Investigating flipped classroom approach in improving grammar learning achievement, perception and motivation in a general english course at a vietnamese university

1.6 Hypotheses 17 2.2.1 Grammar and Status of Grammar Teaching in ELT 26 2.2.4 Current Issues of English Grammar Instruction in the Vietnamese EFL 2.3.1 History of ICT Application in Lan

INVESTIGATING FLIPPED CLASSROOM APPROACH IN IMPROVING GRAMMAR LEARNING ACHIEVEMENT, PERCEPTION AND MOTIVATION IN A GENERAL ENGLISH COURSE AT A VIETNAMESE UNIVERSITY

NGUYEN HUU ANH VUONG

FACULTY OF PSYCHOLOGY AND EDUCATION

UNIVERSITI MALAYSIA SABAH

2020

INVESTIGATING FLIPPED CLASSROOM APPROACH IN IMPROVING GRAMMAR LEARNING ACHIEVEMENT, PERCEPTION AND MOTIVATION IN A GENERAL ENGLISH COURSE AT A VIETNAMESE UNIVERSITY

NGUYEN HUU ANH VUONG

THESIS SUBMITTED IN FULFILLMENT OF

THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY

FACULTY OF PSYCHOLOGY AND EDUCATION

UNIVERSITI MALAYSIA SABAH

2020

DECLARATION

I hereby declare that the material in this thesis is my own except for quotations, excerpts,

equations, summaries and references, which have been duly acknowledged

10 September 2020

Nguyen Huu Anh Vuong DP1611054A

CERTIFICATION

MATRIC NO : DP1611054A

TITLE : INVESTIGATING FLIPPED CLASSROOM APPROACH IN

PERCEPTION AND MOTIVATION IN A GENERAL ENGLISH COURSE AT A VIETNAMESE UNIVERSITY

DEGREE : DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY

I would like to express my most profound gratitude to my esteemed supervisors Associate Professor Dr Tan Choon Keong and Associate Professor Dr Lee Kean Wah for their professional and patient guidance, continued support, insightful feedback and great encouragement throughout the process of doing this PhD thesis

I would like to thank all the faculty and administrative members at Universiti Malaysia Sabah for the good support they offered me during the implementation of this research project

I would also like to thank the leaders, my colleagues and the student participants

at University of Foreign Language Studies, the University of Da Nang for their collaboration and support during the data collection and analysis process

I am grateful to my friends and PhD colleagues at UMS, Ms Pham Thi To Nhu,

Ms Vo Thi Kim Anh, Ms Nguyen Bich Dieu and Mr Alvin Auh Min Han for their help and support throughout this thesis process

Last but not least, I would like to show my sincere thanks to my family, especially

my wife and my two daughters for their unconditional love, endless support and great encouragement during this long and tiring journey

Nguyen Huu Anh Vuong

10 September 2020

ABSTRACT

Recently, Viet Nam has strived to enhance English language proficiency for Vietnamese people However, there have been numerous issues related to EFL teaching and learning

in the Vietnamese context The present study aimed at investigating the effectiveness

of the flipped classroom approach on students’ learning grammar in a general English course in Viet Nam A multimethod research design was employed with quantitative and qualitative data collected and analyzed to address five research questions The participants were 68 students selected from a Vietnamese university and assigned into two groups, namely the experiment group and the control group They were taught ten grammatical topics using two different instructional methods in ten weeks The data were obtained using the following instruments: English grammar test, questionnaires on perceptions and motivation and semi-structured interviews The quantitative data were analyzed utilizing the SPSS statistical program while the qualitative data were analyzed using thematic analysis The results of paired-samples t-tests showed that both instructional methods significantly enhanced the students’ English grammar scores However, the independent t-test result demonstrated that the flipped classroom method was more effective in improving their learning outcome than the traditional one Additionally, the result of a paired sample t-test suggested that the flipped teaching model significantly increased the experiment group students’ learning motivation level The results obtained from the questionnaires and interviews indicated that the students had positive perceptions towards this innovative teaching model and the MOODLE online platform Guided by the Activity Theory framework, twelve themes of affordances and five themes of challenges of the flipped classroom were identified from the analysis of the interview transcripts Implications and recommendations regarding the use of the flipped classroom approach in English grammar teaching were put forward to various stakeholders, i.e., institutions, teachers, and students More importantly, the study provided a framework on how communicative grammar teaching can be better planned, organized and presented in the Vietnamese EFL teaching and learning context The flipped instructional model has proven to be a useful approach to mitigate existing shortcomings, and pave the way towards a more principled, communicative, active, and motivated approach in English grammar instruction

Activity Theory, dua belas tema kebaikan (affordances) dan lima tema kekangan (challenges) berkaitan Kaedah Pembelajaran Flip telah dibina berdasarkan analisis transkrip temu bual Dapatan kajian ini bertujuan unutk mengemukakan implikasi dan cadangan mengenai Kaedah Pembelajaran Flip untuk mengajar tatabahasa kepada institut pengajian tinggi, guru dan pelajar Ia juga bertujuan untuk mencadangkan satu kerangka bagaimana pengajaran tatabahasa berbentuk komunikasi boleh dirancang, disusun dan disampaikan dengan baik dalam kontek pengajaran EFL di Vietnam Kaedah Pembelajaran Flip telah dibuktikan berguna untuk mengatasi kekurangan dan bergerak

ke hala lebih memegang prinsip, komunikatif, aktif dan memotivasikan dalam pengajaran bahasa khususnya tatabahasa

