Flipped learning in English as a second language classroom: Bhutanese students’ perceptions and attitudes of flipped learning approach in learning grammar

Although extensive research has been carried out on the positive effects of flipped learning in a first language context, there remains a paucity of evidence on the impact of flipped learning in a second language context, specifically in Bhutan. The present study was undertaken to examine Bhutanese students’ attitudes and perceptions toward the flipped learning approach in a second language context. The participants of this study were forty students (20 females and 20 males). Data collection instruments used in this study were questionnaire and semi-structured interview. Findings from the questionnaire demonstrated that the flipped learning approach helped learners to learn grammar; moreover, the students showed positive attitudes and perceptions towards the flipped classroom approach. Similarly, findings from a semi-structured interview revealed four important themes of the flipped learning approach, which are: conducive learning atmosphere, use of more technology, a better relationship, and collaboration.


INTRODUCTION
Flipped learning is an educational approach where learning moves from classroom to home, likewise group to an individual. The classroom materials are presented to learners using smartphones, videos, podcasts, and handouts in advance to read, watch, and listen at home. The classroom time is then used for group activities or whole class activities (Baker, 2000;Bishop & Verleger, 2013;Flipped Learning Network, 2014;Lage, Platt, & Treglia, 2000). Recent increase in the literature on use of flipped learning in first Language context (L1) (see Burke & Fedorek, 2017;Findlay-Thompson, & Mombourquette, 2014;Gough, DeJong, Grundmeyer, & Baron, 2017;Limniou, Schermbrucker, & Lyons, 2017;Long, Cummins, & Waugh, 2016;Missildine, Fountain, Summers, & Gosselin, 2013;Strayer, 2012) have found that the flipped learning was an innovative approach to teach and learn in the classroom. Furthermore, learners reported that it had a high level of engagement due to its active learning environment. Importantly, participants recommended that the teachers or instructors should play a vital role in the implementation of the flipped learning approach. However, only a few studies have investigated the effectiveness of flipped learning and learners' perceptions and attitudes toward flipped learning in second language context (L2) (see Doman & Webb, 2016;Hung, 2017aHung, , 2017bLee & Wallace, 2017). These studies have also found that the flipped learning approach as an effective English language teaching and learning approach or method in the L2 context.
So far, however, there have been many studies carried out in a general education context, but very little is currently known about the flipped learning approach in teaching English as a second language (ESL) context, specifically in Bhutan. learning approach in English as a foreign language (EFL) classroom and then to find learners ' perceptions toward the flipped learning approach (notable exceptions include Doman & Webb, 2016;Lee & Wallace, 2017). Nonetheless, to evaluate the effectiveness of the flipped learning approach in ESL classrooms, it is important to conduct a study to find the impact or effects of flipped learning on four language skills (reading, writing, listening, and speaking). Further work needs to be done to establish whether the flipped learning approach can enhance learners' grammar competence and to find learners' attitudes and perceptions toward flipped learning in teaching grammar.
To fill these gaps, the present study examines Bhutanese students' attitudes and perceptions after learning grammar using the flipped learning approach. In the present study, students were taught grammar using a flipped learning approach. Ten lesson plans were designed based on flipped learning instruction to teach grammar to seventh-grade students. The data collection instruments were questionnaires and interviews.
To find students' attitudes and perceptions of flipped learning approach in learning grammar in Bhutan, two research questions are formulated: (1) what are students' attitudes, and perceptions after learning by the flipped learning approach?, and (2) what are some of the important themes emerge from the flipped learning approach?
History of the flipped classroom A large and growing body of literature has considered Jonathan Bergmann and Aaron Sams as the founders of the flipped classroom (Milman, 2012). Jonathan Bergmann and Aaron Sams came up with an innovative idea to help absent students to reteach the lesson. Interestingly, they recorded videos and posted online for those absent students to watch at home or at any place. They found that it immensely helped absent students; in addition, students present in the classroom were also watching the recorded videos because it helped them to review and revisit the day's lesson. This led to the introduction of a concept called the flipped classroom (Tucker, 2012).

