Classroom Interaction and Learning Anxiety in the IRS-Integrated Flipped Language Classrooms

Flipped learning practices face increasing pressure on the effectiveness of the implementation, as it has significantly transformed pedagogical practices. Although this pedagogical approach has become increasingly popular over the last 10 years, certain challenges to implementation have inevitably arisen. In this study, a learning activity based on the interactive response system (IRS) using a pair-and-share (PS-IRS) strategy is proposed for helping students achieve optimal use of target language, thus bridging the pre-class and in-class contexts in flipped learning. A sequence of PS-IRS activities was created for the study, and the activities were delivered in a collaborative manner in each of the lessons in order to assist students in English language-learning. An experiment was conducted to assess the effectiveness of this approach in the context of English as a foreign language course at a university. A total of 85 university students participated in the experiment, 45 assigned to the experimental group and learned with the PS-IRS approach and 40 in the control group and learned with a teacher-led (TL-IRS) learning method. Results indicate that the PS-IRS approach provides effective interactive learning opportunities that promote students’ willingness to communicate and reduce their learning anxiety. This study builds on existing discussion of integrated-IRS teaching strategies in the literature and extends it into the context of the flipped language classrooms.