receiver. Here, the message is
accurate, and feelings are not included. This skill includes scenarios where speakers need to
negotiate for services or benefits, such as ordering food, asking for help, having an appointment at
the doctor’s office or paying a bill for utilities. Here, speakers do not have the necessity to have a
cultural background to speak because this aspect is not involved in the transactional skill.
On the other hand, we have the Interactional skill which is the one that was taken into
consideration for the development of this study, since students are interested in maintaining social
relationships and dialogues, given a situation in a real context of daily life. Brown and Yule (2001)
state that this skill involves two or more speakers, who have a conversation about a common topic
and are in search of keeping some social networks among them.
In this skill, matters such as interaction with a wide variety of interlocutors and levels of register
are involved. According to Burns (2016) “By register is meant sensitivity to what they know and
what they think the other speakers know about topics they are discussing, their sense of the
interpersonal expectations of other speakers, and their closeness or distance in context from the
topics they are discussing” (p.5). Context is important when communicating since some topics can
be misunderstood if we do not know its context. Besides having a conceptual knowledge of a topic,
it is necessary to know and have sensitivity towards the cultural background immersed in the
interaction with a certain interlocutor.
In addition, speakers must have preparation to unfold speaking skills by interpreting the other
speaker’s meanings and give relevant responses in the exchange, as well as the correct use of
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appropriate principles of politeness and cooperation to avoid communication breakdowns and save
face.
In the classroom, it is always necessary for the teacher to enhance this social factor when
communicating, by developing some activities such as recognizing the type of register being used
in a conversation, as well as the cultural context involved. Also, performing role plays to have
sensitivity to the cultural differences is a helpful resource to make students aware of these factors
in communication.
The main difference between the two concepts previously described is that while one of them
focuses only in the exchange of a message in an accurate way, leaving aside what the actors in
communication think or feel (transactional), the other includes several aspects that influence in the
act of speaking, such as feelings, thoughts, beliefs, culture, among others (interactional).
Affective factors. In communication, there are some aspects related to emotions and feelings
that must be considered by the speakers to help the interaction flow. Burns (2016) states that
“Affective factors refer to people’s feeling, emotions or psychological reactions to particular social
situations” These factors are closely related to the cognitive ones and can be classified into the
individual and the relational aspects.
When talking about individual aspects, psychological circumstances related to personality
components such as motivation, anxiety, or self-esteem are to be considered. Motivation in oral
interactions depends on how much interest the speaker has in the topic of the conversation and
conditions such as anxiety or nervousness can affect the exchange since it is conditioned by the
speaker’s thoughts on the interlocutor and the situation itself.
In terms of learning a foreign language, it is almost inevitable to avoid students’ anxiety when
speaking because they feel afraid of making mistakes in pronunciation, structure or vocabulary.
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That is why the teacher must create a “safe” environment in the classroom where students can feel
comfortable and less anxious at the moment of speaking. One way to do it is praising them for
their progress and highlighting that mistakes are not bad, but a sign of development in language
learning. It is advisable that the teacher gives constant feedback to the student by pointing at the
strengths first and then the weaknesses, seen as an area of improvement and not as something the
student should be embarrassed about. This would probably help students to feel more confident
when speaking in future interactions in the classroom or outside of it.
Components of the speaking skill. Now, let’s talk about the participants that play a significant
role in the oral interaction, according to Vanderkevent (cited in Tyasti, 2017):
Speakers. They express information such as opinions and feelings by producing articulated
sounds that can be understood and processed by another participant. It is necessary to have a
speaker, otherwise, the opinion or the feelings or the feeling won’t be stated.
Listeners. They receive the information that is being orally produced. If there are no listeners,
speakers will express their opinion by writing.
Utterances. These are words or sentences that are used by the speakers to express their thoughts,
opinions or feelings. If there is no utterance, the participants in the communicative process will
use signs.
On the other hand, Harris (Cited in Tyasti, 2017) states that besides the participants, there are
other components that take part in the communicative process when it comes to oral production
that are as follows:
Comprehension. When communicating, there must be a process of comprehension, in which
the parties involved can exchange information in a coherent way, thanks to the understanding of
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what is being transmitted. If there is not understanding, there would be no communication and the
answers around the topic of discussion would not be relevant.
Grammar. This component refers to the ability students have to use structure and distinguish
appropriate grammatical forms in a conversation. It is true that depending on the level of speech
and the topic involved, a grammar structure must be chosen to speak precisely.
Vocabulary. It is the set of words that the speaker uses when communicating. This component
is very important because without the appropriate vocabulary for a certain conversation, the
message will not be transmitted correctly, causing difficulty and a barrier in the process. Without
grammar very little can be conveyed, without vocabulary nothing can be conveyed.
Pronunciation. It is the ability to produce clearer language when speaking. Here, there is a
phonological process involved, which determines how sounds are produced and these can vary
and pattern in spoken language. Pronunciation plays a significant role because it makes the
communication process easier in terms of understanding words in an oral way.
Fluency. This concept refers to the ability to express oneself easily and articulately. The British
Council points out that “fluency in a language means speaking easily, reasonably quickly and
without having to stop and pause a lot” (British Council, 2015). This definition was chosen since
it deals with the topic of oral production from the perspective of interaction and communication,
which is relevant for this project because it focuses on the development of the ability to
communicate in the target language.
When it comes to the development of fluency in the classroom, there are some conditions that
need to be met when speaking. According to Nation and Newton (2009) they are:
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The activity is meaning-focused. When speaking, it is important to be focused on the demands
and the real-time pressures that the learner may have in order to have a meaning-centered exercise
of communication.
The learners take part in activities where all the language items are within their previous
experience. This condition refers to the fact that the speaker must talk about familiar topics and
types of discourse by using known vocabulary and structures. These activities come from
experience since the knowledge required to do it is already known and practiced before by the
speaker.
There is support and encouragement for the learner to perform at a higher than normal level.
The teacher should plan communication activities in which the student has less time to hesitate or
plan his discourse and his responses to the interaction are more spontaneous. This implies the
transition from activities prepared in advance to those of a more advanced level and almost
immediate responses to the interlocutor's demand.
Types of speaking. According to Burns (2016) there are five types of speaking that are found in
the taxonomy below:
Imitative. This is the purest level when it comes to phonetics in oral production. The learner
repeats what he hears, being as faithful as possible to the initial pronunciation. More structured
words, phrases or sentences should be spoken, even if there is no assimilation process, but only
imitation.
Intensive. It is the production of short segments expressed orally that contain a correct
grammatical structure, making use of the appropriate lexicon and eventually the phonological
relationships within statements.
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Responsive. In this level, the learner can give short, but sufficient and meaningful replies to the
teacher’s instructions or commands. It includes interaction in short conversations, requests or
comments.
Interactive. It consists of the skills learners must have to exchange information orally with
multiple participants. This level involves a bit more complexity in terms of length and structure of
the speech. As we already mentioned, this interaction can be transactional as well, since there can
be specific information that needs to be transmitted with the purpose of maintaining social
relationships.
Extensive. This is the type of production that includes oral presentations, storytelling or
speeches. Interaction is not very highlighted here since there is just one participant giving
information when speaking, in the majority of the cases, to a public in general. However, the
exchange can be given at the end of the presentation in a question or comment, action which refers
more to the responsive level than to this one.
1.6.2. Flipped Learning
According to the Flipped Learning Network (2014), FL is a pedagogical approach in which
direct instruction is moved to the individual learning space. This means that the time the teacher
takes to explain a topic in class can be used to apply it and clarify doubts in the group learning
space since it condenses the information in a diffusion medium such as a video, a text or an audio.
With the FL, the teacher stops being the center of the learning process and students become it.
In 2017, the concept of FL evolved and Talbert (2017) defined it as “a pedagogical approach in
which first contact with the new concepts moves from the group learning space to the individual
learning space in the form of structured activity, and the resulting group space is transformed into
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a dynamic, interactive learning environment where the educator guides students as they apply
concepts and engage creatively in the subject matter” (p.15).
This definition remarks on the importance of the learning spaces, being the individual one a
moment where students have the first contact with the lesson topic through a structured activity
the teacher designed in advance. The group space focuses on students’ engagement in the subject
as well as in the application of those concepts already reviewed individually. Talbert notes that the
teacher guides the learning process and s/he is not the center of it.
What is more, Rodríguez-Buitrago (2020) built her own definition of FL based on her
experience implementing this approach. She states “For me, Flipped Learning is a compassionate
teaching methodology where students are placed at the center of the learning process and teachers
are architects of authentic meaningful, and intentional learning experiences for both spaces of
learning (in and out of the classroom)” Here, the author highlights that FL has a great meaning to
students where teachers are passionate about this innovative practice and methodology. Rodríguez-
Buitrago considers teachers ‘architects’ meaning that we are called to build our own learning
environment by designing creative and striking strategies that have the power to engage our
students, but all of the above should be thought and planned with a purpose for an ‘intentional’
improvement.
After going through this awesome process, the researcher conceived her own definition for FL:
Flipped Learning is an enriching teaching approach that fosters active learning in and outside the
classroom, it includes purposeful structured activities where students become the center of the
learning process and the teacher is its facilitator, and enhances autonomous work, cooperative
learning and a good class time management.
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The Pillars of F-L-I-P. Engaging students in FL requires that teachers include four pillars in
their practice: flexible environment, learning culture, intentional content, and professional
educator(F-L-I-P). Ramírez (2017) presents them as follows:
Flexible Environment: Students can access the material that the teacher designs, as many times
as they want and from anywhere, adjusting to their learning pace. This flexibility should be present,
not only in the individual learning space, but also in the group one, since students learn differently
and the teacher should consider these differences when planning a lesson. A classroom should be
a place where changes, mistakes and alterity are accepted and considered to be useful tools for
improvement and reflection.
Learning Culture: FL becomes a culture since students are the center of the learning process.
The teacher creates meaningful activities. At the beginning of the implementation of this approach,
students may react to the change in a negative way, not wanting to leave the traditional way of
learning. But later on, after applying it to several lessons, students will realize that this
methodology is actually a culture of learning where autonomy and teamwork reside in the same
environment.
Intentional Content: When working with FL, it is always essential to plan lessons with a
purpose. It is not only recording a video and letting students watch it, but it is also thinking about
the type of structured activities they will do while being in the individual learning space. In the
group learning spaces, the teacher should bring a wide variety of strategies to enhance students’
creativity and skills to ask questions.
Professional Educators: After implementing FL, teachers gain a lot of experience and can even
improve their practices when planning, designing and guiding lessons. When flipping, the teacher
gives feedback and assesses students so that they can receive constructive criticism for their
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improvement. The teacher who implements the FL in the classroom must be reflective and
dynamic.
