Gamified flipped EFL classroom for primary education: student and teacher perceptions

Abstract

Flipped classroom, as an innovative and effective approach, has been widely applied in language teaching and learning, but little is known about primary students’ and teachers’ perceptions of gamified flipped classroom. This research conducted a 1-year project on gamified flipped English as a foreign language classroom among 277 primary students and 8 teachers. Data concerning students’ and teachers’ perceptions were collected by means of in-class observations, interviews, meeting minutes, researchers’ observation logs, and teachers’ and students’ self-reflections and were analyzed according to the grounded theory and thematic analysis. The results showed that both students and teachers agreed on such advantages of gamified flipped classroom: increased learning motivation and engagement, developed learning skills and confidence, and improved learning performance and outcomes. However, teachers considered pre-class self-learning as an essential part of flipped classroom and played an important role in helping students remember and understand the basic knowledge so that more time was available in class for gamified and interactive activities that aimed to assist students’ applying, analyzing, and evaluating of the knowledge, yet not all students indicated favorable attitude toward it. Such differences were probably related to the students’ understandings of the flipped classroom, English proficiency levels, self-regulated learning skills, and ages.