论文总字数：65340字

摘 要

翻转课堂作为一种创新型教学法，倡导以学生为中心，实现个性化教学。该教学模式已在国外高等教育领域内成功推行。然而在国内，该模式仍处初步探索阶段。为了制定一个更适合中国学生的翻转课堂模式，必须加强实证研究。

本论文首先运用Chen Yunglung（2014）等人提出的“翻转课堂模型”（“FLIPPED Model”）来分析一所中外合资大学的英文写作课堂教学设计。之后，作者进一步评估该课程，通过调查问卷和深度访谈的形式，调查学生的学习体验。通过分析，该写作课程的课堂设计基本符合“翻转课堂模型”的七大标准。而问卷和访谈的结果显示，尽管该课程设计存在不足，学生对课程的整体满意度较高，并且学生在较高认知层面进步明显，因此该课程设计是成功、有效的。希望该课程设计的优点和不足能为中国大学推行创新教学法提供一些启示。

关键词：翻转课堂；教学设计；英文写作课程

Table of Contents

目录

Acknowledgements i

Abstract ii

摘要 iii

Table of Contents iv

Chapter 1 Introduction 1

1.1 Background of the Study 1

1.2 Objective of the Study 2

1.3 Significance of the Study 2

1.4 Layout of the Thesis 3

Chapter 2 Literature review 4

2.1 The definition of flipped classroom approach 4

2.2 Studies abroad 6

2.3 Studies at home 8

Chapter 3 Research Methods 10

3.1 Overview 10

3.2 Research Questions 10

3.3 Questionnaire 11

3.4 In-depth interviews 13

Chapter 4 Findings and Discussions 14

4.1 Analysis of the course using FLIPPED Model 14

4.2 Strengths of the teaching design 18

4.3 Limitations of the teaching design 20

4.4 Students’ overall evaluation of the course 23

4.5 Suggestions on promoting flipped courses in Chinese universities 24

Chapter 5 Conclusion 26

5.1 Summary 26

5.2 Limitations 26

References 28

Appendix I 31

Appendix Ⅱ 40

Chapter 1 Introduction

1.1 Background of the Study

Due to the advancement of instructional technologies, online learning platforms which empower the development of Online Education and Flipped Classroom are now available in most Chinese universities and colleges. Flipped Classroom, in the middle of the continuum with online education and face-to-face lectures at its opposite ends, combines the characteristics of both formats. Featuring online information transfer and face-to-face interaction, this promising format of class is gaining popularity worldwide. In China, however, this development has posed challenges as well as opportunities in higher education. On the one hand, today’s students, born in Information Age with a tendency towards flexible and individualized learning, no longer settle for the traditional teaching format where they are expected to attend scheduled lectures and take exams to earn grades (Benard, 2004). Consequently, there will be a huge demand for innovative teaching approaches such as the flipped classroom format, which has the potential to enhance students’ engagement and performance.

On the other, although many universities in western countries have successfully adopted the flipped classroom approach, most Chinese classrooms still rely on the conventional lecture-style modality. In addition, there are concerns that Chinese students are currently not ready for this new approach of learning and that Chinese instructors lack the required skills in leading the flipped courses (Sun, 2017). To embrace this challenge, successful cases in western countries should be used for reference. At the same time, it is also necessary to take into consideration the Chinese context. Since the Sino-foreign universities, co-founded by Chinese universities and universities of educationally developed countries, seek to adapt western-style teaching approaches according to Chinese students’ learning habits, they can be considered as perfect models practicing western-style classes in a Chinese context. Thus, this paper selects a flipped course named Writing Across Cultures at Duke Kunshan University(DKU), a Sino-foreign university, as the research setting to analyze both the limitations and the strengths of this particular course based on a student survey and interviews.

1.2 Objective of the Study

The benefits of employing flipped classroom format have been confirmed by many empirical studies abroad while domestically, some scholars, partly due to the limited number of relevant studies, are still skeptical about this new approach (Hao, 2014). In other words, more empirical studies in various contexts need to be conducted in China to bridge this gap. This paper aims to contribute to the empirical research pool on this subject in China by analyzing a flipped course in a Sino-America university co-founded by a Chinese university, Wuhan University and a private research university located in America, Duke University. To conduct a systematic analysis, the FLIPPED Model proposed by Chen et al. (2014) will be utilized and the course is further evaluated based on a student survey and in-depth interviews. It is hoped that this course, as an example of an adoption of American-style teaching method in Chinese context, could provide some implications for Chinese universities in terms of how to create an effective and supportive flipped environment.