These authors were selected from among a range of theorists who take up the subject because
they define and explain the FL in a dynamic way and are very similar to the principles proposed
by Bergmann and Sams (2012). Besides, the new definition of FL offers a wider perspective
regarding the group learning space, becoming a space in which students take advantage of to
engage in their learning process.
Learning Spaces. When you flip a class, it is always essential to define that there are two
learning spaces. The first is called "Individual Learning Space (ILS thereafter)". Here, students
can access the new content from wherever they are, at any time, and at their own pace. This space
focuses on low thinking skills such as understanding and remembering, by assigning material to
explore, which must be short, concise, creative and eye-catching to students (Bergmann and Sams,
2012)
Before assigning pre-class media, teachers should teach students how to access the content and
how to take notes, in order to prepare themselves before the in-class lesson. There are different
strategies to take notes, for example the Cornell Note-Taking System, as well as plenty of tools to
create content and track students’ progress. Teachers need to train themselves before applying this
methodology in their classes.
The other space is the “Group Learning Space (GLS thereafter)” which takes part after the
previous one because it is where students apply the new content learned through the pre-class
media tool. In contrast with the first one, this space addresses Bloom’s Taxonomy higher order
thinking skills, such as creating and analyzing (1956). In this space, practical and well-organized
activities take place. It is recommended to include a variety of active learning strategies such as
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Inquiry, Peer Instruction and In-class flip, as well as reflective and collaborative learning among
students. This will encourage students’ responsibility and engagement to the lesson, generating
expectations towards the next session of class.
According to Rodríguez-Buitrago, Onatra and Palencia (2019) “In teacher education
classrooms that are flipped, time can be spent on innovation, simulations, case studies, problem
generation and problem solving, inquiry-based learning, etc. guaranteeing an enriched
environment on strategies for student-teachers to select for their own teaching practice and also
modeling the role of the teacher as a facilitator.” This speaks of a learning space focused on
students’ interests and needs in which their individual skills are developed, without neglecting
their interpersonal relationships and teamwork. Through Flipped Learning, a wide variety of
activities can be done in the GLS which can make learning a more dynamic, effective and human
process where the teacher is a guide and a counselor, and not a figure of power and absolute
knowledge.
Strategies when flipping. When flipping, we need to have a goal for everything we want to do
in and out the classroom. That is why there are many different strategies that can be used in a FL
environment to help the teacher achieve these objectives. These strategies include a very useful
note-taking system that students can use to keep the main ideas of the new concept in mind, a way
to work with students that may not have access to the pre-class material in the ILS and the types
of stations that can be set up when flipping a lesson.
The Cornell note-taking system
This is a strategy for students to take notes when accessing the ILS activity. It was designed by
Pauk (2001) at Cornell University in the United States and was adapted to the context in the case
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of this research project (see Appendix D) This note-taking method has five phases for students to
internalize the topic better which are:
Record. In this part, students write the main ideas or facts about the video, hyperdoc, reading,
among other sources.
Questions. At the end or during the explanation, students can write questions down which can
be made to the teacher right after the activities in the GLS are done. Formulating questions by
using this system is very useful to clarify terms, strengthen memory, and establish continuity of
the learning process.
Recite. After formulating questions, students can test their understanding by covering the
column where they just wrote key facts about the topic and reading the questions aloud. Then, they
can answer those questions with their own words.
Reflect. Here, students think about the material they accessed by asking some questions such
as: “Were these facts relevant to my learning process? How can I apply them? How do they fit in
with what I already know? What’s beyond them?
Review. Students can dedicate at least ten minutes a week to review the notes and refresh all
the information. This way, students can build long-term knowledge about the foreign language.
In-class flip. This strategy arises from the need to help those students who have difficulties to
access the material before class. They may encounter issues such as not having a computer,
internet, multimedia networks, etc., or they may not be used to having an active role in their
learning process. That is why helping them to become autonomous learners is a must when flipping
your classes. In order for them to be in the same conditions as others in terms of knowledge, they
can access the material that was prepared by the teacher by using the in-class flip. As the name
implies, it consists of bringing the flip (which is what we do in the traditional flipped learning)
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into the classroom meaning that students who did not access content before class must do the home
part in class while the others start doing their practice right away. This may be done by using the
station rotation model (Barnes and Gonzáles, 2015).
Station work. According to Tucker (2016), this type of class work consists of the moment
when “Students rotate around the classroom to different learning stations”. There are six types of
stations where students can work on many different activities that were previously planned by the
teacher. The teacher can use a lot of creativity to design the stations. He can use colors, banners,
technology, board games, among others.
Types of stations. According to Ramírez (2019), there are six types of stations that can be set
up by the teacher by taking into account the number of students he has and the interests and needs
of each group.
Flip station. In this part, students do the home-part in class. It replaces the teacher’s explanation
of the topic. The material in this station can be a video, a hyperdoc, a reading, a listening, or any
element that can be used to spread knowledge.
Practice station. As its name mentions it, in this station students put into practice all the
information they gathered in the ILS. There is a wide variety of activities that can be done in this
part. Some activities that enhance active learning and that encourage Bloom’s taxonomy high
cognitive processes (applying, analyzing, evaluating and creating) are concept mapping, mind
mapping, chain stories, brainstorming, and think-pair-share. Also, there can be several practice
stations, the amount the teacher considers is appropriate for students to gain confidence or mastery
of the topic.
Independent station. Teachers may have fast finishers in their classroom: students who develop
the activities in the practice stations in a very quick way. Teachers need to have other options or
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alternatives to maintain attention and productiveness in students. This is a good station when it
comes to keep students concentrated on the topic and to avoid distractions. Here, students can play
a game or play with cards. They can even do silent reading or any activity that can be significant
and striking for them.
Feedback station. Students reflect about their learning, their classmates work, the teacher’s role
when it comes to guidance and assistance in the process. They can also give their opinions on the
lesson itself or the content put in the material.
Teacher support station. Even though the teacher should be hovering all over the classroom
helping students with their doubts in regard to the content or technical aspects with the activities,
there can be a specific station where students can find their teacher’s support whenever they need
it.
Peer instruction station. In the classroom there can be some students that have already reached
mastery of the topic or that understand faster than others, since their learning way is characterized
for catching all the information at once and applying it right after. This way, the teacher can set up
a station in order for these students to help their classmates if they are struggling with something.
It is not a secret that they understand much better if they explain the topic to themselves.
Stations’ configurations. In the classroom, the teacher can set up all the tools he has such as
material and furniture in the way he finds best for the purpose of the activity that will be developed
and the characteristics of the population (Ramírez, 2019). There are students that like going
through the stations in an order and others that do not think having an order is important. In any
case, the teacher needs to consider all of the perspectives and decide which is best for the sake of
the learning process. There are four ways to configure the stations and are explained as follows:
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Sequenced. In this configuration, students must go in the order that the teacher has indicated
from the beginning, not being able to go from one station to another without having completed the
previous one.
Mixed. Students can go to the station of their choice, according to their level of understanding
and interest in activities. In this configuration, the teacher must have one or two independent
stations to provide the student with another activity to develop when they finish the ones in the
practice station.
Looped. Here, students can start with the station of their choice, but they must visit all of them
and close the loop. The teacher can set up a flip station in case there is an awareness that one or
more students could not access the material at home.
Half n’ half. In this configuration there are two stations: Flip station, where students can access
the content in class and take notes, and the Teacher support station, where the teacher is there to
support students, do tutoring or give more explanation about the topic.
Planning for FL. To plan a good class following the principles of FL, it is necessary to take
into consideration that first, we need to have clear definitions of what pedagogy and andragogy
are because, according to the Greek meanings, they are different and in the next section the second
term is going to be addressed.
Before planning, the teacher should think about the goals students need to achieve in that class
in both ILS and GLS. Making a time shift and then, designing the activities is also important when
planning a FL class. Here, it is essential to talk about Bloom’s Taxonomy. Regularly, in the
traditional model, in class we tend to focus on the lower levels of Bloom's taxonomy pyramid (see
Appendix E), but when we flip the lesson, those levels go out of the classroom directly to the ILS,
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freeing the time in class up to work on the higher levels according to Bloom (Bergmann and Sams,
2012).
When planning, there must be a connection between activities: the ones that the teacher assigns
for the ILS and the ones that they design, and their students develop in the GLS. The activities
must be sequential and must be put down in a lesson plan, built in a simple, but effective way.
Remember always to create intentional activities, based on what students checked in their ILS.
In the case of lesson plans designed for implementations of this project (see Appendix F),
learning achievements and their indicators were thought first. Then, the ILS activity was proposed,
as well as the way to assess students in this learning space. In the GLS, the time was taken into
account to distribute it in the stations that were set up. It is important to say that an entry ticket
was added at the beginning of the class and an exit ticket for the end. After having written the class
outcome and the resources for each station, the type of assessment for each of them and the
corresponding time was set up.
Assessment. In this part of FL, formative and frequent assessment is present. Students should
be assessed with well-designed rubrics that help the teacher to be objective, but also to give
feedback which will contribute to students’ development and progress throughout the lessons.
According to AALAS (Academy of Active Learning, Arts and Sciences, n.d.), when assessing
students, it is necessary to:
Use a large portion of teacher class time to engage in structured micro-conversations with
students.
Select different types of questions according to Bloom’s Taxonomy.
Design assessments where students have a choice in how they will present their mastery of the
concepts.
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Have a plan for students who come to class having completed the pre-work, but still don’t fully
grasp the concepts.
Align all assessments with learning outcomes such as entry and exit tickets, rubrics, class
session outcome, etc.
To assess students under study, different strategies were used. One of them was the entry ticket,
that allowed students to express what they had learned in the ILS by showing the note-taking
format (see Appendix D) and by writing a question in a piece of paper and putting it in a black
box, a question that the teacher answered during class. The exit ticket consisted of answering the
periodic survey (see Appendix G) where there were questions that students had to answer by
including those aspects learned in the GLS. Rubrics to assess class session outcomes (see
Appendix H), fluency check cards (see Appendix I) and feedback sessions were used as strategies
for assessment.
Finally, it is suggested for the teacher to provide the type of assessment that includes the
creation of a product based on real-life situations, ensuring that knowledge becomes significant in
students’ lives. This can sound a bit ambitious, but if most teachers started to implement what was
explained previously, there could be some changes in the way of teaching languages.
1.6.3. Andragogy
According to Knowles (cited in Kearsley, 2010), andragogy is the art and science of adult
learning, thus andragogy refers to any form of adult learning. Andragogy is equivalent to
pedagogy, but based on their Greek meanings, they are different. Pedagogy means ‘child-leading’
while Andragogy means ‘man-leading’. Therefore, six assumptions regarding adult learners were
made by Knowles. This author was chosen because he is the father of this theory and provides
essential foundations for the development of classes with adults and this is relevant for the present
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project as the population is adult and it is important to know their characteristics and ways of
teaching for them.