Flipped learning approach studies in an L2 context
In recent years, there has been an increasing amount of literature on flipped learning studies in L2 context, such as in South Korea, Taiwan, China, and Malaysia (see Doman & Webb, 2016;Hung, 2015Hung, , 2017aHung, , 2017bLee & Wallace, 2017;Zainuddin & Attaran, 2015;Sun, 2017). These studies have found that the flipped learning approach as an effective English language teaching and learning approach in the L2 context. For example, Lee & Wallace (2017) carried out the study to examine the effects of the flipped learning approach on South Korean learners. The participants were seventynine students of South Korean university enrolled in intermediate English classes. The data collection instruments used were three survey questionnaires and teacher's field notes. The results from the study indicated that the learners taught using the flipped learning approach score significantly higher than the learners in the non-flipped classroom. In addition, findings from the surveys showed that learners enjoyed learning in the flipped classroom. However, the study failed to find the statistical significance of the writing and presentation task, which was a crucial part of the study. In the same vein, Doman and Webb (2016) carried out the study to examine learners' attitudes toward the flipped learning model using a large scale experiment at the University of Macau. The results showed that students in the flipped learning approach had a positive attitude toward flipped learning than the students in the non-flipped classroom. Although Doman and Webb have argued that the flipped learning had a positive impact on learners, however, they failed to report the impact of flipped learning on learners' performance and compare the learners' perceptions.
Another significant aspect of the flipped learning approach was undertaken in Taiwan (e.g., Chen, Wu, & Marek, 2016;Hung, 2015Hung, , 2017aHung, , 2017bSun, 2017;Webb & Doman, 2019;Wu, Yang, Hsieh, & Yamamoto, 2019). These studies administered a questionnaire to find the participants' attitudes and perceptions toward the flipped learning approach. The results of the study demonstrated that learners were satisfied with the use of the flipped learning approach in the classroom, and furthermore, they have shown a positive attitude towards the flipped learning approach. However, the main limitation of the above-mentioned studies was the lack of generalizability because the numbers of participants were relatively small. Besides, Chen et al. (2016) pointed out that flipped learning instruction was effective in enhancing both learners ' motivation to learn idioms in the classroom as well as significantly enhancing learners' idiomatic knowledge.
Similarly, many recent studies in Malaysia (e.g., Ping, Verezub, Badiozaman, & Chen, 2019;Zainuddin & Attaran, 2015) have also shown that flipped learning approach was an effective strategy to teach English in second language context. For example, Ping et al. (2019) conducted a study to find out Malaysian students' experience in implementing flipped learning. Eighteen students participated in the study that consisted of nine boys and nine girls. The results of the study revealed that the main differences between the traditional classroom and flipped classroom are: enhance students' motivation, promote interaction, self-efficacy, and instant feedback. One of the major drawbacks or limitations reported in this study was that few students participated in the interview from the flipped classroom, thus having a comparatively small number of participants. Likewise, Zainuddin and Attaran (2015) investigated Malaysian students' perceptions of the flipped classroom. Data was collected using both qualitative and quantitative, such as questionnaires and focus group interviews. The result showed that the majority of the students had a positive attitude and perceptions toward the use of flipped learning in the classroom. In addition, many students recommended the use of flipped learning in other courses and to other students. However, both the studies would have been interesting if they had included a large number of participants.