1.3 Significance of the Study

The advancement of Web 2.0 technology has empowered students to acquire information and interact with each other out of classroom through numerous tools such as smart phones, laptops, iPads, etc. As a result, traditional class activities such as lectures, labs, exams and even part of the discussion, can be moved to Web 2.0 platforms via which students are able to study whenever and wherever they want (Staker and Horn, 2012). Consequently, integrating instructional technologies into teaching and adopting innovative approaches such as flipped classroom has become an inevitable and irreversible trend. This study thus has value since it aims to give suggestions on how to formalize the trend and find ways to accommodate today’s students’ needs.

Besides, although some Chinese scholars are still not completely open to the notion of “flipping the class”, this innovation has inevitably attracted their attention. Whether and how this approach can improve teaching efficiency in Chinese universities, particularly, has become the center of that attention. To answer the question, more studies should focus on practical teaching designs in different settings, including successful or unsuccessful cases. This study, with a focus on the effective implementation of a flipped teaching design, is of significance in the sense that it addresses some Chinese scholars’ concern of how to devise a flipped course based on a western-style teaching approach to improve Chinese students’ learning outcome.

1.4 Layout of the Thesis

This thesis consists of five chapters. Chapter 1 firstly introduces the background, the objective and the significance of the study. Secondly, Chapter 2 reviews definitions of flipped classroom approach with a focus on its features and the pedagogies involved, after which related studies, both abroad and at home, are discussed. Chapter 3 is about the research methods, which includes a description of research questions, questionnaire and interview. An analysis of the course based on the FLIPPED Model and the findings in questionnaire and interviews are included in Chapter 4. The last chapter concludes this research by making a summary of the study as well as proposing directions of future studies.

Chapter 2 Literature review

2.1 The definition of flipped classroom approach

Simply stated, in a flipped classroom, students are expected to study by themselves before class, either through reading materials, watching videos or other means. The scheduled class time is then devoted to activities and exercises through which they can gain hands-on experience and address practical problems (Mortensen and Nicholson, 2015).

This approach emphasizes that direct instruction should be blended with constructivist learning pedagogies that encourage instructors to facilitate each individual student’s construction of knowledge (Tanner and Scott, 2015). As constructivism argues, learning is a dynamic process where students learn to discover principles, concepts and facts for themselves and then assimilate as well as applying knowledge with instructors’ facilitation. To distinguish these different stages in a learner’s knowledge construction process, Bloom’s taxonomy, namely the six levels of the cognitive tasks, is thus frequently cited in related studies. After reviewing related literature, it is found that numerous scholars have employed Bloom’s taxonomy to analyze and deconstruct the flipped approach which “flips” traditional in-class lectures for Remembering and Understanding with activities dedicated to Applying, Analyzing and Evaluating (Bloom, 1956). In this paper, however, the author aims to utilize Bloom’s taxonomy to justify a flipped format by a questionnaire survey to investigate the extent to which a teaching design facilitates students’ ability to carry out the six levels of cognitive tasks. If the survey suggests students’ ability to perform high-level cognitive tasks improve significantly, the format is not only justified theoretically, but can be regarded as effective in reality.

Although until today, scholars have not reached an agreement when it comes to the effectiveness of a flipped teaching design, some researchers do create several models contributing to successful flipped courses. As shown in the Table 1, Chen et al. (2014) proposed a “FLIPPED Model” based on the four pillars in acronym F-L-I-P™ by Hamdan, McKnight, McKnight and Arfstorm (2013).

The four pillars in F-L-I-P™ Schema give priority to the course content and the role of instructors. Specifically speaking, professional professors are expected to create flexible spaces where students can freely choose when and where to learn. Furthermore, to adopt learner-centered approach and make the content personally meaningful for every student, instructors need to determine what to teach according to each student’s characteristics.

