the effect of using flipped classroom on grammar learning for non english majored freshmen at fpt university hcmc

Moreover, the respondents in the experimental group had considerably positive reflections towards the benefits of the flipped classroom as 1 the flipped classroom primarily provided oppo

THE EFFECT OF USING FLIPPED CLASSROOM

ON GRAMMAR LEARNING FOR NON-ENGLISH MAJORED FRESHMEN

AT FPT UNIVERSITY HCMC

A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements

for the degree of Master of Arts (TESOL)

Submitted by ĐOÀN HỒNG VÂN Supervisor: LÊ THỊ THANH THU, Ed.D

HO CHI MINH City, September 2019

-

ĐOÀN HỒNG VÂN

THE EFFECT OF USING FLIPPED CLASSROOM

ON GRAMMAR LEARNING FOR NON-ENGLISH MAJORED FRESHMEN

AT FPT UNIVERSITY HCMC

Major number: 60 14 01 11

A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements

for the degree of Master of Arts (TESOL)

Supervisor:

LÊ THỊ THANH THU, Ed.D

HO CHI MINH City, September 2019

STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP

I certify that this thesis entitled: “The effect of using flipped classroom on grammar learning for non-English majored freshmen at FPT University HCM” is my own work

Except where reference is made in the text of the thesis, this thesis does not contain material published elsewhere or extracted in whole or in part from a thesis by which I have qualified for or been awarded another degree or diploma

No other person’s work has been used without due acknowledgement in the main text of the thesis

This thesis has not been submitted for the award of any degree or diploma in any other tertiary institution

Ho Chi Minh City, 2019

Doan Hong Van

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I have secured a lot of assistance and advice from many people to complete

my thesis I am very grateful for this help

I would first like to sincerely thank my thesis supervisor, Dr Le Thi Thanh Thu, for her great care, enthusiasm, extensive knowledge and devotion I have been extremely lucky to have a supervisor who gave insightful comments, and who provided me with invaluable support to the completion of my thesis

Secondly, I would like to express my deep gratitude to FPT University, HCMC, the Leader of English Department, and the students in the Fall semester of the school year 2018-2019 who kindly accepted to participate in my thesis Special thanks go to my colleagues at FPT University HCMC who were willing to share their experience and give the best suggestion for my thesis

Finally, words cannot reveal my appreciation to my family: my father, my mother, my sister, and my husband Without their endless love, understanding and absolutely support, I could never overcome the difficulties in my life to complete this thesis

ABSTRACT

The flipped classroom has become a popular pedagogical tool around the world in the 21st century (Webb & Doman, 2016) because it contains a lot of benefits in promoting learning the English language The main purpose of this study was to examine the effect of the flipped classroom at FPT University HCMC

to non-English majored freshmen’s grammar learning Besides, this study aimed to explore how students perceived the benefits and challenges of this application in the classroom The participants include 56 non-English majored first-year students

in two classes of FPT University HCMC which were chosen randomly as the control group and the experimental group The flipped classroom was applied in the experimental group Students were required to watch the online video clips of the new grammar lessons at home then asked for clarification at class to maximize the time for students’ activities in groups or pairs, and they did not do homework at home, whereas the control group was taught with the current teaching method including the lecture at class and the exercises at home

After 7 weeks of the experiment, the data were collected through the test results and students’ questionnaires Also, the data were analyzed via the mean, the percentages and confirmed by the Independent samples t-test The results showed that the experimental group outperformed the control one in terms of grammatical knowledge, especially the students of weak and fairly good levels Moreover, the respondents in the experimental group had considerably positive reflections towards the benefits of the flipped classroom as (1) the flipped classroom primarily provided opportunities to practice English grammar, (2) then enhanced relationships in class, (3) then created student-centered learning environment and (4) the last, improved learner autonomy The participants also approved two challenges including (1) the students’ pressure for the active role and (2) the distractions from surroundings, social networks, entertaining websites while they almost rejected the technical problems and Internet access as their challenges

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page

STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii

ABSTRACT iii

TABLE OF CONTENTS iv

LIST OF FIGURES viii

LIST OF TABLES ix

ABBREVIATIONS x

Chapter 1: INTRODUCTION 1

1.1 Rationales of the study 1

1.2 Statement of purposes 3

1.3 Research questions 3

1.4 The significance of the study 3

1.5 Background to the study 4

1.5.1 The school 4

1.5.2 Description of the English syllabus for English non-majored freshmen at FPT University HCM 5

1.5.3 Description of the textbook “Topnotch 3” 6

1.5.4 The test and the students 6

1.6 Overview of thesis chapter 7

Chapter 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 9

2.1 Grammar 9

2.1.1 Definitions of grammar 9

2.1.2 The role of grammar in language learning and teaching 10

2.1.3 Approaches to teach English grammar 11

2.1.4 Processes in teaching grammar 13

2.1.5 How to learn grammar effectively 14

2.2 Flipped classroom 16

2.2.1 Definition of the flipped classroom 16

2.2.2 The characteristics of the flipped classroom 18

2.2.3 How to conduct the flipped classroom 21

2.2.4 Selection of videos material 22

2.2.5 The benefits of the flipped classroom in learning English language 23

2.2.5.1 Improving learner autonomy 24

2.2.5.2 Enhancing the relationships in classroom 24

2.2.5.3 Creating the student-centered learning environment 25

2.2.5.4 Providing students with opportunities to practice English grammar 26

2.2.6 The challenges when applying the flipped classroom 27

2.3 Prior studies 28

2.4 Chapter summary 33

Chapter 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 35

3.1 Research setting 35

3.2 Flipped classroom materials 36

3.3 Research design 37

3.3.1 Participants 38

3.3.2 Procedures of the experiment 38

3.3.3 Learning and teaching grammar in the CG and EG 41

3.3.3.1 Learning and teaching in the control group 42

3.3.3.2 Learning and teaching in the experimental group 42

3.4 Data collection instruments 43

3.4.1 Tests 44

3.4.1.1 Pre-test 44

3.4.1.2 Post-tests 45

3.4.2 Questionnaire 47

3.5 Chapter summary 49

Chapter 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 50

4.1 Analytical framework 50

4.2 Test data analysis 51

4.2.1 Pre-test analysis 51

4.2.2 Post-tests analysis 52

4.2.2.1 Test 1 results 52

4.2.2.2 Test 2 results 54

4.2.2.3 Test 3 results 56

4.3 Questionnaire data analysis 62

4.3.1 Student’s reflection towards learning English grammar before applying flipped classroom 62

4.3.2 Students’ perceived the benefits of the flipped classroom 63

4.3.3 Students’ perceived the challenges of the flipped classroom 66

4.4 Discussions 69

4.4.1 Research question 1: To what extent does the flipped classroom affect grammar learning of FPT University HCMC non-English majored freshmen? 69

