# Investigating the Impact of Different Teaching Methods in College Chinese Courses on Cognitive Understanding and Brain Activation Patterns Using Portable fNIRS

## TL;DR

This study shows that flipped classroom teaching improves Chinese language understanding and brain activity in college students, using portable brain sensors.

## Contribution

The study demonstrates the feasibility of using portable fNIRS to assess brain activation in real classroom settings and identifies flipped classroom as the most effective teaching method.

## Key findings

- Flipped classroom (FC) improved comprehension scores and prefrontal activation more than traditional methods.
- FC reduced cognitive workload and enhanced functional connectivity between prefrontal regions.
- Group discussion (GD) showed better semantic conflict resolution than other methods.

## Abstract

This study aimed to investigate how different instructional methods in college Chinese language education—traditional lecture (TL), group discussion (GD), and flipped classroom (FC)—affect students' cognitive comprehension and prefrontal cortical activation. A key focus was to demonstrate the feasibility and value of using portable functional near‐infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) sensors to capture real‐time brain activity in ecologically valid classroom settings.

A total of 30 undergraduate students were randomly assigned to one of three instructional conditions. Participants completed comprehension assessments, a semantic conflict task, and NASA‐TLX workload ratings. Simultaneously, a wearable fNIRS sensor system was used to monitor hemodynamic responses (ΔHbO) and functional connectivity in prefrontal cortical areas, enabling noninvasive neural measurements during naturalistic learning.

The FC condition showed significantly higher total comprehension scores compared to the GD (p = 0.002) and TL conditions (p < 0.001), with the greatest advantage observed in higher‐order semantic processing (p < 0.001). The GD condition outperformed others in resolving semantic conflict, showing the lowest interference cost and highest accuracy in the modern‐meaning interference cost. The FC condition reported the lowest overall cognitive workload (56.7 ± 6.2), significantly lower than GD and TL (p < 0.001). fNIRS sensor data revealed the highest ΔHbO activation in the FC condition, particularly in the left DLPFC, along with stronger functional connectivity between L‐DLPFC and L‐VLPFC. Brain–behavior correlations showed a positive association between L‐DLPFC activation and comprehension score (r = 0.51, p < 0.001), and a negative association between connectivity strength and semantic interference cost (r = −0.57, p = 0.001).

The integration of portable fNIRS sensors into educational research provides valuable insights into how instructional strategies modulate both cognition and brain function in real‐world classroom environments. The flipped classroom method proves most effective in enhancing semantic comprehension, lowering cognitive demands, and promoting prefrontal engagement. These findings validate the application of wearable brain‐sensing technologies to evaluate and optimize pedagogical practices in higher education.

This study demonstrates that flipped classroom teaching enhances Chinese language comprehension, reduces cognitive load, and increases prefrontal activation and connectivity, as measured by portable fNIRS in a real classroom setting.