Flipped learning approach studies in an L1 context
There are many well-documented studies conducted in L1 context to find out the effectiveness of flipped learning approach (e.g., Burke & Fedorek, 2017;Findlay-Thompson & Mombourquette, 2014;Gough et al., 2017;Limniou et al., 2017;Long et al., 2016;Missildine et al., 2013;Strayer, 2012). Thus far, previous studies have confirmed the effectiveness of flipped learning in teaching in an L1 context. For example, Burke and Fedorek (2017) investigated the differential impact of traditional face-to-face lecture class, flipped class, and an online class on students' engagement in the classroom. The participants were ninety-three students (sophomore and final year) of undergraduate of class. First, one section was taught through traditional class, then the other one through an online class, and lastly, the other through the flipped class. The result revealed that the students in the flipped classroom were more engaged in learning compared to traditional face-to-face lecture classes and online classes. The observed increase in learners' engagement in the flipped class could be attributed due to the nature of learning associated with the flipped classroom. Similarly, Findlay-Thompson and Mombourquette (2014) found that there was no statistical significance difference between the flipped classroom and the traditional classroom. However, students in the flipped classroom shared that they performed better and were given more opportunities to ask questions compared to the traditional classroom.
In the same fashion, Limniou et al. (2017) examined the learners' preferences and views on two different learning approaches (traditional versus flipped learning) used by two different teachers in the classroom activities and teaching-learning materials. Importantly, Limniou et al.'s (2017) innovative study make a valuable contribution with regard to methodology because both the teachers used traditional and flipped learning approach to teach the same course. For instance, one teacher followed two out of five lessons in the traditional approach and three out of five lessons in the flipped learning approach. Likewise, the same pattern was followed by the other teacher. Moreover, a survey questionnaire was used to gather information regarding learners' interests and the goal of learning in the classroom. Interestingly, the result showed that learners prefer both flipped learning and traditional approach in both the classes. However, learners believed that a teacher's contribution to the teaching approach plays a significant role in learners' preference.
To date, several studies have reported that the learners had a positive attitude and perception of the flipped learning approach. However, the study by Missildine et al. (2013) found that the students were dissatisfied with the use of flipped learning in the classroom. A quasi-experimental design was used over the course of three semesters, with 589 participants. The learners were taught using different approaches in each semester. For instance, in the first semester, they were taught using: "(a) lecture only (LO) (fall 2009), classroom lectures by faculty and via interactive television; (b) lecture plus lecture capture (LLC) (spring 2010), classroom lecture format plus lecture capture backup; and (c) lecture capture plus innovation (LCI) (fall 2010) using the flipped classroom approach, in which there were no classroom lectures" (Missildine et al., 2013, pp. 589). However, results showed that the students preferred lecture only and lecture capture over the flipped learning approach. Additionally, students reported that the flipped learning approach did not promote any value of interactive learning; instead, it required many works prior to classroom activities.
Similarly, the result from Strayer's (2012) study is somewhat counterintuitive. Students were taught using two learning approaches: one with the traditional approach and others with the flipped learning approach. Data were collected using instruments, such as the College and University Classroom Environment Inventory (CUCEI), field notes, focus groups interview to examine the learning environment of these two classes. The results showed that the students in the experimental group were not satisfied with the use of the flipped learning approach in the classroom.
Unlike other studies, Gough et al. (2017) conducted a study to examine teachers' perceptions toward the flipped learning approach based on grade level and subject content taught. Forty-four teachers participated in the survey. The result showed that the flipped learning approach helped struggling learners. In addition, it also found that recorded videos immensely helped absent students. Likewise, Long et al. (2016) conducted a qualitative study to find teachers' perspectives and experiences of using flipped learning instruction in the classroom. The finding from the study recommended peer assistance among teachers as valuable support to implement the flipped learning approach successfully.
In summary, it has been shown from this review that learners in the L2 context had perceived the flipped approach as an innovative and creative way to teach and learn in the class. On the other hand, the learners in the L1 context had a mix reaction towards the flipped learning approach, with some learners satisfied with whereas others were dissatisfied. Therefore, to date, there has been no single study conducted in Bhutan to find out students' attitudes and perceptions of the flipped learning approach in learning grammar.

METHOD
The present study employs mixed-method research (Explanatory sequential design), which uses both qualitative and quantitative data. A mixed-method is defined by Creswell and Clark (2011) as a research design that integrates qualitative and quantitative data in a single study to better understand the research problem and to answer the research questions. In this study, the researcher used the questionnaire and semi-structured interviews to collect data and to answer the research questions.

