In Flipped Learning Network, we can find the following definition: “Flipped learning is a pedagogical approach in which direct instruction moves from the group learning space to individual learning space, and the resulting group space is transformed into a dynamic, interactive learning environment where the educator guides students as they apply concepts and engage creatively in the subject matter” (Flipped Learning Network, 2014). This idea resonates with Gunyou's opinion of an effective methodology that mostly contains active learning and interactive engagement (Gunyou, 2015). One critical difference between a traditional and flipped class is that time is no longer spent passively taking in “raw content” (Horn, 2013). Instead, students practice problem-solving, discuss issues, or work on different projects. As a result, the classroom becomes an interactive environment that engages learners actively in their education.

The advocates of the flipped method (Bergmann & Sams, 2012; Brame, 2013; Cockrum, 2013; Enfield, 2013; Gunyou, 2015; Horn, 2013; November & Mull, 2012; Millard, 2012; Moran & Young, 2014; Rosen, 2016, etc.) point out its other benefits. They say that flipping allows more individual interaction with every student, significantly reduces negative behaviors, helps to develop better relationships with all learners (Cockrum, 2013), and offers wide opportunities for gaining instructional time and differentiation (Cockrum, 2013; Horn, 2013; Rosen, 2016). All these have great potential to boost student learning and get remarkable academic achievements.

Modern education requires the use of up-to-date tools and technologies. As our students are mostly the representatives of “Generation Z” (people born in the 1990's, also known as Gen Z, the connected generation, digital natives, the net generation), incorporating such trends into education can not only be satisfying and interesting for instructors, but also motivating and engaging for students. Moreover, flipped learning is completely open for the integration of any computer tools.

The use of computer technologies in English as a Second Language (ESL) is also not new as back in the 1960's teachers started to combine e-learning and traditional classes. Since the early 1980's, scientists have referred to using computers in language teaching as Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL). In his research paper, Kalamarz (Kalamarz, 2014) described several stages of development of CALL. One stage was associated with computer stimulating automatic responses learners gave to such tasks as text reconstruction, paragraph ordering, multiple choice questions or drills. Another phase featured the communicative approach “allowing for increased creativity and inventiveness in students' answers” (Kalamarz, 2014). Then came the tendency to use multi-media and the Internet as a learning environment which helped to develop language skills through interaction with other learners. Nowadays, more user-friendly tools and software are being invented. As Kalamarz concludes, “as a result of development of information and communication technology e-learning has all the qualities of an essential constituent of an educational process” (Kalamarz, 2011).

In the 21st century, many practitioners (Bates & Poole, 2003; Collis & Moonen, 2002; Garrison & Anderson, 2003; Neumeier, 2005; Millard, 2012; Pacansky-Brock, 2012; Cockrum, 2013; Moran & Young, 2014, etc.) speak for the use of modern technologies in education. They highlight such positive aspects as automatic responses, interactivity, multi-sensory experience, a good influence on motivation, etc. (Cechova & Rees, 2013; Krajka, 2012). A lot of researchers in language learning (Brinckwirth, 2012; Guillen, 2015; Kalamarz, 2014; Kern, 1995; Lindaman & Nolan; 2015; So & Lee, 2012; Strobl, 2014) have analyzed the influence of appropriate e-learning techniques on the development of language skills and came to the conclusion that “they favor the development of the key competences of communicating in foreign languages” (Kalamarz, 2014), in particular listening, reading, and writing. Burston (2014) claims that mobile devices can support learning and teaching only if integrated appropriately, and this idea can be expanded to any technology used in educational process and “the flipped model is open to the integration of any tool that helps instructors provide content to their students and help students learn the content they need to become more proficient, both in and out of the classroom setting” (Rosen, L.B. et al., in press, [chapter, p. 4]). It is also important to remember that for blended learning environments to be successful, it is essential to carefully align the online and face-to-face portions of learning experience (Ginns & Ellis, 2007) and to combine “the best of both worlds” (Graham, 2003).

