Redefining a flipped learning classroom: Using outside - Classroom listening portfolio to boost inside - Classroom speaking tasks

REDEFINING A FLIPPED LEARNING CLASSROOM: 
USING OUTSIDE-CLASSROOM LISTENING PORTFOLIO 
TO BOOST INSIDE-CLASSROOM SPEAKING TASKS 
Mai Thi Nhu Hang* 
Quang Binh University 
Received: 05/06/2019; Revised: 03/07/2019; Accepted: 25/12/2019 
Abstract: With the limited time in the classroom, many English language teachers have held a big 
concern as to how to create more spaces, more time, and more opportunities for learners to use the target 
language in a meaningful way. By using a qualitative method with different approaches of interviews, 
document analysis, and classroom observations, this study aims at exploring the effect of adopting a 
flipped learning model with the integration of listening and speaking on the development of these skills. 
The study participants were 17 third-year English-major students enrolling in a listening-speaking 6 
course at Quang Binh University. The findings showed that learners’ listening skills were significantly 
improved and they appeared to be more confident and more productive when participating in inside-
classroom speaking tasks with a well-prepared listening porfolio at home. The article drew an 
implication that to boost learners’ independent learning and maximize the effect of the classroom time, 
it is vital to apply homework-in-class and classwork-at-home model while integrating skills in language 
education. 
Key words: Flipped learning, listening portfolios, listening-speaking integration 
1. Introduction 
The mobilized world of the 21st century appears to require its citizens to be equipped with necessary 
skills and knowledge to respond to its astounding developments, and language learners are also involved in 
this stream. In the arena of English language teaching and learning, Zwiers (2014) claims that our learners 
have to learn to use that language in a more complicated way such as analyzing complex texts, arguing, 
evaluating evidence, and engaging in academic discussions. In fact, in order to prepare for more advanced 
language to meet different purposes, rather than just daily expressions, such as the academic language 
standards for higher education or international tests like IELTS or TOEFL, technical languages for future 
jobs, and deeper language for taking part in more complicated interactions, learners need to be well-
prepared. However, with simply asking them to do speaking tasks in the traditional classroom is not 
adequate. In fact, although language teachers perhaps allow their students a certain amount of time to 
prepare and generate academic discussions in the classroom, it has been seen that many learners cannot 
fulfill the tasks due to lack of knowledge, lexical resources on a particular topic as well as their nagging 
anxiety when using a second language. It causes a common problem in many English-speaking classrooms 
that students remain silent and unresponsive, participating only to a minimal degree. It poses a need for 
allowing learners enough time, space and opportunities to access academic language before class by 
assigning out-of-class work. 
Although in many cases the curriculum has separated language skills into different courses, in the 
very essence they are integrated and cannot be apart, such as listening and speaking skills. While listening 
is a receptive skill, speaking is a productive one. When referring to learning a foreign language, Tavil (2000) 
regards these skills to be very important for communicative competence and states that “it is essential for 
* Email: hangmainhu88qb@gmail.com 
students to understand the language they are exposed to and to respond appropriately so that they can 
become competent users of that particular language” (p. 765). There are a variety of studies claiming the 
positive effect of integrating listening and speaking on learners’ oral communicative competence; however, 
there is still a research room for innovative teaching and learning approaches to resolve this issue, 
particularly adopting the flipped learning model in order to maximize the classroom time. 
2. Literature review 
2.1. Definition of flipped learning 
The term “flipped learning” dated back to 2000 with Baker’s college context in Southwest Ohio, 
United States. With a goal to change the role of the teacher from a mere lecturer or a knowledge transferor 
to a guide-by-the-side and to reduce class time wasted on students copying the slides, Baker’s idea was to 
let students access learning materials online before class and utilize the classroom time to assist them in 
dealing with daunting exercises. This model is called homework-in-class and classwork-at-home model as 
traditionally students acquire knowledge in a classroom context and then do more practice out of the 
classroom. In the flipped classroom, students acquire knowledge before the class and use class time to 
practice and apply concepts and ideas through interaction with peers and teachers. After the class, students 
reflect upon the feedback they have received and use this to further their learning. This learning approach 
has brought great benefits to students in many disciplines (Honeycutt & Garrett, 2014). In the field of 
teaching English as a foreign language (EFL), adopting flipped learning approach has attracted considerable 
attention; however, there is still a limited number of empirical studies in this field regarding how to perform 
it in skill-integration classroom and how effective it is. 
