Redefining a flipped learning classroom: Using outside-classroom listening portfolio to boost inside-classroom speaking tasks

 listening portfolio 
Listening selection guidelines 
Firstly, learners were advised to choose talks below 10 minutes in length, usually 5 to 7 minutes was 
more advised. Talks over 10 minutes were generally long enough to easily make the listener tired and 
demotivated. The reason was that learners not only just finished their listening but also needed to look up 
new words and learn useful phrases. With an appropriate duration, it appeared that learners were provided 
more adequate time and space to absorb and acquire the input language in a more productive way. 
In addition, choosing a good topic also accounted for a successful listening process. It was believed 
that what interested you would motivate and inspire you to be persistent with it in a long run. Listening to 
a second language to understand new information was a daunting task and needed a great effort, so an 
interesting talk would considerably push learners in their learning process. 
 Listening resources 
 Learners were required to choose such types of listening as news, reports and speeches as they 
provided a richer resource of information and knowledge with more academic languages necessary for 
learners to reproduce them in the same or relevant topics later. 
 Some recommended sources were Ted.com (main source), VOA special English (these sources were 
suggested but there was no limit to others, so students could use any reliable source after discussing with 
the instructor). 
 The following is the suggested portfolio format: 
 Portfolio format 
 Learners were required to make a table of self-reflection with a specific guideline for each listening 
time. 
 Date: 
 Listening 1: (Listening title) 
 Part 1: Self-reflection 
Table 1. Self-reflection 
Time What to do Percentage of 
understanding 
1st time Listen without subtitle/ subscript and figure out the general 
idea of the talk. 
% 
----- 
2nd – 4th 
time 
 Listen without subtitle/ subscript and take notes of the main 
points. 
The number of times may vary depending on learners’ 
ability but should be 3 times at maximum. 
% 
----- 
5th time Listen with subtitle/ subscript to check your understanding 
and your notes. 
 Look up new words in a dictionary and learn useful 
vocabulary and phrases. 
% 
----- 
Final 
time 
 Listen without subtitle/ subscript after learning new words 
and useful phrases. 
% 
----- 
Part 2: Useful vocabulary and phrases 
In this part, learners wrote down all new words and useful phrases from the listening piece. New 
words were recorded with their main elements including spelling, international transcript, meaning, and 
part of speech (these elements were recommended but not limited). 
Part 3: Main ideas 
In this part, learners noted down the main points of the talk so that they could share with others what 
they had listened. It was advised that learners should use the mind map to organize the main points, 
stimulating their brainstorming and recalling language to express an issue in their own way. Learners 
needed to practice presenting these main contents at home to prepare for classroom speaking tasks. 
Inside-classroom speaking tasks 
The following are learners’ instructions to inside-classroom speaking tasks: 
Pre-task: Individual work 
Choose a listening topic among the ones you listened to at home and spend some time practicing 
speaking about it individually (5 minutes). 
Notice: Teachers encourage learners to use as many new words and useful phrases from the listening 
as possible. This will help them remember vocabulary and information necessary for their language use and 
production. 
Main-task 
Task 1: Pair-work 
Imagine that you are going to meet three friends at three different times. You are very eager to share 
with them what you have known from your listening. Now, start up a conversation with a partner and talk 
about it. 
While talking with each other, please feel free to ask questions or have a small discussion about that 
issue (15 minutes for 3 conversations). 
Task 2: Large-group talk 
Imagine that you are going to share a particular topic with a large group. Each person will have one 
chance to stand in front of the class to present a talk in 3 minutes. 
Notice: Immediately after each talk, the other members of the class and teacher will raise questions 
and comment on their performances. 
Post-task 
Think about the following questions and share your ideas with your teacher and classmates: 
 1. How useful is portfolio-making to your listening improvement? 
 2. How can out-of-class listening practice boost your speaking activities on a particular topic in the 
classroom? 
 3. Did you have any difficulties when making listening portfolio? 
4. Findings and discussions 
4.1. How portfolio making improves learners’ listening skill 
4.1.1. Findings from document analysis 
The data from document analysis revealed a significant effect of portfolio-making activity on learners’ 
listening skill development, particularly enhancing listening comprehension, and improving vocabulary and 
general knowledge, which will be presented below. 
Enhancing listening comprehension: The analysis from 17 collected portfolios by students showed 
that for the first time they did not understand much about the content of the talk (with below 50 percent of 
understanding for all learners) but many of them could figure out the general idea of the talk. Their 
understanding improved considerably after three times of listening and 90 percent of the students could 
note down the main points and the average level of understanding increased to around 75 percent for most 
of them. After looking up new words and learning useful phrases, learners listened again without the 
subtitle, and it appeared that the understanding went up to 95 to 100 percent for all learners. 
 Enhancing vocabulary and general knowledge: It was also seen that many academic words and 
useful phrases were recorded by learners for later language use. For example, in a listening titled “climate 
change”, a student took notes of useful vocabulary, such as: atmosphere, carbon dioxide, fossil fuel, 
emission, global warming, and greenhouse gas. This activity helped learners improve their vocabulary on 
a particular topic. In addition, the main-idea part demonstrated that learners had a chance to gather a lot of 
useful information and knowledge on a certain issue which was substantially essential to their 
comprehension and language production. 
4.1.2. Findings from interviews 
 The data from interviews showed that all of the learners were in favor of doing portfolio-making task 
to improve their listening skill because of the following benefits. 
 Providing more time for practice: All of the participants held a positive attitude toward making 
listening portfolios outside the classroom. One of the main reasons was that it provided them more time to 
learn useful vocabulary and phrases, which remarkably enhances their listening comprehension. 