4.4.2 Research question 2: How do they perceive the benefits and challenges in studying grammar with the flipped classroom? 71

4.4.2.1 Discussions on the benefits of the flipped classroom 71

4.4.2.2 Discussions on the challenges of flipped classroom 73

Chapter 5: CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS 76

5.1 Main findings of the thesis 76

5.2 Implications 79

5.2.1 Implications for school administrations 79

5.2.2 Implications for teachers 79

5.2.3 Implications for students 81

5.3 Limitations of the study 82

5.4 Recommendations for the further research 83

REFERENCES 84

APPENDICES 97

LIST OF FIGURES

Page

Figure 2 1 Stages of the flipped classroom 21

Figure 4 1 The Post-test 1 results 53

Figure 4 2 The Post-test 2 results 55

Figure 4 3 The Post-test 3 results 57

Figure 4 4 The percentages of weak students of the three tests 59

Figure 4 5 The percentages of average students of the three tests 59

Figure 4 6 The percentages of fairly good students of the three tests 60

Figure 4 7 The percentages of good students of the three tests 61

LIST OF TABLES

Page

Table 2 1 The activities of the flipped classroom compared to those of the current classroom practice 17

Table 3 1 Summary of the experiment procedures 39

Table 3 2 Grammar learning activities 41

Table 3 3 The structure of three Post-tests 46

Table 3 4 The purpose and format of the questionnaire 48

Table 4 1 Results of the Pre-tests for two groups 51

Table 4 2 Results of the Post-test 1 for two groups 52

Table 4 3 Results of the Post-test 2 for two groups 54

Table 4 4 Test 2 vs Test 1 55

Table 4 5 Results of the Post-test 3 for two groups 56

Table 4 6 Test 3 vs Test 2 58

Table 4 7 Students’ reflection towards learning English grammar 62

Table 4 8 How students perceived the benefits of the flipped classroom 64

Table 4 9 How students perceived the challenges of the flipped classroom 67

ABBREVIATIONS

CALL Computer Assisted Language Learning

ICT information, communication, and technology

PPP Presentation, Practice, Production

SPSS Statistical Package for the Social Sciences

Chapter 1: INTRODUCTION

Chapter 1 provides information for the background of the study connected with the rationales for conducting this thesis and the purpose of the study Also, two research questions, and the significance of the study will be introduced in this chapter In the end, the organization of the study which consists of five chapters will

be presented

1.1 Rationales of the study

English as a foreign language is one of the essential and required subjects at FPT University HCMC (Ho Chi Minh City) All students who would like to learn at this school must complete six levels of general English, which is seen as a necessary standard for students to learn their major subjects in English The common practice of almost all teachers at FPT University HCMC in teaching general English as that of the others is that students listen to a lecture in class and then go home to do homework (Jalal, 2016) However, I realize that when teaching English for non-English majored freshmen who are obliged to learn English in the first year with the current teaching practice at FPT University HCM, students might play quite passive roles and tend to wait for the main source knowledge from their teachers in class Particularly, in teaching grammar, teachers explain the grammar points thoroughly in class but students hardly remember and apply them not only to complete the test but also to practice speaking and writing Moreover, the lesson’s objective of the course book is to help students use their grammar knowledge to pass the grammar test and create the English environment for students so that they can apply their grammar, vocabulary, and knowledge to role-play the conversation naturally However, with such current teaching practice, it seems difficult to make students more interested in communicative learning (Nguyen, 2018)

Different ways have been applied at FPT University HCMC as getting students to work in groups, asking them to set themselves the English study target and punishment if they do not complete their homework to promote students’ engagement in learning English but the results are not as expected Anyhow, the above difficulties might be addressed with the new technology As for language learning and instruction, Thaichay and Sitthitikul (2016), Bergmann and Sams (2012), Kostaras (2017) suggested that “Flipped classroom”, one type of CALL (Computer Assisted Language Learning), comes into effect with active learning (Bergmann & Sams, 2012) and classroom interaction (Egbert, Herman & Lee 2015) For English teaching and learning, the flipped classroom, a specific type of blended learning design that lectures or explanations would be done at home by using technology, and homework or assignments would be guided in class instead

of at home (Bergmann & Sams, 2012) to ask the students to learn grammar lesson at home by watching some grammatical online videos before coming to class

Theoretically, the flipped classroom changes passive students into active students when creating the environment for students discover and manage their knowledge by themselves not only receiving the information from their teachers Students, therefore, tend to love technology and complete all assignments by watching videos before going to class Furthermore, this technique improves the relationship between teachers and students because students have more time to communicate with the teacher in class Moreover, with the flipped classroom, students enjoy more time to practice speaking with their friends after learning and understanding all grammar points at home

At FPT University HCMC, no one has done the research relating to the flipped classroom in teaching English before although this approach has been applied by teachers of other subjects at school and it is highly advocated by the Academic department Furthermore, in Vietnamese teaching, the flipped classroom has not been implemented by many researchers, and that is the reason why I am encouraged to conduct the research of the flipped classroom

1.2 Statement of purposes

The main purpose of this study was to examine the effect of applying the flipped classroom at FPT University HCMC to non-English majored freshmen’s grammar learning Besides, this study aimed to explore how students perceived the benefits and challenges of the flipped classroom in their grammar learning