In 1980, four assumptions concerning the features of adult learning were made by Knowles. In
1984, the fifth assumption was added by himself. These assumptions are self-concept, adult learner
experience, readiness to learn, orientation to learning, and motivation to learn.
The first assumption is related to the fact that adult learners need to know the reason why they
will learn something and explore the real-life possibilities of this new learning experience before
starting the process. According to Knowles et al. (2005), adults need information in three different
aspects: how they are going to develop learning skills, what they are going to learn and why that
learning is important. Most of the adult people feel the necessity of searching for the benefits or
the advantages of learning something new before they start with it. This is why teachers are
encouraged to make students aware of the “necessity to know” and explain to them the advantages
and challenges this new experience could bring to their lives.
As adulthood is reached, learners become self-directed and mature human beings, that is why
the self-concept assumption has a very important role in andragogy. This is the way adults perceive
and recognize themselves as responsible human beings. While in the pedagogical model the
student is conceived as a being with a dependent personality, in the andragogical model adult
learners are considered as autonomous and independent people. At this point, the concept of
maturity is considered, as well as the responsibility that adults have over their own acts. In this
sense, teachers must know that students have their self-concept, and therefore, they expect to be
treated as such. It is always important to take into account adult learners’ opinions and suggestions
about the class, this will show them that the teacher recognizes their autonomy and independence.
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Adults experience can be a useful resource for learning. This is the third assumption. Thanks to
age, adults have lived through various situations that allow them to build their own experience.
Each person has their own background, which has an important role in the learning process
because, based on what has been lived or learned in the past, learners have a series of likes, interests
or needs which must be considered when planning the thematic axes of the subject. Adult learners
already have an identity, in most of the cases, it is already defined, and they have prior knowledge
that will enrich the teaching-learning process, with the teacher being the person who provides the
environment for this to happen. This is one of the reasons why getting to know students since the
first day of classes is always essential.
With the fourth assumption, it is known that while human beings grow up, their readiness to
learn is oriented to the developmental tasks of their social roles. According to Knowles (cited in
Sánchez, 2015), in the pedagogical model, it is assumed that learners are willing to learn having
the condition of passing the subject. On the other hand, in the andragogical model, adults are
considered to have the desire to learn and have the best disposition because they no longer focus
on obtaining a passing grade, but on obtaining the knowledge that may be applicable to their real
life.
Knowles states that this type of population has an orientation to learning and applying concepts
rather than memorizing topics. Adult learners want to focus on developing skills, solving
problems, or completing tasks that allow them to function better in real life. That is why the content
of the subject does not become the primary center of attention for them. When learning, adults
consider that skills, tasks and problems put in context are more relevant than only concepts and
theory.
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The last assumption is that adults’ motivation to learn is internal. It is true that adults have
external motivations to learn such as getting a better job or traveling. However, it is also important
to highlight that there is an internal motivation that has to do with the student's self-concept, self-
esteem and the desire for self-improvement. This internal motivation is more evident than the
external one. This aspect will allow the learning process to be smoother and more enjoyable since
learners will be willing to continue in the process, leaving aside the concept of grades and external
pressures.
Also, Knowles (cited in Pappas, 2013) states that there are some principles regarding adult
learning that should be considered when working with this type of population. These principles
are that adults need to be engaged in planning and evaluation of their training; experience offers
the foundations for the learning activities; adults are most concerned about learning topics that
have prompt significance and impact to their job or personal life; and adult learning is focused on
problem-solving rather than on content.
As it is stated in the first principle, adults need to take part in the planning and assessment
processes of the institution they are involved with in terms of learning. For this reason, the first-
class session should be aimed at getting to know students and listening to their expectations
regarding the course. Their suggestions can contribute valuable insights to the planning and
evaluation process within an institution. Their previous experiences as adult learners can enrich
teaching-learning practices, as it is clearly said in the second principle.
Another assumption made by Knowles is that adults consider that the basis for learning is their
experience, even though it includes some mistakes they may make while they are in this process
of getting new knowledge. Adults need to know how their progress is going by using what they
are learning in a real-life context. Mistakes are part of the process, that's why the teacher must be
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open to the possibility that their students are wrong. What is more, there is always something to
learn from mistakes, so students are able to make them without feeling ashamed of it.
Learning subjects which are related to a determined job field is very relevant for adults when
they study something. That is why contents should be centered on students’ interests. Students
need to feel that what is taught is useful for their lives. Although it is difficult in a large group of
students to address each one’s interest separately, there should be spaces where students feel that
their teacher is helping them individually. However, strategies can be created to find common
aspects among the population. That way, the majority of interests and needs can be covered by the
teacher.
“Adult learning is problem-centered rather than content-oriented” (Kearsley, 2010). As it was
stated before, what is being taught must be relevant and useful for students. Starting with a question
is one of the strategies that can be used to motivate problem solving in the classroom. Giving
students the possibility to think about a solution for something is always a good way to make them
move forward in the learning process and to help them develop high order thinking skills. If
learners can prove that the knowledge they are learning is useful, they will probably continue to
be motivated to progress.
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2. Research Methodology
This chapter has to do with the approach and type of research carried out, the techniques and
instruments used for data collection, and the population and sample under study.
2.1. Approach and Type of Research
This study followed the principles of the qualitative paradigm, and within it, the chosen type of
study was action research. The qualitative paradigm is the collection of information based on the
observation of natural behaviors, discourses, and open responses for the subsequent interpretation
of meanings. This research is interpretive, meaning it is sustained in a hermeneutical conception,
its collection techniques allow researchers to access data to be observed, described and interpreted
(Hernández-Sampieri, 2014). Action research is seen as a practical inquiry carried out by teachers,
in a collaborative way, in order to improve their educational practice through cycles of action and
reflection.
Furthermore, action research is a qualitative research method that is fundamentally based on
turning what happens in the daily teaching activity into the center of attention to discover which
aspects can be improved or changed to achieve a more satisfactory performance. This approach
implies an action and participation in the research process, since the pre-service teacher was
involved in the teaching-learning process and at the same time observed the context not only from
the external perspective, but also from an internal perspective, in the field of research to answer
the questions initially raised in the project.
Steps in Action Research. According to Ferrance (2000), “Within all the definitions of action
research, there are four basic themes: empowerment of participants, collaboration through
participation, acquisition of knowledge, and social change”. In order to develop these themes, it is
necessary to consider the following five steps:
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Figure 1. Action Research Cycle (Ferrance, 2000)
Teachers will always encounter difficulties when developing teaching practices and will often
want to address those issues by the implementation of a strategy that could help students to
overcome these obstacles. This is where a problem area comes from: thinking about the issue and
a possible way to solve it. Once we identify the area, we need to limit it through a question that is
meaningful, concise and that has a great impact in the context that will be studied. In the case of
this research project, the researcher had a first contact with the population under study and by
means of a diagnostic activity the problem areas that needed to be considered were identified in
order to find a solution.
In addition, since we cannot say things arbitrarily based only on what we see, think or imagine,
the second step comes to help us with this. In order to gather data, we can use surveys, field notes,
recordings, samples of student work, project, performances, among others. The third step consists
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of organizing the information already collected in the previous phase in a system or instrument
that best suits the teacher’s likes and ways to structure data. After that, data must be interpreted. It
means, analyze and identify themes that are most common or frequently present in the vehicles for
data collection. In our case, we used a diagnostic activity to identify students’ level in spoken
fluency in English. This allowed us to identify that they were struggling with this oral production
subskill. Then, with a survey, we could confirm what had been noticed through the previous
technique and the participant observation.
Next step is to act on evidence. It means, start working on designing a plan of action that will
allow the teacher to make a change or to study that change. This is the moment when
implementations take place, as well as planning interventions in class. For this project, the
researcher planned her lessons using a format given by the university. This format was reformed
to a lesser extent for it to match with the FL principles and strategies.
The last two steps are evaluating the results, meaning that the teacher must assess the effects of
the intervention to determine if improvement has occurred. Sometimes it may not occur but in the
majority of studies, results are positive. Then, the researcher can define what’s next in terms of the
project. Are there new questions to answer? What are the next steps after this improvement?
2.2. Techniques and Instruments for Data Collection
Data collection for this project is mainly qualitative and quantitative to a lesser extent. In the
next section, the instruments and techniques of the qualitative research through which the
information was collected and analyzed will be named and defined.
2.2.1. Diagnostic Activity
According to Vallejos (2008), a diagnostic activity is “the identification of the nature or essence
of a situation or problem and the possible or probable cause of it, it is the analysis of the nature of
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something” (p. 12). Moreover, Alderson (2005) states that diagnostic activities “are designed to
identify both strengths and weaknesses in a learner’s knowledge and use of language. Focusing on
strengths will enable the identification of the level a learner has reached and focusing on
weaknesses or possible areas for improvement should lead to remediation or further instruction”
(p. 256).
The diagnostic activity is considered as the very first step before starting with the research
project. The most important aspect is to get to know the population and its context. It can facilitate
the process by giving the teacher clearer ideas on what to do next in the research process. Each
group is different, that is why the teacher must design a different test every time a period of class
starts. It is true that it is easier to have one instrument set up and apply it all the time with all
students indistinctly, but this may not contribute to the best knowledge of the population.
Questions in the test should change or be adapted according to the characteristics of the group.
In this way, the diagnostic activity (see Appendix A) served to identify students’ level in terms
of fluency, what they already knew and how far we wanted to lead them. This activity focused on
speaking. Students had to introduce themselves and after a brief introduction to the topic made by
the teacher, they had to prepare a short oral presentation about a subtheme assigned. Through a
rubric for speaking (see Appendix H), aspects that were not allowing students to be fluent were
identified. Then, the teacher raised a question that led this project. Also, the teacher could observe
their behavior patterns when speaking such as shaking hands or legs, which indicated they felt
anxious at that moment. These observation notes were confirmed by the survey. The diagnostic
activity shed light on the most appropriate type of strategy for the group, their strengths, and
weaknesses that needed to be worked on. The sessions in which the diagnostic activity was applied
were audio recorded to render account of students’ initial and final level of oral production.
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Likewise, not only was a diagnostic activity carried out at the beginning of the course, but one was
also applied at the end of the implementations (see Appendix J). This, in order to compare the
rubric scores and establish if there was an improvement in students’ fluency.
