An Empirical Study On The Factors Influencing Low-Level EFL Learners’ Learning Effectiveness With Flipped Classroom Pedagogy

The ultimate goal of technology in foreign language teaching is to improve educational effectiveness.Informationized flipped classroom of foreign language(IFCFL)is the latest paradigm integrating education technology and foreign language education.Some studies on flipped classroom of the foreign language have explored theoretical foundation,operating model,etc.of flipped classroom of a foreign language.However,few studies have discussed how IFCFL promotes the learning effectiveness of foreign language teaching.Therefore,with low-level English learners as the subjects,this study based on the learners’ actual learning experience explores factors influencing learning effectiveness of IFCFL through massive scale test,along with the interviews,questionnaires,and exploratory factor analysis.Research questions adopted in this study are:(1)what is the factorial structure of the learning effectiveness of foreign language flipped classroom for low-level English learners?(2)how do learners’ individual background differences in gender,major background,and family background affect the factorial structure of the low-level EFL learners’ learning effectiveness?This research was based on IFCFL for low-level EFL learners,which was an English training program for the School of Continuing Education,in a science and engineering-focused university.The students had a limited vocabulary with less than3000 words,and they scored less than 60 out of 150 points in College Entrance English Examination.First of all,the questionnaire was obtained on the basis of the students’ interviews and the teachers’ reflection.With the result of the pilot-test,the author concluded the IFCFL Learning Effectiveness Scale(IFCFLLES)and carried out an extensive testing.Then,the preliminary factor structure was identified according to the exploratory factor analysis of the test results.Afterward,the comparison analyses on the factorial structure of effective learning of learners with different gender,major background,and family background were conducted on the basis of the theoretical analysis and qualitative interview.The results showed that(1): the learning effectiveness of IFCFL is affected by seven factors which are respectively meta-cognitive and affective strategy,teaching organization,learning anxiety,cognitive strategy,learning interest,learning motivation,and adaptedness of flipped classroom learning model;(2)the factorial structure offlipped classroom for low-level English learners is greatly influenced by students’ individual background differences in major background and family background,while gender difference has weak impact on it.Specifically,computer-related majors and science learners have performed better in teaching organization,cognitive strategy and adaptedness of flipped classroom learning model than non-computer-related majors;science students have an advantage over humanities learners in teaching organization,learning motivation and adaptedness of flipped classroom learning model.Learners from one-child family have a clear advantage over their counterparts in meta-cognitive and cognitive strategy and adaptedness of flipped classroom learning model;learners from urban family perform better than learners from rural families in teaching organization and adaptedness of flipped classroom learning model.In combination with the interview result,the findings will be discussed and interpreted in this paper.