Enhancing students’ written production in English through flipped lessons and simulations

Abstract

Today, learning is perceived as a challenge that must be faced simultaneously on numerous fronts. Indeed, learning is no longer confined to the classroom. Students have the opportunity to learn inside and outside the classroom walls. Technology plays its part, as does the abundance of information available on social networks and in the mass media. Educators must stay abreast of change as information and potentially useful technological resources leave traditional education behind. Optimising class time through new methods, techniques and resources is paramount in today’s education systems. This paper presents the results of a quantitative study of students’ written production in English. The English writing skills of engineering students were developed using situational (or class) simulations and a large-scale web-based simulation in real time. Quantitative analysis of students’ written production was used to test for differences between experimental and control groups. The goal of this study was to show that simulation-based instruction contributes significantly to students’ progress in written production in English. The results showed that students who received simulation-based instruction (experimental group) significantly improved their English writing skills, primarily in terms of organisation and linking of ideas more than students who attended a regular English course (control group).