Students who speak languages other than English compose a growing population in U.S. schools. As a result, many general education teachers are finding more English language learners (ELLs) in mainstream classrooms. Unfortunately, previous studies have shown that many teachers in the United States may not be effectively prepared to teach ELLs in mainstream classrooms despite urgent calls for such preparation (Coady, Harper, & de Jong, 2015). Considering this context, educating preservice teachers with ESOL coursework is a critical issue in general teacher education programs.

Although evidence of the effectiveness of flipped learning in K–12 classrooms has revealed several benefits, previous research regarding English language teaching and teacher education programs has not been fully explored (Han, 2015). As such, this study aims to understand how the role of microteaching activities in the flipped English to speakers or other languages (ESOL) classroom shapes elementary preservice teachers' self-efficacy in teaching ELLs. To respond to this call, this study explored two research questions as follows:

1. How do preservice teachers perceive self-efficacy in teaching ELLs through ESOL microteaching in a flipped ESOL teacher preparation course?

2. How do the course instructors perceive preservice teachers’ self-efficacy in teaching ELLs after having conducted the ESOL microteaching activity in a flipped ESOL teacher preparation classroom?

Implementing Flipped Learning in an Elementary Preservice Teachers’ ESOL Teacher Education Course

I currently teach the course TSL 4100 (ESOL Curriculum, Methods, and Assessment). The course is aimed toward elementary preservice teachers’ ESOL endorsement at a public university in Florida. Because preservice teachers are seniors in their elementary teacher education, the course objective is more practice orientated than theory based. The format of the course was redesigned to provide authentic and meaningful learning experiences for preservice teachers, to align with the suggestions of Egbert, Herman, and Lee (2015). As such, a flipped classroom environment was used for this course. By reviewing previous studies about flipped learning in English language teaching and teacher education programs, administrators made an effort to create a more authentic and interactive learning environment for preservice teachers so the teachers could reflect on what was learned during the course.

Conceptual Framework: Self-Efficacy Beliefs

Bandura (1997) defines self-efficacy as “beliefs in one’s capabilities to organize and execute the courses of action required to produce given attainments” (p. 3). The theoretical underpinnings of teacher self-efficacy have been influenced by social cognitive theory. Bandura’s theory of self-efficacy suggests that teachers’ self-efficacy beliefs could be the most influential factor in the teachers’ early teaching profession because the first few years of teaching experiences could be critical in helping them develop long-term teacher efficacy.

Bandura (1997) specifically proposed four sources of self-efficacy expectations: 1) mastery experiences, 2) physiological and emotional states, 3) vicarious experiences, and 4) social persuasion. Among these four expectations, mastery experience is the most important for preservice teachers because the perception of one’s teaching can significantly contribute to future teaching success or failure, which indicates that one’s expectation of future teaching performances will be a strong indicator of teachers’ long-term self-efficacy development.

How the Flipped Classroom Operated

The flipped classroom design included several lecture videos that were recorded in studio during the semester. The recording was divided into three 20-minute video segments that addressed various areas of teaching reading and writing to ELLs. The participating preservice teachers were asked to watch videos and take online quizzes prior to class. As an in-class activity, the preservice teachers were instructed to design a mini reading and writing lesson plan for ELLs based on a given topic. The mini–lesson plans were presented and video-recorded in class for ESOL microteaching demonstrations. The flipped classroom experiment was conducted throughout the spring 2017 semester.

Discussion

The flipped classroom provided not only opportunities for preservice teachers to practice reading and writing strategies for ELLs, but it also created an avenue for the course instructor to provide valuable feedback. Through ESOL microteaching activities in the flipped classroom, preservice teachers learned necessary ESOL strategies by observing their peers’ microteaching, and they received more opportunities to demonstrate their accommodations skills. However, the artificial environment of microteaching sessions and limited time could have had a negative impact on the teachers’ ESOL microteaching experiences.

The recorded ESOL microteaching videos in the flipped classroom showed that preservice teachers demonstrated their ELL accommodations effectively in terms of providing comprehensible input for ELLs with many visual aids and graphic organizers. They created a collaborative activity by means of assigning native English students as peer helpers. Furthermore, teacher candidates provided individual accommodation, such as tutoring for individual ELLs.

However, preservice teachers needed more practice to accommodate ELLs based on English language proficiency and tapping into funds of knowledge in the microteaching rubric. Preservice teachers’ microteaching demonstrations were expected to improve in conducting culturally and linguistically responsive teaching (Lucas & Villegas, 2013), such as through incorporating aspects like native language usage and support.

References

Bandura, A. (1997). Self-efficacy: The exercise of control. New York, NY: W. H. Freeman.

Coady, M. R., Harper, C., & de Jong, E. J. (2016). Aiming for equity: Preparing mainstream teachers for inclusion or inclusive classrooms? TESOL Quarterly, 50, 340–368.

Egbert, J., Herman, D., & Lee, H. (2015). Flipped instruction in English language teacher education: A design-based study in a complex, open-ended learning environment. TESL-EJ, 19(2).

Han, Y. J. (2015). Successfully flipping the ESL classroom for learner autonomy. NYS TESOL Journal, 2(1), 98–109.

Lucas, T., & Villegas, A. M. (2013). Preparing linguistically responsive teachers: Laying the foundation in preservice teacher education. Theory Into Practice, 52(2), 98–109.

Yong-Jik Lee is a PhD candidate focusing in ESOL/Bilingual Education. His research interests include pre-service teachers’ ESOL field experience and implementing flipped learning in pre-service teachers’ ESOL teacher education.