 Providing an effective way of listening: Most of them (87%) agreed that listening skill could be done 
by themselves at home without much difficulty as they just needed to used online materials that the teacher 
provided. With the guided steps, all of the participants approved that they learned the way how to practice 
English listening in a more effective way. 
 Providing a chance for self-evaluation: Interestingly, many of them expressed a satisfaction with what 
they did in the portfolio. In particular, when they had a chance to evaluate their competence after each time of 
listening, they would recognize their listening ability by themselves. That, in fact, generated an intrinsic 
motivation in learners who desired to improve themselves. 
4.2. How making listening portfolio outside classroom boosts inside-classroom speaking tasks 
4.2.1. Findings from classroom observations 
The results from classroom observations indicated many benefits of at-home-listening portfolio 
activity on learners’ speaking task engagement and performances in the class, including making learners 
more focused, lowering second language (L2) anxiety, enhancing comprehension, and providing more 
accurate grammar and enhancing vocabulary range in classroom interactions. 
 Making learners more focused: Data from classroom observations showed that learners were more 
focused on the topic when they worked individually or with their partners. All of them showed that they 
were very eager to share their knowledge about the topic. It was also observed that learners were always 
ready and showed an enthusiastic attitude toward speaking activities in the classroom when they were well-
prepared for the needed knowledge as well as useful topic-relevant language in advance. 
 Lowering L2 anxiety: Importantly, many of them appeared to overcome L2 anxiety and were very 
confident when speaking in front of a large group. Many of those who had been too shy to speak before 
appeared to be more comfortable and enthusiastic about speaking. 
 Enhancing comprehension: It was also easier for them to understand what their partners or other 
classmates shared as they had a certain level of understanding about the general idea of the topic while 
searching and doing out-of-class listening work. 
 Providing more accurate grammar and enhancing vocabulary range: The participants also showed 
that they used a variety of academic vocabulary, complicated phrases, and advanced grammar structures in 
small discussions or when making a presentation. 
4.2.2. Findings from the interviews 
 The data from the interviews also revealed some benefits of listening portfolios to learners’ speaking 
performances regarding learner-centeredness and productivity. 
Learner-centered: All of the interviewees agreed that the classroom time was indeed learner-centered 
when all of the time students had to work and perform tasks given by the teacher. 
More productive: Many learners commented that they gained more knowledge about a prompted 
topic as well as acquiring more academic vocabulary in that topic, so they were more eager to participate 
in discussion activities and more ready to share their ideas with their classmates about what they knew. 
5. Conclusion 
Listening is seen to be an effective strategy to scaffold academic language and knowledge for 
speaking. However, the important point is that students are asked to make listening portfolios at home rather 
than in class. By using outside-classroom listening portfolio before inside-classroom speaking tasks, 
teachers allow students to accumulate more knowledge or information on a particular topic, better organize 
their thoughts, and ultimately lower their L2 speaking anxiety. The study findings indicated that academic 
speaking following prepared listening outside the classroom were more time-saving and engaging, with 
students using more accurate grammar and more precise vocabulary when they spoke. The study suggests 
that to apply flipped learning model more effectively in language classrooms, it is necessary to adapt it to 
a particular teaching and learning context. In skill-integration teaching, flipped learning can be understood 
that using the outside-classroom time to enhance knowledge through a receptive skill and prepare for 
another productive skill in the classroom time. In this study, listening portfolios significantly enhance 
inside-classroom speaking task engagement as well as performances. 
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LỚP HỌC ĐẢO NGƯỢC: SỬ DỤNG TẬP BÀI NGHE 
NGOÀI LỚP HỌC ĐỂ TĂNG CƯỜNG HIỆU QUẢ 
HOẠT ĐỘNG NÓI TRÊN LỚP 
Tóm tắt: Với thời lượng giảng dạy hạn hẹp trong lớp học, nhiều giáo viên ngoại ngữ tiếng Anh đã gặp 
nhiều trở ngại trong việc làm thế nào để tạo ra được nhiều không gian, thời gian và cơ hội hơn cho người 
học sử dụng ngôn ngữ đích một cách ý nghĩa. Thông qua phương pháp định tính với các cách tiếp cận 
như phỏng vấn, phân tích tài liệu học tập và quan sát lớp học, bài nghiên cứu tìm hiểu hiệu quả của việc 
ứng dụng mô hình lớp học đảo ngược với sự tích hợp giữa hai kĩ năng nghe và nói. Khách thể tham gia 
của đề tài là 17 sinh viên chuyên ngành tiếng Anh đang tham gia vào khoá học nghe-nói 6 tại Khoa 
Ngoại Ngữ trường Đại học Quảng Bình. Kết quả nghiên cứu đã cho thấy rằng kĩ năng nghe của người 
học đã phát triển đáng kể, sinh viên tự tin hơn và tham gia vào các hoạt động nói hiệu quả hơn khi được 
chuẩn bị về chủ đề đó thông qua kĩ năng nghe ở nhà. Bài báo đề xuất rằng để tăng cường tính tự học 
của người học và tối đa hoá hiệu quả trong thời gian lớp học, việc áp dụng mô hình đảo ngược như bài 
tập ở nhà làm việc tại lớp và công việc tại lớp chuẩn bị ở nhà với sự kết hợp của các kĩ năng khác nhau 
đóng vai trò quan trọng trong việc giảng dạy ngoại ngữ. 
Từ khoá: Học đảo ngược, tập bài nghe, tích hợp kĩ năng nghe và nói