1.4 The significance of the study

The study proves to be significant in many ways Firstly, this study is expected to provide an evidence of the flipped classroom’s benefits to facilitate teachers’ teaching English and arouse students’ interest in learning English grammar As for the students trained with the flipped classroom, their grammar performance could be enhanced, which is useful for them to learn further English skills Moreover, the flipped classroom, one type of the effectiveness of technology tools, could motivate students in learning English, reduce teacher’s workload at class, increase students’ chances to acquire the language naturally and help students have more time to interact with teachers instead of lecturing in the classroom Furthermore, this study encourages English language teachers to use the flipped

classroom and appeal the other studies on different ways to continue researching the flipped classroom

1.5 Background to the study

1.5.1 The school

This study was carried out at FPT University HCMC, one of the four campuses of FPT University including FPT University Ha Noi, Da Nang, Can Tho, and Ho Chi Minh City FPT University HCMC is a small campus located at Quang Trung Software City with the adequate facilities to accommodate 2,000 students attending undergraduate programs FPT University HCMC undergraduate programs are highly appreciated for its industry-oriented curriculum to help narrow the gap between higher education and actual industry demands Focusing on two of the most demanded fields, information technology and business, FPT University HCMC aims to equip students with the best quality education, skills, and open the possible pathway for them to go further into their future The teachers came from different countries in the world such as the Philippines, Australia, America, India, Vietnam and most of them had the master’s degrees in their major In the first year, all students learn English as the main subject within three hours per day Most of the classes are held from Mondays to Fridays The number of learners in each class ranges from 19 to 30 students Classrooms are well-equipped with a whiteboard, an air-conditioner, a sound system, 4 flipcharts, a projector, tables, and chairs

1.5.2 Description of the English syllabus for English non-majored freshmen at FPT University HCM

In the first year, students must complete the general English with 5 levels (Beginner, Elementary, Pre-Intermediate, Intermediate, and Upper-intermediate) before starting to learn their major subjects in English at the university In each level, the requirements of the syllabus always concentrate on the four skills (listening, speaking, reading, writing) However, this thesis only focused on the syllabus of Level 4 - Intermediate course (Appendix 2) The main learning objective

of this level is to help students acquire the range of vocabulary and grammar knowledge to improve their all language skills equivalent to the intermediate level

To help first-year students meet the requirement of learning objectives, grammar is

an essential and obligatory factor that keep learners from being misunderstood while expressing their thoughts or ideas

For the five levels, the English first-year students use the coursebooks as Top Notch (Saslow & Ascher, 2015), and Summit (Saslow & Ascher, 2017) Specifically, Top Notch 3 (Saslow & Ascher, 2015)-B1+level is applied as the coursebook of Level 4 In the course Level 4, students learn ten units Grammar points only are taught in Lesson 1 and 2 of each unit Such course is composed of

70 slots (90 minutes per slot) For general English classes, students have to learn English per day during the week from Monday to Friday and each class lasts for 2 slots The time length of the course Level 4 is approximately 7 weeks (105 hours) According to the course schedule (Appendix 3), each unit is completed within approximately three days (7 slots) including one preview, four lessons, one review, and one writing slot

1.5.3 Description of the textbook “Topnotch 3”

The English textbook “Top Notch 3” was published by Pearson Education in

2015 “Top Notch 3” textbook includes ten units: Make a small talk, Health matters, Getting things done, Reading for pleasure, Natural disaster, Life plans, Holidays and traditions, Inventions and discoveries, Beautiful world, and Controversial issues These ten units are taught in approximately 70 slots for one course Each unit focuses on seven parts: Preview, Lesson 1, Lesson 2, Lesson 3, Lesson 4, Review, and Writing Each part almost focuses on practicing four skills: listening, speaking, reading, and writing Grammar only is taught at the beginning of lesson 1 and lesson 2 accompanied with the other skills At FPT University HCMC, lecturers

of English prefer using the inductive approach with P-P-P lesson plan (Presentation, Practice, Production) and use the textbook to teach grammar Because the limited time of teaching grammar at class, almost all students only complete the exercises

of grammar points to understand the structures and rules before applying grammar points in speaking, listening, or writing skills Insufficiently, grammar points are just taught in twenty slots for the whole program of Level 4 - Intermediate

1.5.4 The test and the students

At FPT University HCMC, depending on students’ levels which are equivalent to their placement test, all non-English majored freshmen used the series

of course-books designed by Pearson Longman such as Top Notch 1, Top Notch 2, Top Notch 3, Summit 1, and Summit 2 The placement test has been designed to analyze the English level of new students so they can be placed into groups corresponding to the five levels (Beginner, Elementary, Pre-intermediate, Intermediate, and Upper) All students passing each level are assessed by the average of on-going assessment score and the final examination score In an on-going assessment, students must complete all speaking, writing assessments and

take part in five progress-tests within seven weeks Each progress test is carried out after students finished two units Moreover, the final examination with four skills (listening, speaking, reading, writing skills) and grammar test are carried out to evaluate students’ performance after the course Therefore, students are expected to acquire all grammar points and know how to apply them accurately so that they can perform effectively in the final examination After completing the five levels, students meet the condition required to learn all their major subjects in English All students passing Level 3 - Pre-intermediate can move to Level 4 - Intermediate Moreover, students learn English three hours per day and five days per week so they are really tired and do not have any desire or motivation in learning English

1.6 Overview of thesis chapter

The thesis is organized into five main chapters including: Introduction, Literature review, Methodology, Data analysis & Discussions of findings, and Conclusion & Recommendations

