Engaging ESP University Students in Flipped Classrooms for Developing Functional Writing Skills, HOTs, and Eliminating Writer’s Block

Abstract

The current study aims to investigate the impact of using flipped classroom approach on improving functional writing skills of business majors. Also, it aims to enhance some Higher Order Thinking (HOTs) skills including analysis, evaluation, and creation. Additionally, the study may help in eliminating writer’s block of the study sample. A standardized functional writing skill Pre and Posttest, Higher Order Thinking (HOTs) skills test and writer’s block questionnaire have been used to assess the target gains of students at the end of the study. The Quasi-experimental research design was used to investigate progress achieved by the sample of the study which included (51) business majors; (26) business students for the experimental group and (25) for the control group. The findings revealed large gains in functional writing skills, HOTs in favor of experimental group compared with the control group with minimized writer’s block based on the T-test differences in scores. Also ANOVA statistics among the quizzes targeted individual skills during the experiment showed on-going progress in both targeted skills and reduced writer’s block. It is recommended that flipped learning approach should be used in language learning practices.