Ahmed, Abir Mahmoud Elsayed; (2021) Flipping the language classroom: challenges of design and implementation in UK HE settings. Doctoral thesis (Ed.D), UCL (University College London).

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Abstract

This qualitative study investigates the perceptions of UK-based Higher Education (HE) language practitioners and students arising from their experience of approaches to the flipped classroom in Institution-Wide Language Programmes (IWLPs). The study was conducted in response to the challenges facing language practitioners in a rapidly changing sector and contextualises their use of the flipped classroom model against the backdrop of marketisation and reform in UK HE. Responding to a knowledge gap about flipped classroom implementations in languages which was evident in the literature, the study investigates how language practitioners reflect on the principles and decisions that underpin their approach to the flipped classroom, including their experience of its implementation and that of students. Six interviews with practitioners were conducted across a number of UK universities to address the research questions, supported by data collected from a student focus group. The thematic analysis identified three main challenges to the design and implementation of a flipped classroom approach: a basic requirement for learner autonomy; difficulties in negotiating roles between practitioners and students; and a wider lack of institutional support for these pedagogic initiatives. The study makes three recommendations for future implementations: first, that practitioners explore pedagogic connections, both disciplinary and institutional, when planning their flipped classroom approach; second, that practitioners consider carefully the impact of the discourse that surrounds the flipped classroom, particularly in their discussions with students; and third, that there should be greater awareness of the need to avoid dichotomous thinking when formulating the characteristics of learning that takes place inside and outside the classroom space. An important point of context to the findings is that the flipped classrooms examined in this study were all partial implementations, both in the sense that the approach was used in specific teaching sessions and in the sense that it was limited to particular aspects of the discipline.

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