Personalizing Flipped Instruction to Enhance EFL Learners’ Idiomatic Knowledge and Oral Proficiency

Personalized learning transforms learners from passive receivers of information to active learners in the learning process, because it transforms the teaching content and instructional implementation to take advantage of the individual characteristics of the learner. Adapting to individual differences fulfills the ultimate goal of teaching learners in accordance with their aptitude. However, an examination of current EFL instruction reveals that one-size-fits-all instructions without considering personalization and individuality still prevail, that English idioms have not been adequately incorporated in language education, and that mobile-assisted language learning is still in its infancy. Therefore, this study aimed to examine the effects of an idiom-based, personalized, constructivist flipped instruction on EFL learners’ idiomatic knowledge and oral proficiency. The participants were 40 English-major sophomores enrolled in English Oral Training classes in central Taiwan. Multiple sources of data were collected, including idiom-based pre-/posttests, one questionnaire exploring learners’ perception of the flipped experience, focus-group interview, and in-class observation. The results revealed that such a personalized flipped instructional design effectively motivated students, enhanced their learning outcomes (idiomatic knowledge and oral proficiency), and turned them into active learners.