Flipping the Interpretation Course with Rain Classroom: A Survey of Students' Attitudes and Perceptions

Responding to students' concerns over the instructional approach and the learning effect of the traditional interpretation course, the present study proposes a flipped classroom model for the interpretation course with the help of Rain Classroom, a powerful tool for blended teaching and learning both in and out of class. The implementation of this flipped interpretation class is elaborated and students' attitudes and perceptions towards this instructional strategy and its learning effect are examined through a questionnaire survey and an interview. The results reveal that the students prefer the flipped interpretation class to the traditional interpretation class, with highly positive opinions of the flipped classroom model and the learning effect. In addition, the benefits of this flipped interpretation class supported by Rain Classroom are explored. On the one hand, Rain Classroom facilitates the self-regulated learning by providing a rich variety of learning materials readily available on the smartphone and creating a supportive, technology-enhanced learning environment featuring sufficient feedback and efficient monitoring. On the one hand, the face-to-face learning in class turns out to be more productive and efficient as more time is freed up for active forms of learning such as solving learning problems and interpreting practice.