1.6 Hypotheses 17

2.2.1 Grammar and Status of Grammar Teaching in ELT 26

2.2.4 Current Issues of English Grammar Instruction in the Vietnamese EFL

2.3.1 History of ICT Application in Language Education 39 2.3.2 Flipped Classroom as a Form of Blended Learning 42

2.3.5 Constructivism as a Learning Theory Underpinning

2.3.7 Benefits and Challenges of Flipped Classroom 59

2.3.9 Flipped Classroom Research in Non-EFL/ESL Practice 65 2.3.10 Flipped Classroom Research in EFL/ESL Practice 67

2.3.13 Past Studies on Flipping the Classroom in Teaching English Grammar 76

CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 85

3.10.2 Context and Procedure of the Pilot Study 122

CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS 131

4.2.2 Experimental Participants’ Computer and Internet Experience 133

4.3.2 Hypotheses Testing (Inferential Statistics Analysis) 138

4.4.2 Hypothesis Testing (Inferential Statistics Analysis) 146

5.1 Introduction 190

5.2.1 Effectiveness of the Flipped Classroom Approach on

English Grammar Instruction regarding Learning Outcome 191 5.2.2 Improvement of the Experiment Group Students’ Motivation Level

5.2.3 Students’ Perceptions towards the Flipped Classroom Approach 199 5.2.4 Students’ Perceptions towards the Online Platform Used

5.2.5 Students’ Perceived Affordances and Challenges

5.3.1 Implications and Recommendations for Institutions of Learning 213 5.3.2 Implications and Recommendations for Teachers 215 5.3.3 Implications and Recommendations for Students 217 5.3.4 Suggested Framework for Implementing the Flipped Classroom Model

LIST OF TABLES

Page Table 2.1: Summary of Advantages and Disadvantages of

Table 2.2: Traditional Classroom Learning vs E-learning 42 Table 2.3: Traditional Classrooms vs Constructivist Classrooms 52Table 3.1: Grammatical Topics Taught in the Course English Integrated Skill B2.3 99Table 3.2: Comparison between Flipped and Traditional

Table 3.4: Sources of Data according to Research Questions 107

Table 3.6: Summary of Instruments/Data sources and Analysis

Table 3.7: Cronbach’s Alpha Test Results for the Pilot Study and the Actual Study 128

Table 4.2: Experimental Participants’ Self-rating of Computer and

Table 4.3: Normality Test Results for Grammar Scores 136 Table 4.4: Skewness and Kurtosis Values for Grammar Scores 137 Table 4.5: Descriptive Statistics of Grammar Scores 139

Table 4.7: Results of Paired-Samples t-Test (H01) 139

Table 4.9: Results of Paired-Samples t-Test (H02) 140

Table 4.11: Results of Independent-Samples t-Test (H03) 142

Table 4.13: Normality Test Results for Motivation Scores 144

Table 4.15: Descriptive Statistics of Motivation Scores 146

Table 4.17: Results of Paired-Samples t-Test (H04) 147

Table 4.19: Descriptive Statistics of Students’ Perceptions of the Flipped Classroom 149 Table 4.20: Students’ Perceptions of the Flipped Classroom under the

Table 4.23: Students’ Perceptions of the Flipped Classroom under the

Table 4.24: Descriptive Statistics of Students’ Perceptions of the Online Platform 160 Table 4.25: Students’ Perceptions of the Online Platform under the

Table 4.26: Students’ Perceptions of the Online Platform under the

Table 4.27: Students’ Perceptions of the Online Platform under the

Table 4.28: Students’ Perceptions of the Online Platform under the

Table 4.29: Students’ Perceptions of the Online Platform under the

Table 4.30: Students’ Perceptions of the Online Platform under the

LIST OF FIGURES

Page

Figure 3.2: Independent Variable and Dependent Variables 91 Figure 3.3: The MOODLE Online Learning Platform Screenshot 103

Figure 4.3: Activity Triangle Model of the English Grammar Flipped Classroom 170

Figure 5.1: A Framework for Teaching English Grammar Communicatively Using

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS UFLS - University of Foreign Language Studies

UD - The University of Da Nang

EFL - English as a Foreign Language

ESL - English as a Second Language

ELT - English Language Teaching

CLT - Communicative Language Teaching

ICT - Information and Communication Technology

CALL - Computer-Assisted Language Learning

LMS - Learning Management System

MOODLE - Modular Object-Oriented Dynamic Learning

ZPD - Zone of Proximal Development

TAM - Technology Acceptance Model

SPSS - Statistical Package for the Social Sciences

LIST OF APPENDICES

In educational settings, the advances in technology challenge the traditional to-face teaching method which was predominantly implemented in the past and create new ways for students to experience their learning The traditional teaching approach which focuses on teachers as knowledge providers is no longer relevant and appropriate

face-in the digital age (Wang and Heffernan, 2009) Due to revolutionized technologies, teachers have evolved from knowledge providers to guides, mentors and facilitators Several scholars such as Berryman (1993) and Millis (1995) even mention the ineffectiveness of lectures in traditional learning environments The “digital native” students seem to feel helpless in traditional classes since they need more time to interact,

to use technology and to get actively involved in the learning process so that they find

they are really learning (Demirel, 2016) The learning environments, therefore, need to

be student-centered, self-directed, technology enhanced, and flexible to meet the demands of today’s students (Flumerfelt and Green, 2013)