2.2.2. Participant Observation and Field Notes
Participant observation is a term that is frequently used “to designate a methodological strategy
that involves the combination of a series of data collection and analysis techniques, including
observation and direct participation” (Latorre, 2005). This strategy allows teachers to have a better
approach to students and their context and the problems that concern them and allows them to
know the social reality that could hardly be achieved through other techniques. This methodology
is known as “participant” because the teacher is involved in the space where the research will take
place. What the researcher is observing can be recorded in an instrument such as field journals,
recordings or photographs, if it is allowed by the institution.
Participant observation involves social interaction between the researcher and the participants
in their context where data is collected in a systematic way and not intrusive. To register the
observed data, field journals (see Appendix C) were kept by the researcher to describe in detail the
development of the sessions using the chosen approach and identify how students performed in
terms of fluency in oral production.
Field notes are records that contain information collected by the researcher. They also contain
descriptions and reflections perceived in the context. This technique aims to have the narratives
that are produced in the context in the most exact and complete way possible, as well as the actions
and interactions of people. According to Latorre (2005) There are five types of field notes and the
researcher used four of them that are:
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Methodological. They reflect aspects inherent to research: approach used, techniques
implemented, options that are taken and why they are taken, difficulties posed by the options taken,
among others.
Personal. They contain the teacher's perceptions and feelings regarding students’ attitudes and
behavior or way to proceed in different situations.
Descriptive. The teacher describes everything he sees and tries to capture every situation like a
photograph: in a very detailed and accurate way.
Reflexive. These notes are very inferential since they contain what the teacher thinks or can
interpret based on what was previously observed. They also may have reflections for the teacher
to consider in future lesson plans.
2.2.3. Surveys
Díaz de Rada (2002) defines surveys as “a systematic search for information in which the
researcher asks participants the data he wants to obtain, and then collects these individual data to
obtain aggregated data during the evaluation”. This instrument helps researchers to gather data in
an organized way through questions that are closed or open which were raised by taking variables
into account. With a survey, the teacher can know students’ likes, interests and characteristics
which represents a potential information to design meaningful lessons and material. Also, teachers
can confirm if a problem they observed in class is actually worth addressing considering students’
perceptions. If the teacher thinks, for example, that reading skills need to be improved, but through
the survey he realizes that students’ do not consider it an issue or something they would like to
work on, it will be very hard to motivate students to participate in activities aimed at improving
these skills. Instead, if students express they are eager to work on something specifically,
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everything can be easier for the teacher and themselves. Learning is better when we are all
motivated.
In a survey, the most important element is the question. The teacher should think about
questions before starting to design the structure of the questionnaire. In order to collect answers
from participants, questions can be closed-ended or open-ended. For the first type of questions,
there are different options such as multiple choice, checkboxes and ranking questions. They allow
the researcher to get quantifiable data in charts or percentages in a very fast way. Open-ended
questions are exploratory and may not have similar answers. The answer length is changeable, and
they allow the researcher to gain insight on all the opinions on a topic or specific matter of his
interest. Answers here are unpredictable and highly interesting to analyze.
Surveys can also be considered as a brief interview or discussion with individuals about a
specific topic. Within this research project, two types of surveys were applied: First contact survey
and periodic survey.
First contact survey. This survey was applied on the first day of classes and had the objective
of knowing the context in which students were developing and of confirming what had been
observed in the diagnostic activity. The survey was structured in four sections (See Appendix B)
and was answered anonymously. The first included the consent to data processing, gender, age
range, educational level and occupation. The second section is called "about your approach to the
language" and questions were oriented towards identifying their perceptions regarding strengths
and weaknesses in the language and their motivations for learning it. The third part inquired about
their preferences and how much time they spent on mobile apps. This was done in order to design
material that was meaningful and of their interest. The last section was about students' accessibility
to technology and their appreciation of their virtual tool’s mastery.
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Periodic Survey. It is called a periodic survey because it occurred frequently. Students
answered this survey after each class to evaluate the didactic and methodological aspects of the
session (See Appendix G). This allowed the teacher to identify what she should improve for the
following lessons. Also, students evaluated their own performance during the academic period,
giving a score to each of the 10 items on the scale. Finally, there was a section of open questions
so that students could express themselves more spontaneously about the class. Quite interesting
responses were collected, which helped to improve teaching-learning practices.
2.2.4. Audio Recordings
Audiovisual media are techniques that the research teacher uses to record previously selected
or targeted information; the information depends on the researcher and not so much of the medium
that is used, although this mediates the type of information that is recorded. The main types of
audiovisual media are photography, videos and audio recordings (Latorre, 2005).
Audio recordings are a great technique when the purpose is to record and analyze verbal aspects
present in students’ oral production. They allow the researcher to capture verbal interaction
precisely and identify general verbal patterns in an oral activity.
In the specific case of this research project, recordings were transcribed, and this served for
further study within the phase of analysis of the results (see Appendix K).
2.3. Population and Sample
Extension Courses at the Universidad Libre have a diverse population that comes from different
parts of Bogotá and are native to different parts in Colombia. This means that there was a very
enriching convergence of cultures in class. The population considered for this study is made up of
11 people. At the beginning of the practicum process, there were 25 people but throughout the
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process (a year and a half) some of them left and others joined, 11 students remaining at the end.
8 were women and 3 were men.
On average, the population belongs to strata 2 and 3 according to the Colombian socioeconomic
classification. Regarding the educational level, 27.3% of the population finished high-school,
18.2% have done a technical course, 45.5% have completed an undergraduate study and 9.1% were
studying or already got graduated from a master’s degree. All students worked in different fields
such as education (3 of them were early childhood teachers) and business. 5 students were full-
time mothers and some of them worked in cosmetics or clothes sales.
Another relevant aspect is that all students had a family (wife/husband and children) and wanted
to learn English for personal growth and to get better opportunities in their job fields. In general,
there was a lot of motivation during the whole class period, so this was not an issue to address in
this study.
In order to select the sample for this research project, we drew from the premise that a sample,
in the qualitative approach, is a group of people from which the information is collected and
analyzed. According to Hernández-Sampieri (2014), this group does not have to necessarily be
statistically representative of the universe or population under study. Moreover, Mertens (2010)
points out that, in qualitative sampling, it is usual to start with the identification of favorable
environments, then groups and, finally, individuals. Even the sample can be a single unit of
analysis (case study). Qualitative research, due to its characteristics, requires more flexible
samples. The sample is constantly being evaluated and redefined.
Within the non-probability sample method, defined by Hernández-Sampieri (2014) as “a choice
of elements that does not depend on probability, but on causes related to the characteristics of the
study or the purposes of the researcher” (p. 176), we chose convenience sampling. Regarding this
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sampling, Ilker et al. (2016) state that members of the target population should meet certain
practical criteria, such as easy accessibility, geographical proximity, availability at a given time,
or the willingness to participate.
For this research project, the sample was chosen among students who met the following criteria:
Figure 2. Criteria to choose sample
These five students attended all the sessions, and this was the main factor to choose them. Since
they were never absent, they could participate in all the implementations during the semester. This
fact allowed the researcher to observe their development in terms of fluency since their process
was continuous and, in that way, more reliable for the analysis. Likewise, they did all the oral
activities aimed at improving fluency, they were available most of the time to answer surveys and
help classmates with peer instruction, and they took complete notes, an important aspect for
Flipped Learning to be successful.
2.4. Pedagogical Proposal
The pedagogical proposal that arises from this research project consisted of the implementation
of seven oral activities (see Table 1) aimed at encouraging oral fluency in adult learners of EFL
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by means of Flipped Learning. In order to take advantage of class time fruitfully to implement
these oral activities, FL played a highly important role since grammar topics were sent to the ILS
and fluency activities were done in the GLS.
This proposal included the design of audio-visual (videos, hyperdocs) and visual material
(flashcards, speaking cards, fluency check cards, strips stories) that were elaborated according to
the grammar component for each session and the purpose of improving fluency.
Name, strategy, and
resource
Objective Oral Activity Procedure
1. Daily Activities
Strategy: In-class flip
Configuration: Sequenced
Resource: Video
(In person)
Speaking Card/Fluency
Check Card
To distinguish
between habits
and actions
happening at
the moment of
speaking.
Your daily routine in 3
pictures and 3 minutes!
(Short oral presentation)
- What do you do on a
typical day?
- What are people doing
now?
Students were divided into couples and prepared an oral
presentation of 3 minutes in which they had to describe
their daily routines. Students shared some pictures from,
for example, people at their home having lunch. Then,
there was an oral exchange, where students could ask the
other classmate something about an action that they were
doing at the moment.
When a member of the team was speaking, the other
student had to pay attention to hesitation moments and
registered them on a “Fluency check card” every time it
happened. At the end, they gave each other feedback
regarding how much they hesitated during their short
oral presentation.
2. Celebrities have
memories
Strategy: Station Rotation.
Configuration: Sequenced
Resource: Video
(In person)
Speaking Card/Fluency
Check Card
To describe a
past experience
such as their
last vacation or
an event that
was remarkable
in their life.
2A: The afternoon show
with _________ (name
of the student who
presents)
(Talk show)
2B: One picture, one
sentence. When you see the picture, you
can say whatever comes to
your mind but in past!
Students were asked for their favorite famous person and
formed groups of 2 or 3 people. One of them was the
host/hostess of the talk show and the others were famous
people who came to the show. The host/hostess asked
questions about a past event in a famous person’s life.
The student performing as the celebrity had to answer as
if they were that person for real (Speaking card 2)
Then, in the same groups, the teacher distributed some
flashcards with some pictures of people doing
something. Each student had to take one of the cards and
describe the action in past or create a very short story that
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54
could have happened in the life of the person in the
picture.
In each team there was a “filler sounds officer” who was
attentive to the others performance in terms of filler
sounds. Each time he heard a sound like “uh, eh, um,
mm” he drew a sad face in the fluency check card and at
the end, he showed his partners the times they used those
sounds. This way, students could be more aware of those
sounds and try to avoid them next time.
3. Speaking with
strangers!
Strategy: Station rotation
Configuration: Mixed
Resource: Hyperdoc
(In person)
Speaking Card/Fluency
Check Card
To exchange
information
with a recently
known person
about
experiences in
the past that
continue up to
the present.
Small talk at the bar
-Getting to know
someone you had never
seen before.
- Icebreaker sentences.
Students were organized in pairs and were given an
“icebreaker” phrase. One of them played the role of a
bartender and the other of a customer (Speaking card 3)
The bartender must start a conversation by using the
given sentence: “Hey, nice__________ (the clothing
item chosen to break the ice), where did you get it?”.
Then, the conversation continues by exchanging
information about their lives: “Have you ever…?” “How
long have you…?”
This time, students had to record themselves having a
conversation in pairs. Then, randomly, one couple was
selected and the whole group listened to the audio. The
purpose was to identify long pauses that could make the
interlocutor lose interest in the topic of conversation.