Compared to the original four pillars, Chen added another 3 dimensions to propose a more comprehensive description of what an effective teaching design should provide. The first additional dimension is “Progressive Networking Learning Activities.” Progressive education, distinguished from the traditional Euro-American curricula of the 19th century, is a pedagogical movement that dates back to late 19^th century. Although the term was interpreted differently in different times, it is widely acknowledged that “learning by doing” reflects its core tenet (Ryder, 2006). In recent years, the notion of “learning by doing” has been enriched by “learning by networking” which seems more suitable to today’s college students who tend to learn and interact via social media and other networking tools (Jones, Ferreday and Hodgson, 2008).

The sixth dimension of the FLIPPED Model is “Engaging and Effective Learning Experiences”, stressing students’ learning experience. Engaging students is crucial in a flipped course where transactional distance constantly fluctuates (Chen et al., 2014). Transactional distance refers to the cognitive space between instructors and learners in an educational setting, which is influenced by variables such as structure, dialog and learners’ autonomy (Moore and Kearsley, 2012). According to this theory, the instructional designer should minimize transactional distance to maximize learning outcomes.

As for the last dimension in the FLIPPED Model, it requires that the instructors encourage the use of diversified digital platforms that provide seamless service for students 24/7.

In this study, the author chooses the FLIPPED Model instead of the F-L-I-P™ Schema as the device to analyze a teaching design since it incorporates more “learner experience” perspective and attaches more importance to the delivery of the content instead of just the content itself.

Table 1 FLIP Schema and FLIPPED Model

2.2 Studies abroad

While the flipped classroom has recently become a fashionable instructional model, it is not a new concept. As early as in 1993, Alison King published the well-known article “From Sage on the Stage to Guide on the Side”, attaching great importance to the use of class time for knowledge construction instead of mere information transmission. Although she didn’t directly coin the phrase “flipped classroom”, King’s work is often referred to as the foundation for inverted learning. However, it was not until 13 years later that this innovative practice was brought to mass attention by Khan (2006), an American educator and entrepreneur, who initiated an online educational organization called Khan Academy. This organization cooperated with Microsoft to record more than 4000 instructional videos for K-12 students to facilitate their learning. With all these 10-minute videos available at a click, enthusiastic instructors started to make full use of them as pre-class materials to set aside scheduled class time for well-designed class activities.

In the domain of higher education, similarly, the flipped model, which practices the theory of student-centered pedagogy, has gradually gained popularity worldwide in recent years, which can be demonstrated by the increasing number of related studies, especially empirical studies concerning the topic. In addition, most of these studies suggest endorsement for this educational transformation, which is in line with the opinion that the factory-model style of education is insufficient to meet the needs of today’s college students, namely Millennials, who are born in the Information age with a decreased tolerance for the traditional lectures (Benard, 2004). For example, Tanner and Scott (2015) conducted a flipped classroom study at University of Cape Town in South Africa, in which they presented two Information System Courses underpinned by the flipped classroom with the conclusion that this innovative approach had a positive impact on students’ engagement, understanding and ability to apply knowledge. Another example is the research carried out about a course named the Introduction to Equine Science in University of Florida (Mortensen and Nicholson, 2015). Similarly, they concluded that the flipped model was worth the effort because compared to the seniors who attended the traditional lectures, the flipped format students scored higher in all 3 exams throughout the course. Moreover, the students taking the flipped course even received higher scores in the Cornel Critical Thinking Exam.

Another prominent feature of the studies abroad is that most researchers tend to utilize a few well-known theories such as Bloom’s taxonomy to analyze flipped courses before carrying out surveys and interviews. Consequently, there is some overlap between papers utilizing the same theory while few studies have tried out the latest but promising models such as the FLIPPED Model. Although Bloom’ taxonomy classifies the course content in a scientific manner, the FLIPPED Model, besides providing specific expectations for the course content, innovatively includes students’ experience and perspective into the picture, which is essential to the success of a course. This paper thus conducts a preliminary evaluation of a flipped course based on the FLIPPED Model and explores students’ attitudes and experiences through a survey and in-depth interviews.

