The impact that Internet information technology has brought to the traditional theoretical knowledge and practical education will inevitably lead to great changes in English teaching and learning model. Flip classroom, as a new teaching mode based on Internet information technology, realizes the effective reversal of the traditional education mode by using information technology. Flipped classroom, also known as Inverted Classroom, is an instructional strategy and a type of blended learning that reverses the traditional learning environment. it allows students to finish the knowledge learning before class by watching teaching videos or reading other teaching materials, while the class time is used for interaction and cooperation between students as well as knowledge consolidation. It moves activities, including those that may have traditionally been considered homework, into the classroom.

The advantage of Flipped Classroom lies in that it breaks the space limit of tradition education mode, exerting the learning autonomy of students to the fullest extent. At the same time, it enhances the interaction between students and teachers, improving the comprehensive learning ability of students in a all-rounded way. Moreover, Flipped Classroom has changed the teaching mode from “teaching before learning” to “learning before teaching”, making it a representation of advanced pedagogic concept and technical education mode.

To do a research on the application of Flipped Classroom in undergraduate teaching of English major is of a great importance. The emphasis of English teaching on ability training of students so as to shape them into compound talents urges teachers to strengthen the interaction with students during teaching process. As for the teaching environment, more attention should be paid to teacher-student communication and to create a favourable language learning atmosphere. Since college students have already possessed the ability to study independently, the time for interaction will be subdued if teachers stick to the traditional dominant mode. And this single way of teaching is very likely to reduce students’ learning enthusiasm. Besides, students of language major need to grasp the expression and application of languages instead of resting on the empty talk. Long period of just inputting without outputting will certainly cut out students’ language skills, thus traditional class teaching cannot satisfy the contemporary needs. To avoid such a situation brought by lack of interaction, Flipped Classroom can be adopted.

Flipped Classroom, as a practise of Reserve Order Innovation which brings a brand new way of thinking and observation angle of view, has achieved the innovation of teaching process. The origin of Flipped Classroom can be traced back to the autumn of 1996, when Maureen J.Lage and Glenn J.Platt of the University of Miami School of Business Administration first put forward the idea and put it into practise in class. Then in April 2004, Wesley J.Baker established the Model of Classroom Flipping. When Jonathan Bergmann and Aaron Sams carried out the flipped teaching into high school in 2007, Global Times in Canada assessed Flipped Classroom as a significant technical revolution on class teaching.

In 2012, Flipped Classroom was introduced into China by some scholars who were influenced by the publish of “Flip Your Classroom:Talk to Every Student in Every Class Every Day”. Flipped Classroom has instantly become a famous hot word in academe. So far, there is a tremendous amount of content in Baidu, nearly 7,570,000, relevant to Flipped Classroom. In Bing there is about 221,000 related topics. What’s more, according the search on CNKI.Net, more than 24,554 papers and dissertations have been produced over the recent years, whereas in 2012 there was only 4. The booming increase of Flipped Classroom reflects to some extent the high concern on this issue both in the academe and general public.

In Analysis on the Application of Flipped Classroom to English Teaching in Colleges and Universities published in 2016, Qianwen Luo set forth the necessity of Flipped Classroom in English teaching of higher education, and designed a system of Flipped Classroom Teaching Mode in which students watch videos before class, do exercises and discuss in class, and conclude knowledge after class. However, this paper ignores the speciality of language teaching and learning, making the mode too general to suit for English majors. In addition, the author did not put the mode into practise, thus the feasibility of this teaching mode remains in doubt because it lacks of evident data support. To adopt Flipped Classroom into undergraduate teaching of English major, the existing problems in classroom teaching of English major nowadays must be found out. The feasibility of using flip classroom into classroom teaching should also be discussed.

2. 研究的基本内容与方案

In order to achieve the deep integration of information technology and education as well as the revolution of student-centered teaching mode, this paper proposes to use documentary analysis, case analysis combined with questionnaire survey to discuss the definition of flip classroom, as well as the existing problems in classroom teaching of English major. The necessity and feasibility of using flip classroom into classroom teaching will also be discussed. Besides, this paper aim to do a survey on the students’ satisfaction towards Flipped Classroom, based on which a deeper analysis from aspects of learner, teacher, curriculum, technology, design and environment will be made to draw out the key factors that pose influence on the implementation of flipped classroom. At the same time, features and design advice will be given according to the questionnaire statistics of Flipped Classroom experience.

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