2.2. Benefits of the flipped learning model 
With the aim of exploring the effects of the flipped learning approach in a grammar classroom 
through students’ perceptions on its effectiveness and feasibility, Pudin (2017) adopted a quantitative 
method. A number of 120 students with higher Malaysian University Entrance Test (MUET) were asked to 
complete a questionnaire which is then analyzed through SPSS version 24. The findings indicated that most 
of the students were keen on learning grammar through the flipped classroom as opposed to the traditional 
grammar one. The study provided ESL practitioners a better insight into students’ preference in learning 
grammar and ways to create better teaching through blended learning. 
In the Vietnamese context, Cao Thi Xuan Lien’s (2017) study examined the effect of the flipped 
learning approach on students’ learning satisfaction. The study conducted a survey on 67 second-year 
English-major students at University of Foreign Languages, Hue University. The findings showed that the 
majority of participants held a positive attitude towards the concerted classroom model. Some advantages 
were commented by the participants such as considerably improving writing skill, more time spent on 
practice, more interesting than the traditional method, attracting more students in classroom activities. 
However, some difficulties were also pointed out such as overloaded assignments outside class and lack of 
support from teachers. In line with this, Tran Thi Thanh Quyen (2017) also investigated students’ awareness 
of the flipped learning model administered on 30 ESP students at Can Tho University. In the study, the 
social network, Facebook, was employed to deliver online lectures and discussions. The results suggested 
that Facebook is a convenient and effective learning tool in flipped learning method helping learners 
improve vocabulary, pronunciation, and communication skills. 
Overall, the flipped learning model has been increasingly adopted in ESL language classrooms but 
it appears to be mainly used for a single skill like writing skill or grammar learning. There are no studies 
found regarding teaching listening and speaking in integration using flipped learning approach. The 
following part will continue to discuss the benefit of integrating these two skills in developing learners’ 
language performances. 
2.3. The integration of listening and speaking skills 
In terms of integrating listening and speaking, Tavil’s (2010) study aims at examining the effect of 
applying listening-speaking skill integration in the classroom by implementing tasks and using pre-post 
tests administered to 180 students from the preparatory classes of Hacettepe University, Turkey. The 
findings show that students practicing the skills in integration are more successful than those practicing 
them separately. The study contributes to accustoming learners to combing listening and speaking, in 
natural interaction, through information-gap tasks. However, its limitation is just using in-classroom-tasks 
without emphasizing out-of-classroom tasks with skill-integration approach. 
 Many studies have proposed the benefits of using speaking skill to achieve language learning goals 
in listening classrooms. It is said that integrating speaking can assist in “facilitating metacognition 
development, enhancing comprehension and retention of listening content, and creating opportunities for 
focus on form” (Newton & Nguyen Duc Chi, 2018, p. 4). In line with this, De la Fuente (2002) also claims 
that a combination of listening and speaking is more effective for learning the meaning of new vocabulary 
items introduced in aural input than the alternative approach of repeated listening. 
Despite its valuable findings, these studies still have some caveats such as putting more emphasis on 
the benefits of speaking on listening, or productive skill on receptive one, rather than vice versa. Therefore, 
the data on how listening can boost speaking appears sparse; especially, effective teaching approaches to 
fulfill this goal are still rare. Moreover, none of them pay attention to using out-of-class work to boost 
inside-classroom activities. This study fills the gap by adapting a flipped learning method to teach listening 
and speaking skills with an aim of activating their acquired knowledge from outside into the classroom to 
maximize the advantage of the classroom time. The research aims to answer the following questions: 
- How can outside-class portfolios improve learners’ listening skill? 