2.3 Studies at home

In comparison, China has seen a relatively slow progress in flipped learning. While some pioneering universities such as Shanghai Jiaotong University and Nanjing Universities are currently trialing the idea of flipped learning, the majority of classrooms in higher education institutions still rely on traditional instruction. The academic circle has experienced a similar pattern where most of the articles published in China still focus on the theory itself instead of how to apply it in course design. According to a survey, by June in 2014, basic research takes up a considerable proportion (42%) of all studies on flipped classroom while only 9% of the total touch on practical teaching design (Hu and Yang, 2015). In other words, unlike studies abroad, most domestic scholars rest on fundamentals such as the history of the theory rather than the application of the theory crucial to the success of a flipped class.

However, even the limited empirical studies have shown conflicting results. (Hao, 2014). For example, in Ma, Zhao and Wu’s (2012) study conducted in Beijing Normal University, the authors conclude that on the one hand, the flipped classroom has great potential with its student-centered spirit and its accordance with the traditional Chinese pedagogy that teachers should modify their ways of teaching according to each student’s aptitude. On the other hand, it is summarized that the flipped approach may not be as effective as expected because many Chinese students, feeling at a loss in a flipped format, are not ready for this energy-consuming approach, instead they would prefer conventional lectures in which instructors feed them knowledge. Sun (2017), similarly, expresses complex feelings about this innovative teaching method. He doubts the readiness of both students and instructors for this new approach given that the flipped class will be counter-productive if learners lack self-discipline and teachers are not equipped with necessary skills. However, he also proposes solutions to these potential problems, such as establishing means of accountability to ensure that students complete assigned tasks and offering professional trainings for instructors. It is understandable that the results may be in conflict with each other given the limited number of the studies and the individual differences, but more empirical studies in this field are in demand to gain a bigger picture of the flipped classrooms in China and to look for a common pattern of different but effective teaching designs. This paper aims to bridge that gap by adding a piece to the puzzle -- Instead of concentrating on students of the same major in a traditional Chinese university as most empirical studies do, it chooses a group of exchange students with different academic backgrounds as research subjects and a Sino-foreign University as research setting.

On the other hand, although the flipped approach in China has been marked with a late start, it is experiencing promising development these years. It is undeniable that this relatively new field has provided a hot bed for bold and innovative ideas. The FLIPPED Model proposed by Chen et al. (2014) which is frequently cited in this study is a perfect example. Unlike most studies abroad which tend to employ the well-known theories, this newly proposed model has been quoted in several latest domestic studies such as Xu’s (2016) study about blended learning. This paper aims to contribute to the “fresh” pool by conducting a case study in a different setting and with a different perspective.

Chapter 3 Research Methods

3.1 Overview

The teaching design of the course in question consists of three parts, including the pre-class information transfer, in-class activities and after-class activities and projects. The first part refers to reading assignments required before every class. Although most flipped classes feature the employment of recorded videos, this writing course, given its major aim is to inspire creative writing instead of imparting actual knowledge, did not utilize any pre-class recorded lectures, but only some intentionally selected reading materials. Usually, before each class, 5 or 6 articles or essays would be sent to students via Sakai, an online learning platform, and articles assigned on the same day shared a common theme such as gender inequality and racial discrimination.

As for the in-class activities, one of the major components was the team-led discussion in which a small group of students (4 or 5 students) acted as teachers and led a 45-minute discussion about the assigned reading materials. In-class teaching design also included warm-up games and exercises, workshops in which students and professors worked on one student’s written essay at a time and gave the student advice after discussion. Other innovative activities were also highlights such as the “machine-making” and dramatization of writings. To be more specific, in the “machine-making” activity, students and professors used their bodies, their voices or sounds to form a kind of “machine” and this aimed to inspire students’ imagination and creativity and foster their teamwork spirit.

The last part included field trips, after-class collaborative writing and the final individual projects. How these components conform to or conflict with the FLIPPED Model will be analyzed in the finding and discussion chapter.