Chapter 1 presents the rationales of the study, the aim of the study, the background to the study Then two research questions are stated together with the significance of the study In the end, the overview of the thesis chapters will be described thoroughly Chapter 2 presents a review of the literature related mainly to the flipped classroom as well as grammar, and the relevant previous studies The research gap is also introduced in this part Chapter 3 describes the methodology It provides information about the research setting, flipped classroom materials, research design, participants, procedures of the experiment, and data collection instrument Chapter 4 analyses the collected data from the tests and questionnaire, reports and interprets the results Then, the results will be discussed in relation to the two research questions and the findings of previous research in the field Chapter 5 summarizes and makes conclusions based on the findings which have been discovered from the study Moreover, it gives implications to develop and

improve the way to learn and teach English grammar as well as some recommendations for further research and the limitations of the study

Chapter 2: LITERATURE REVIEW

This section of the study gives a review of the relevant concepts of grammar and the flipped classroom including (1) definition of grammar, (2) the role of grammar in language teaching and learning, (3) approaches to teach English grammar, (4) processes in teaching grammar, (5) how to learn grammar effectively, (6) definition of the flipped classroom, (7) the characteristics of the flipped classroom, (8) how to conduct the flipped classroom, (9) selection of videos material, (10) the benefits of the flipped classroom in learning English language, (11) the challenges when applying the flipped classroom, and (12) prior studies

2.1 Grammar

2.1.1 Definitions of grammar

Each language has their own rules to integrate words with each other into a complete sentence To do this, grammar is one of the most necessary tools to attain that purpose There are two types of grammar as prescriptive and descriptive grammar which have been defined by many researchers and grammarians world-widely Firstly, prescriptive grammar refers to actual rules stated by the grammarians (Fenn, 2014) According to Brown (2001), “Grammar is the system of rules governing the conventional arrangement and relationship of words in a sentence” (p 362) Furthermore, in Thornbury’s opinion (1999), “a grammar is a description of the rules that govern how a language’s sentences are formed” (p 125) and “grammar attempts to explain why the sentences are acceptable” (p 1) Summers (2001) defined the term grammar as “the rules by which words change their forms and are combined into sentences, or the study or use of these rules” (p 619)

Secondly, descriptive grammar refers to grammar in the real life of native speakers (Saengboon, 2017) and pays attention to “the relationship between the language and the context in which it is used” (Ismail, 2010, p 145) According to Bakka (2018), “Descriptive grammar sets out to study language categories and various structures and identifies rules based upon how actual language takes place

in real life situations” (p 32) Besides, grammar is “a description of the structure of

a language and the way in which linguistic units such as words and phrases are combined to produce sentences in the language … usually takes into account the meaning and functions these sentences have in the overall system of the language

… may or may not include the description of the sounds of a language” (Richards

et al., 1992, p 161) In other words, descriptive grammar refers to the structure of a language as used to help learners speak and write like a native speaker

Generally, the descriptive grammar is focused more than prescriptive

grammar because at the university, students learn not only the rules of grammar but also how to apply grammar in actual speaking or writing (Richards et al., 1992) As Sugata (2016) observed that grammar will help learners form confidence, language knowledge, and fluency, it therefore plays an important role to develop language skills

2.1.2 The role of grammar in language learning and teaching

The role of grammar in second/foreign language instruction has been considered over some decades In 1988, Ur stated that “There is no doubt that a knowledge – implicit or explicit – of grammatical rules is essential for the mastery

of a language” (p 4) because you not only learn the way to use words but also learn how they cooperate with each other Besides, Widodo (2006) stated grammar played a crucial role in learning listening, speaking, reading and writing skills It means that students can know how to form phrases, clauses, and sentences in meaning through applying grammar rules (Doff, 2000) Furthermore, according to

Nassaji and Fotos (2011), “nothing in the field of language pedagogy has been as controversial as the role of grammar teaching” (p.1) First, grammar had an important place in teaching methods reliant on “a structural syllabus” (Ellis, 2008,

as cited in Azar, 2007) Then, the way to teach grammar changed from acquisition

of grammatical rules into language for communication (Thaichay & Sitthitikul, 2016)

At university, students are encouraged to learn English grammar for the purpose of communication It is impossible for people communicate without grammar knowledge because at that time people only use individual words or sounds, pictures and body language (Azar, 2007) In other words, grammar knowledge is a basic standard for students communicate accurately, meaningfully and appropriately (Larsen-Freeman, 2001) Moreover, learners need develop the ability to use the language to communicate in the real life because teaching specific sequences of grammar forms do not produce it As a result, grammatical knowledge plays a vital role for students to improve four skills or apply their linguistic ability

to real-life situations

2.1.3 Approaches to teach English grammar

Thornbury (1999) mentioned that the efforts of teaching English grammar to EFL students have been established in three main approaches: teaching grammar based on rules (a deductive approach), examples (an inductive approach) and contexts Each of them has its own advantages and disadvantages as stated below

“A deductive approach starts with the presentation of a rule and is followed

by examples in which the rule is applied” (p 29) (Thornbury, 1999) It means that deductive teaching begins the process from rules to examples (Morganna, 2016) For example, if the grammar point is the simple past, the teacher will begin the lesson with introducing the rules of grammar first and then giving students a lot of examples to understand the rules In this approach, students are passive to receive

the knowledge and the teacher is the center of the class to control, manage, give the presentation and explanation (Tran, 2012) This way brings several benefits and disadvantages to teach grammar in class Firstly, a deductive approach is a simple and quick way for teachers to teach the rules so that students have more time to practice the structure (Gorat & Prijambodo, 2013) and teachers have enough time to solve some problems relating to language points when they happen during the class (Chalipa, 2013) Moreover, in the deductive approach, the intelligence and maturity

of students especially adult students will be respected because sometimes they find out the incorrect rules of target language (Alzu’bi, 2015) However, some crucial disadvantages of deductive approach cannot be disregarded This way pays less attention to students’ role in class when beginning the lesson with the grammar presentation (Mallia, 2014) and students only wait for the knowledge from their teacher Therefore, students sometimes might feel difficult to understand and have

to struggle to grasp the rules of grammar but they still finalize their exercises