- How can out-of-class listening boost learners’ in-class speaking task performances? 
3. Methodology 
3.1. Instruments 
3.1.1. Interview 
Interviewing is considered as one of the core data collection methods in qualitative research. 
Interviews are valuable because if they are properly conducted, they can provide deep insights into people’s 
experiences, beliefs, perceptions and motivations (Creswell & Plano Clark, 2011). This method is usually 
employed as a valuable source of data to triangulate findings of studies. Therefore, in this study, 17 
interviews were conducted to gain a comprehensive understanding of learners’ opinions on the effects of 
out-of-class listening portfolio on improving learners’ listening skills and on in-class speaking activities. 
Learners were interviewed immediately after their speaking tasks, particularly in post-task stage. After each 
learner finished their small-group talk, they were asked some questions in English relating to the issue 
mentioned above. Each interview lasted for about 2 minutes. 
3.1.2. Participant observation 
Observation methods provide a variety of benefits for researchers, such as checking nonverbal 
expression of feelings, determining who interacts with whom, grasping how interlocutors communicate 
with each other, and checking for how much time is spent on various activities (Schmuck, 1997). In this 
study, the researcher observed learners’ speaking task performances and took notes of comments on their 
strengths and weaknesses. The observation approach was conducted before interviews in order to collect 
more information on learners’ performances before asking key questions to find more data for research 
questions. 
3.1.3. Field note analysis 
Field notes which are generated during the researcher’s observations help to remember and record 
the behaviors, activities, events, and other features of the observations. Field notes are intended to be read 
by the researcher as evidence to produce meaning and an understanding of the culture, social situation, or 
phenomenon being studied. The notes may constitute the whole data collected for a research study (e.g., an 
observational project) or contribute to it, such as when field notes supplement conventional interview data 
(Schwandt, 2015). 
3.1.4. Document analysis 
Document analysis is a systematic procedure for reviewing or evaluating documents which are 
printed or electronic materials. Data of document analysis requires to be examined and interpreted in order 
to elicit meaning, gain understanding, and develop empirical knowledge (Corbin & Strauss, 2008). In this 
study, learners’ listening portfolios were analyzed to gain more information on how they helped to improve 
learners’ listening and speaking skills. In particular, portfolios were analyzed based on different parts such 
as self-evaluation, useful vocabulary, and main ideas. 
3.2. Participants and the classroom context 
 The teaching context was a speaking-listening 6 course for third-year English-major students at 
university level in Quang Binh University. This course focused on developing the necessary skills and 
strategies to further students’ abilities in listening and speaking (although other language skills were 
integrated). The classroom participants included in the observation notes were 17 Vietnamese students who 
majored in English language. Participants’ ages ranged between 20 and 21. The number of females accounted 
for 88.2% while that of males was 11.8%. 
During the course, learners were required to complete practicing at minimum three pieces of listening 
per week and make a portfolio in a guided format and structure. These files were submitted to the instructor 
(the author) after class for evaluation and analysis and were returned to learners one week later. The author 
wrote analysis in a small notebook when checking students’ out-of-class work. 
 Teachers instructed learners how to select appropriate talks and reliable listening resources so that 
learners can both practice listening skills and enrich their general knowledge about the world. Although 
specific topics were optional and chosen according to learners’ interests, there were general topics stated in 
the syllabus to be followed. 
 When coming to the classroom, students carried out speaking tasks given by the teacher. While 
students were working, the instructor also acted as the observer in certain classroom activities. When 
observing the class, the author wrote shorthand field notes detailing the observations of the students. 
 The following are teachers’ instructions to learners’ listening portfolio. 