In attempts to meet such demands, educators have taken innovative steps to redesign instructional methods In other words, the style of teaching-learning activities should be shifted from passive learning to active learning and from traditional classrooms

to modern classrooms with the aid of educational technology (Adam and Nel, 2009) The use of technology has thus become an indispensable part of education The flipped classroom approach which originated from the United States has recently appeared as a viable alternative to the traditional, lecture-style teaching and learning and gained widespread popularity as an effective instructional mode among educators from all levels and all fields around the world (Bishop and Verleger, 2013)

According to Tucker (2012), the flipped classroom approach refers to the teaching model in which lectures are moved out of class for students to access online before in-class meetings and the face-to-face classroom time is freed up and maximised for more practice and productive use of knowledge through a number of active learning techniques The pre-class lectures are delivered via instructional videos or podcasts for students to watch or listen to at any time at their own pace As a result, students’ learning becomes personalized The class hours are fully utilized and invested in active and collaborative learning activities In the flipped classes, students become more active in their learning compared to traditional classes They learn independently with the help of technology multimedia and their teachers then act as guides, mentors or facilitators (Zainuddin and Halili, 2016) Hence, educational technologies occupy a crucial place in the implementation of this pedagogical approach

For the proponents of the flipped classroom approach, the rationale for the use

of this teaching model is threefold (He, 2016) Firstly, numerous studies have shown that online instruction is also as effective as classroom instruction in terms of increasing

student’s academic outcomes, which justifies the use of online videos and podcasts as valid instruments for presenting new lesson content outside the class Secondly, traditional teaching method has been criticized for being overtly passive and blamed for making students to neglect deep learning because of the fact that learning in traditional classrooms is a mainly unidirectional process of knowledge transmission from teachers

to students Thus, it is necessary to find new ways to adopt more active learning techniques in the class Thirdly, active learning proves to bring about multiple benefits

to students However, the utilization of active learning techniques in the classrooms has been limited by the pressure of covering various topics in an already packed curriculum, leaving little room for innovative practices The flipped classroom thus emerges as a feasible solution to those challenging problems as lectures are moved outside classes, enabling more in-class time to be freed up for active learning activities

The flipped classroom instructional model can be successfully applied across a wide range of disciplines such as STEM, economics, health and humanities (Bergmann and Sams, 2012) There have been a number of studies indicating that the approach proves to have a positive impact on students’ performances, attitudes, engagement and participation The teaching model can be used as a strategy to meet the different needs

of all students However, research reports of the flipped classroom approach in the area

of language teaching have been relatively limited in the existing literature (Marion Engin, 2014; Hung, 2015; Webb and Doman, 2016) Several pioneers in adopting the flipped classroom approach in language teaching demonstrate the highly promising prospect of this teaching model to benefit language learners For example, Hung (2015) discovered that flipping EFL language classes helps develop students’ academic performance in general Some other researchers found that implementing this instructional approach in English language classes leads to the improvement in students’ language skills and other areas of English language such as grammar, vocabulary and idiomatic knowledge Students’ positive attitudes towards this pedagogical approach were also noticed

In Viet Nam, the flipped classroom approach is still relatively new but started to

be mentioned and discussed in the media a few years ago (Tran, 2017) At some conferences and workshops, this teaching approach has been introduced by some researchers, mostly from foreign countries Several teachers started to try implementing the flipped classroom in their classes and have shared their reflections as well as preliminary results on their own blogs or websites However, research on the use of the flipped classroom across various fields in the Vietnamese teaching context is now in its infancy and only a few of empirical studies relevant to the adoption of the teaching model have been published in the peer-reviewed journals so far Up to now, the Vietnamese Ministry of Education and Training has not yet officially accepted the flipped classroom approach as a teaching method that can be applied in public schools (Nguyen, 2016)

1.2 Background of the Study

Viet Nam is a country located on the Indochinese peninsula in the heart of Southeast Asia, one of the most dynamic regions of the world In the 20th century, it suffered from numerous wars with different powerful nations such as China, France and the US and the American economic embargo, which resulted in tragic outcomes on its economy and society Although it is now still a developing country, this fast-emerging nation is forecast

to have bright prospects with a population of above 90 million people in which the youth make up around 40% Viet Nam has recently been striving to stimulate its integration into the global economy when joining a number of international organizations including WTO, APEC, ASEAN, etc., establishing diplomatic relationships with almost every nation

in the world, as well as cultivating relations with hundreds of non-government organizations In order to promote the socio-economic development in the global integration context, education is considered as a top priority in the national policy agenda

by the government In terms of foreign language education, English is seen as the key

to serving as a bridge that connects Viet Nam with the outside world, facilitating its economic, cultural and educational cooperation with other countries

