Luận văn incorporating flipped classroom model and brain based teaching in an esp class a quantitative research

INCORPORATING FLIPPED CLASSROOM MODEL AND BRAIN-BASED TEACHING IN AN ESP CLASS: 181 activities and brain-based teaching for in-class sessions in an ESP English for Banking and Finance m

INCORPORATING FLIPPED CLASSROOM MODEL AND BRAIN-BASED TEACHING IN AN ESP CLASS: 181

activities and brain-based teaching for in-class sessions in an ESP (English for Banking

and Finance) module to evaluate its effectiveness on learners’ performance and to shed light on how students perceived each element of this innovative model

1.2 Research framework and procedure

The conceptual framework of this study is built upon 2 main cores: technology

as a mediational tool for out-of-class activities and Brain-based teaching for in-class instructions Figure 1 illustrates the relationship between these parts as follows

I

Figure 1: Framework of the study

First, an online platform was created on Facebook so that students might log in,

download lessons and assignments It consisted of two main functions: Announcements

and Group Forum The “Announcements” comprised of latest updates, teacher’s requirements, pre-recorded videos and computer-assisted presentations so that leaners can

download them for lesson preparations or revision Besides, the “Group Forum” worked

as a platform for students to exchange ideas, disseminate information for their writing

tasks and express their opinions on this teaching model It can be said that technology in this study was more inclined to be an integrative and mediational tool for the teaching process, and interactions between students, teachers, and the online environment was of

great significance,

As regards out-of-class activities, students were first required to watch pre-recorded lectures, take notes, track down unknown words, explore new concepts and identify

difficult knowledge The videos were taken from both online resources and teacher-

made videos based on the teaching objectives and course requirements Then, they had to

complete some preparatory exercises related to the video contents Portfolios including

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the notes and preparatory tasks were marked and accounted for 20% of the total grades to ensure learners’ preparation before physical class time

The in-class activities adapted from the Brain-based teaching framework included

five steps: Fngagement, Framing, Acquisition, Elaboration, and Memory Strengthening,

First, the “Engagement” employed various warm-up activities to create a positive leaming

environment and to check leamers" understanding Sccond, the “Framing” using authentic

materials allowed learners to have a deeper understanding about how the language and

new knowledge is used in real-life contexts They also examined specific structures and

lexical items that occurred in a particular ESP environment In the “Acquisition”, the students collaborated to deal with challenging tasks to foster integrated skills Then,

within the “Elaboration”, leamers exchanged the outcomes through various forms of in-

class correction strategies such as partner quizzes, peer cditing, presentations, debates

or reports to support deeper learning Finally, the “Memory Strengthening” inclnding

drama, partner reviews, or mini-test was a summary of what learners had studiod during

the physical class time to ensure that the right content had been internalized correctly

1 ‘To what extent does this model infiuence on students’ final exam results compared

to the traditional classes?

2 What are learners’ perceptions towards the effectiveness of this model?

Hypothesis

Since the study was conducted to investigate if this model could help students in the experimental class achieve higher scores in the final exam than those in the traditional classes, one theme gives shape to the hypothesis as presented below

Hypothesis: Is there a significant difference between the performance of the

experimental class (subjected to flipped classroom model and brain-based teaching)

and that of the control classes (subjected to traditional instructions) in an ESP course as

measured through the final exam scores?

The mull hypothesis: There is no significant difference between experimental and control groups’ achievement scores as measured through the final exam scores

2 LITERATURE REVIEW

The emergence of BSP training in Vietnam has required many educators to make instmetional changes to foster deeper learning, critical thinking skills, and independent

INCORPORATING FLIPPED CLASSROOM MODEL AND BRAIN-BASED TEACHING IN AN ESP CLASS: 183

learning styles to keep up with the ever-changing specific-subject knowledge as well as

linguistic development (Nguyen, 2015) However, a review of recent literature shows that

this approach does nol bring aboul fruitful benefits duc to a number af challenges poxcd

to leamers and practitioners (e.g Nguyen, 2017; Nguyen, 2015; Tran, 2013) Therefore,

innovative approaches such as flipped learning can be seen as a remedy for this situation