 Outside-classroom listening portfolio 
Listening selection guidelines 
Firstly, learners were advised to choose talks below 10 minutes in length, usually 5 to 7 minutes was 
more advised. Talks over 10 minutes were generally long enough to easily make the listener tired and 
demotivated. The reason was that learners not only just finished their listening but also needed to look up 
new words and learn useful phrases. With an appropriate duration, it appeared that learners were provided 
more adequate time and space to absorb and acquire the input language in a more productive way. 
In addition, choosing a good topic also accounted for a successful listening process. It was believed 
that what interested you would motivate and inspire you to be persistent with it in a long run. Listening to 
a second language to understand new information was a daunting task and needed a great effort, so an 
interesting talk would considerably push learners in their learning process. 
 Listening resources 
 Learners were required to choose such types of listening as news, reports and speeches as they 
provided a richer resource of information and knowledge with more academic languages necessary for 
learners to reproduce them in the same or relevant topics later. 
 Some recommended sources were Ted.com (main source), VOA special English (these sources were 
suggested but there was no limit to others, so students could use any reliable source after discussing with 
the instructor). 
 The following is the suggested portfolio format: 
 Portfolio format 
 Learners were required to make a table of self-reflection with a specific guideline for each listening 
time. 
 Date: 
 Listening 1: (Listening title) 
 Part 1: Self-reflection 
Table 1. Self-reflection 
Time What to do Percentage of 
understanding 
1st time  Listen without subtitle/ subscript and figure out the general 
idea of the talk. 
% 
----- 
2nd – 4th 
time 
 Listen without subtitle/ subscript and take notes of the main 
points. 
The number of times may vary depending on learners’ 
ability but should be 3 times at maximum. 
% 
----- 
5th time  Listen with subtitle/ subscript to check your understanding 
and your notes. 
 Look up new words in a dictionary and learn useful 
vocabulary and phrases. 
% 
----- 
Final 
time 
 Listen without subtitle/ subscript after learning new words 
and useful phrases. 
% 
----- 
Part 2: Useful vocabulary and phrases 
In this part, learners wrote down all new words and useful phrases from the listening piece. New 
words were recorded with their main elements including spelling, international transcript, meaning, and 
part of speech (these elements were recommended but not limited). 
Part 3: Main ideas 
In this part, learners noted down the main points of the talk so that they could share with others what 
they had listened. It was advised that learners should use the mind map to organize the main points, 
stimulating their brainstorming and recalling language to express an issue in their own way. Learners 
needed to practice presenting these main contents at home to prepare for classroom speaking tasks. 
Inside-classroom speaking tasks 
The following are learners’ instructions to inside-classroom speaking tasks: 
Pre-task: Individual work 
Choose a listening topic among the ones you listened to at home and spend some time practicing 
speaking about it individually (5 minutes). 
Notice: Teachers encourage learners to use as many new words and useful phrases from the listening 
as possible. This will help them remember vocabulary and information necessary for their language use and 
production. 
Main-task 
Task 1: Pair-work 
Imagine that you are going to meet three friends at three different times. You are very eager to share 
with them what you have known from your listening. Now, start up a conversation with a partner and talk 
about it. 
While talking with each other, please feel free to ask questions or have a small discussion about that 
issue (15 minutes for 3 conversations). 
Task 2: Large-group talk 
Imagine that you are going to share a particular topic with a large group. Each person will have one 
chance to stand in front of the class to present a talk in 3 minutes. 
Notice: Immediately after each talk, the other members of the class and teacher will raise questions 
and comment on their performances. 
Post-task 
Think about the following questions and share your ideas with your teacher and classmates: 
 1. How useful is portfolio-making to your listening improvement? 
 2. How can out-of-class listening practice boost your speaking activities on a particular topic in the 
classroom? 
 3. Did you have any difficulties when making listening portfolio? 
4. Findings and discussions 
4.1. How portfolio making improves learners’ listening skill 
4.1.1. Findings from document analysis 
The data from document analysis revealed a significant effect of portfolio-making activity on learners’ 
listening skill development, particularly enhancing listening comprehension, and improving vocabulary and 
general