1.2.1 English Language Education in Viet Nam

“Viet Nam’s linguistic history reflects its political history” (Denham, 1992: 61) The English language began to be taught in Vietnamese educational institutions in the late

19th century when the country was colonized by the French However, English has not reached the position of a dominant foreign language in the national educational system until the country opened its door to the whole world when the ruling Communist Party initiated an overall economic reform known as Đổi mới (Renovation) in 1986 Before that, Chinese, French and Russian took turn to become the most widely learned foreign language during each specific historical period of the country The new economic reform

in 1986 followed by the influx of foreign investments into Viet Nam leads to the so-called

“English language fever” which enables English to emerge as a leading international language to have been taught, learned and used for the first time in the country of many-thousand year-long history (Canh, 2007; Ly and Thu, 2011) English, as a means

of integrating into the world economy, is now officially made by the government to be taught at Form 3 (aged 8) in the national educational system in almost every area across the country and a compulsory subject for both undergraduate and postgraduate students

at tertiary level In an attempt to boost the English language education for increasing EFL proficiency among Vietnamese people and even to make English become the second language in Viet Nam in the not-too-distant future, the government launched an ambitious project, namely the National Foreign Language Project, through the Decision

No 1400/QD-TTG/2008 signed by the Vietnamese Prime Minister in September 2008 on approving the 10-year plan for “Teaching and Learning Foreign Languages in the National Formal Educational System in the Period of 2008-2020” In fact, EFL has been developing at an incredible speed in Viet Nam over the past two decades

Despite the widely accepted importance of the English language, the current situation of EFL teaching and learning in Viet Nam has numerous existing issues left unsolved The quality of EFL education is still low at both general and tertiary levels and unable to meet the current demand of socio-economic development of the country (Van, Chi, and Hoa, 2006) A majority of students after many years of learning English at schools and even at universities are hardly able to communicate in English because of poor vocabulary and grammar, incorrect pronunciation, under-standard listening and speaking skills (Le, 2013) Van (2010), through the survey carried out at five key universities in Viet Nam, points out that the real English language proficiency level of the majority of Vietnamese students is just elementary A wide variety of possible causes that have been pointed out include “unsatisfactory teacher quality, poorly-paid teachers, uninteresting learning materials, inadequate teaching and learning facilities, passive Confucian learning styles and environments, over-sized mixed-ability-student classes, the lack of language environment for practice, and the out-of-date teaching methodology reflected in curriculum content, syllabus and teaching styles” (Nguyen, 2011: 10)

One of the most significant reasons why Vietnamese students seem to possess lower English abilities is the method of instruction (Le, 2013) The Vietnamese teaching and learning culture is historically affected by Confucianism in which education is considered more as a process of knowledge accumulation than that of utilizing knowledge for immediate purpose (Hu, 2005) As a result, teacher-centered teaching methods have become prevailing in educational settings (Pham, 2011) With respect to EFL teaching, English lessons are mainly teacher-dominated with grammar-centered content and a heavy load of grammar exercises and reading, rote learning of sentence patterns and vocabulary Vietnamese teachers tend to focus more on language knowledge than language use and more on receptive skills than productive skills (Canh, 1999) Students do not have lots of opportunities to engage in communicative practice activities due to large-sized classes, insufficient in-class time, students’ passive learning styles and grammar-based exams (Nguyen, Fehring, and Warren, 2015) In the classrooms, teachers are at the heart of the teaching and learning process and perform

a variety of important roles including knowledge providers, feedback givers, mistake correctors, evaluators and mentors (Phan, 2004) Apparently, these outdated traditional teaching methods lead to the students’ poor performance in the English language It is thus necessary for new teaching methods to be promoted and employed in EFL classrooms in order to change the current situation

In recent years, the Vietnamese government has strived to encourage English language teachers to employ new and innovative pedagogical methods in their classrooms instead of deeply-rooted teacher-centered methods Among those, Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) is recommended as an approach that can help boost the students’ communicative competence and improve the current situation of EFL teaching Through the National Foreign Language Project, a series of English Language Teaching (ELT) workshops and seminars on CLT have been held for EFL teachers, in-service and pre-service alike, across the country Vietnamese teachers seem to have positive attitudes towards the CLT approach However, the implementation of CLT in real EFL teaching contexts has not proved to be successful and teachers continue teaching in their own ways, using traditional teaching mode rather than adopting CLT (Nguyen, 2011) There are several factors that hinder the successful application of CLT

in the Vietnamese EFL teaching context Sullivan (2000) points out the conflict between theoretical principles of CLT and Confucian traditions of learning is one main hindrance Over-sized classes, exam-oriented education system, inadequate classroom time and students’ low English language proficiency are also the possible challenges to the application of CLT Apparently, CLT, as indicated by Holliday (1994), is not a universal approach and culture-sensitive in itself It is thus recommended that the communicative approach should be adapted rather than adopted into language classrooms (Littlewood, 2007) and “culturally attuned” to be effective in the Vietnamese context (G Ellis, 1996)

A right balance between traditional and modern teaching methods can be a solution to the current EFL teaching and learning context in Viet Nam

