Why are we flipping? An exploration of the reasons for implementing flipped learning and its perceived implications in an online English for Academic Purposes Presessional Course

Abstract

Presessional courses are designed to help learners develop the necessary language and academic skills to succeed in their higher education journey. Despite this common overarching goal, these courses vary in the degree of disciplinary specificity, duration and pedagogical underpinnings. One pedagogical underpinning used to varying degrees is flipped learning (FL). FL is a relatively novel pedagogical approach which has informed the development of the presessional object of study. This small-scale study aims to gain a better understanding of why course designers, course developers and course coordinators, decide to implement FL, along with its pedagogical implications. Through the use of questionnaires and semi-structured interviews, it is shown how although FL was first adopted as a response to practical constraints, the pedagogical benefits, such as fostering students’ autonomy and maximising classroom time, translated into its formal adoption in further iterations of the course. Results also show the practical implications of adopting FL following a top-down approach. This article also shows how FL can be combined with other approaches such as TBL or TEL. Based on the data generated, this article argues for FL to be part of the eclectic pedagogical repertoire that nurtures EAP.