In the contrary to deductive approach, “without having met the rules, the learner studies examples and from these examples derives an understanding of the rule in the inductive approach” (p 49) (Thornbury, 1999) Inductive grammar teaching will help learners study through their experiment such as examples, errors when they figure out the rules of grammar by themselves (Chalipa, 2013) For example, if the grammar point is the comparative form, the teacher will begin the lesson with drawing the picture and say “This is a red car The price of it is cheap” After that, the teacher will draw another car with the low price next to the first and say “This is a blue car It is cheaper than the red car Then, the teacher will continue show as many examples as possible for students to understand how the structure is established After discovering the grammar rules, students will create their own examples and practice the structure (Thornbury, 1999) The inductive approach has their own pros and cons stated as follow According to Shaffer (1997), inductive teaching creates opportunities for students to develop their cognitive ability because this way requires students use their intelligence to conclude the structure of

grammar points Moreover, students become active instead of being passive in their class because they have a chance to design the knowledge they will learn not imitate and copy from their teachers (Pourmoradi & Vahdat, 2016) However, when using this way, teachers spend much time preparing their lesson plan by selecting the materials and organizing the steps for learner acquire the knowledge easily (Morganna, 2016)

One more approach is teaching grammar through contexts According to Thornbury (1999), “Language is context-sensitive This means that, in the absence

of context, it is very difficult to recover the intended meaning of a single word or phrase” (p 69) Students do not need to know how grammar rules work in a sentence and do not learn the grammar structure because learning grammar in context will help students understand how language works (Mart, 2013) In addition, according to Harmer (1991), “Students need to get an idea of how the new language is used by native speakers and the best way of doing this is to present language in context” (p 57) so context can help learners improve their communication skills

2.1.4 Processes in teaching grammar

According to Aslan (2016), a lesson schema is reflected by a specific model such as PPP (Presentation, Practice, Production), TBLT (Task-based Language Teaching), OHE (Observe, Hypothesize, Experiment), III (Illustration, Interaction, Induction) and TTT (Test, Teach, Test) However, in the process of research implementation, the research just focuses on PPP processes to teach grammar because PPP is the traditional methodology employed popularly around the world (Aslan, 2016) and it also makes teaching grammar easier (Tran, 2015)

In the Presentation step, students will receive the target knowledge which can

be the form of rules, function, patterns and structure (Hellström, 2015) from their teachers In the Presentation step, teachers can apply the deductive and inductive

approach (Criado, 2013) In the former, the teacher models the target rules and shows the explanation below the structure to help students understand and remember the structure In the latter, the teacher can use a text, a passage, or a picture to describe a grammatical situation Then the rules and meanings will be induced by the learners This stage is very important since it helps learner preserve their knowledge in short term memory and prepare the necessary input for learners

to complete their production stage (Harmer, 1991)

In the Practice step, this step will help teachers check the students’ correct understanding of the grammar structure (Harmer, 1991) To achieve the purpose, controlled practice in context which helps students recognize the grammatical rules

in the “communicatively authentic” are designed (Littlewood, 1981, p 10) Instead

of dealing with isolated sentences, teachers can adapt the exercises in the coursebook by designing texts containing the grammatical form (Khuong, 2015) or other types of exercises such as multiple-choice, gap-and-clue, rebuild sentence, closet-test, etc (Tran, 2015)

In the Production step, the teachers will design myriad exercises for both classroom and home assignments (Tran, 2012) If the practice stage focuses on the accuracy, this stage will pay attention to fluency in communication (Khuong, 2015)

To achieve this purpose, the kind of activities are completely different from the practice stage including discussions, debates, role-plays, problem-solving activities, opinion and information gaps, etc (Criado, 2013)

2.1.5 How to learn grammar effectively

There are a lot of ways to learn grammar effectively and the four popular ways will be mentioned as below

Firstly, according to Cooke (2012), the development of learner autonomy implies better grammar learning because “learners understand the purpose of their learning program, explicitly take responsibility for their learning, share in the

setting of learning goals, take initiatives in planning and executing learning activities, and regularly review their learning and evaluate its effectiveness.” (Cooke, 2012, p 51) Therefore, autonomous learner in grammar class can set their goals to discover the suitable strategies for them to learn better If their plan is out

of their control, they will rebuild another by reflection

Secondly, Krashen (1982) viewed that students can learn grammar effectively through interaction opportunities in their classroom Interaction comprising of teacher- student interaction, student- student interaction, and feedback-interaction is one of the techniques to enhance grammar abilities (Tran, 2015) First, teacher-student relationship is a basic standard to manage the classroom and a key to help students have high achievement (Hoque, 2009) Moreover, peer learning is the shortest way to master grammar knowledge (Tran, 2015) because this relationship helps students exchange and share their knowledge which teachers cannot support them Besides, feedback is a type of students’ motivation (Ekaninsih, 2017) since with feedback, learners will understand their weaknesses and strengths so they have the enthusiasm and power to continue learning

Thirdly, active learning strategies, among the most effective learning strategies, make teaching and learning grammar more fun and interactive (Al-Shihri, 2019; Pudin, 2017) Active learning is based on a theory of learning called

“students centered instruction” (Gholami et al., 2014) and creates the learning environment with a lot of activities such as games, role plays, group discussion, problem-solving, case studies for students to practice rather than listening to their teachers and taking note Therefore, the atmosphere in grammar class is so interesting and attracts all students to be involved in because Harmer (1983) said that the learners are very interested to take part in the activities in class to encourage their curiosity

Fourthly, practice brings about the profound effect on learning grammar (Larsen-Freeman, 1986) It is completely true not only in grammar learning but also

all works we do as practice makes perfect In the traditional class, students have less time to join a variety of activities to practice their grammar ability because of time limitation Therefore, engaging extra-curricular tasks such as pair work, group work, discussion, solving-problem will help learners improve their grammar achievement In other words, to acquire the knowledge and change it from sort memory to long memory, we need to practice as many as possible According to Widodo (2006), practice can facilitate accuracy (the way to correct rules of language) and fluency (the way to apply rules in speaking and writing) Only common practice can help learners realize the mistakes or errors when learning grammar In short, practice is the best way to acquire implicit knowledge of a grammatical structure and furnish the structure for communication