Participants and setting
The present study was conducted in one of the public schools in Bhutan. The participants were the students of seventh-grade. The total number of students participated in this study was 44 (20 females and 20 males). Ages of students in this group range from 14-16 years old. They have been studying English from the preprimary level, and English is considered as the main subject from the preprimary level until the secondary level. The participants were mainly children of civil servants, members of the armed forces, business community members, and low to middle-income families. The school uses a national curriculum designed by the Royal Education Council, as do other schools in Bhutan. Subjects like history, geography, science, and mathematics are taught in English except for Dzongkha (national language) and Environmental Studies, which are taught in the national language.

Course description
Till mid-semester, the students were taught grammar using flipped learning instruction. Ten lesson plans were designed based on flipped learning instruction to enhance the grammar competency of seventh-grade students. The participants in this study met once in a week for 90 minutes. Over the course of the study, students met ten times in one semester. In each meeting, students were introduced to different grammar topics (see Table 2) using the flipped learning approach. Prior to the next class, students were given an opportunity to watch the video and read PowerPoint presentations and articles independently. During classes, students actively participated in the activities in group and peer. Table 1 describes how the flipped learning approach was organized for each lesson. Each lesson consisted of 90 minutes, with 15 minutes for pre-task and 15 minutes for post-task, and the rest, 60 minutes, were utilized for classroom activities and presentations.  As mentioned above, each session consisted of 90 minutes, and in total, there were twelve sessions. The first session was used for introducing the concept of flipped learning, course materials, and topics. Table 2 presents ten grammar topics. The grammar topics were chosen based on the curriculum outline prescribed by the Royal Education Council for seventh grade.
Flipping the course Instead of creating new videos for the course, the videos and reading materials used in this study were adapted or recycled from the existing videos. Importantly, students were asked to watch videos or read articles before coming to class. Each video lasted about ten to fifteen minutes. During the class, students were asked to actively engage in the activities. Typically, each lesson in the class consisted of ninety minutes. The instructor used fifteen minutes to introduce the lesson and asked questions on pre-reading materials and videos. The next sixty minutes were spent on individual and gro up activities, such as answering the questions, group discussion, group project, and presentation, to name a few. The final fifteen minutes were used on follow-up activity and lesson closure.

Data collection
Data collection instruments used in this study were questionnaire and semi-structured interview. First, questionnaires are convenient ways of gathering information from the target population. Besides, it can be analyzed easily using any statistical software packages. The questionnaire was adapted from Thaichay (2014). The questionnaire used in this study consisted of 20 items on a five-point Likert scale. The five-point-Likert scales were strongly agree, agree, neutral, disagree, and strongly disagree. The questionnaire items 1-10 were aimed to find out students' attitudes and perceptions toward implementing a flipped learning approach in the classroom to teach grammar, and the questionnaire items 11-20 were aimed to find out students' perceptions and attitudes of flipped learning approach. Importantly, before collecting data, the questionnaire was pilot tested to check their validity and reliability. Furthermore, the questionnaire was sent to two English language-teaching experts with similar backgrounds, and they were asked to read. The experts provided comments on the language and content of the questionnaires. This step helped with the revision of the confusing language and the deletion of redundant items. It also helped ensure that the questions or items in the questionnaire were appropriate to measure the research objectives and that the content was understandable to students.
Second, a semi-structured interview was used in this study to investigate students' attitudes toward the implementation of flipped learning and to find out what are the different themes that emerge from the flipped learning experience. The interview questions were adapted from Doman and Webb (2016). Five students participated in the semi-structured interview, two were boys, and three were girls. The interview lasted around 20 to 30 minutes.