Although there are existing limitations surrounding the area of EFL teaching and learning in Viet Nam, the efforts of the Vietnamese government through numerous macro policies have encouraged EFL teachers to find more effective ways to teach English to their students Multiple favorable conditions have been created for the use and research of innovative instructional methods, especially with the aid of educational technology, in EFL teaching and learning context

1.2.2 Technology in Teaching EFL in Viet Nam

ICT in Viet Nam has developed considerably since the emergence of the Internet in the late 1990s with the rapidly expanding Internet infrastructure According to UNESCO’s country report in 2003, Viet Nam had been eager to be a hub for ICT development in South-East Asia (Farrell and Wacholz, 2003) In the area of education, Vietnamese policymakers strongly endorse and support the integration of ICT (Peeraer and Peter, 2012) Therefore, on the educational reform agenda, ICT has been placed both as an object of education and an important pedagogical tool for innovating instructional methodology The government, besides encouraging modern innovative teaching methods, has strived to promote the application of technology in educational contexts through several policies in the hope of enhancing the quality of teaching and learning (Nguyen and Le, 2012) The ICT use in education in Viet Nam, as indicated by Anderson (2010), may have an impact on changing the roles of both teachers and students to create a student-centered active learning environment

In 2008, the Vietnamese Ministry of Education and Training released the Directive 55/2008-CT-BGDDT to boost the application of ICT in education during the period 2008-

2012 This Directive creates good conditions for the use of ICT in the national education system ICT has been strongly promoted in education to improve the quality of teaching and learning, in which teachers are encouraged to create e-lectures and put them on websites to implement e-learning courses whenever possible In addition, e-learning

including online learning, blended learning and distant learning is strongly promoted The school year 2008-2009 was declared to be the ICT year in education The Decision

No 1400/QD-TTG/2008 by the Vietnamese government to launch the National Foreign Language Project marked the turning point in the area of strengthening ICT in ELT One

of the main focuses of the National Foreign Language Project is on boosting the application of ICT in EFL teaching and learning with more investment on technological infrastructure for the teaching and learning of foreign languages Also, professional development on the ICT use in language teaching should be considered Sponsored by the Project, a number of national and international ICT conferences and workshops for EFL teachers have been organized throughout the country Under the National Foreign Language Project, a Framework of ICT Competence Standard was established by the Vietnamese Ministry of Education and Training in 2013 to outline four standards that Vietnamese EFL teachers have to achieve in terms of their ICT use in English language teaching

Despite the policy, infrastructure, and training provided, the practice of integrating ICT in teaching and learning has not yet lived up to the expectations ICT use by teaching staff seems to be slow and limited (Nguyen and Le, 2012; Peeraer and Peter, 2010) The SEAMEO report indicates that teachers do not feel confident in using ICT in their teaching practice (SEAMEO, 2011) In addition, lots of teachers do not know exactly how ICT can be used as a teaching tool (Peeraer and Tran, 2010) Concrete ideas concerning the effective integration of ICT in teaching practice are mostly missing Teaching with the aid of ICT mainly aims at transmitting knowledge rather than focusing

on the learners and has not yet succeeded in creating a student-centered active learning environment (Pham, 2010) Hence, more efforts from all stakeholders are needed to turn ICT promises into actuality

1.3 Statement of the Problem

Since the flipped classroom approach has recently become a growing teaching trend and

is increasing in its popularity in the world, there has been a substantial amount of research on this instructional model in various disciplines and subjects (e.g Chao, Chen, and Chuang, 2015; Chen, 2016; Clark, 2015; Cormier and Voisard, 2018; Grypp and Luebeck, 2015; Lai and Hwang, 2016; Lombardinia, Lakkalab and Muukkonen, 2018; Lopesa and Soares, 2018; Motameni, 2018; Roach, 2014; Touchton, 2015; Warner, Koufteros, and Verghese, 2014) Previous research in the literature supports that this novel pedagogical approach works successfully and effectively in terms of improving students’ performance (e.g Davies, Dean, and Ball, 2013; Kong, 2014; McLaughlin et al., 2014; Talley and Scherer, 2013), learning outcomes (e.g Baepler, Walker, and Driessen, 2014; Bhagat, Chang, and Chang, 2016; Chaso et al., 2015; Motameni, 2018), engagement ( Kim, Kim, Khera, and Getman, 2014; McLaughlin et al., 2014; Missildine, Fountain, Summers, and Gosselin, 2013), active learning (e.g Lewis, Chen and Relan, 2018; Nouri, 2016; Wang, Wang and Xing, 2019), etc

Bergmann and Sams (2012), in their famous book “Flip your classroom: Reach every student in every class every day”, state that the flipped classroom approach is considered applicable in the area of language teaching However, not many reports on the approach adoption have been found in the field of EFL teaching as opposed to such other areas as economics, business, health and STEM (Marion Engin, 2014; Hung, 2015; Webb and Doman, 2016) Some recent pioneering empirical studies reveal that this model proves to be a promising pedagogical method in English language education (e.g Başal, 2015; Han, 2015; Hung, 2015; Vaezi, Vaezi and Lotfi, 2019) With specific regards

to the implementation of the flipped classroom approach in teaching English grammar,

a key aspect of the language, this method proves to be effective in enabling students to acquire their grammatical knowledge Besides, students have positive attitudes towards this novel teaching model in flipped English grammar classes (e.g Al-Harbi and Alshumaimeri, 2016; El-Bassuony, 2016; Saidah, 2019; Webb and Doman, 2016)

