Journal of English Language Teaching

To Flip or Not to Flip the English Classroom

John Sekar

Head & Associate Professor, Research Department of English, Dean Academic Policies & Administration, The American College, Madurai

Keywords: Flipped classroom, blended learning, hybrid learning, learner autonomy, digital natives, podcasting, postmodern learning

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Abstract

The twenty-first century multi-tasking, tech-savvy, digital natives are smarter than their smart phones, and if English teachers do not change the way they teach and what they teach, they will be no more useful than their smart phones. Lecturing is good if the purpose is to disseminate information so that students can satisfy Bloom’s lower order cognitive abilities ‘knowing’ and ‘understanding’ information being imparted. However, it does not promote the higher order skills, such as analysing, applying, evaluating, and creating. Flipped classrooms can provide an ideal form for promotion of communication and critical thinking skills through interaction. The concept of flipping is understood as flipping lectures in favour of maximizing student talk/write time, flipping the responsibility of learning from the teacher to the learner, and flipping teacher’s stationery position in favour of making it more mobile and dynamic in the class. Methods of flipping can either through replacement of lecture with video or through learners’ enquiry to find the answer on their own with or without technological assistance.

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