3.2 Research Questions

This research firstly conducts a preliminary analysis of a teaching design based on the FLIPPED Model, after which qualitative data through the questionnaire and interviews are collected and analyzed to explore the perceived benefits and limitations of the teaching design from students’ perspective. One round of questionnaire data collection as well as eight online interviews was conducted. Following are the research questions this paper aims to address:

1. How does this course design conform to/conflict with the 7 dimensions of the FLIPPED Model?
2. What are the actual outcomes (the benefits and limitations) of different components of the course design from students’ perspective?
3. Is the teaching design in this writing course generally effective and why?

To answer the first question, I analyze the teaching design employing the FLIPPED Model and the second question is tackled by detailed questions raised in questionnaire and follow-up interviews. The third question is addressed by investigating the extent to which students improved in six levels of cognitive tasks as well as their satisfaction about the course.

3.3 Questionnaire

A questionnaire was conducted to get students’ general attitudes towards the course as well as their perceptions with regard to specific parts of the teaching design.

The questionnaire, consisting of 37 close-ended questions and covering seven dimensions of the FLIPPED Model, seeks to examine students’ learning experiences in the flipped course. Each dimension has several reflective indicators: for instance, there are two statements indicating the first dimension “flexible environment”: one is “I can freely and flexibly choose when and where to read materials before class” and another “The instructors chose different places as classrooms according to class needs, to offer us enough space to participate in class activities.” One indicator may reflect one or two dimensions. Table 2 illustrates how the 37 questions reflect the 7 dimensions, or, the 7 intended features of the flipped course. Except for the yes/no items, most responses were expressed on a 5-point Likert scale, ranging from 1 to 5. When answering the questions, the respondents expressed their subjective perception of given statements.

Table 2 7 Dimensions in Questionnaire

The questionnaire is also designed to examine students’ general satisfaction and perceived gains in this course. To evaluate the effectiveness of this course, the author incorporated the six cognitive tasks in Bloom’s taxonomy and students were asked to rate the degree to which they improved in their ability to carry out different levels of the tasks. Each cognition task is measured by a 5-point Likert-type scale where 1 = a little and 5 = very much.

Twenty-one Chinese students, 100% of the total who registered for the course voluntarily took part in the survey, among whom are 18 females and 3 males. They were all exchange students enrolled in an exchange program at DKU in 2017 Fall Semester from universities all over China, including Wuhan University, Southeast University, Sichuan University, etc. The course, named Writing Across Cultures, was taught collaboratively by two professors from Duke University with a focus on combining multi-media performance with writing and guiding students to address social issues through creative expressions. In order to keep the number of students in each class under 12, this course offered two separate sections (with identical instructions and activities) in 2017 Fall Semester and both of the sections were filled up with a total of 24 students (21 Chinese students and 3 international students).

The data collection was completed during April, 2018, about four months after the conclusion of the course. Collected data were tabulated and analyzed immediately to determine what needed to be explored further in follow-up interviews.

3.4 In-depth interviews

Eight online interviews were done following the questionnaire in order to gain more insights into students’ experiences in this flipped class. Among the 21 participants in the survey, eight were randomly chosen and interviewed one week after the previous survey. Each interview lasted around 15 minutes and all conversations were recorded and transcribed. Constant comparative analysis was used later based on the complete transcripts of the interviews.

Chapter 4 Findings and Discussions

4.1 Analysis of the course using FLIPPED Model

According to the FLIPPED Model, instructors ought to reach the seven dimensions, or the seven intended features in order to successfully flip a class. An elementary and systematic evaluation of the course was conducted to answer the first research question of this paper.

Flexible Environment

To foster a flexible environment, which is the first feature recommended by the FLIPPED Model, instructors moved the information transfer process to pre-class preparation and students could flexibly choose suitable places and time to study according to their needs. The online learning platform, Sakai, which will be introduced in detail later, also provided students with access to the reading materials 24/7. In addition, it should be noted that the instructors were very flexible when it came to choosing classrooms. They changed classrooms frequently according to different space requirements – for example, a workshop would be held in a round-table team room to encourage interaction. If a group of students were going to lead the discussion, the professor would instead reserve a lecture room with movable chairs and desks. All these efforts were intended to provide a flexible environment which accommodated students’ various learning needs.

Learner-centered Approach

The learner-centered approach is one of the most significant pedagogy behind the flipped classroom format and it was realized mainly by incorporating student-centered activities in class. In our case, the team-led discussion is a perfect example in which students were put on the center stage as the “leaders” and the instructor only facilitated their learning after getting a grasp of their levels of understanding.