Two students were asked to have the fluency check card
and mark each time there was a long pause in their
classmates' performance. This was a good activity and
students found it very helpful because some of their long
pauses were involuntary.
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4. Why should I go to the
gym?
Strategy:
Round Table
Configuration: Looped
Resource: Video
(Virtual)
Speaking Card
To make
comparisons
between two
habits, noting
their good or
bad effects in a
person’s health.
Short interview with my
trainer
- Good and bad habits: A
comparison between
what I do right and
wrong for my health.
Students named their habits and then, according to a
video about healthy lifestyles, they said if their habits
were classified as good or bad and stated 1 or 2 reasons
for their opinion.
Then, they connected in groups of 2 people: one was a
gym trainer and the other was a person who wanted to
join the gym (Speaking card 4)
The trainer asked questions about the other person’s
lifestyle such as “How often do you exercise? What is
your diet like? What are your habits? Do you consider
them good or bad? What would you like to change in
your lifestyle?” The learner answered and finally, the
trainer gave them advice about the possible plan to start
exercising.
Sometimes students found it difficult to remember the
vocabulary regarding healthy lifestyles. That is why, it
was important to tell them that when we don’t have
enough words to give an answer, we can use the ones the
interlocutor used in the questions.
Example: What would you like to change in your
lifestyle?
Answer: What I would like to change is………
This will give students time to think of a good word to
complete the sentence and avoid long pauses.
5. My awesome body
Strategy: Station rotation
Configuration: Looped
To describe
some of the
functions of the
body and its
main organs.
5A. Vlogging in Padlet
• What can I do
with my body?
Students recorded a short video about what their bodies
could do for them every day. Then, they uploaded it to
Padlet. All students explored the board and made
comments about their videos. After that, students
thought of an illness that could affect that part or organ
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Resource: Video
5B. Short Oral
Presentation
• What can affect
the well function
of my body?
• What are the
possible effects of
being ill?
• What are the
remedies for that
disease?
of the body they decided to talk about in the previous
video. Then, they designed a poster showing the causes,
effects and possible remedy for that disease. Finally, they
did a small presentation about it.
For the presentation, students had a format with the main
ideas of the topic they chose. The public had to identify
if the presenter was being natural or had memorized
everything. Most of the students used their own words to
express their ideas. They memorized key facts such as
numbers or difficult names. At the end of the session
there was a moment for feedback. Students have each
other comments on how to be natural and when did they
notice they were saying memorized information.
6. Great people, amazing
stories
Strategy: In-class flip
Configuration: Mixed
Resource: Hyperdoc
(Virtual)
To narrate a
story in past,
describing the
main characters
and events in it.
6A: Complete the
expression
Random answers about
past experiences.
Knowing a bit more
about our classmates
lives.
6B: Strips stories
Think fast! Create a short
story based on what you
see in the strip.
In a random name selector, there were some sentences
like: At 7 years old, When I was a teenager, While I was
taking a shower, When I woke up this morning…
Students had to complete the expression in past.
Considering the previous sentences that students created
spontaneously, the teacher showed students a strip story
with no words, only pictures. They observed the pictures
and created a story in past (They could use some of the
sentences produced in the previous activity). There were
turns to participate, for all the students to take part in this
exercise. (The teacher gave an example of the activity).
Since fluency is not about speaking fast but speaking
with a good speed and good use of pauses, students had
to catch listeners’ attention with that use of pauses at the
moment of narrating the story. The teacher gave them
feedback on these aspects at the end of the session.
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7. Skills to face new
challenges
Strategy: Round table
Configuration: Looped
Resource: Hyperdoc
(Virtual)
To describe a
picture and the
skills the person
in there could
have had to
achieve this
challenge.
7A: Describe what you
see
• Use already learned
vocabulary.
• Be resourceful
7B: In my opinion...
• Think about the
challenge you could
face.
• What skills should
you have to
accomplish that
challenge?
• Express your ideas to
your classmates.
Students were shown some pictures where a person was
crossing the ocean, climbing a mountain, among others.
They described what they had seen, highlighting if this
activity was too hard or challenging enough to achieve.
Then, they thought about the previous pictures and gave
their opinions of those challenges those people had to
face. To enhance participation, the teacher asked: Was
it difficult? What skills should this person have to
accomplish the challenge?
Sometimes it is hard to find the right technical words for
each act of speech. That is why the teacher told students
that when they could not find the best word, they did not
have to be anxious or worried about that because there
was a strategy to overcome those uncomfortable
situations: Paraphrasing: Using other or familiar words
to express the same idea that is in our head.
Table 1. Pedagogical Proposal
Oral activities were thought taking into account the types of speaking proposed by Burns
(2016). The first involved presenting their daily routine in three minutes with three pictures. In this
activity, students had to repeat some sentences heard from an audio recording. This is imitative
speaking since students tried to keep their pronunciation as faithful as possible to the one in the
audio, and to follow an oral presentation pattern to do their own with their personal information.
To work on the intensive level, activities such as “complete the expression” and “vlogging in
Padlet” were implemented. Here, students gave short answers or segments which were
grammatically correct and there was a good vocabulary choice. At this level of speaking, it was
not necessary to link sentences or to say longer ideas. It is important to highlight that responsive
speaking was present during all the implementations since students replied to the teacher’s
instructions and commands appropriately and in a short waiting time.
Another type of speaking is the interactive one in which students had conversations by
following the prompts in a speaking card provided by the teacher. Speaking cards provided them
with a communicative situation around which they had to develop the whole conversation.
Extensive speaking was addressed when students had to do short oral presentations by linking
ideas with simple connectors. They had to be as fluent as they could by applying all the strategies
to reach fluency previously learned.
Moreover, three strategies for the GLS were implemented: Station rotation, in-class flip and
round tables. In-class flip was implemented in the first session in order for students to get familiar
with the strategy and the dynamic of each class. This way, they understood that our classes were
not going to be traditional where the teacher delivers information and students are passive
recipients of it. Since it was done on the first day of class and students did not access the material
beforehand, a flip station was needed.
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59
On the other hand, round tables were included as a strategy to give feedback. In these two
sessions, students gave each other feedback about their performance, focusing on fluency aspects.
Usually, in the GLS, students applied grammar topics learned in the ILS, but when the strategy
was a round table, they knew that they were going to have a general feedback session that included
peer instruction and micro-conversations with the teacher. For the grammar topic to be practiced,
the teacher designed different exercises that students developed in the ILS before class. However,
they could still ask questions by using the “anonymous questions box” in the classroom. At this
point, grammar was already embedded in students’ speech acts, so we concentrated on identifying
the progress in terms of fluency. To achieve this objective, three stations were set: one for them to
give a verbal qualitative co-evaluation (peer instruction), one for students to clarify doubts about
the subject studied in the ILS with the educator (teacher support) and a last one to provide feedback
of the group’s performance during implementations.
2.5. Data Analysis
In order to analyze data, thematic analysis was used which, according to Braun and Clarke
(2006), is “a method for identifying, analyzing and reporting patterns (themes) within data. It
minimally organizes and describes your data set in (rich) detail”. To identify a theme, its
prevalence across the data set must be taken into account, as well as the evidence to support it.
Patterns should be significant and relevant in relation to the research question and objectives. This
process involves a progression from description (where data is simply organized) to interpretation
where there is an attempt to theorize the relevance and implications of the themes in accordance
with the previous literature.
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3. Analysis and Findings
In this chapter, the themes or patterns that emerged during the process of analyzing the data
will be introduced. Some charts and fragments, taken from the data collection instruments, to
support the findings will be presented. Finally, the conclusions reached by the pre-service teacher
after this research process will be shown.
3.1. Analysis of results
In this section, the findings that emerged from the data analysis, as well as their interpretation,
will be presented. Thus, three themes emerged. They will guide the analysis of the information
collected during the implementation process carried out by the teacher.
Figure 3. Emerging themes
3.1.1. The role of FL in EFL learning
Flipped Learning was the pedagogical approach used as the basis for the design and
development of implementations. In the eight sessions, some FL strategies and the theory on
station work proposed by Ramírez (2019) were put into practice. As mentioned before, this
approach consists of moving the contact with the new concepts to the ILS in the form of a
structured activity, which has a beginning, middle and end, and a purpose for each one of those
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stages, and transforming the GLS into an active and exchanging space where the teacher has the
role of a guide and not of a figure of all truth and knowledge. This way, students become the center
of the learning process.
Below the incidence of FL in EFL learning will be presented in relation to learning spaces, its
pillars, assessment process, planning as well as what happened in the face-to-face and online
sessions.
Linking the learning spaces and the pillars of the FL, the ILS included the Intentional Content
pillar since, from the First Contact Survey, it was possible to identify the interests of the population
in order to design the material in a way that was meaningful to them. Each video was made with a
specific learning objective. This is also related to the Professional Educator pillar, as classes were
planned in detail by describing all the activities and the materials to be used (see Appendix F). In
the practicum, the researcher was given a format to plan lessons and it was necessary to reform
some parts by adding the ILS activity description, the class outcome and the entry and exit ticket.
The moments of the class were divided into stations and were given a specific type of assessment.
When assessing in FL, it is important to design rubrics that allow students to know what they
are being evaluated for and to give feedback after this process by having structured micro-
conversations with students that make them reflect about their performance. Taking lesson plan #3
(see Appendix F) as an example, during implementations, the fluency check card (see Appendix
I) was frequently used to guide students on how to assess oral fluency. It is important to highlight
that during the pre-implementation period; the teacher gave students more information about
fluency and how it was assessed. At the end of each session, there was a moment to give feedback
in which the teacher and students participated actively by making comments about areas of
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improvement and learning outcomes achievements. In this part of the class, students worked on
Bloom’s Taxonomy higher thinking skills: analyze and evaluate.
Another pillar is Learning Culture. Here it is important to mention that FL helped students
strengthen their autonomy in terms of preparation before class and their awareness of their
responsibilities in their learning process. This was evidenced by the comments made by students
in the periodic survey:
"Today I learned that I should come to class prepared. Before, I didn't worry much about
reviewing the subject and now that I get to the Teams session and I see that everyone is asking
questions and participating, I feel bad about myself and that pushes me to prepare the topic before
connecting to the live class " (Own translation, Student 3, Periodic Survey #5, April 25th, 2020)1
"I think that after class today I understand that my learning does not depend on the teacher,
but on me and what I do in my individual learning space to reinforce the topics seen. In class, we
learn about many other things that perhaps if we had only addressed grammar topics, we could
not have had an approach to this new knowledge about fluency " (Own translation, Student 4,
Periodic Survey #6, -May 9th, 2020)2
Moreover, students developed this learning culture pillar in terms of teamwork or collaborative
learning. In the first sessions, some of them noticed that not all the group knew how to access some
virtual tools that the teacher requested to use in order to do an activity in class. In fact, the teacher
designed worksheets with steps to access the tools that were going to be used during the semester,
1 Student 3, Periodic Survey #5: Hoy aprendí que debo llegar preparada a clase. Antes yo no me preocupaba mucho
por estudiar el tema y ahora cuando entro al Teams y veo que todo el mundo está preguntando cosas y participando,
me siento muy mal y eso me empuja a que prepare el tema antes de conectarme a la clase en vivo.
