Investigating the Impact of Flipped Teaching on Language Proficiency and Self-efficacy of Iranian Intermediate EFL Learners

Flipped classroom is considered a great educational approach, in which the status of homework and classroom activities are reversed. The present thesis aimed to investigate the impact of flipped instruction on intermediate level EFL learners' general proficiency as well as academic self-efficacy. In order to answer the research questions, a number of 60 Iranian intermediate EFL learners studying at a Language Center in Sarabele, Ilam were chosen based on their performance in the QOPT. A pre-test, post-test equivalent group design was applied. As the next step of the study, through random assignment, the participants were assigned to either the experimental (flipped group), or the control group, 30 each. Then, Academic Self-Efficacy Scale by Morgan and Jinks (1999), was run among the participants in the two groups. Then, the treatment for the participants in the experimental group which was online teaching using the Edmodo network was applied. In the experimental group, the teacher delivered the materials through Edmodo; the teachers and learners worked on those materials; they discussed their problems and challenges in the process of learning. The experimental group was taught Top Notch 1 during the program. In the control group learners were provided with the conventional practices. The participants of this group were taught in the traditional classroom, in which the participants were not allowed to use their smartphones and the Internet. What follows is a discussion of the findings. The results of Independent-samples t-tests demonstrated significant differences between general proficiency and self-efficacy levels of the participants in the two groups when they were exposed to flipped method of teaching (.05 > p). The findings of the study can be used by L2 practitioners and teacher trainers to consider the role of technology in language teaching.