What has remained unexplored, however, is the impact of flipped method on English Phonetics course for part-time university students of different learning abilities and language levels in a country where English is not a native language. This paper describes a study of the impact as well as demonstrating the use o computer technologies to increase the effectiveness of an English Phonetics Course in an environment of limited class time and diverse language learners.

Method. Relevant data was collected from two groups (control and experimental). The total number of participants was 40: 20 & 20. In both groups, female students prevailed: 18 female over 2 male students. Their language level varied from Novice High to Advanced Low based on ACTFL Proficiency Guidelines. The age range was 18-36 years. All the participants were pursuing an academic degree as part-time students at the linguistic university. The results of the pre-course questionnaire showed that the majority of students could be labeled as digital natives (Prensky, 2001). Most of them were completely comfortable with the use of computer technologies in the course. The questionnaire aimed at identifying any previous experience in blended learning and technical skills possessed by the students. The results showed that half of the participants had been enrolled in a blended course and used an online course management system such as Blackboard, Moodle, or Desire2Learn before. It was also evident that the students had necessary basic computer skills: searching the Internet (75%), receiving and sending emails (100%), attaching files to send in an email and opening the attachments received (100%), saving files (100%), formatting, organizing, downloading, uploading, compressing and uncompressing files (100%), working with file sizes (75%), and changing image sizes (32%). From the collected data, researchers ensured that the participants were fully prepared for a blended course in English Phonetics and needed no additional technical skills. It was also important for the research findings that no participant had ever taken part in a flipped course.

One week before the beginning of the course, the students of the experimental group received a course syllabus with its description, goals, materials, additional resources, assessments, evaluation criteria, classroom policy, and class schedule (with all the topics and assignments for every class). The syllabus was accompanied by an introductory video with the main course information and the explanations of the first homework assignment. The learners were also asked to answer pre-course questionnaires.

A new English Phonetics Course was planned on the basis of backward flipped design. It means that the theoretical material was carefully scaffolded in order to accomplish the three learning goals: (1) learners needed to improve their pronunciation and soften their accent by articulating English sounds correctly and using appropriate intonation patterns (a new learning goal!); (2) students needed to understand the general phonetic terms and use them appropriately; (3) students needed to understand and be able to describe basic phonetic processes, such as accommodation, assimilation, elision, etc. In order to demonstrate these skills, at the end of the course, the students wrote a phonetic test where they matched a definition with its term; did a phonetic analysis of an English text where they described phonetic processes; and, finally, gave an oral presentation to the group. From the very beginning, they chose a topic for their final speech according to their interests and personal strengths so that they could work towards their goal throughout the entire semester.

In the experimental group, the main stress was placed on improving students' pronunciation and softening their accent. In order to make time for meaningful activities during class, the participants were systematically asked to read and understand a small portion of the theoretical material in English before (as their homework) writing out all the new phonetic terms with their translation to the glossary. As Milman (2012) notes that formative and summative assessment should be incorporated in such instruction, after reading the material the students also needed to do a multiple choice test in the LMS Moodle. Its results gave the instructor information about how well the students understood the content. Rosen et. al. points out that “by having this information, instructors were able to better prepare for the types of misconceptions students actually had and were able to address them directly with the whole class” (Rosen, L.B., Maeda, M., & Roberts, N., in press, [chapter, p. 14]). As for the learners, such concept checks helped them realize what they did not know and ask better clarification questions during class. In the End-Of-The-Course Survey, 100% students marked them as very effective and also noted that “the tests on the LMS Moodle made them re-read new material several times to reach a deeper understanding” (May 2016).