Flipped learning is an educational method in which class time ercates meaningful

opportunitics for callaborative practice while technologies are uscd to deliver contents

oulside of the clussroum (Bergmann & Sams, 2012; Sunkoff & Forcese, 2014) The

benefits of flipped teaching towards improvements of learners’ academic performance and attitudes have been verified by a large number of research papers (e.g Seery, 2015; Zuber,

2016; Ozdamli & Gulsum, 2016) However, the use of flipped learning in ESP education has received very lintited attentions In tact, there are currently 3 accessible studies on

this subject matter and this number is not adequate to decide whether and how flipping

the ESP classroom can enhance student learning For example, in a study using survey,

observation and focused-group interviews to examine the impact of flipping method,

Zhangwen Tin (2016) stated that this approach could help Chinese learners ta transform

knowledge effectively and become more well-prepared before physical class time, thus

enabling them to solve practical problems efficiently Likewise, Bi Wen Lee (2017)

investigated the impact of Mipped classroom on the performance of 34 undergraduate junior students in Taiwan and the findings indicated that learners did not only express positive

attitudes towards his flipped classroom but also increase their learning engagement, motivation and self-efficacy during the course More importantly, Da Liu (2016) reported

that 35 students in his experimental group could achieve greater success not only in the

imal exam results but also in the learning strategies All of these three aforementioned studies tailed to identity how in-class procedure should be structured to enhance learners’ academic performances It can be said that this this method has not been measured in any

coherent way in ESP training field Finally, there has been no available empirical study

investigating the effect of flipped instructions on Vietnamese learners’ ESP proficiency

Consequently, these issucs were explored via this experimental rexcarch

Brain-based learning is an approach based on the function of the human brain with reflection activites to facilitate complex conceptual knowledge and procedural fluency (Jensen, 2005), Studies have indicated that aspects of brain-based instructions could promote students’ learning and attitudes in certain ways, Tn an expotimental study with third-ycur students in Turkey, Scrap Tiifekgi and Melck Demirel (2009) asserted that participants nol only outperformed those in the control class but they also developed their retention level, sensitivity, and participation significantly Another study by Haghighi

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could have a better achievement However, there is a lack of studies about the effectiveness

of a thorough brain-based approach with detailed procedure for in-class ESP activities

As a result, this study aims to examine the effect of brain-based learning on achievement and attitudes of Vietnamese ESP students at tertiary level

In conclusion, no empirical studies have been undertaken to illustrate whether

flipped leaming to ESP education can achicve its potential in Victnamese context Thus, turther research into this approach is needed More importantly, whereas some available

studics conclude flipped pedagogy is effective in improving academic performance,

other relevant research indicate a contrary (Ayon, 2017; McLean et al., 2016; Sirota,

2017) Hence, more studies with empirical evidence should be conducted to solve these

inconsistencies Finally, the questions of what instructional framework should be used in

planning the flipped writing classroom and what techniques can facilitate collaborative

environment inside and outside the classroom are still left unanswered This means that

further evidence is needed Lo fill these gaps if instructors would

method for an improvement in this training Hence, the present study was undertaken with the objective of evaluating the cffcctivencss of flipped learning model (combining technology and in-class brain-based approach) in an academic ESP class at a Vietnamese university, thus it could address these aforementioned gaps

¢ lo implement flipped

3 METHODOLOGY

3.1 Research design and sampling

This study was conducted from February to May, 2018 at Banking University of

Ho Chi Minh City, Viemam 162 non-English majors patticipated in the study with four research groups (one experimental class and 3 control classes) They were third- year students who had studied an ESP] course in the previous semester and this was their second course (FSP2) of the Bachelor Programme These students were at pre- intermediate/intermediate level (450 in TOEIC or higher) and the class met once a week for five academic periods

The students were assigned to sections by their choices of online registration based

on their schedules and preferences, which meant that it was unfeasible to form the experimental and control groups on purpuse They could experience certain equivalent conditions such as focation, quality of teachers, curriculum contents, instructional

textbooks and language of immediate environment Hence, the pedagogical strategies

which form the independent variables are the contemporary and the flipped methods

Students who withdrew from the class before taking the final exam and who did not

agree to participate were excluded from this study Table 1 provides information about the participants of the experimental class (flipped class) and control classes.

