Flipping Your Writing Lessons: Optimizing Time in Your EFL Writing Classroom

Abstract

This chapter presents the process followed by two University professors in flipping the writing component in a general English as a Foreign Language classroom in Colombia. It describes the particular context of the participants, instructional design choices, and ICT tools used to conduct the flip. The authors walk the readers through the creation of a compare-and-contrast essay by means of flipped writing workshops and showcases the full workshop used for readers to use as a reference and adapt to their own teaching context. This chapter suggests the pre-class and in-class activities that make the flip of the writing part in a course possible. Findings presented in the research section of this chapter suggest the effectiveness of the flipped learning approach in composition writing in the EFL setting. As well as the increase in students’ motivation toward the use of technology for language learning.

Appendices

Appendix 1: Introductory Paragraph Checklist

Tick each circle if your partner took into account each factor. Please write a comment on your partners’ performance writing the paragraph.

• ○ Did your partner include a hook, which catches the reader’s attention?

• ○ Did your partner include background information that describes the topics’ context?

• ○ Did your partner use an expression to introduce the thesis?

Comments:

Appendix 2: Questionnaire Technology Implementation in the Classroom Project

Dear student,

As we informed you at the beginning of the course, the Department of Foreign Languages and Cultures is executing a research project on the implementation of technology in the classroom. As part of this project, we would like to count on your opinion regarding: the use of technology in the classroom, class work, independent work, and flipped learning. This questionnaire will take about 20 min to complete and it will give us valuable information about your perceptions and opinions regarding the aforementioned topics. For that reason, we beg you to be as honest as possible.

Thanks a lot.

Professors Level 6.

General satisfaction

1. Rate your general satisfaction with the following aspects of the vacation course (level 6). 1 being “not satisfied at all” and 5 being “fully satisfied”.

	1	2	3	4	5
Variety of activities
Use of technology
Ways to show my autonomy
My own progress
Opportunities for self-evaluation
Opportunities for peer-evaluation
Amount of outside of class work
Quality of revision of independent work
Enjoyment of the session
Other:

Use of technology:

• 1. Choose the option that best completes the following sentence. The use of technology in the vacation course Level 6 was:

  • a. Appropriate

  • b. Insufficient

  • c. Exaggerated

  • d. Regular (as in every course I’ve taken)

  • e. Other: ________________________________.

• 2. Which of the apps and websites used in the course did you like the most? Mark all that apply.

  • a. Kahoot

  • b. ProProfs Quizzes

  • c. Grammar videos

  • d. Aurasma

  • e. Other.

• 3. Which of the apps and websites used in the course did you like the least? Mark all that apply.

  • a. Kahoot

  • b. ProProfs Quizzes

  • c. Grammar videos

  • d. Aurasma

  • e. Other: __________________________.

• 4. In your opinion, what was the objective of using Kahoot in class? You can mark more than one option.

  • a. Grammar practice

  • b. Introducing a new topic

  • c. Listening practice

  • d. Reading practice

  • e. Evaluating information

  • f. I don’t know

  • g. Other ____________________________________________________.

• 5. In your opinion, the work you had to do independently and with technology support (watching videos, creating videos, MyELT, etc.) was:

  • a. Too much

  • b. Too little

  • c. Enough

  • d. Regular (the same as in other courses I’ve taken)

• 6. In your opinion, did the use of technological tools in class had a clear purpose?

  • a. Yes

  • b. No

  • c. Explain your answer

In-class work:

• 1. Did you find any of the activities done in the vacation course particularly difficult?

  • a. Yes

  • b. No

  • c. Which? __________________________.

• 2. Did you find any of the activities done in the vacation course particularly easy?

  • a. Yes

  • b. No

  • c. Which? __________________________.

• 3. Did you find any of the activities done in the vacation course particularly interesting?

  • a. Yes

  • b. No

  • c. Which? __________________________.

• 4. Did you find any of the activities done in the vacation course particularly fruitful for your learning?

  • a. Yes

  • b. No

  • c. Which? __________________________.

• 5. Did you find any of the activities done in the vacation course particularly boring?

  • a. Yes

  • b. No

  • c. Which? __________________________.

Independent work:

• 1. Assess your commitment with the activities assigned as independent work (1 being “uncommitted” and 5 “highly committed”)

  	1	2	3	4	5
  My ELT
  Grammar videos
  Writing workshops
  Additional materials
  Workbook
  Other: _______________________________

• 2. Do you think the grammar videos you saw before class were well-used in the class session in the classroom?

  • a. Yes

  • b. No

  • c. Explain your answer

• 3. Do you prefer the professor to…

  • a. Explain grammar in class

  • b. Assign YouTube videos about grammar

  • c. Create grammar videos

  • d. Use a combination of the previous options

  • e. Other:

  • f. Explain your response briefly

Flipped learning:

• 1. How observable were the following aspects during the vacation course level 6. Rate them from 1 to 5 (1 being “not observable” and 5 being “clearly observable”). This section was adapted from the FLN checklist of indicators (2014).