2 Student 4, Periodic Survey #6: Pienso que después de la clase de hoy comprendo que mi aprendizaje no depende de
la profe, sino que depende de mí y de aquello que haga en mi espacio de aprendizaje individual para reforzar los
temas vistos. En clase, aprendemos sobre muchas otras cosas que quizás si sólo hubiéramos cubierto temas de
gramática, no hubiéramos podido tener un acercamiento a este nuevo conocimiento sobre la fluidez.
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but even if she also explained this several times, there were some students that could not put the
explanation into practice. In session 5, when a student could not open a web page, a classmate
called her over the phone and guided her step by step by going at her pace and she could do it!
“Student 4 is having trouble accessing the MyELT platform even though the teacher explained
the steps repeatedly. All students were able to enter, but he continues to have these issues. The
teacher notices that student 1 calls student 4 and gives him the steps many times until he
understands and is able to do the activities. Student 1 expresses that it was good to help him
because the teacher had to assist the other 10 students and it was difficult to focus on just one.”
(Field Journal #5, April 25th, 2020)
Another pillar is Flexible Environment, which is a very good aspect when teaching and learning
EFL. This pillar was present in both ILS and GLS. In the ILS, the learning environment could be
anywhere. A place where students could feel comfortable and eager to learn and have the first
contact with the new concepts. In this space, students could go at their own pace and it facilitated
the process of understanding and remembering (Bloom’s taxonomy lower thinking skills) and the
process of taking notes with the format given by the teacher (see Appendix D). However, as it is a
flexible environment, students were allowed to simply not use the format given, but they could
create their own. These two aspects are evinced below.
“For today's class I watched the video that the teacher put in Google Classroom and I thought
it was great to be able to go back and forward as many times as I wanted. This is super good
because sometimes I did not understand the other teachers when they explained on the board in
class but this way, like this, seeing my teacher explain in a video, seems better to me. I take my
notes in the format she gave to us and I have them well organized here in my folder. This helps me
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come up with the questions for the initial activity of the black box that we now do in Padlet" (Own
translation. Student 2, Periodic Survey #4 - April 18th, 2020)3
“The teacher asks students to send a photo of their notes for the ILS video for that day to the
WhatsApp group and she sees that student 2 has a mind map as a note-taking method. This is an
opportunity to remind students that they can adapt the formats to their best convenience and there
is no problem because FL environments are flexible, and the student is the center of learning. We
all learn from everyone” (Field journal #4, April 18th, 2020)
On the other hand, the Flexible Environment pillar was also observed in the GLS. As it is
known, 2020 will be remembered as the year when COVID-19 hit the world and it was declared a
pandemic. Therefore, the Colombian government, and many others around the world, ordered a
full lockdown to stem its epidemic. Keeping that factor in mind, it is important to note that, for the
development of this study, sessions 1 to 3 were done in person at the facilities of Universidad Libre
and sessions 4 to 8 were carried out virtually through the Microsoft Teams, Zoom and Google
Classroom platforms. In this connection, it can be noted that in the first three sessions, the
classroom was set up with stations that were marked with banners designed by the teacher and for
the other five, the teacher had to rebrand her material (making it virtual) and to adapt strategies to
virtual platforms.
In session #1, we had an in-class flip with sequenced configuration of stations. Students went
through them in an already assigned order. They had to visit all the stations in a sequence. There
was a flip station since this was the first time they had an approach with FL.
3 Student 2, Periodic Survey #4: Para la clase de hoy me ví el video que la profesora puso en Google Classroom y
pensé que era grandioso el hecho de poder devolver el video y avanzarlo las veces que yo quisiera. Esto es super
bueno porque a veces yo no les entendía a los otros profesores cuando me explicaban en el tablero en la clase, pero
de este modo, así, viendo a my teacher explicar en un video me parece mejor para mí. Yo tomo mis noticas en un
formato que ella nos dio y las tengo organizaditas en mi carpeta. Esto me ayuda a sacar las preguntas para la
actividad que hacemos al inicio de la clase, la de la caja negra que ahora en lo virtual lo hacemos en Padlet.
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“It is the first time in my life that I see this methodology and that I hear about Flipped Learning.
The truth is that I did not expect the teacher to be so creative with the stations that look very nice
and organized. I think we are going to learn a lot with this strategy because according to what she
told us, we are going to move grammar home and work on speaking in class” (Own translation.
Student 5, Periodic Survey #1, February 22nd, 2020)4
In session #3 the teacher took students out of the classroom and they had a great time under a
tree, doing the assigned oral activity. Stations were set up according to the configurations proposed
by Ramírez (2019). Being outside, surrounded by nature, helped students control their anxiety
when speaking. They were very spontaneous and there was a good atmosphere full of laughter and
participation.
“Well, I felt pretty good in class today. The teacher gives instructions that are very well
understood by all of us. Also, it was beautiful that we went outside to the garden and did the
conversation activity at the bar outside. It helped me overcome anxiety. I love flowers so I found
in them a way to relax myself and talk with a bit more fluency than before. I think I'm doing OK,
but I still have to practice on my own to avoid stopping so much in conversations” (Own
translation. Student 2, Periodic Survey #3, March 7th, 2020)5
Flexible environment occurred to the extent that the group could be divided in pairs or groups,
an aspect that could be maintained in virtuality thanks to Zoom Breakout Rooms. This pillar not
4 Student 5, Periodic Survey #1: Es la primera vez en mi vida que veo esta metodología y que escucho sobre el Flipped
Learning. La verdad es que yo no esperaba que la profe fuera tan creativa con lo de las estaciones que se ven muy
bien y organizadas. Pienso que vamos a aprender mucho con esta estrategia porque según lo que ella nos dijo, vamos
a pasar la gramática para la casa y en clase vamos a trabajar en el speaking.
5 Student 2, Periodic Survey #3: Bueno pues me sentí muy bien en la clase hoy. La profe nos da instrucciones que se
entienden muy bien por todos. También, fue bonito cuando salimos al jardín e hicimos la conversación en el bar
afuera. Esto me ayudó a vencer la ansiedad. Me encantan las flores y en ellas encontré una manera de relajarme y
hablar un poquito más fluida que antes. Creo que voy bien pero todavía tengo que practicar por mi propia cuenta
para evitar parar tanto en las conversaciones.
66
only has to do with the distribution of stations but also with activities that can be done inside and
outside a classroom space (thinking about when we were in person).
This evidence tells us that FL works very well while being in person with students, but what
happened when quarantine arrived? On March 14th, 2020, it was announced that we could not
return to the university until further notice. There was about a month of waiting and we resumed
activities on April 18, but virtually. During the month of waiting, the teacher kept in contact with
students and looked for a way to continue implementing FL and Station Rotation virtually. Two
weeks before classes started, the teacher and the group met via video call to test different platforms.
Among all the technological options and tools, Zoom was chosen to make Station Rotation work
possible.
From those test sessions, the idea of using Zoom Breakout Rooms to set up the stations came
up. As it was quite difficult to get students to go from one room to another, the material was the
one that rotated. In the planning, only 3 to 4 stations were put, so the teacher sent the material for
each station to students by email. They had to have it ready and had to share their screen at the
indicated time. Zoom has the option to send a message to all breakout rooms simultaneously, so
the teacher was able to tell students when to switch activities. If any team considered that they did
not have enough time to complete an activity, they could call the teacher by using the "Invite host"
button and she could join to offer any help.
Thus, when classes resumed, students were already clear on the steps to enter Zoom and do
Station Rotation. The teacher only had to guide them on how to access Microsoft Teams, which
was the official platform designated by the university to work with. This platform was used for
group meetings such as Round Tables and general feedback sessions.
67
In addition to uploading the ILS material in Google Classroom was used. The course on this
platform was organized according to the number of sessions that were necessary for the
development of the course and research project. The material used in the GLS was also uploaded
so that those students who could not attend class could see what was worked and review at home
to be prepared for the next session. In Google Classroom, students could also upload their
assignments and communicate with the teacher.
We were all surprised by the arrival of this very difficult time, but with the help of technology
and the flexibility that FL offers us, implementations could continue and, what is more, a virtual
Station Rotation alternative was discovered. We could work on the Flexible Environment pillar
even if virtually. Although the majority of students expressed that being at home increased their
workload, they remained positive about learning and did not give up.
“I wanted to stop studying English because I had a lot to do at work and at home. I felt that I
was doing a lot of effort, but with the help of my classmates and the encouragement that the teacher
always gave us, I was able to move on and finish the classes. At the beginning of the semester I
told the teacher that I was a hopeless case and asked her not to make an effort to help me learn,
but here I am. I think I have improved and now I dare to speak without so many pauses” (Own
translation. Student 3. Periodic Survey #9, June 13th)6
3.1.2. Oral fluency development in adult learners
In EFL, the speaking skill is essential for communication in real and daily contexts. In fact,
Abdullaeva (2018) states that one of the most important oral production’s subskills is fluency
6 Student 3. Periodic Survey #9: Yo quería dejar de estudiar inglés porque tenía mucho que hacer en el trabajo y en
la casa. Me sentía que estaba esforzándome mucho, pero con la ayuda de mis compañeros y el ánimo que la teacher
siempre nos dio, fui capaz de continuar y finalizar las clases. Al inicio del semestre le dije a la teacher que yo era un
caso perdido y le pedí que no se esforzar por ayudarme a aprender, pero aquí estoy. Creo que he mejorado y ahora
me atrevo a hablar sin tantas pausas.
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which is “the ability to express oneself in an intelligible, reasonable and accurate way without too
much hesitation; otherwise the communication will break down because listeners will lose their
interest” According to the first contact survey (see Appendix B) all students were interested in
improving their speaking skill, fluency specifically for personal growth or for getting better job
opportunities. Based on this result, it was determined that oral fluency would be worked and
diagnostic activity #1 was carried out (see Appendix A).