THCORPORATING FLIPPED CLASSROOM MCDEL AND BRAIN-BASED TEACHING IN AN ESP CLA: 185

3-2 Data callection and management

Two methods were used to collect data and to ensure the reliability of the results

First, an analysis of students’ exam results was conducted between the experimental

class and the traditional classes As students had just finished their ESP1 exam about

one month before the course, their results were analysed to test the homogeneity among participants as a pre-test After the treatment had been implemented for 9 weeks, an

end-of-course test was administered for analysis The test lasted for 60 minutes, all the

test items were the same for each student, and the papers were marked by third-party

raters to cnsurc reliability It should be noted that no statistical analysis was conducted ta

investigate the differences between pre-test and post-test results within each group The

reason for this decision lied in the belief that a comparison belween two differentiests with

different questions about both knowledge and linguistic skills was inappropriate because

the results might be evaluated based on different categorised rubric and influenced by the

subjective educational methodology (no researcher had taught any member of the two

classes in the previous ESP1 module) Hence, such comparison could not reflect the real

picture of learners’ capability To maintain anonymity, the instruetors of the traditional classes assigned a random number to cach student rather than using their real names, and

provided the researcher with an Excel spreadsheet document containing the exam scores

via the institutional email The test results were analysed by F-test ANOVA to investigate whether a sialistivally significant difference exisis belween the experimental and control

groups with regard to learners” academic achievements

Sccond, questionnaires were chosen to “elicit frank and honest answers" thanks to their anonymity (Robson, 2002, cited in Lloyd, 2005, p 36) The questionnaires (Appendix 1) were distributed to 40 students in the experimental class at the end of the course to get the participants’ perceptions of the new approach as well ax to meusure their satisfaction with their progress, The data were entered into a database using Microsoft Excel and

ved the

were anulysed by descriptive statistics in order lo discover how the students pe

effectiveness of the new method

4 FINDINGS

The results of this study are described as follows.

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4.1 Students’ performance

This subsection aims to explore the statistically signiticantly ditterences of the grades

‘between the experimental class and control classes First, Table 2 illustrates an analysis of

the pre-test results in the previous ESP1 exam

Table 2: Descriptive analysis and One-way ANQVA analysis of pre-test results (n= 162)

Descriptive analysis of Grades

95% Contidence

w | Mean Sid Interval for Mean | v4, sum | Maximum

Deviation “Lower | Upper

Bound | Bound Experimental Cluss | 40 | 8.1375 | 0.59773 79463 | 8.3349 65 9.1

Results show that the significance level is 0.408 (p>0.05), indicating that there is

no statistically significant difference between the experimental and control groups with regard lo English proficicney Both the Minimum and Maximum scores of the classes ave quile similar However, it should be noted thal the Mean score of the experimental group (8.1375) is slightly higher compared to those of the control classes (8.0325, 8.0744, and 7.9256)

After the treatment process lasted for 9 weeks, an end-of-course ESP2 exam was

administered to the students in four groups Appendix 2 provides the raw scores of two

classes in the final exam In the experimental class, 16 students got High Distinction

mark (9.0 or above), the highest score is 9.8 while 2 students gat the lowest score of 7.0 Likewise, in the control class 1, 5 students got High Distinction mark, 1 students

obtained the highest score of 9.5, 1 student got the lowest score of 4.6, and 6 students

had the score from 7 to below In control class 2 2 students got High Distinction mark

with the highest score of 9.0, 1 student got the lowest score of 6.6, and 6 students had

the score from 7 to below In contro! class 3, no student got High Distinction mark,

the lowest score is 6.6 with one student, and 8 students had the score from 7 to below

Moreover, the students who got at least 8 marks (Distinction grades at this university)

THCORPORATING FLIPPED CLASSROOM MCDEL AND BRAIN-BASED TEACHING IN AN ESP CLA: 187

Standard deviation of 0.58548, Finally, 39 students in the control class 3 gained a range of

svores between 6.6 and 8.8, with a Mean of 7.6564 and 4 Suandard deviation of 0.53695

It can be clearly seen that figures of the Mean, Min, Max, and Confidence Interval of

the experimental class are all higher than those of the contol classes, indicating that the

experimental group had a better performance on the final exam

Table 3: Descriptive analysis of post-test results (n=162)