2.2 Flipped classroom

2.2.1 Definition of the flipped classroom

Due to the rapid development of information and communication technologies in recent years, the flipped classroom has become an increasing trend

in education For example, the articles on the flipped classroom have appeared in a lot of newspaper, magazines, and Television channel such as USA Today, The New York Times, The Economist, the Washington Post, 60 Minutes, the CBS Evening News, and CNN (Overmyer, 2014) It proves that the flipped classroom is more and more popular in methodological education and the term “flipped classroom” can be defined in different ways by various authors and researchers

First, the flipped classroom is defined as a pedagogical tool in which the role

of lecture and homework elements can be reversed (Bergmann & Sams, 2012) Instead of doing homework at home, learners will finish all assignments at class with their teachers and classmates Second, according to Rotellar and Cain (2016), the flipped classroom is one of the blended learning types, which lectures in class

and homework change their position in teaching and learning It means that the teachers must prepare the technology material before each lesson for students to study in pre-class time, while in-class time is spent in discussions, interactive teaching activities, and questions Moreover, Brame (2013) stated that in the flipped classroom, all new lessons will be sent to students outside the classroom, via reading, watching recorded lectures, online videos, or listening to podcasts Besides, the dissertation of Strayer (2007) claims that the flipped classroom as an

“innovative classroom structure that moves the lecture outside the classroom via technology and moves homework and practice with concepts inside the classroom via learning activities” (p ii) This table will show the activities of the flipped classroom compared to those of the current classroom practice

Table 2 1 The activities of the flipped classroom compared to those of

the current classroom practice

In advanced lectures through materials as videos, reading text, etc

The flipped classroom appeared first in a Physics course taught by Professor

Erik Mazur at Harvard University in 1991 (Nguyen, 2018) He gave students a

chance to select their content, which motivates an interactive learning classroom environment (Mazur, 1991, as cited in Nguyen, 2018) After that, in 2000, the term

“classroom flip” was first mentioned by Baker, who tried his best to supply students

with learning materials for outside the classroom and the chances to discuss and work in a group with teachers and classmates during class (Strayer, 2012) At the same time, Lage et al (2000, as cited in Alzaytuniya, 2016) stated the notion of

“The Inverted Classroom” as the meaning that learners would watch the lecture at home and work in groups to do all activities in-class time

In 2007, two chemistry teachers from Colorado, Jonathan Bergmann and Aaron Sams realized that their students have difficulties in participating in class because of sports, activities and the far distance from home to school Therefore, they decided to record the power point slide show into a video file and uploaded it

on YouTube for all absent students After that, “flipped classroom” was born It is a way to “prerecord all the lectures, students view the video as ‘homework,’ and then teacher can use the entire class period to help students with the concepts they feel difficult to understand” (Bergmann & Sams, 2012)

It can be remarked that the flipped classroom has a lot of definitions and plays the role as a method to change the position of lecture and homework, which leads to switch the role of teachers (teacher-centered) and students (student-centered) in class

2.2.2 The characteristics of the flipped classroom

The flipped classroom has been focused on diverse models but Chen et al (2014, as cited in Tutuncu & Aksu, 2018) symbolized all letters of “flipped” with their higher education meaning:

F- Flexible Environments

L- Learner-Centered Approach

I-Intentional Content

P- Professional Educators

P-Progressive Networking Learning Activities

E- Engaging and Effective Learning Experiences

D- Diversified and Seamless Learning Platforms

Depending on the theoretical basic of the flipped classroom, the flipped classroom has been defined by Brame (2013) with four key elements:

First, it provides an opportunity for students to gain first exposure prior to class with videos, podcasts, or screencasts

Second, it gives an incentive for students to prepare for class All tasks students completing at home will encourage them to work harder Then, all assignments will be reviewed or graded for accuracy in class

Third, it supplies a mechanism to assess student understanding Pre-class assignments help teachers tailor class activities to meet the student’s need Moreover, “much of the feedback students need is provided in class, reducing the need for instructors to provide extensive commentary outside of class” (Walvoord and Anderson, 1998, as cited in Brame, 2013) In addition, teachers can use many in-class activities to check student understanding at class

Fourth, it develops in-class activities that focus on higher level understanding and learning activities Completing all assignments in class will help students promote deeper learning and increase their skills by using their new knowledge Students can apply their preparation at home to apply for all activities inside classroom

The study sums up that “The Four Pillars of the flipped class: Flexible Environment, Learning Culture, Intentional Content, and Professional Educators” (Hamdan, et al., 2013, p 4-6) were the important explanation of the flipped classroom’s characteristics

“The first pillar illustrates flexible and adaptable learning environments” (Ahmed, 2016, p 427) It means that students are responsible for their study when having freedom to select when and where they want to learn with the material outside classroom, finish the homework, and seek help from others (Song, 2016) so they can develop their learning opportunities and objectives by having more time to obtain the higher other thinking skills (Hamdan et al., 2013)

The second pillar, Learning Culture, helps students transfer their roles, passive students in traditional class, into the active students In other words, with the second pillar, flipped classroom shifts the classroom from a teacher-centered classroom, the teacher is the “sage on the stage” (King, 1993), to a student- centered approach, (Santikarn & Wichadee, 2018) Moreover, in Learning Culture, teachers can take advantage of the time of instruction in class to communicate with students one-to-one (Song, 2016) and students can enhance their relationship with other students by participating in various activities

The third pillar, Intentional Content, means instructors maximize classroom time (Subramaniam & Muniandy, 2016) to utilize a variety of methods of engaging activities such as peer instruction, problem-based learning, active learning strategies depending on grade level and subject matter (Hamdan et al., 2013) Therefore, students have more time and chances to practice and join various learning activities

The last pillar, Professional Educators, focuses on the important role of teachers in the flipped classroom To fulfill the flipped classroom, teachers must be equipped with a lot of skills and creation from choosing the suitable materials, adopting all activities in the classroom to converting the lecture-based class into an activity-based class (Subramaniam & Muniandy, 2016) It means that teachers should know the way how to maximize the class time to communication with their students (Du, 2018)