Research by many educators (Bates & Galloway, 2012; Bergman & Sams, 2012; Cockrum, 2013; Enfield, 2013; Gunyou, 2015; November & Mull, 2012; Millard, 2012; Moran & Young, 2014; Rosen, 2016) has shown that a pedagogical flip allows a better use of class time as instructors can fill it in with more meaningful activities. In this research, the instructional time was given totally in the target language (with a lot of visuals) and partly focused on the main difficulties that the students could encounter in their homework. The class communication was meaningful and met six goals of foreign language learning (communication, cultures, connections, comparisons, communities, and collaboration) (Clementi & Terrill, 2013, p. 2). The class was designed in such a way as to clarify the most challenging parts of the theoretical material, concentrate on its practical application, and give learners numerous examples or chances for practice. “When learners are given the opportunity to engage in meaningful activities they are compelled to `negotiate for meaning', that is, to express and clarify their intensions, thoughts, opinions, etc., in a way which permits them to arrive at a mutual understanding” (Lightbrown & Spada, 1999, p. 122). Such an interaction develops fluency and accuracy in the language (Ellis and Shantini, 2014).

Among the in-class activities on reaching course goals 2 and 3 were the following:

• Discovering syllables through US State Names. Distribute the cards equally among the members of your team. Together, arrange the words into categories according to the number of syllables in each word. For example, “Texas” will go with other words, that have two syllables, including “New York” and “Kansas”. As you place a given card into a category, say the word out loud as your team can hear the way you say the word. If you have any difficulty categorizing the word, discuss it with your group. Ask yourself what it is about the word that makes it difficult to categorize. Share your ideas with the class (Barr, 2011).

• Work with your partner and write the function of each speech organ on the reverse side of your flashcards; compare it to the given table.

• Work with your partner and analyze the articulation of the English vowel sound [e] and the English consonant sound [p]. Fill in the table with the findings.

• Draw a sonority scale for each word given, identify the number of syllables and discuss the rules of counting syllables in English words with the partner. Then, do the class sharing.

• Please guess the sound by its characterization.

• What consonant sounds (from the place of obstruction) do these pictures show?

• Find out about Humpty Dumpty and its origin. Read the poem about Humpty Dumpty with your partner helping each other with pronunciation.

• Inside and Outside Circles One half of the students need to form an inner circle facing out of the circle. The other half of the students need

to stand in an outer circle, looking into the circle towards the other students on the inner circle. : two partners work together and practice pronunciation of the text for the final oral presentation. The partners give each other feedback on their pronunciation and fill in the table. If they have any questions, they need to consult with the teacher. After two minutes, they change their partner and repeat the procedure. Finally, they perform to the whole class.

• Jigsaw activity: students form a group with a leader. Each student needs to present her or his segment to the group about the phonetic structure of an intonation group. They may draw tonograms if it is necessary. The other students in the group need to ask questions for clarification. Then, they have a quiz.

• Vocabulary Tree: students form a group and get a sheet with a tree on it. Then they write what in an intonation group can be associated with each part.

• Interviewing: form a group and create a list of 10 questions on intonation for the other group. Ask the other group the questions based on the material studied together.

Demonstrate your knowledge giving examples. Put a “+” if the other group has answered your question, etc.

As pronunciation can be easily improved independently with the use of computer tools and programs, without any instructor really present, class activities engaged students only into some really fundamental pronunciation practice and help `strong' students to `purify' their pronunciation and `weak' students to acquire at least the basic pronunciation skills that they can reinforce independently if time permits. In the End-Of-The-Course Survey, 100% students found the instructional time very effective and pointed out that “everything was clear even in the foreign language” and “the classes made us achieve our learning goals within a short period of time” (May 2016).

Among the in-class activities on pronunciation were the following:

• Words and phrases Kazoo game: guess the sentence by listening to Kazoo (Barr, 2011).

• Please pronounce the sentence with different intonation every time I throw a ball. Then explain what “intonation” means.

• Listen and put an arrow up (^) over the word if it is spoken on the highest note, or an arrow down (v) if it is spoken on the lowest note (Ashton, H. & Shepherd, S., 2012, p. 100).