Descriptive analysis of Grades

95% Contidence Taterval for Mean Lower Upper Bound — Bound

To carry out the inferential statistics, the samples were checked for the underlying

assumptions Tequired for the choosing of an appropriale technique Table 4 below shows

the Levene test of Llomogeneity, indicating that the assumptions were met since the p-value (0.02) is more than 0.05 It means that there were no outliers, the data followed a

normal distrihution (the empirical rule), and within-group variance was equivalent across

the classes

Table 4: The Homogeneity tests results (n=162)

Test of Homogeneity of Variances Levene Statistic díi d2 Sig.'p-value

Aone-way ANOVA was ulso conducted to explore the differences belween the grades

of the experimental ¢ 8 compared with the control classes and Table 5 below shows the detailed data, The result indicated that there was a statistical significant difference between the classes, F ~ 12.683, Sig /p-value ~ 0.000 < 05

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Table 6: Multiple Comparison (n=162)

Mean Difference Std Sigvp- Lawer Upper

Tukey [Experimental Control Class 1 059417 0.15903 0.001 04813 10070 HSD | Class “Control Class? 0.77750" 015736 0000 03692 1.1898

The Mean plot of Figure 2 below shows that the Mean difference between four

classes This Mean plot cmphasized that the grade mean of experimental class is higher

than that of controlled classes

INCORPORATING FLIPPED CLASSROOM NADEL AND BRAIN-BASED TEACHING INAN ESP CLA: 189

4.2, Students’ perceptions towards the suggested model

Table 7 gives an overview of the results taken from the questionnaires It can be seen

that the Mean scores clusters above 4.0, indicating that on the whole the students found the eight steps of the madel useful

Table 7: Student's overall perception of the new teaching model (n=40)

Croup Forum: 4.025 u33

The Mean score of Video lectures is really high (4.225), suggesting that students

attached great value to this new component In fact, 34 answers to Question 6 about the

usefulness of this element stated that learners became more prepared for the lessons Meanwhile, 31 students claimed that this component enabled them to learn new vocabulary

relating to the topics prior to the physical class effectively, and 35 students asserted that

they could review specific grammar structures related to the lessons belter

Table 8 below displays what benefits learners could achieve from Portfolio and

Preparatory tasks, and Group Farm Overall results showed that all Mean scores are

above 4.0, inferring that most students thonght these activities were effective in enhancing

their English skills capability

Table 8: Benefits of Portfalic and Preparatory tasks, and Group Forum (n=40)

Benefits of Partfolio and Preparatory tasks Mean SD

Learners can understand the lessons systematically 418 0.59

Leamers can check their understanding and test their skills 4.2 0.464

Benefits af the Group Forum

Leamers can revise for the pris

Leamers can do the exercises mare effectively 423 0.58

Learners can discuss and practice outside the classroom 403 0.66

Leamers can sharpen their skills with challenging tasks 4.05 0.68

Engagement step received the highest Mean score of 4.35, confirming the value of brain- based teaching towards the leaming process as it could stimulate and motivate leamers for

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Figure 3: Benefits of the Engagement (n=40)

The Framing step was also rated as a useful activity (4.05) Question 10 of the questionnaire (Do you think that the Framing can help you ?) clarified this statement

by showing that this step helped learners improve their English in three main ways:

practice the lessons in context (87.5%), link vocabulary and grammar together for better

understanding (92.5%), and understand the lesson content better (80.0%)

Table 9: Roles of the Framing step (n=40)

Number of

students Percentage

Link vocabulary and grammar together for better understanding 35/40 87.5%

The Acquisition and Elaboration steps also received the high rating with regard

to their usefulness level (M,.u„=4:03; M,„,„„„= 4.05) IL is worth noting that their

Standard deviations were quite small (S.D „ „= 0.48, S.D.,,„„¡„„=0,5), revealing the

homogeneity of the answers to this issue Figure 4 and 5 illustrate the benefits of the

Acquisition and Elaboration to the learners’ performance

‘Become more proficient in using vocabulary and

grammar Deepen Ieamers!undersanding with challenging |e 05.0%

tasks Practice the lmguage in communication |) 80.0%