Data analysis
Both the survey questionnaire and semi-structured interviews were analyzed quantitatively and qualitatively in this study. The quantitative data were analyzed using SPSS 20. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, such as mean and standard deviation. On the other hand, the interview was transcribed, and four themes were developed based on attitudes and perceptions toward the implementation of flipped learning. The important themes that emerge from the flipped learning experience are a conducive learning atmosphere, the use of more technology, a better relationship, and collaboration. These themes were identified by keywords and phrases that students used in their responses to the different questions that were asked in the interview.

What are students' attitudes and perceptions after learning by the flipped learning approach?
The result shows that the flipped learning approach helps learners to enhance their grammar competence. The item, such as I like watching the lesson on the video (Mean 4.5750 SD .63599), followed by I feel that the use of technology is helping me learn in this class (Mean 4.4500 SD .74936), and then I feel the flipped instruction has helped me to improve my grammar (Mean 4.3500 SD.57957) show that flipped learning approach helped learners to enhance their grammar competence (see Table 3). The result indicates that students' attitudes and perceptions on the flipped classroom approach were positive after taught using a flipped learning approach in the classroom. The item, such as I like watching the lesson on the video (Mean 4.5750 SD.63599), I feel that the use of technology is helping me learn in this class (Mean 4.4500 SD.74936), and I feel the flipped instruction has helped me to improve my grammar (Mean 4.3500 SD.57957) show that students have had a positive attitude towards flipped learning approach (see Table 4). What are some of the important themes emerge from the flipped learning experience?
The results from the semi-structured interview are presented as follows. The four important themes that emerged from the flipped learning approach are a conducive learning atmosphere, the use of more technology, a better relationship, and collaboration.

Conducive learning atmosphere
Students found that the flipped learning approach creates a conducive learning environment whereby they can assess the video lessons wherever they have access to a proper internet connection. In addition, learners were comfortable with the use of technology. One interviewee said: "yes, the flipped classroom activities and lessons were conducive to learning grammar because these activities made us practice and use our own skills which were very helpful to us." As well, another student commented: "instead of the teacher teaching most of the time if we go for flipped learning, we get more new knowledge and become excited." In summary, this result shows that the flipped learning approach creates a conducive learning environment.

Use of more technology
When asked about using more technology in the flipped classroom, few of the students shared technology, such as smartphones, computers, to name a few. One student echoed his viewpoint: "we would like to see more technology being used in and outside of the class for learning." Similarly, one participant responded: "it would be more useful for us to learn through technology outside of the classroom."

Better relationship
Creating better relationships amongst the classmate was one of the benefits shared by the participants after implementing the flipped learning approach. As one participant reflected: "Flipped learning approach helped us to maintain a better relationship with our classmates because we did all the activities together" In a similar vein, another participant commented: "flipped learning approach demands more of interaction amongst classmates which ultimately creates a better relationship."

Collaboration
Using flipped learning in the classroom can particularly develop collaboration since most of the flipped learning activities are collaborative pair and group work in nature. Most of the students express that flipped learning can be used to develop collaboration in the class. For example, one interviewee said: "Yes, in the flipped teaching methodology, we are able to do more of collaborative pair and group work. Similarly, another participant commented: "most of the classroom activities were done in pair or group work, which needed collaboration among group members." In summary, the flipped learning approach helps learners to enhance or develop collaboration skills.

DISCUSSION
The present study investigates to find out students' attitudes and perceptions after learning by the flipped learning approach and what are some of the important themes emerge from the flipped learning experience. Results from questionnaires and semi-structured interview suggest that students' attitude towards to flipped learning approach was positive and acknowledge the flipped learning approach as one of the strategies to develop grammar competence. Similarly, students showed renewed interest by suggesting further use of flipped learning by other means of technology both inside and outside of the classroom.