While there has been a large amount of research on the adoption of the flipped classroom across multiple disciplines and subjects, the majority of existing studies examined the teaching model in developed countries, especially in Western ones (Amutha and Balakrishnan, 2015) The flipped classroom is still considered as a new teaching model in Viet Nam, a developing country in Asia and there has been a shortage

of extensive research and documentation relevant to the adoption of the model in this educational context (Tran, 2017) Due to the importance of context, as indicated by many researchers such as Mishra and Koehler (2006), findings in the settings of developed countries may not be transferrable to other contexts such as Viet Nam With specific regards to the Vietnamese teaching context, there are a number of questions still left unanswered such as “To what extent the flipped classroom model is effective in improving students’ learning outcome and learning motivation?”, “What are the students’ perceptions of this pedagogical approach?”, “What challenges the students face and the affordances of this teaching model they perceive in the flipped classroom?”, and “What

is the suitable online platform for a flipped classroom?” Therefore, a study on the adoption of the flipped classroom in Viet Nam seems significant, specifically in EFL teaching, an area that needs the incorporation of new innovative pedagogical methods

to improve the effectiveness of learning and teaching and to address numerous existing issues

As for the adoption of the flipped classroom approach in English grammar instruction, there have existed some other issues including the challenges students might encounter, the effectiveness of the teaching model adoption in the context of developing countries, the way of teaching English grammar communicatively, etc Thus, more thorough and extensive research needs to be done on this potential pedagogy to fill the gap in the existing literature related to the field of EFL teaching in general and English grammar instruction in particular Moreover, administrators, educators, and even students will be provided with valuable implications concerning the adoption of this innovative approach in the area of language education

In Viet Nam, the present situation of EFL teaching cannot meet the current demand of socio-economic development of the country with numerous issues unsolved (Van et al., 2006) The majority of students find it difficult to communicate in English since they have insufficient opportunities to practice in their classroom (Nguyen, 2013) With respect to English grammar instruction which is considered to be beneficial in EFL learning due to the fact that grammar knowledge is correlated with proficiency (Friedman, 2007), teaching mainly focuses on language knowledge rather than language use and teaching English grammar communicatively thus becomes a big challenge (Khuong, 2015; Nguyen and Le, 2016; Pham and Nguyen, 2014) In addition, the traditional teacher-centered methods like Grammar Translation which are quite prevalent in the Vietnamese EFL teaching context reveal a number of shortcomings Grammar classes tend to be boring and cumbersome due to lack of active learning activities, which may easily demotivate students Oversized classes, limited in-class contact time, grammar-based examinations, etc are also identified as other important problems in the area of English grammar instruction The normally large size of classrooms along with limited in-class time makes teachers tend to employ teacher-centered methods in their teaching As a result, there is a shortage of interpersonal interaction and communication between teachers and students, as well as among students themselves, which fails to produce students who can use English communicatively Moreover, large-sized classes make lectures unable to be applied for all types of students because their learning cannot be personalized Teachers find it struggling to help every student in mastering knowledge

in a big class as they have to spend their teaching time on lectures Those factors make

a grammar class focus mainly on lectures in which explicit teaching of grammar rules is regularly included rather than involve active learning activities to develop students’ communicative competence Students are unable to produce real-life discourse using the grammar points they have learned In addition, grammar-based exams which are quite favorable in the Vietnamese EFL teaching context tend to make teachers devote most of the class-time to providing students with grammar knowledge to do well in the examinations and sacrifice communicative activities All the aforementioned factors may become challenges to maximize students’ learning and practice and a hindrance to

increasing students’ English communicative competence Students tend to merely learn grammar rules and fail to apply them in real life situations (Ho and Binh, 2014) To date,

no single teaching approach which is currently adopted in the Vietnamese EFL teaching context has proved to be effective in tackling the previously mentioned problems

As a growing teaching trend in recent years, the flipped classroom approach offers numerous benefits to teachers and students as it has all the advantageous features of both conventional lecture-based model and blended-learning method Given the benefits of this innovative pedagogical model, there is a considerable potential for its implementation in the Vietnamese EFL teaching context The flipped classroom may

be used as a new approach to eliminate the ineffectiveness of the traditional face lessons in tackling the existing problems The flipped classroom moves explicit instructional teaching out of class with the aid of technology in order to free up more time space for students to practice language use through active learning activities during in-class meetings (Hwang, Lai, and Wang, 2015) The video lessons that students watch before coming to their classes will provide them with grammar knowledge they need for their grammar-based exams The instructional videos and quizzes will suit almost every type of students since their learning is personalized (Davies et al., 2013) Each student can learn the grammar points at their own pace at any time and in any place, and the issue of large-sized classes will, therefore, be addressed Once the explicit instructional teaching is moved out of class, more class-time will be freed up for other active learning activities (Pape, Sheehan and Worrell, 2012) and the issue of insufficient in-class contact time will be tackled In a language class, the active learning activities are utilized for students to practice grammatical rules in real life situations and develop their communicative competence Besides, those active and practical activities in the flipped classroom will help students change their attitude towards grammar learning which is normally considered to be boring and cumbersome in a traditional class In fact, students will become more actively involved in their own learning process and be transformed from passive receivers of information to active participants in their classrooms (Saulnier, 2008) In short, the flipped classroom model seems to present an effective solution to

face-to-the challenging issues in face-to-the EFL teaching context in Viet Nam The Vietnamese government’s recent macro policies on English language teaching and ICT use in education currently also create favorable conditions to the adoption of this pedagogical approach in real practice

