Effects of an annotation‐supported Socratic questioning approach on students' argumentative writing performance and critical thinking skills in flipped language classrooms

• Published in: Journal of computer assisted learning Vol. 40; no. 1; pp. 37 - 48
• Main Authors: Chang, Jo‐Ling, Hung, Hsiu‐Ting, Yang, Ya‐Ting C.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Chichester, UK John Wiley & Sons, Inc 01.02.2024; Wiley Subscription Services, Inc
• Subjects: Active learning; Annotations; argumentative writing; Classrooms; Comprehension; Critical thinking; English as a second language; English as a second language instruction; Flipped classroom; flipped learning; Foreign languages; Instructional design; Instructional Innovation; Learning; Learning Processes; Learning strategies; Longitudinal studies; Performance evaluation; Questions; Second language writing; Skills; social annotation; Sociolinguistics; Students; Teaching Methods; Thinking Skills; Writing instruction
• ISSN: 0266-4909; 1365-2729
• DOI: 10.1111/jcal.12856

Background Critical thinking and argumentative writing are considered complex but essential skills for learners. However, few studies have examined how instructions can be designed to optimize the development of such skills simultaneously. Contextualized in flipped language classrooms, this study aimed to develop an instructional innovation for English as a foreign language (EFL) learners. Objectives This study investigated the effects of an annotation‐supported Socratic questioning (ASSQ) approach as a flipped classroom enhancement on students' argumentative writing and critical thinking in an EFL writing course. Methods Fifty students from two classes participated in the study, and they were randomly assigned to an experimental group and a comparison group. Following an 8‐week flipped learning curriculum, the experimental group learned with the proposed ASSQ approach in the enhanced flipped classroom, while the comparison group was exposed to the traditional flipped classroom. Students' argumentative writing performance was evaluated with their argumentative essays using a researcher‐developed writing rubric, and their critical thinking skills were assessed using the California Critical Thinking Skills Test. Results Both groups significantly improved their argumentative writing, and the experimental group also significantly outperformed the comparison group after learning through the proposed approach. While the two groups had no significant difference in critical thinking skills, the within‐group comparison results revealed that the experimental group made significant improvements due to the instructional intervention. Implications The ASSQ approach could enhance the flipped classroom in regard to the teaching of argumentative writing, whereas it bears only limited impact on critical thinking. Overall, the positive effect of the proposed approach on enhancing English learners' argumentative writing performance was mainly attributed to the combined affordances of Socratic questioning and a social annotation tool to scaffold the students' thinking through verbal articulation, and to visualize their thinking with social annotations throughout the flipped learning process. Lay Description What is already known about this topic Recent research has indicated that flipped classrooms can provide a more engaging context for encouraging active learning of students than traditional lecture‐based classrooms. Socratic questioning, which uses thought‐provoking questioning prompts to guide discussions, has been shown to be an active learning strategy to foster students' critical thinking skills. Social annotation tools are helpful in facilitating students' active learning in reading and comprehension. What this paper adds This study proposed an annotation‐supported Socratic questioning (ASSQ) approach, merging the use of a social annotation tool and an active learning strategy, to enhance the instructional design of flipped language classrooms for English learners. Under the flipped learning conditions, the experimental group who learned with the ASSQ approach significantly outperformed the comparison group without this aid in argumentative writing performance. Under the flipped learning conditions, the proposed ASSQ approach could help both groups of students make satisfactory improvement in critical thinking skills, but there was no significant difference between the groups. Implications for practice The combination of a social annotation tool and Socratic questioning into an integrated active learning approach can be applied to effectively flip argumentative writing courses for English learners. The proposed ASSQ approach can be adopted in longitudinal studies to explore its potential effect on critical thinking.