Intentional Content

Intentional content requires instructors to choose materials relevant to all students and prioritize various concepts (Hamdan et al., 2013). The content in this writing course was carefully chosen and well-structured. For example, the reading materials assigned before each class shared a common theme so that students could look at what they have learned in a systematic way.

In addition, the professors aimed to proceed the course in an orderly manner and improve students’ writing step by step. For example, it was required that students hand in 3 drafts of their final project with a writing prompt that “How have written or spoken words impacted your life, changed you, helped you or healed you”, each draft with different levels of requirements. Specifically speaking, the first draft only required students to choose a specific example from their life while in the second draft, they were encouraged to link this personal experience with broader issues such as bridging cultural differences and healing and helping people. In the final draft, instructors suggested students research what other scholars had said about similar topics, in other words, to add another voice to frame students’ ideas and make their writing more convincing. In a word, the difficulty of the given assignments was gradually building up in a dynamic process. The one-to-one meeting of one student and one professor, on the other hand, aimed to give individualized and pointed instructions to students and thus make the content relevant to each student.

Professional Educators

The chosen course was collaboratively taught by two experienced professors from Duke University. This collaborative way of teaching combined with the limitation on the maximum student number (only 12) per class made sure that each and every student got more attention and individualized instructions. The two professors had a clear division of work as well. For example, when helping with students’ writing, one was mainly responsible for grammar problems and the other focused on the content and structure. In addition, they were all familiar with the subject matter of their course: both drama and creative writing since they work as part-time professional actor and actress in various plays as well as full-time professors.

Progressive Networking Learning Activities

The highlight of this flipped course was not only the content itself, but the way the instructors delivered it. Activities, as media of instruction, should thus be one of the most significant parts of a course design. According to the FLIPPED Model, activities should enable students to learn by doing and by networking with others. Thus, various innovative activities were incorporated in this class with an emphasis on participation and teamwork. For instance, in team-led discussion, students acted as teachers instead of the traditional and passive learning role. In this way, not only were they the center of the class, but they were encouraged to think actively and express freely their ideas about the reading materials. This design is in line with the “learning by doing” notion that students can truly learn and understand only if they actually experience or do something. Other carefully-designed activities aimed to serve the same purposes, such as the “machine-making” and dramatization of writings.

Besides, many activities and assignments such as group discussion, collaborative writing and workshops were all group-based and encouraged teamwork. For instance, workshops were specially designed for students to exchange ideas about each other’s writings and it was hoped that students could benefit from the collision of opinions and “learn by networking”.

Engaging and Effective Learning Experiences

When students read well-structured essays on their own, they may enjoy the autonomy but they are not able to interact with professor. In this way, the transactional distance is high and the instructors had better make up for it through highly-interactive and engaging class activities.

In this writing course, for example, the warm-up games, among other interesting activities, were designed to engage students in the class setting at the very beginning of each class. Furthermore, the instructors tried to dedicate themselves to the engagement of students even outside of classroom. For instance, they organized a field trip in which the whole class came out together to watch a Broadway play and they even initiated a drama club where students could learn how to appreciate and perform a drama. All these in-class and after-class activities were designed to reduce the transactional distance between the two parties and increase dialogue between them. Besides, the instructors often taught in small and compact classrooms to empower active interaction and dialogue. Lastly, it was hoped that the combination of drama and writing, which is an important characteristic of this flipped course, could be effective in engaging students’ interest in creative writing.

Diversified Seamless Learning Platforms

As for the last feature, Duke provided a learning platform called Sakai for students and professors to interact with each other. This platform offered various functions including posting on forums, uploading/downloading reading materials, uploading homework, getting feedback and even taking online quizzes. Briefly, students can obtain information, feedback from professors and may discuss with each other through the platform which offers service 24/7. Although this platform alone failed the expectation of diversity, it was still hoped that it would provide a seamless learning environment for students.

To summarize, below is a table listing important components of the teaching design matched with the seven intended features.

Table 3 Seven Dimensions of the teaching design

4.2 Strengths of the teaching design

Flexible Environment

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