Nguyen (2018) claimed that educators and teachers nowadays can apply a myriad of tools to distribute the materials for learners in the flipped classroom such

as “LMS (Learning Management System) like Engrade, Schoology, Edmodo, Moodle, Desire2Learn, Canvas, eCampus, WebCT, Blackboard; software to record videos (Jing, Camtasia, Screenflow, PowToon); free educational videos on Khan Academy, Udacity, Coursera and Engvid.com or other videos with Screen casting program, YouTube, Teachertube or Screenomatic, TEDed, and Vimeo”

2.2.3 How to conduct the flipped classroom

There have been no fixed guidelines to describe how the flipped classroom should be conducted so far (Nguyen et al., 2018) However, depending on the characteristics of the flipped classroom, the Four Pillars, Li et al (2017) demonstrated the way to conduct the flipped classroom with three basic stages:

1 Pre-class learning: the teacher can prepare the materials as reading, videos, podcast, screen casts, quizzes to check learning Then, teacher asks students to complete the pre-class assignments

2 While-class discussion: students try to find the answer with discussion and teacher’s help and take part in the activities in class

3 After-class feedback: students are required to give feedback about the problems exist in the flipped classroom teaching in a timely manner, and accurately grasp the students’ problems in the process of participating

In harmony with the idea of Li et al (2017), Santikarn and Wichadee (2018) states that the procedures of using the flipped classroom also consists of three main stages named differently as Pre-class stage, In-class stage, and Post-class stage as shown in Figure 2.1

Figure 2 1 Stages of the flipped classroom

Generally, the procedures to conduct the flipped classroom has three standard stages to describe the activities of the students and teacher before class

& solving problems) -Role plays

time, in-class time, and after-class time The name of each stage can be changed but the activities still maintain stable However, the last stage usually is ignored by many teachers in the flipped classroom (Johnson & Renner, 2017)

2.2.4 Selection of videos material

There are many types of material to conduct the flipped classroom in grammar class such as videos, quiz, reading paper However, this study only used videos material in the flipped classroom because of several reasons

Firstly, video materials can increase students’ communication skills because they can watch them before class and discuss the questions in class (Loucy & Ware,

2017, as cited in Vasiliki, 2017) Secondly, video materials can help students feel interested and engaged in activities because students must use their eyes as well as their ears when watching videos so “students can put themselves in the vivid atmosphere created by the videos and understand the pragmatics of the language used by the characters” (Bajrami & Ismaili, 2016, p 504) Thirdly, Kretsai (2014) testified that using video materials enhanced student’s listening comprehension ability due to the combination of visual images and sound which stimulate student’s perceptions Besides, the students were more encouraged and motivated to learn from video than to follow activities in a textbook All in all, using video materials can enhance learners’ comprehension as well as entertaining them

Furthermore, the flipped classroom is thought to be connect with videos (Thaichay & Sitthitikul, 2016) because videos are said to be a great tool to help learners “paused, fast-forwarded, rewound and listen as many times as needed” (Kõiv, 2017, p 20) According to Maher et al (2013), there are at least three strategies for sourcing online instruction used in the flipped classroom including

“record and deliver your own lectures online, include the online instruction from existing Massive Open Online Course (MOOC), and collect a selection of online videos for each topic in the course” (p 1) This study applied the way to select

online videos from suitable sources to teach grammar in the flipped classroom since according to Maher et al (2013), this is the most effective way in the flipped classroom compared to the others Firstly, the first strategy may be time-consuming and usually require updates when technology develops Moreover, the second strategy is hard to conduct because of the problem of Wi-fi connection speed in Vietnam and it is inconvenient for all students when they have to be online at the same time Only the last one is suitable most for the flipped classroom when allowing a course to be adjusted according to needs of the specific curriculum and being inserted at appropriate times during the semester (Maher et al., 2013) Moreover, all selected videos are designed by native speakers so it will help learners not only learn the content of the videos but also practice their listening skills From the above reasons, this study chose the way to collect online videos from reliable sources

2.2.5 The benefits of the flipped classroom in learning English language

From the characteristics of the flipped classroom, there are four main benefits of the flipped classroom in learning English language stemming from its four pillars First, Flexible Environment can improve learners’ autonomy (Lage et al., 2000) Second, Learning Culture is one element to establish two benefits of the flipped classroom including enhancing the relationships in classroom (Kim & Bonk, 2006), and creating the student-centered learning environment (Herreid & Schiller, 2013) Third, with Intentional Content, students have more opportunities to practice English grammar (Hamdan et al., 2013)

2.2.5.1 Improving learner autonomy

The flipped classroom proves that each student can be able to learn and do everything by themselves when they receive the right support Therefore, learners can improve their learner autonomy outside classroom and then gain feedback immediately from their lecturers inside classroom (Lage et al., 2000) In learner autonomy, knowledge is actively constructed by the learner, not passively received from the outside (Kurt, 2017) It means that students are in charge of building their own knowledge and the function of lecturers is as a facilitator of learning Students become involved in their learning and will be able to reach new information from given lessons through video and resource material Moreover, in the flipped classroom, students have a choice of suitable learning time at home and they can watch the videos as many times as possible whereas taking note and prepare their questions to ask their teacher at class (Kõiv, 2017) In addition, Nguyen et al (2018) found that “the flipped classroom approach enables students to learn anytime, anywhere and at their own pace, access course materials continuously” (p 1505)

