Flipped classroom: Benefits and challenges

Flipped classroom (FC) has been a popular subject of research in recent years. FC is a student-centred teaching method that enables learners to study the learning content at home and apply it in school through in-class activities provided by the teacher. This action research was conducted to determine the Grade 11 senior high school students’ attitude towards the FC, their perceived benefits of FC, the challenges they experienced in FC and their recommendations to improve its implementation. A total of 49 students, 18 males and 31 females, aged 16–20 years participated in this study. They were enrolled in the reading and writing skills subject and were taught using the FC model for 13 weeks, with one weekly synchronous online session of 1 hour and 15 minutes per session. The other days of the week were reserved for their pre-work and post-work activities. On the 14th week, a researcher-made attitude survey was administered to the respondents via g-forms. Their responses to Likert scale questions that measure their attitudes towards the FC were calculated using mean and their responses to open-ended questions were coded using Akcayir and Akcayir’s (2018) categories for the benefits and challenges. Findings show that students exhibited a positive cognitive, affective and behavioural attitude towards FC. In fact, they reported that they enjoyed the FC activities and learned many things using this teaching method. They also perceived that FC has several benefits such as increased knowledge, engagement, better retention of the concepts learned, better preparation before the class, and opportunities for flexible learning. They also recognised the challenges they had experienced during its implementation, however, such as limited preparation before the class and lack of interaction due to shyness and fear of negative evaluation from peers. With the perceived benefits of FC, educators can utilise this teaching method to promote engagement and learning achievement.