An Experimental Study Of Flipped Classroom Model Of English Teaching In Secondary Vocational Schools

Flipped classroom,originating from America,has been a popular teaching concept and teaching model in recent years.It is basically characterized by flipping or inverting the order of the two major teaching steps,namely imparting knowledge and internalizing knowledge in the traditional classroom.In a flipped classroom,the students are to explore and study new knowledge independently before class,and to internalize knowledge in class together with the teacher and classmates.Thus,the roles of the teacher and students have been fundamentally changed.The teacher becomes a guide of learning instead of a knowledge imparter.The students turn into active explorers rather than passive knowledge receivers as in a traditional classroom.The flipped classroom has been studied and experimented in quite some elementary schools and has produced fruitful results.However,the empirical studies of flipped classroom in secondary vocational schools are relatively inadequate.Therefore,the author would try to apply this teaching model into English teaching practice in secondary vocational schools,aiming to improve English teaching efficiency and to explore new ways to cultivate the students' comprehensive competences.The author did an experimental study by selecting two parallel classes taught by the author herself from Grade 2015 of a secondary vocational school in Qingzhou,Shandong province.The flipped classroom teaching model was applied to English teaching in the experimental class.The students tried to explore the new knowledge mainly by watching mini-lesson videos before class,while expand and internalize knowledge through discussions with the teacher and classmates in class.On the other hand,the traditional classroom teaching model was still adopted in English teaching in the controlled class,namely,the teacher imparted new knowledge in class,while the students consolidated after class.The experiment lasted for a semester.The main research questions are: In secondary vocational schools,compared with the traditional classroom English teaching,can the flipped classroom teaching model better improve students' English achievements and better stimulate students' classroom engagement and interest in learning English? Based on statistical analysis,the main findings are as follows:(1)The average score of the final English test of the experimental class is obviously higher than that of the controlled class.The independent sample T-test shows with the T value is.035 there is a significant difference between the average score of the experimental class and the controlled class.Consequently it might,to a large extent,proves that the flipped classroom model can better improve the students' English achievements.(2)Through the author's interviews and classroom observations,it might be found out that an overwhelming majority of the students approve of the flipped classroom teaching model,which tries to put the students as the center in learning,enhance their classroom engagement and further stimulate their learning motivation and interest.