2.2.5.2 Enhancing the relationships in classroom

According to Kim and Bonk (2006), the flipped classroom enables learners

to use class-time for interaction, creation, and collaborative activities during class time It will boost the relationship between teacher-student and student-student because they have more time in class to interact with each other First, teachers play the role as facilitators (Sohrabi & Iraj, 2016) by supporting students in understanding the knowledge through practical application, having more time to pay attention to each student (Mihai, 2016), creating more chances to apply better pedagogical strategies, and maintaining a healthy relationship with students’ families (Nguyen, 2017) so the relationship of teachers and students is closer than

before (Song, 2016) Second, the flipped classroom affords students the opportunities to use lesson time for communication and discussions with peers (Kõiv, 2017) It means that student-student interaction during class meeting will be promoted with a lot of in-class activities Throughout the realization of many researchers about the flipped classroom approach, it is concluded that the flipped classroom is a new tool to encourage the relationships in class and meets the demand of the new way in teaching English in the 21st century

2.2.5.3 Creating the student-centered learning environment

The flipped classroom is a student-centered learning environment where both teachers and students will receive a lot of benefits (Herreid & Schiller, 2013) because the flipped classroom is the place where class time is used to help students explore the deeper content of the lesson by collaboration, problem-solving activities, and teamwork (Subramaniam & Muniandy, 2016) Also, it is an effective technique to connect the activities outside classroom with activities in class (Mehring, 2016) Students have enough knowledge to take part in the activities in class (Bergmann & Sams, 2013) Class time enable students to apply real life in learning without listening passively (Berrett, 2012) Besides, according to Mihai (2016) after absorbing the materials at home, students are confident and “get less frustration with their homework, ask questions and get immediate targeted answers, explore subjects in a deeper manner, and catch up with their peers faster and easier with the flipped classroom than with the traditional classroom” (p 35) because they have the chance to catch up with new knowledge first and have the general view about the lesson they will learn

2.2.5.4 Providing students with opportunities to practice English grammar

When the instruction is carried in pre-classroom, the learners have more time

to do a variety of tasks in class because the purpose of the flipped classroom is “the opportunity to maximize student learning opportunities in the classroom by deliberately shifting direct instruction to outside of the group learning space” (Hamdan et al., 2013, p 15) Furthermore, according to Berrett (2012), the flipped classroom enables students to spend suitable and valuable time completing the cognitive tasks in classroom To be more specific, the flipped classroom changes the instruction time at class into the practice time so students have more time to complete the cognitive tasks Besides, Löfnertz (2016) realized that “class time is focused on questions and problematizing and working with assignments” (p 7) It means that when students go through the instruction outside classroom, they have more time to ask questions, practice exercises, complete myriad cognitive tasks in class

In conclusion, theories of learning and teaching grammar all emphasize that there are four ways to help students learn grammar effectively such as (1) enhancing learner autonomy (Cooke, 2012), (2) having more chances to interact in their classroom (Krashen, 1982), (3) applying active learning strategies (Al-Shihri, 2019), and (4) having more time to practice English grammar (Larsen-Freeman, 1986) Therefore, as mentioned in this part- the benefits of the flipped classroom, the flipped classroom meets all requirements of learning grammar effectively Firstly, the flipped classroom can enhance learner’s autonomy because knowledge

is explored by watching online videos by themselves at home or “the main part of learning is left to the student on his or her own, outside of the classroom” (Alzaytuniya, 2016, p 42) and students have more chances to watch the videos many times to understand deeply the lesson before classroom’s activities Secondly, adopting the flipped classroom builds an interactive community in the classroom since it creates more chances for student-student, teacher-student communicate with

each other so it will boost the relationship of them This is the same with Strayer’s (2012) idea, “learning in an inverted classroom influences cooperation, innovation and task orientation” (p 171) Therefore, this type of learning environment is one of the ways to improve students’ grammar learning Thirdly, creating the student-centered learning environment at class or active learning environment will help learners improve their learning grammar because students play the main roles among all interesting activities at class that motivate students to learn grammar (Seilatuw, 2015) Lastly, the other benefit of the flipped classroom, providing students with opportunities to practice English grammar, will enable learners to develop their grammar learning because “students have more time to practice grammar exercises simultaneously after watching the videos, listening to English sounds, reading sentences, and summarizing the main ideas” (Nguyen, 2018, p 92)

so students can understand clearly the grammar points and know how to apply them

in all in-class assignments

2.2.6 The challenges when applying the flipped classroom

Along with its benefits, however, based on some previous studies on the implementation of the flipped classroom, it is identified that there are three challenges when applying the flipped classroom

Firstly, students feel pressure when adopting a new role in the flipped classroom (Strayer, 2012; Jensen, 2011) because with the flipped classroom, students are responsible for their own learning, not only in the classroom but also outside the classroom The time of preparation for the lesson at home might influence on students’ comfort (Missildine et al., 2013) so according to Johnson and Renner (2012), some students do not participate in the lesson outside the classroom Moreover, some students are familiar with the traditional lecture method at high school (Nguyen et al., 2018) so it is struggled for them to view the videos and

understand the video contents at home to prepare for the classroom’s activities or communicate with their friends and teachers (Milman, 2012)

Secondly, it is hard for students to concentrate on watching the videos because there are many distractions with surroundings and other websites (Nguyen

et al., 2018; Nawi et al., 2015) When students watch the video, they could be disturbed by their friends, family or sounds Besides, instead of spending time focusing on viewing the videos many times and answering the questions, they usually open other websites such as Facebook, newspaper, games, etc

Thirdly, technical problems and Internet access are also the limitations of flipped classroom (Hertz, 2012; Missildine et al., 2013; O’Bannon et al., 2011) For instance, students might have technical problems as hardware failures or software bugs when downloading or viewing the online videos Moreover, some students might not have the instruments such as laptop or mobile device to watch the digital video while others might not access the Internet or the Internet connections are weak because of the rural areas.or

To sum up, substantial findings above showed that students’ reflection towards challenges of the flipped classroom can be separated into three categories: students’ pressure to the flipped classroom, distractions, and technical problem and Internet access

2.3 Prior studies

In this part, some previous studies relating to teach grammar through the flipped classroom will be reviewed by the researcher to show what have been studied up to now in this field For the purpose of this current study, only some works conducted in many countries in the world as well as in Vietnam are mentioned

In accordance with “the effectiveness of applying the flipped classroom for learning and teaching grammar”, it is considered that many researchers pay much