At the beginning of the process and at the time this diagnostic activity was done, students were
supposed to be at level A2 of the Common European Framework. However, it was observed and
recorded by using a rubric (see Appendix H), that they were at level A1 in terms of fluency: “Can
manage very short, isolated, mainly prepackaged utterances, with much pausing to search for
expressions, to articulate less familiar words, and to repair communication” (CEFRL,
2001)Following the rubric, the results of the diagnostic activity (see Figure 4) indicated that
students had the lowest scores in grammar and fluency (average of 3). When it comes to grammar,
it was observed that they knew verb tenses, but not when to use them. In terms of fluency, it was
noticed that students paused a lot during the presentation due to several reasons: Forgetting
information, looking at the phone for ideas, feeling anxious and fearful of speaking in public and
finding the correct words to include in the sentence as can be seen in the excerpt below:
“Student 3 went to the board in front of her classmates. She looked very nervous and anxious.
Her hands were shaking while she was holding the paper on which she had some ideas written.
She had a lot of filler sounds such as “emm, amm, ehh” She made several long pauses to recall
information and asked for the translation in English of some words, but she used Spanish to
69
communicate. Her presentation lasted three minutes” (Own translation. Written comment by
Student 1, Feedback session #1, February 15th, 2020)7
The previous fragment shows that most of the presentations lasted from one to three minutes,
of which the majority were pauses and filler sounds. Students seemed very hesitant to express
themselves, even having prepared the presentation and the visual aid at home, they found it
difficult to speak. The graph below shows the results of the initial diagnostic activity.
Figure 4. Initial Diagnostic Activity Results
Moreover, observation notes made by the researcher and written in the first field journal were
confirmed by the initial survey. For example, in question #7, students were asked about the aspects
or factors that prevent them from expressing themselves in English. The results show that 100%
of students have difficulty speaking in English because of the lack of fluency, 40% deem they are
not able to speak in English because of the fear of speaking in public.
In regard to these results, it was observed that these factors that do not allow them to speak in
English happened due to social pressure and lack of self-confidence. Most students thought that it
7 Written comment by Student 1, Feedback session #1: La estudiante 3 pasó al trablero en frente de los compañeros.
Ella parecía estar muy nerviosa y ansionsa. Sus manos estaban temblando mientras sostenía el papelito donde tenía
algunas ideas escritas. Ella tuvo muchas muletillas como “emm, amm, ehh” Ella hizo varias pausas largas para
acordarse de información y preguntó por la traducción en inglés de algunas palabras, pero ella usó el español para
comunicarse. La presentación duró 3 minutos.
70
was almost impossible to be fluent in a foreign language because of their age and that is why at
the beginning of the semester they showed themselves very shy and unsure about expressing their
ideas by speaking.
During the development of this process and after having identified that fluency was a need to
improve in the population under study, a series of oral activities were designed to help them
achieve the goal of being able to communicate without so many difficulties. In sessions 2 and 3,
some students were negative about the possibility of improvement. They expressed that they did
not believe that they would be able to speak fluently due to their age. They were encouraged by
the teacher researcher relying on the fact that age is not an impediment to learn it all depends on
the attitude and the desire that one has to advance.
“In class I didn't feel very well. My classmates have improved a lot in speaking but I still don't
know how I can advance. I had a hard time saying my ideas spontaneously. I think that because of
my age it will be very difficult to learn something about the English language. Teacher, please be
patient with me. I know that I'm your hopeless case” (Own translation. Student 3, Periodic Survey
#2, February 29th, 2020)8
As sessions moved forward, those students who believed they were not going to make any
progress had good comments from their classmates and the teacher. Those comments were given
as feedback after having done the speaking activity in session #4. They had already reduced the
amount of filler sounds and long pauses during the conversation. This could be observed thanks to
the Fluency Check Card that each class was filled out after the oral activities. With this strategy,
students were able to keep a track of their progress.
8 Student 3, Periodic Survey #2: En clase no me sentí muy bien. Mis compañeros han mejorado mucho hablando,
pero yo todavía no sé cómo puedo avanzar. Se me dificulta decir mis ideas espontáneamente. Creo que por mi edad
va a ser muy difícil aprender algo sobre el idioma inglés. Profesora, por favor téngame paciencia. Sé que soy su
caso perdido.
71
“Today Student 3 surprised me because I see that she has improved a lot in fluency. I remember
that in the class in which we did the talk show, she paused many times to remember what she had
memorized even when the teacher told us that it was better to have key ideas and not memorize
everything. But I saw her more confident about herself and she doesn't have so many filler sounds
anymore” (Own translation. Written comment by Student 1, General Feedback Session #2, April 18th, 2020)9
Finally, it is important to highlight that during this whole process, students went from the
imitative type of speaking (Burns, 2016) to the extensive one (oral presentations only). Also, the
responsive and interactive levels were present in every session as they refer to replies to
instructions and short answers in conversations, respectively. To analyze the final state of students'
fluency, field journals 6 and 7 were taken into account, the periodic survey from the same date and
the rubric used for the initial diagnostic activity.
Figure 5. Final Diagnostic Activity Results
As it can be seen in figure 5, students had a significant improvement in fluency and grammar.
Keeping in mind that the other skills were already strengthened and those that needed more
attention were the two previously mentioned. In the initial diagnostic activity, the group average
was 30 points out of 50 and in the final activity, the group obtained an average of 43 points out of
9 Written comment by Student 1, General Feedback Session #2: Hoy la estudiante 3 me sorprendió porque veo que
ella ha mejorado mucho en la fluidez. Recuerdo que en la clase en la que hicimos el Talk show, ella pausó muchas
veces para recordar lo que se había memorizado aun cuando la profesora nos dijo que era mejor tener ideas clave y
no memorizarlo todo. Pero la vi más segura de sí misma y no usa tantas muletillas ahora.
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50. This score shows that there was an advance in the development of oral fluency in students.
These scores were obtained through the use of the rubric (see Appendix H).
With the help of the Fluency Check Cards, it was determined that hesitation went from
happening 10 times in an oral presentation to 3 times on average. Long pauses went from being
present 9 times per student in each conversation or presentation to 4 times on average, and filler
sounds were reduced to only 2 per student.
Likewise, the perception that students had of themselves became positive, since they realized
that they could progress and learn a foreign language regardless of age as stated in the excerpts
below:
“I will turn 60 in a few weeks and I am very happy to have made the decision of taking this
English course. I learned how to be fluent and to speak without memorizing things. Before, I
memorized absolutely everything I wanted to say in the presentations, but now, only with the
format that the teacher gave us to put the main ideas, I can present without problems. I think I am
more spontaneous because a few days ago I spoke with my grandchildren who do not speak
Spanish, only English and they congratulated me because they understood everything, and I did
not pause to think about anything. I feel very happy for the progress my classmates and I have
made. It was worth the effort” (Own translation. Student 5, Periodic Survey #9, June 13th, 2020)10
In addition, it is important to mention the findings in the final diagnostic activity called
"Collaborative Group Activity" (see Appendix J). According to Perdomo (2010) the Collaborative
Group Activity is “based on roles that students have to assume when dealing with their tasks. Some
10 Student 5, Periodic Survey #9: Voy a cumplir los 60 años en unas semanas y estoy muy feliz de haber tomado la
decisión de entrar a este curso de inglés. Aprendí cómo ser fluida cuando hablo, sin necesidad de memorizar las
cosas. Antes, yo memorizaba absolutamente todo lo que quería decir en las presentaciones, pero ahora, solo con el
formato que la docente nos dio para poner las ideas principales, puedo presentar sin problemas. Pienso que ahora
soy más espontánea porque hace unos días hablé con mis nietos que no hablan español, solo inglés, y me felicitaron
porque me entendieron todo y no paré para pensar en nada. Me siento muy feliz por el progreso que mis compañeros
y yo hemos tenido. Valió la pena el esfuerzo.
73
of the roles change in each level. The group work helps learners develop cognitive, metacognitive,
affective and social strategies as well as thinking skills in supportive classes. This allows students
to work independently and collaboratively to construct more powerful knowledge and
understanding”
This strategy allowed students to work as a team and in an autonomous way. Teamwork
occurred in the contract construction stage since all group members had to provide at least one
agreement for the proper development of the activity. They also worked collaboratively in the
presentation stage where the whole team had to decide on who would play each role. Roles
changed as each student presented. All students helped each other so that the observer and reporter
formats were well filled out and that the group mind map was well designed.
There was both group and individual awareness of learning. In the autonomous part, each
student was responsible for the selection of the article and the extraction of the main ideas. Then,
just before the presentations, the teacher gave them a set time to design the visual aid. The purpose
of this decision was that students did not have the chance to memorize the information and
determine if there was an improvement in fluency or not. The presentation had to be spontaneous
and it was.
Also, students had to look for an article of their interest but had no idea of its purpose. Presentations
were recorded by a student in charge of each team and all the material was uploaded to Google
Classroom to be analyzed by the teacher and classmates. This activity took place in Zoom's
Breakout Rooms. Finally, the presentation length was 5-8 minutes that, compared to the first
diagnostic activity (1-2 minutes) it was a big and positive increase. Students reached level A2 to
what corresponds to fluency according to the CEFRL (2001): “Can make him/herself understood
in very short utterances, even though pauses, false starts and reformulation are very evident”.
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“I was very happy to see how all the team members worked together to carry the activity
forward. I did not know what the article was for, but that seems very good to me since we were
able to know if we had really improved in fluency when we presented orally. I really liked this
activity as well as all the other strategies the teacher used” (Own translation. Student 2, Periodic
Survey #8, June 6th, 2020)11
3.1.3. FL in the development of adult learners’ oral fluency
Regarding the development of oral fluency in adult students, FL had a high incidence. In the
first place because it allowed us to free up time in the class to work on this subskill. Its pillars
guided us for the design of the oral activities and the material. The strategies guided the teaching-
learning process and their assessment principles gave us light on how to carry out this process
during the semester.
First contact survey Periodic survey #9
Figure 6. Students’ initial and final average score regarding technology mastery.
Similarly, FL includes technology in its implementation and this fact helped adult students set high
challenges and goals in terms of mastering these tools. Periodic survey #9 showed that upon
completion of implementations, they considered their technology mastery had improved (see
11 Student 2, Periodic Survey #8: Estuve muy feliz de ver cómo todos los miembros del equipo trabajaron juntos para
sacar la actividad adelante. En mi caso, yo no sabía para qué era el artículo, pero eso me parece muy bueno pues
pudimos saber si realmente habíamos mejorado en la fluidez cuando presentamos oralmente. Realmente me gustó
esta actividad, así como las otras estrategias que la teacher usó.
75
Figure 6) Finally, with the preparation in the ILS, students were able to stop feeling so anxious
and fearful about participating in the oral activities. Having a first contact with the new concepts
in the ILS increased their confidence to speak in the GLS.
