| Recently,the Ministry of Education(MoE),China advocates shifting from a 'textbook-centric' to a 'student-centric' pedagogical model,emphasizing the 'red and expert' principle-moral education(jianchi deyu weixian)along with competences(jianchi nengli weichong)-and most importantly highlighting competence over knowledge.One promising pedagogical alternative that could help in this transition to increase students' potentials is the flipped classroom technique.With a view to examining the effectiveness of the flipped classroom to improve first year university students'English verbal communicative abilities along with other related skills,the study explores the experiences and perceptions of the Chinese English major students and their instructors about small private online course(SPOC)based flipped classroom in mainland China.Specifically,this research addresses the following questions:1.What are the challenges faced by the freshmen and what adaptation strategies do they take to cope up with these challenges while studying English in the flipped classroom?2.What is the freshmen's engagement with contents and environment in the flipped classroom and what are their perceived learning outcomes due to this engagement?3.How do the freshmen perceive the platform selected for learning in the flipped classroom?4.How do the instructors perceive the flipped classroom with freshmen?The study collected data from 148 freshmen and 8 teachers and employed three methods to investigate their experiences and perceptions:questionnaire surveys(students),focused interviews(individual:students and teachers;group:students),and classroom observations.This study used interpretivist worldview and Davis's technology acceptance model(TAM)as theoretical framework.The study reveals that Chinese freshmen encountered a number of challenges due to their previous long exposure to lecture-depended practices.Through experiencing the opportunistic learning environment in the flipped classroom,they became self-motivated to take initiatives to be autonomous and cooperative learners to acclimatize with the new learning environment.In the flipped classroom,their engagement with contents and learning environment(peers,teachers,and technology)increased and promoted their confidence,learner autonomy and various lifelong learning skills.There was a strong correlation found between teamwork and autonomous learning.This study also demonstrates that students were satisfied with the learning opportunities and strategies associated with SPOC cloud class.Though they experienced workload and long use-time,their perceived usefulness significantly influenced their intention to use the platform in future.Moreover,the subjective norms and material characteristics significantly influenced the perceived usefulness construct.This research also identifies that though visibly in the flipped classroom responsibility is shifted from teachers to students,it actually diversifies teachers' roles as an instructor and increases their working hours.Last but not least,the study highlights that the flipped classroom smoothened the freshmen's transition from high-school to university life,from teacher-centric to learner-centric approach,and from passive learner to active performer.It is hoped that this study will contribute to the research on the flipped classroom and SPOC cloud class and will have pedagogical implications for EFL teaching in mainland China.With the help of information about the freshmen's learning process from adjustment through engagement towards enhancement of various learning skills,the stakeholders,specially forefront instructors,and administrators,may be convinced of the effectiveness of SPOC-based flipped classroom in English education.Moreover,with the introduction of relevant training for the instructors,administrative supports,and technological upgradation,the potentials of SPOC-based flipped classroom can be improved,and so are the students' autonomous-learning experiences. |
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