Author: Nwehedh Saeed A Al Nwehedh
Al Nwehedh, Nwehedh Saeed A, 2021 English language lecturers’ perceptions towards the use of flipped classrooms for teaching oral fluency in Saudi universities, Flinders University, College of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences
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English has become one of the most important languages in the world. It presents its speakers with countless study, work and life opportunities. The history of English language teaching and learning in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) dates back to the early 1900s, making English an official foreign language of the country. The aim of this research is to investigate Saudi university lecturers’ perceptions on their uses of flipped classrooms for teaching oral fluency. Though flipped classrooms for English language teaching are now gaining popularity worldwide, the current literature on flipped classrooms for teaching oral fluency in KSA is still limited and there is thus a need for research to fill this literature gap. This research seeks answers to the research question of what English language university lecturers’ perceptions are on the use of flipped classrooms for teaching oral fluency in Saudi universities. Based on the analyses of the data collected from the researcher’s one-on-one semi-structured interviews with eight (8) university lecturers representing eight (8) different Saudi universities, the findings revealed that the three main perceived benefits of using flipped classrooms for oral fluency development, namely, promoting active learning in teaching oral fluency, increasing cooperation between the students themselves and their lecturers, and promoting their autonomous learning. However, participating lecturers also perceived three main challenges in implementing flipped classrooms, which are related to their large size classes, their students’ limited access to computer and good quality internet connections, and students’ lacks of commitment to language learning. Most of these findings are consistent with the existing international literature on the benefits and challenges of using flipped classrooms. The study recommends that lecturers should adapt the use of technology in their flipped classrooms to address the challenges while maximising the benefits of flipped classrooms for their students’ more active, collaborative and autonomous learning towards oral fluency development. Despite the limited scope and methodology of this study, its findings make a significant contribution to second language teaching practices in Saudi universities, and to the existing literature on the use of flipped classrooms for teaching oral fluency. The need for further research on the use of flipped classrooms for teaching other English language skills in other different educational contexts inside and outside the KSA will help gain a deeper understanding of the practical implications of flipped classrooms use for oral fluency development and beyond.
Keywords: flipped classrooms, flipped classrooms in KSA, flipped learning, non-traditional language teaching approaches, lecturers' perceptions in teaching foreign languages, EFL contexts, lecturers' perceptions, oral fluency, Saudi universities, Saudi university
Subject: English as a Second Language thesis
Thesis type: Masters
Completed: 2021
School: College of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences
Supervisor: Dr. Mai Ngo