Second Language Acquisition and Cross-Cultural Awareness Using Flipgrid in Higher Education

Abstract

The use of Flipgrid as a platform that can contribute to Second Language Acquisition (SLA) has been understudied. The bibliographic and descriptive research presented in this article seeks to review past investigations on Flipgrid to date. The article also describes and evaluates the implementation of this tool through a pedagogical project to record and share videos, as well as to provide peer feedback. A total of 47 undergraduate learners of Spanish and English as a foreign language in the United States and Spain participated in this project, which focused on the topic of applying for a job. Following a mixed-methods approach, a bibliometric analysis across Scopus and Web of Science databases was conducted and performance indicators of four project tasks uploaded to Flipgrid were examined. Finally, evaluation questionnaires completed by 46 participants were analyzed by means of descriptive and inferential statistics. Qualitative data was processed through content analysis and categorization. The results confirm that language learners’ engagement and peer feedback were effectively fostered, and that the advantages of using Flipgrid to promote SLA clearly outweigh the disadvantages.