In summary, those are research areas that are missing, and therefore the current study which investigates the flipped classroom model in English grammar instruction in the Vietnamese EFL context aims to fill the gap in the existing literature The present research project aims at killing two birds with one stone Firstly, it attempts to make a small contribution to the literature in the field of EFL teaching and learning, especially in English grammar instruction Secondly, it strives to find out whether the flipped classroom approach works effectively in the Vietnamese educational context An extensive research on the adoption of the flipped classroom approach in English grammar instruction, focusing on the issues of the effectiveness, students’ perceptions, challenges, affordances, etc will modestly add to the body of the existing literature It

is hoped that the challenging issues relevant to English grammar teaching in accordance with the CLT approach such as the need to harmoniously balance between the traditional and CLT methods of grammar instruction, large-sized classrooms, limited in-class contact time, the urge to integrate ICT into curriculum, etc will be tackled in the Vietnamese EFL teaching and learning context Also, the research project will seek to propose a model or a framework for EFL teachers to teach English grammar communicatively in the Vietnamese EFL teaching context based on the flipped classroom model and the framework suggested Celce-Murcia and Hilles (1988)

1.4 Objectives of the Study

The current study aims at expanding the research horizon of the flipped classroom approach in the field of EFL teaching and learning, especially in the Vietnamese context The flipped classroom method, a growing teaching trend in the world, has demonstrated

its effectiveness in teaching a variety of disciplines, but little research has been reported

on the incorporation of this teaching model in EFL classrooms Grammar instruction is the focus of the present research as in the Vietnamese teaching context, grammar is often taught using traditional methods in which students mainly master grammar rules but fail to apply them in real communicative situations Therefore, the study aims at exploring the use of the flipped classroom approach in teaching grammar while maintaining the section of explicit grammar instruction for the sake of students’ grammar-based exam and promoting their learning English grammar communicatively

For the purpose of this study, the flipped grammar course is designed using the four-stage framework to teach grammar as suggested by Celce-Murcia and Hilles (1988) and the principles of the flipped classroom approach to create a learner-centered learning environment in which students learn the grammar knowledge via recorded instructional videos posted on a learning management system at home before their class meetings and the in-class time will be mostly spent on language use practice through active learning activities The primary purpose of the study is to examine the use of the flipped classroom approach in teaching English grammar in the Vietnamese EFL context The specific objectives of the study are as follows:

i To determine the effectiveness of the flipped classroom approach on English grammar instruction in terms of learning outcome as compared to the traditional teaching approach;

ii To establish the effectiveness of the flipped classroom approach in improving students’ learning motivation in learning English grammar;

iii To ascertain the students’ perceptions of the flipped classroom approach in learning English grammar;

iv To discover the students’ perceptions of the online platform used in the flipped classroom;

v To identify the challenges that the students face and the affordances of the teaching approach they perceive when learning English grammar in a flipped classroom

1.5 Research Questions

The study comprises the following questions to serve as guidance for the research:

i To what extent is the flipped classroom approach more effective in improving students’ English grammar learning outcome as compared to the traditional teaching approach?

ii Is the flipped classroom approach able to improve the motivation level of the students in the experimental group in learning English grammar?

iii What are the students’ perceptions of the flipped classroom approach in learning English grammar?

iv What are the students’ perceptions of the online platform used in the flipped classroom?

v What are the affordances and challenges faced by the students when learning English grammar using the flipped classroom approach?

H01: There is no significant difference between the mean scores of the test and posttest on English grammar in the control group

pre-H02: There is no significant difference between the mean scores of the test and posttest on English grammar in the experiment group

pre-H03: There is no significant difference in the mean gain scores of the posttest on English grammar between the control group and the experiment group

H04 There is no significant difference between the mean scores of the pretest and posttest on motivation towards English grammar learning in the experiment group

1.7 Research Conceptual Framework

Figure 1.1 illustrates the research conceptual framework with the main constructs that make up the focus of the present study The framework is developed based on the learning theory of constructivism, the flipped classroom model suggested by Strayer (2007) and the four-stage framework to teach grammar communicatively (Celce-Murcia and Hilles, 1988)

According to the theoretical framework of the flipped classroom model developed

by Strayer (2007), the learning environment in a flipped class is influenced by the

“extensive use of educational technology outside of class” and “active learning during class time” (p 15) Using educational technology in this way enables learners to interact with the learning materials at their own pace and on their own time out of the classroom while the in-class time will be freed up for active learning activities The learning theory

of constructivism including the principles of socio-constructivism (Vygotsky, 1978) and active learning (Chickering and Gamson, 1987) serves as the theoretical underpinning for the flipped classroom model

