FLIPPED LEARNING IN ELT: EXPERIENCES FROM OMAN

Background and Purpose: Recently, flipped learning has become prevalent as a teaching and learning approach in international educational settings. A commonly cited advantage is to do self-study at home and to spend valuable classroom time on meaningful interactive learning activities. After the start of Covid-19 pandemic, the sudden transition to online teaching required many institutions to adopt a flipped learning approach. The current study was conducted at one of such institutions, namely Dhofar University in Oman. The aim of this paper is to identify the challenges met by both teachers and students using flipped learning during this transition as well as the solutions they developed to cope with them.   Methodology: This study implemented a mixed methods design for which the data were collected from two questionnaires and semi-structured interviews. One questionnaire was for teachers with 14 responses while the other was for students and could obtain responses from 68 students from the target population. From the list of teacher respondents, 10 were interviewed for deeper discussion of flipped learning context. The Questionnaires results were statistically calculated and descriptively analysed, whereas the interviews were thematically scrutinized.   Findings: The researchers found several major challenges including increased workload, lack of training, resistance to change, lacking IT skills, technical issues, non-completion of homework tasks and non-participation in live sessions. Teachers' resilience in the face of these challenges was noteworthy; especially in the form of peer support groups. The suggestions made by the teaching faculty for solutions are reported and discussed in the relevant sections of the article with reference to various research studies from different contexts.   Contributions: Despite the small scale and the specific context of the study, the results and discussion provide useful food for thought to educational practitioners and decision makers in wider international contexts when it comes to flipped learning challenges and coping mechanisms.    Keywords: Flipped learning, ELT, challenges, solutions, higher education.   Cite as: Eissa, A., Yapar, O., & Abugohar, M. (2023). Flipped learning in ELT: Experiences from Oman. Journal of Nusantara Studies, 8(2), 180-200. http://dx.doi.org/10.24200/jonus.vol8iss2pp180-200