	1	2	3	4	5
Teachers created spaces and timeframes that allowed students to interact and reflect on their learning
Teachers continuously observed and monitored students to make adjustments when needed
Teachers offered different ways to learn the content and show mastery
Teachers offered different opportunities for students to get involved in meaningful activities without the teacher being central
Teachers guided these activities as mentors or guides and made them accessible to all learners through differentiation and feedback
Teachers prioritize concepts used in direct instruction to make them accessible to students
Teachers created or curated relevant content—generally videos—for us
Teachers used differentiation to make content accessible and relevant to all students
Teachers were available to give individual and group feedback as needed
Teachers carried out formative evaluations during class time through observation and keeping of data to complement instruction

Additional Comments:

Thanks for your cooperation!

Appendix 3: Rubric For A Compare And Contrast Essay-Final Exam

Name __________________________ Code __________________________ Group __________________________

Category	Meets expectations Grade: 5	Meets most expectations Grade: 4	Shows consistent progress Grade: 3	Needs Improvement Grade: 2	Shows Minimal Progress Grade: 1
Task fulfillment 10%	•Develops and supports a COMPARE-CONTRAST essay outstandingly on a given topic •Addresses all the requirements of the task accurately •Shows high knowledge and command of the subject/topic •Word number is outstandingly reached  0.5	•Develops and supports a COMPARE-CONTRAST essay sufficiently on a given topic •Addresses most the requirements of the task accurately •Shows enough knowledge and command of the subject/topic •Word number is mostly reached  0.4	•Develops and supports a COMPARE-CONTRAST essay partially •Some of the requirements are generally addressed accurately •Shows some knowledge and fair command of the subject/topic •Word number is approximately reached  0.3	•A COMPARE-CONTRAST essay is poorly developed or supported •Addresses very few of the requirements •Shows limited knowledge and command of the subject/topic •Word number is poorly reached  0.2	•A COMPARE-CONTRAST essay is minimally developed or supported •Addresses none of the requirements •Shows no knowledge and the paper is off topic •Word number is not reached  0.1
Coherence and cohesion 20%	•Gives a well-framed and organized piece of writing (clear introduction, supporting arguments to state similarities -differences and a conclusion) •Makes excellent use of connective devices and discourse markers  1	•Gives a framed and organized piece of writing (clear introduction, supporting arguments to state similarities -differences and a conclusion) •Makes proper use of connective devices and discourse markers  0.8	•Gives adequate information but loose organization, which is somewhat coherent and cohesive •Makes a fair use of connective and discourse markers but organization may be somewhat loose  0.6	•Provides paragraphs which lack appropriate structure •Gives some disconnected and confusing ideas that turn repetitive and lack coherence •Makes ineffective use and/or overuse of basic connective devices  0.4	•Paragraph structure is not evident •Gives disconnected and confusing ideas that turn repetitive and lack coherence •Lacks of basic connective devices  0.2
Language use 30%	•Expresses ideas and responses with ease in well-controlled sentence structure and tenses •Shows excellent controlled precise/concise, relevant, appropriate and consistent grammar usage of a variety of tenses and voice  1.5	•Expresses ideas and responses in controlled sentence structure and tenses •Shows effective controlled precise/concise, relevant, appropriate and consistent grammar usage of a variety of tenses and voice  1.2	•Expresses ideas and responses with enough control of grammatical forms and proper sentence structure •Shows somewhat controlled, appropriate grammar usage of basic tenses and voice  0.9	•Expresses ideas and responses with frequent inconsistent and fragmented sentence structure •Shows several inconsistencies with grammar usage  0.6	•Expresses ideas and responses with inconsistent and fragmented sentence structure •Shows inconsistencies with grammar usage  0.3
Discourse and lexical resource 30%	•Makes an exemplary development of relevant, extended, supportive and explanatory contributions •Shows highly varied and related vocabulary studied in class •Makes excellent use of expressions to explain similarities and differences •Makes consistent word choice  1.5	•Makes a sufficient development of relevant, extended, supportive and explanatory contributions •Shows enough varied and related vocabulary studied in class •Makes proper use of expressions to explain similarities and differences •Makes accurate word choice  1.2	•Makes fair development of relevant, generally supportive, explanatory contributions •Shows fair use of related vocabulary which occasionally may be repetitive •Makes a fair use of expressions to explain similarities and differences •Makes fair word choice  0.9	•Makes a poor development of ideas and contributions lack relevance •Shows limited vocabulary that is little related and often repetitive. •Has limited control of word choice •Uses words mostly in an inaccurate manner  0.6	•Makes a minimal development of ideas and contributions lack relevance •Shows lack of vocabulary that is unrelated and repetitive •Lacks of control of word choice •Uses words totally in an inaccurate manner  0.3
Mechanics 10%	•Shows accurate punctuation, capitalization, and spelling  0.5	•Shows accurate punctuation, capitalization, and spelling in spite of some errors that do not distort the message  0.4	•Shows somewhat appropriate punctuation, capitalization, and spelling in spite of some errors which slightly distort the message  0.3	•Attempts punctuation, capitalization, and spelling but frequent errors which usually impede reading  0.2	•Lacks of punctuation and capitalization •Spelling but frequent errors impede reading constantly  0.1