Affordance-based Mobile Learning in a Flipped Classroom to Enhance CFL Learners’ Oral Proficiency: A Comparative Study

Abstract

A study is reported on the effectiveness of enhancing Chinese as a foreign language (CFL) learners’ oral proficiency via mobile-assisted flipped instruction. 64 overseas sophomores at a four-year comprehensive university in Southwest China voluntarily participated in the study. The researcher conducted a teaching experiment, and the data collected from pretest and posttest was analyzed with independent-sample T-test. Class observations and interviews were also designed and implemented to figure out students’ performance in class and attitude toward the mobile-assisted flipped instruction. The results indicated that the participants’ oral proficiency was significantly enhanced as the result of the employment of mobile-assisted flipped instruction. Participants in experiment group appeared to behave more actively in class due to better affordances of more communication opportunities, sufficient collaborations, and flexible self-direction.