Flipped classroom in esp teaching: a strategy to enhance oral performance
| Autor | Maria Isabel Mansilla/Amaya Maria Barrio |
| Cargo del Autor | Universidad Europea Miguel de Cervantes/Universidad Europea Miguel de Cervantes |
| Páginas | 524-539 |
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CAPÍTULO 28
FLIPPED CLASSROOM IN ESP TEACHING:
A STRATEGY TO ENHANCE ORAL PERFORMANCE
MARIA ISABEL MANSILLA
Universidad Europea Miguel de Cervantes
AMAYA MARIA BARRIO
Universidad Europea Miguel de Cervantes
1. INTRODUCTION
COVID-19 pandemic has challenged our certainties in many fields but
it has also speeded up our paradigmatic shift from traditional “chalk-
and-talk” teaching model114 towards student-centered collaborative
learning. Over the past two decades, there has been a major shift in
the college classroom. The traditional, lecture-based pedagogy has
evolved to a “flipped classroom” (FC) paradigm that shifts foun-
dational learning from inside to outside of the classroom.115
Flipped Classroom has gained popularity among researchers and educa-
tors in the world (Yilmaz, R., 2017, Webb, M., & Doman, E., 2016).
This paper examines the oral skills of first year Computer Engineering
students at the European University Miguel de Cervantes (UEMC). Data
on their incoming English level were collected at the beginning of the
academic year by means of an on-line test. The European University
Miguel de Cervantes (UEMC), committed its students' international pro-
jection, provided all incoming students an English level test in order to
help them guide their language training in parallel to their academic
114 Pierce, R. “Student performance in a flipped class module,” In R. McBride, & M. Searson
(Eds.),Proceedings of Society for Information Technology & Teacher Education International
Conference2013, pp.942-954, Chesapeake, 2013.
115Pre-Class Learning Methods for Flipped Classrooms. Available from: https://www.re-
searchgate.net/publication/331960954_Pre-Class_Learning_Methods_for_Flipped_Classrooms
[accessed Jun 25 2022].
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training in the degrees. These Placement Tests, carried out by our Lan-
guage Center using the Cambridge Assessment English tool, were re-
ported to students providing the grade and their level correspondence
according to the European Framework for Languages (CEFR) and a pro-
posal, according to their degree and the level obtained, on what should
be their next step to improve their English level. The analysis of their
results showed quite an unexpected reality: even though students sup-
posedly come from bilingual education in high school, their perfor-
mance barely reached a B1 level. In fact, grammar contents were higher,
but their oral skills plummeted down to A2 level. Apart from the deep
reflection we have to undertake about the real English language skills
being taught to high school students sitting for their university access
exam that is 100% written, forgetting any oral communication testing,
the reality we have to face here is how we design Engineering English
subjects at a University level starting from such a low basis. It is almost
impossible, with this oral competency framework in mind, the design of
ESP subjects ingrained in the curricula of STEM field, where we might
have the temptation of using English as the medium of instruction. Stu-
dents demonstrate significant weaknesses when it comes to oral skills in
professional and academic listening contexts as they start their univer-
sity studies. Moreover, ESP teaching becomes challenging because of
the difficulty level some learning materials’ content may have, if we
compare them with EAP teaching (English for Academic Purposes).
Technological advances paired with an increasing availability of on-line
content, call for reshaping traditional learning and teaching models. In
this sense, FC class time enhances a higher order cognition116 (applica-
tion, analysis, evaluation and creation) allowing the classroom to serve
as an active learning environment where students can work on more
complex scenarios with the added advantage of peer-learning together
with the instructor’s direct guidance. FC approaches may have flour-
ished because of a student-centered type of learning has become fash-
ionable or because of the current emphasis on university graduates’
skills related to human interaction, problem solving etc. But, regardless
116 “The benefits often mentioned for flip teaching is that students are given more opportunities
to develop higher order thinking under teacher guidance” (Hung, 2014).
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