What are students' attitudes and perceptions after learning by the flipped learning approach?
The results from the students' questionnaire strongly support that students had a positive attitude and perception of flipped learning strategy. The similar findings were reported in (Doman & Webb, 2016;Kim, 2017;Lee & Wallace, 2017), where students showed a positive and renewed attitude towards the flipped learning approach. These findings were also consistent with that of Zainuddin and Attaran (2015), who found that students prefer flipped classrooms compare to traditional classrooms, and most of the students showed a positive attitude towards flipped learning. Similarly, Sun (2017) reported that Taiwanese undergraduate students were taught using a content-based flipped learning approach. The result indicated that the students showed a positive attitude and perception towards flipped learning to understand the content and gain knowledge. In the present study, learners believed that to master the content (grammar) pre-preparation, such as watching video assignments, help them to actively participate in the flipped classroom. Besides , learners were motivated to learn English grammar by teaching and learning with flipped classroom because learning English grammar with the flipped classroom gives them greater opportunities to communicate with other students.
What are some of the important themes emerge from the flipped learning approach? Some of the important themes that emerge from the flipped learning approach are a conducive learning atmosphere, the use of more technology, a better relationship, and collaboration. First, the flipped learning approach immensely helped learners to actively participate in classroom activities because it created a conducive learning environment. This finding is consistent with that of Adnan (2017), who found that the students taught using the flipped learning approach were more confident and comfortable without any stress in the classroom. Similarly, these results reflect those of Chen et al. (2016) they found that learners in the flipped classroom were enjoying working in the pair and in the group because flipped learning promoted a positive learning atmosphere. Second, the finding from this study suggested that the students were comfortable using technology outside of the classroom, thus call for more use of technology to flip the lesson. Furthermore, the results from the interview recommended using WeChat, WhatsApp, mobile phones, PowerPoint, and other tools to flip the lesson in the future. This study produced results which corroborate the findings of a great deal of the previous work in Doman & Webb (2016), they undertook large scale study at university in Macau, China to find learners attitude towards flipped learning model. The study found that the role of technology plays a vital role in flipping the classroom. In addition, the study found that using multiple technology platforms was effective and mostly preferred by learners due to a variety of choices.
Third, the current study found that flipping in the classroom encouraged students to develop better relationships amongst group members and with teachers because most of the flipped learning classroom activities were conducted in the groups and peers. These results corroborate the findings of Ping et al. (2019), who found that the flipped learning approach provided ample opportunities for learners to interact and engage in the classroom in the process of developing a better relationship among the learners.
Lastly, the finding of the present study showed that learners were able to collaborate with their peers to complete the task within the given time. In addition, most of the activities used in the classroom were collaborative in nature. As a result, learners were able to develop collaborative skills through the flipped learning approach. These results are in agreement with Karabulut-Ilgu, Yao, Savolainen, and Jahren (2017) findings, which showed that the flipped learning approach helped participants to engage in collaborative problem-solving. Moreover, the participants provided positive feedback.

CONCLUSION
The present research aimed to examine students' attitudes and perceptions after learning by the flipped learning approach and to know some of the important themes emerging from the flipped learning approach. The result from the questionnaire suggested that students were able to develop their grammar competence after learning using flipped learning and students' attitude and perception towards the flipped learning approach was positive at the end of the semester. Furthermore, the results from the interview found important themes, such as a conducive learning atmosphere, the use of more technology, a better relationship, and collaboration. However, most of the second language research conducted in a real classroom setting with a small sample will have some limitations. The following are some of the limitations of the present study and recommendations for further studies. First, the major limitation of this study was the research design. The researcher did not address the impact of the flipped learning approach on grammar competence and compared the participants' attitudes and perceptions. A further study could assess the long-term effects of the flipped learning approach on learners' grammar competence and compare the participants' attitudes and perceptions. Second, the study duration was limited in nature because of the school calendar and other cocurricular activities hindered the present study. In addition, the number of participants was relatively small. Therefore, further research should be undertaken for a longer duration to generate a reliable and accurate result with a large number of participants. Lastly, the flipped learning approach was implemented to find its effects on learners' grammar competence. A further study could assess the effects of a flipped learning approach on other language skills, such as reading, writing, and listening, to shed more light on the effectiveness of a flipped learning approach on different language skills.