Managing cognitive load with a flipped language class: An ethnographic study of the student experience

Abstract

This ethnographic study of a beginning‐level German course at an Australian university examined the student experience of learning second language (L2) grammar in a flipped classroom. Students accessed explicit grammar instruction and completed grammar exercises prior to attending face‐to‐face classes; during class, the structures were briefly reviewed by the students and then applied in interactive task‐based activities focused on meaningful use of the L2. In surveys and interviews, learners reported that the opportunity to manage the pace and depth of their interaction with online grammar modules facilitated their learning and increased their confidence. Linking these outcomes to research that has shown that flipped teaching models reduce or assist in the management of cognitive load, the study presents a compelling case for flipping the L2 classroom.

The Effect of an Extended Flipped Classroom Model for Fully Online Learning and its interaction with Working Memory Capacity on Students’ Reading Comprehension

“…By way of example, the flipped classroom effectively proved not only to produce deeper information processing but also to promote higher-order, in-depth thinking in the content-based second language through the asynchronous and synchronous learning stages. This conclusion matches the results obtained in the research performed by Tonkin, Page, and Forsey (2019): students experienced in the pre-class stage can reduce the intrinsic load during the in-class stage because having completed the pre-class activities endows them with sufficient prior knowledge to carry out in-class learning tasks with greater ease. Moreover, prior knowledge not only permits to reduce students' cognitive load during the in-class learning activity but also improves their performance.…”

The incorporation of peer learning into MosoTeach‐supported flipped language class: Effects on student motivation, participation, feedback and test performance

“…The results validate Gelan et al (2018)'s research results that technology leads to a variety of affordances, and students feel more interested in participating in interactive activities after flipping. Besides, with the available affordances in flipped learning, students may have a better acquisition of receptive language knowledge, thus feeling more confident and competent to participate in various activities (Tonkin et al, 2019). Similar to Lee and Wallace (2018) work, the present study showed that students were more engaged in the learning process, with increasing attention paid to grammatical mistakes and linguistic errors (Chang & Lin, 2019) in the pre‐class discussion boards and in‐class interactions.…”

“…The peer-assessment design in MosoTeach empowered students greatly (Bicen & Beheshti, 2022), and let them feel the ownership of their own learning (Shyr & Chen, 2018). This sense of empowerment and ownership also contrib- knowledge, thus feeling more confident and competent to participate in various activities (Tonkin et al, 2019). Similar to Lee and Wallace (2018) work, the present study showed that students were more engaged in the learning process, with increasing attention paid to grammatical mistakes and linguistic errors (Chang & Lin, 2019) in the pre-class discussion boards and in-class interactions.…”

Strategies for Reducing Cognitive Overload in the Online Language Learning Classroom

“…Afterwards, when the main learning task begins, they are able to draw upon the content of the pre-task activity from their long-term memory, freeing up short-term memory processing for the task at hand. For language learners, pre-task activities can help improve confidence and make content easier to learn because of the reduction in cognitive load (Tonkin et al, 2019).…”