Online in-class vs. out-of-class flipped learning models in English as foreign language writing classes.

Abstract

Flipped learning models are considered as important elements of English as a foreign language (EFL) writing courses in order to advance the EFL learners' writing skills. Significantly, studies examining the efficacy of in-class and out-of-class writing models in flipped classroom settings when teaching online EFL writing courses are still of focus in the Turkish Cypriot context. This investigation aimed to examine the most efficient flipped learning model among the in-class vs. out-of-class writing models for the purpose of helping instructors to advance their EFL learners' writing achievement in an online writing setting. In addition, this study sorted to reveal the EFL learners' perceptions toward learning writing through in-class and out-of-class flipped learning writing models. A mixed methods research design was applied to achieve the aforementioned aims. Twenty-eight EFL learners studying at a private university's English Language Teaching department constituted the participants of this study. As the findings pointed out, the EFL learners in group A who wrote their essays in-class outperformed those in group B, who wrote their essays out-of-class. Moreover, it was found that the majority of the participants had more positive perceptions toward the in-class flipped classroom writing model. This study highlights that, better learner performances are achieved when the learners write during the class session online with the support of the instructor when implementing a flipped classroom model to teach EFL writing.