2025 IJRSE – Volume 14 Issue 16
Available Online: 1 November 2025
Author/s:
Hamed Mahvelati, Elaheh
Abadan Faculty of Petroleum Engineering, Petroleum University of Technology, Iran (mahvelati.e@put.ac.ir)
Abstract:
Flipped Classroom Model (FCM) research often treats pre-class design as pedagogically neutral, presuming equal benefits for all learner types. This study challenges that assumption by demonstrating that individual cognitive-style differences substantially influence the effectiveness of pre-class strategies—the decisive stage for developing the declarative linguistic knowledge that underpins in-class proceduralization and eventual automatization. Employing a mixed-methods design, the study examined input-exposure flipping among Iranian EFL undergraduates, classified via the Group Embedded Figures Test as field-dependent (FD) or field-independent (FI) and assigned to either flipped or non-flipped instructional conditions. Quantitative analyses indicated that the Flipped–FI group achieved the highest speaking-proficiency gains, while qualitative findings illuminated the mechanisms behind this advantage. Evidence from classroom observations, interviews, learner journals, and raters’ evaluations showed that the FIs engaged analytically with pre-class materials, integrating micro-level linguistic forms with overall meaning and restructuring them into cohesive semantic–syntactic–phonological units. This deep, organized encoding reduced cognitive load, supported fluent and accurate in-class performance, and maximized proceduralization opportunities in collaborative communicative tasks. In contrast, the FDs adopted a holistic attentional orientation, prioritizing gist over autonomous, form-focused noticing. Their shallow encoding increased in-class cognitive load, heightened anxiety, and diverted class time to remedial explanations—limiting the shift from declarative to procedural knowledge. By connecting stage-specific processing differences in attention, encoding depth, and retrieval efficiency to cognitive style, this study offers a plausible explanation for inconsistent outcomes in prior FCM research and underscores the need for cognitive-style-responsive pre-class design to fully realize the flipped model’s communicative aims.
Keywords: flipped classroom model, pre-class input exposure, EFL speaking proficiency, cognitive style, field dependence/independence
DOI: https://doi.org/10.5861/ijrse.2025.25280
Cite this article:
Hamed Mahvelati, E. (2025). Not a one-size-fits-all pedagogy: Evaluating flipped learning efficacy through the lens of learner cognitive style. International Journal of Research Studies in Education, 14(16), 173-189. https://doi.org/10.5861/ijrse.2025.25280