“I believe that we were able to strengthen our fluency in English thanks to the fact that
grammar was sent home and the two hours in the classroom were spent on meaningful activities
that helped us to speak more spontaneously. In my case, I had a negative view of being able to
improve but I did it! Despite my age, I can use the computer without problems. I no longer ask my
children for help” (Own translation. Student 3, Periodic Survey #9, June 13th, 2020)12
Another very important aspect when flipping is autonomous work. It came with a learning
culture that was built during the process. Students became aware of this aspect when they realized
that their learning was up to them and no matter what the teacher did, if they did not do their part,
it was difficult to see progress in their process. In this way, students started to be autonomous with
the ILS activities and they prepared their questions and note-taking formats for the entry ticket
moment of the class.
When virtual classes started, there was a student who lost his job at a restaurant due to
quarantine. That was why he had to move to his hometown where there was no internet connection
and he had to walk several miles to get to a friend’s place with a bit of Wi-Fi connection.
Sometimes, he could not join live sessions in Teams so he watched the recordings for those classes
whenever he could, mainly on Saturday night or Sunday morning. This student’s responsibility
level was so high that he even called his classmates to have small conversations with them in
12 Student 3, Periodic Survey #9: Creo que fuimos capaces de fortalecer nuestra fluidez en inglés gracias al hecho de
que la gramática fue llevaba a la casa y las dos horas en el salón de clase fueron invertidas en actividades
significativas que nos ayudó a hablar más espontáneamente. En mi caso, tenía una visión negativa sobre ser capaz
de mejorar, ¡pero lo hice! A pesar de mi edad, puedo usar un computador sin problemas. Ya no le pido a mis hijos
que me ayuden.
76
English for him to be able to fill the fluency check cards and give each one of them feedback. Also,
when we had station rotation sessions, he used to call a classmate in order to participate in Zoom
Breakout Rooms by being on speakerphone. He was always aware of everything that happened in
the group and kept in contact with his classmates and the teacher by emails and phone calls.
“It was very sad for me to lose my job as a waiter in Bogotá and to have to travel to my
hometown. My family told me that they would help me with food, and they offered me a job taking
care of cows. I have a friend who lives in a part of town where there is internet, but the connection
is pretty bad. Anyway, he told me that I could go on Saturdays and Sundays to study. I told the
teacher and she told me that there was no problem with that, and I promised to be responsible for
everything. When I lived in Bogotá, I never missed virtual and in person classes. I think watching
videos and doing the exercises at home help a lot so that afterwards your brain is responsible and
does not leave things for later. In short, I called my colleagues over the phone to speak a little
English and for them to include me in the groups for the stations. In this way I finished the course
successfully” (Own translation. Student 4, Periodic Survey #9, June 13th, 2020)13
3.2. Conclusions
Flipped Learning is a significantly helpful and practical approach that allows teachers to free
up time in class in order to work on other skills that students need to develop. It turns a traditional
lesson to one that is dynamic, interactive and unforgettable. FL has been the bridge for students to
13 Student 4, Periodic Survey #9: Fue muy triste para mí perder mi trabajo como mesero en Bogotá y tener que viajar
a mi pueblito donde nací. Allí mi familia me dijo que me iba a ayudar con la comida y me ofrecieron un trabajo
cuidando vacas. Tengo un amigo que vive en una parte del pueblo donde hay internet, pero la señal es bastante mala.
De todos modos, él me dijo que podía ir los sábados y los domingos para estudiar. Le comenté a la profe y me dijo
que no había problema con eso y le prometí ser responsable con todo. Cuando vivía en Bogotá jamás me perdí las
clases en persona y virtuales. Creo que ver los videos y hacer los ejercicios en la casa ayudan mucho para que después
el cerebro de uno sea responsable y no deje las cosas para después. En resumen, yo llamaba a mis compañeros para
que habláramos un poquito en inglés y para que me incluyeran en los grupos para las estaciones. De esta manera
finalicé el curso satisfactoriamente.
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improve oral fluency and to change their perceptions about themselves. This approach, its pillars,
its strategies and its principles totally worked together to make students’ oral fluency improve.
Students' initial level in terms of fluency in English was definitely improved thanks to the
implementation of seven oral activities that included FL strategies and principles. Students could
overcome fluency issues such as hesitation, anxiety, filler sounds and long pauses when speaking.
This improvement happened due to the fact that there was constant feedback on fluency aspects
during oral presentations and conversations. Also, some ways to control anxiety were found, such
as going outside of the classroom or sitting in a place different to chairs in the classroom.
When implementing FL strategies, instructions for stations must be clear, concise, and well
demarcated by elements such as banners that allow students to locate themselves in the classroom
space and know what the next step in the process is.
Adult learners feel more responsibility for their learning process when they are assigned a
structured activity for the ILS and when that new knowledge is applied in the GLS and in daily
life. It is important to let them know their progress and for that, not only the teacher should give
them feedback, but also classmates. They can evaluate themselves. In this way Learning Culture
is built.
Analyzing and evaluating are two processes that involve observation, description and feedback.
This represents an improvement in the quality of the learning process. By evaluating students’
performance, it was noticed that FL had a positive incidence in their oral fluency development.
The assessment process must be carefully designed when working with FL. Instruments must
have valid and relevant criteria so that feedback, which must be constant, is meaningful and
contributes to a change for the student.
78
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Appendices
Appendix A. Initial Diagnostic Activity
Name: Women’s rights in different countries
Course: English 1B
Instructions
● You were assigned a country. Search information on the internet regarding women’s
rights and roles in that place. Look for general information and select key and interesting
facts about this topic.
● Design a visual aid (2-5 slides) with the most important information.
Remember: Pictures more than text.
● You will have 5 minutes to present.
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Appendix B. First Contact Survey
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Appendix C. Field Journal #1
UNIVERSIDAD LIBRE SCHOOL OF EDUCATION
B.A. IN BASIC EDUCATION WITH EMPHASIS ON HUMANITIES AND LANGUAGES Field Journal # 1
Pre-service teacher: Wendy Katherine Rey Cárdenas Date: February 15th, 2020 Class length: 2 hours Number of students: 11 Grade: 1C Subject Area: English Lesson topic: Women’s roles and rights around the world. Observation objective: To do a recognition exercise for the students in the first class through a diagnostic activity. How does this class relate to your research project? In this class, the diagnostic activity was carried out that allowed us to identify the research problem.
Activities’ description Students arrived one by one, after the class had already started at 1 pm and while the teacher was introducing the semester program, the methodology and its objectives. The Fruit Game The objective of this game was to know the names of each one and to introduce themselves to the class. Some students could not find enough vocabulary to introduce themselves or to say their age, their favorite activity, among others. However, they were encouraged to participate. Prior to the diagnostic activity, the teacher spoke in a general way about the topic of the class and gave the parameters for the oral presentations. The evaluation rubric and the minimum time required to present were socialized. Then the teacher asked who wanted to come forward to present first. No one answered, so she used the attendance list for this. Presentations lasted from 1 to 3 minutes and many filler sounds, long pauses and hesitation were heard. Also, students said isolated words like "tradition, culture, obligation, people, women, children" and poorly structured sentences in terms of grammar. Then, general feedback was given. Students gave each other feedback on their performance. Some of them said “We need to improve”, “Speaking is the most important skill in English”, “I want to speak like the teacher and to think in English” 3 pm. Time was up. We ran out of time to develop the last activity about types of food in Colombia. Students ended the class with applause and said they did not want to leave, they wanted to have more class time.
Reflection There are students who find it difficult to arrive on time, some of them because of the distance from their jobs or homes. Students like to participate in group dynamics, as they were smiling and active during the fruit game. It is perceived that students can improve their pronunciation and fluency when speaking in the foreign language. Several students asked questions about what had already been explained. Students need to get into the habit of taking notes, preferably with the Cornell Note-taking system. This will allow them to remember the topic more easily. Only 5 students went on to present on the role of women in a given country, with a well-designed visual aid. The others did not speak or express their opinions about the performances of their classmates. It is necessary to work on these fluency issues so that students can overcome the fear of speaking in public and what they are saying can be better understood. Also, some students used Spanish to communicate with classmates and the teacher. It indicates that they feel in their comfort zone when using their mother tongue. Students are aware that they need to improve their oral production and agree that speaking skills are one of the most important in the process of learning a foreign language. 2 hours are not enough to cover all planned activities. It is important to free up time in the classroom in order to bring speaking activities for students to practice fluency. Flipping the grammar component is a good idea. This indicates that they liked the dynamics of the class and are looking forward to what will be done in the next session.
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Appendix D. Note-taking System (Adapted from Pauk, 2001)
Appendix E. Bloom’s Taxonomy Pyramid
Retrieved from https://cft.vanderbilt.edu/guides-sub-pages/blooms-taxonomy/
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Appendix F. Lesson Plan #3
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Appendix G. Periodic survey
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Appendix H. Rubric to assess oral presentations
Fluency Pronunciation
and accent Vocabulary
Grammar
Details
5
Smooth and fluid speech; few to no hesitations; no attempts to search for words; volume is excellent.
Pronunciation is excellent; good effort at accent
Excellent control of language features; a wide range of well- chosen vocabulary
Accuracy & variety of grammatical structures
Excellent level of description. Key facts and enough information included.
4
Smooth and fluid speech; few hesitations; a slight search for words; inaudible word or two.
Pronunciation is good; A few words are mispronounced.
Good language control; good range of relatively well-chosen vocabulary
Some errors in grammatical structures possibly caused by attempting to include a variety.
Good level of description; enough information included
3
Speech is relatively smooth; some hesitation and unevenness caused by rephrasing and searching for words; volume wavers.
Pronunciation is good; Many words are mispronounced
Adequate language control; vocabulary range is lacking
Frequent grammatical errors that do not obscure meaning; little variety in structures
Adequate description; some important details should be provided
2
Speech is frequently hesitant with some sentences left uncompleted; volume very soft.
Pronunciation is okay; No effort towards a good accent
Weak language control; basic vocabulary choice with some words clearly lacking
Frequent grammatical errors even in simple structures that at times obscure meaning.
Description lacks some critical details that make it difficult for the listener to understand
1
Speech is slow, hesitant & strained except for short memorized phrases; difficult to perceive continuity in speech; inaudible.
Pronunciation is lacking and hard to understand
Weak language control; vocabulary that is used does not match the task
Frequent grammatical errors even in simple structures; meaning is obscured.
Description is so lacking that the listener cannot understand
Adapted from: Delaware City Schools https://www.dcs.k12.oh.us/
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Appendix I. Fluency Check Cards
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Appendix J. Final Diagnostic Activity
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Appendix K. Audio Recordings Transcripts (Diagnostic Activity #1- Students 1 and 2)
Yellow: Fluency
Blue: Pronunciation
Green: Vocabulary choice
Pink: Grammar