• Identify the length of the vowel in the following words and practice its pronunciation using a rubber band.

• Let's explore how much possibility for pitch you have in your voice. First, say the word “me” on a note that feels comfortable for you. Now pick a note that is little higher…say “higher”. Then a note that is higher … still say “highest”. And repeat. Now come back to “me”. Then pick a note that is a little lower… say “lower”. Now pick a note that is lower still… say “lower”. Now try a few combinations of these notes (Ashton, H. & Shepherd, S., 2012, p. 101).

• “Are you in a good voice?”: Please pronounce the chunks with different voice: flat, resonant, creaky, husky, bright, dark, soft, furry, etc.

• Stand up and clap the rhythm (“Three Blind Mice”, “Take it Home”, etc.). You need to have one clap at exactly the same amount of time.

• Use an ice-cream stick to work on front, front-retracted, central, back-advanced, and back English vowels.

In the flipped English Phonetics Course, as it can be seen from table 2, class work gives not only the fundamentals of English Phonetics as an academic subject, but also the basics of English pronunciation (British or American accents). Of course, the homework assignments and class activities are interconnected and only by doing them all well can a student achieve the best result.

Table 2. Home vs. class activities in flipped english phonetics course

In English Phonetics Course, designed in a flipped way, an important role is given to modern computer technologies which are mainly used here to fulfill some teaching roles, such as control, check, organization, guidance, material presentation, etc. It all saves face-to-face teaching time and, besides, makes it engaging and interesting. The table below presents examples of typical course activities in English Phonetics supported by computer programs or tools.

Table 3 Typical activities in english phonetics supported by computer programs or tools

The table shows that the activities that do not need instructor's presence or direct assistance are left for students' independent work. They are well-guided with the help of computer technologies and contribute a lot to the final result. The course is totally learner-oriented as every student gets more individual attention from the instructor and regular feedback on their pronunciation progress, again with the help of computer programs or tools. In the End-Of-The-Course Survey, no one stated that computer technologies impeded learning; only 25% expressed their irritation caused by technical breakdowns. Everybody liked Power Point presentation and collaborative activities in Discussion Forums, as they made the educational process not only informative, but also interesting and engaging.

Results. During the experiment, qualitative and quantitative techniques were used to collect both numerical and non-numerical data. As the course progressed, the students in the experimental group were asked to fill in the Middle Course Survey which aimed at understanding the learners' satisfaction and opinions about the effectiveness of the course. It showed that the majority of the participants were satisfied with the course design and already noticed some major improvement in their English accents (89%).

Table 4 The results of the middle course survey

In the Middle Course Survey, the students were asked to leave their comments about what they liked most of all in the course. There they mentioned the following: “teaching methods”,

“explanations are easy to understand”, “pronunciation practice”, “the way the information is presented”, “group work”, “visuals”, “discussion of mistakes”, “tongue-twisters and songs”, “interesting classes and unusual tasks”.

When the course came to its end, the participants wrote three major tests: a Phonetic test which included a matching activity; written classification of English consonant and vowel sounds; written description of cases of assimilation in an English sentence; intoning several English sentences and drawing their tonograms. The major assessment was their final oral presentation (songs, poems, fairy-tales, stories, etc.). The participants could get a total of 30 points (10 - for their Phonetic test; 10 - for their Phonetic analysis; and 10 - for their final oral presentation). As the students of the control group did not have a final oral assessment, only the participants of the experiment were additionally asked to record their reading of the text for their final oral presentation twice: before they started working on it and at the end of the course. Their accuracy was calculated as errors in the set number of difficulties (a total of 50 points) and is presented in the diagram below.