The four-stage framework suggested by Celce-Murcia and Hilles (1988) was applied to design the activities to teach English grammar in this flipped grammar class

It consists of four steps, namely presentation, focused practice, communicative practice and teacher feedback and correction In the presentation stage, students learn grammar structures at home through videos that their instructor create and post on an online platform As for the focused practice, students can do activities both at home and during class-time The stages of communicative practice and teacher feedback and correction take place during the in-class meetings Since the presentation step entirely occurs during the pre-class session, the class-time was freed up for the rest three stages and the obstacle of tight class-time budget in a traditional grammar class can be overcome

Figure 1.1: The Research Conceptual Framework

1.8 Significance of the Study

Empirical research on the flipped classroom approach in the area of foreign language education is not abundant (Marion Engin, 2014; Hung, 2015; Webb and Doman, 2016) Therefore, the current study examines the use of the flipped classroom in teaching English grammar, which is of importance to filling the gap in the existing literature The research is anticipated to bridge the gap between the theoretical and practical sides of using the flipped classroom method in teaching English grammar, contributing to the body of knowledge in the field In addition, the findings of the study will provide evidence for educators and administrators in making decisions relevant to encouraging innovative methods for the “digital native” students in the EFL classrooms in Viet Nam in particular and even in the world in general

The present research project will also hopefully lay the foundation for the incorporation of the flipped classroom approach in the area of EFL teaching and learning

in Viet Nam in an attempt to contribute to the renovation of the current foreign language teaching practices Besides, the findings provide an understanding of students’ perceptions of the teaching approach as well as the affordances and challenges of the flipped classroom, which may be useful to EFL teachers who are interested in employing the instructional model for their own courses or encouraging and supporting its adoption

in their teaching area Finally, based on the research results, it is hoped to put forward the suggestions regarding the implementation of the flipped classroom approach in EFL teaching, especially in the current Vietnamese educational context For example, the framework to teach English grammar communicatively using the flipped classroom approach will be of interest to EFL teachers in helping them tackle some existing problems surrounding English grammar instruction and develop more communicative EFL classrooms Some suggestions for addressing the challenges that the students might face when learning English grammar in a flipped class are also put forward

1.9 Operational Definition of the Terms

The following terms are defined operationally for the purpose of the present study

i Flipped Classroom: This term refers to a model, a method of instruction, and

a paradigm which employs asynchronous video lectures and practice problems

as homework, and active, group-based problem-solving activities in the face classroom It represents a unique combination of learning theories once thought to be incompatible-active, problem-based learning activities founded upon a constructivist ideology and instructional lectures derived from direct instruction methods founded upon behaviorist principles (Bishop and Verleger, 2013) In the flipped English grammar classroom of the present study, the students view lecture videos to form the basic knowledge about grammatical

face-to-rules at home and do follow-up quizzes to check what they have learned In class, their unclear points and misunderstandings of the grammar rules are resolved by their teacher, followed by some focused practice exercises and most of the in-class time is devoted to communicative activities that they can do in pairs or groups

ii Learning Management System (LMS): A web-based course management

system incorporates features to enable the instructor to deliver curricular materials, facilitate discussions, administer assessments, and report grades (Barry, 2013) For the current study, MOODLE was adopted as an LMS Additionally, MOODLE was used as an official platform for blended learning at University of Foreign Language Studies, the University of Da Nang where the research was conducted

iii Active Learning: Active learning falls under the umbrella of social cognitive

learning theory and is characterized by student discussion, collaboration, and performance rather than having them sit passively and listen to didactic lectures (Barry, 2013)

iv Second Language versus Foreign Language: Whereas students learning a

second language are in an environment surrounded by the target language both

in and outside of the classroom, foreign language students rarely have opportunities to encounter the target language other than in the classroom (Bilash, 2009) Most second language acquisition theories apply to foreign language learning Therefore, they are sometimes used interchangeably

v Learning Motivation: This term is defined as an internal state that arouses, directs, and maintains behavior It involves students’ energy and drive to learn, work effectively and achieve their potential at school (Woolfolk and Margetss, 2016)

vi Learning Outcome: For the purpose of the current study, learning outcome is

measured by the English grammar test The test was based on the Cumulative Test drawn from the Test bank of the textbook Solutions (Intermediate) and consisted of a mix of question types with 30 items covering all the grammatical points taught in the course

vii Perception: This term refers to the ability to observe or become aware of the

surroundings and form beliefs about objects and events in the perceptual space (Musto and Konolige, 1993) In the current study, perception refers to the students’ perceptions on the flipped classroom approach and the online platform used in the flipped grammar class

viii Affordance: This term is defined the perceived and actual properties of a thing,

primarily functional properties that determine just how the thing could be used (Salomon, 1997) The term “affordance” applied in the current research refers to the perceived properties of the flipped classroom in teaching English grammar

ix Challenge: This term in the present study is understood with reference to the

construct of contradiction, which is defined as "structural tensions" in Activity Theory (Engestrom, 2001: 137)

1.10 Organization of the Thesis

The thesis which contains five chapters is structured as follows:

Chapter One introduces the background and problem statement of the study It also includes the objectives of the study, research questions, research hypotheses,