Direct Classroom- Versus Flipped WebQuest-Based Instruction: Toward a More Productive Writing Practice

Writing is one of the most challenging language skills for both teachers and language learners. As a productive language skill, writing needs ample time and practice to be effectively developed, requirements that are not usually satisfied in conventional lecture-based second or foreign language classrooms. In effect, learners’ ability to produce cohesive and coherent texts usually lags behind their general language proficiency. Inverted classroom designs that enable learners to be engaged in inquiry-oriented activities such as WebQuests prior to classroom meetings might be solutions to this problem. Reversing the order of instruction and practice enables teachers to dedicate more in-class time to systematic interaction and learner practice which can be particularly fruitful for writing skill development. This paper reports an experimental study on the possible impact of flipped WebQuest-oriented writing instruction and practice on foreign language learners’ ability to produce cohesive multi-paragraph essays. Analyzing the data obtained from pre- and post-treatment essays written by language learners in control and experimental groups (N = 20 each), we observed that while both treatments were productive, learners in the flipped classroom produced longer essays containing more frequent and diverse markers of cohesion namely reference words, substitution, ellipsis, conjunctions, and lexical cohesion. The results indicate that when inquiry-based learning outside of the classroom setting is coupled with systematic in-class interaction and practice, it can better enhance learners’ writing proficiency.