Figure 1. Results of the major assignment (oral presentation) in flipped English phonetics course

Though the diagram shows the general improvement of the students' pronunciation skills, the results can be interpreted correctly if the factors of influence are taken into consideration. Thompson points out that “proficiency in a foreign language depends on a person's language learning ability, motivation, learning environment, intensity of instruction, and prior experience in learning foreign languages… Last, but not least, it depends on the level of proficiency the person wishes to attain” (Thompson, 2014). These so-called factors of influence in our research can be attendance, class participation and homework completeness, initial pronunciation skills, and learners' language abilities or age. Thus, the course was especially effective for two groups of students: those with poor (S4, S6, S19, S20) or good initial pronunciation skills (S2, S7, S13, S14, and S18), but both groups needed to work really hard during the entire semester. The other students (S1, S3, S5, S8, S10, S11, S12, S15, S16, and S17) managed to soften their accent, but not significantly, because of their poor attendance, class participation, homework completion or simply age/low language abilities.

In order to detect the impact of the flipped classroom on course goal 1 and course goal 2, the results of the two written tests in the control and experimental groups are presented comparatively in the following figure:

Figure 2. Written test results in flipped English phonetics course

The diagram shows that the phonetic test results are approximately the same in both groups. It can be explained by the fact that traditional English Phonetics Course was theory-based and students were expected to memorize all the definitions. But simple memorization is not effective in the activities involving higher-order thinking processes. That's why the control group demonstrated a lower score in comparison with the experimental one in the phonetic analysis.

At the end of the course, the information about the level of the students' satisfaction was collected by asking the students to leave their comments in the online survey. It showed that all the students were satisfied with the course content and goals. 83.3% were happy with their final level of theoretical knowledge, but the other students were not sure about it. As for the pronunciation, 75% found their improvement to be significant, while 25% - minor. One of the latter pointed out that the level of her performance depended on her own language abilities, but not the methods of teaching or the instructor.

In the online questionnaire, the students were also asked to express their opinions about the flipped method as they have never experienced it before. Practically all of them (with the exception of only one student) were very positive about it describing it as “effective”, “useful”, and “convenient”. They also highlighted that “they learnt how to work on their own and well-organized independent work helped them achieve better results in pronunciation” (May 2016).

Discussion. The experiment showed that “flipped classroom” supported by computer technologies proved its effectiveness in English Phonetics Course for part-time university students in the country where English is a foreign language. It was designed in such a way so that even weak students could get basic knowledge of Phonetics, acquire the most necessary pronunciation skills and satisfy their learning needs. By the end of the course, excellent and hard-working students with good language abilities were able to improve their accent significantly. Besides, extremely busy students benefitted from it too, as they were offered a free access to all necessary course materials (e.g. examples, instructions, lists of resources, etc.). Moreover, the course was conducted totally in English and contributed to the students' overall language proficiency. Together with the use of computer technologies, it also increased the students' motivation towards English learning as the post-course survey showed. The learners did not experience any difficulty in using digital tools for their studies and even offered some other computer programs that could be successfully used in the course. By and large, the designed course proved to be successful and flipped method showed its great dependence on the right integration of computer tools.

The post-course survey shed light on the students' perception of strengths and weaknesses of the course. All of the participants emphasized that the individual feedback that they received from the instructor after every audio file submission was extremely helpful as it guided them well on their way to their near-native pronunciation. Furthermore, the fact that they worked on their final goal gradually, step by step, helped them to manage their workload and make regular time for pronunciation practice. They also found the collaborative activities in Moodle discussion forums useful. Though group tasks were more demanding in terms of organization as they required learners to complete them approximately at the same time, the students expressed that they gained a lot from their peers' feedback. Moreover, it was obvious from the students' comments that “flipped classroom” took time to get used to. It required good organizational skills, especially timemanagement and self-discipline. Nevertheless, this fact had a positive effect on the learners' autonomy as the course offered more opportunities for independent learning.

In general, a systematic use of computer technologies required by specific studying conditions helped to organize instructional time (both online and face-to-face) more effectively. Besides, they helped to make the educational process more individualized, but increased preparation time and the teacher's workload.

Conclusion