The flip side of flipped language teaching

The past decade has seen a growing interest in “flipped teaching”, an inversion of traditional teaching methods, whereby instruction formerly taking place in the classroom is made accessible online and lesson time is spent on interaction. Until very recently, flipped learning was largely limited to the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) fields and/or the teaching of blended courses, but some foreign language professionals have also now begun to take notice. At first glance, the approach may appear promising, as it would normalize computers in general instruction and allow teachers to serve more as facilitators and managers rather than purveyors of knowledge. However, reports of its efficacy have so far been mostly anecdotal. Moreover, most flipped teaching as currently practiced assumes top-down presentation that ignores fundamental differences in the nature and purpose of instructional input when content learning is the main, if not sole, objective and language acquisition occurs only incidentally, if at all. As such, without thoughtful adaptation, it is inconsistent with and unsuited for contemporary foreign language pedagogy. This paper discusses potential advantages and disadvantages to consider in the decision of whether to flip the foreign language classroom.