2. Outline:
1-What is a large / crowded class?
2-Do we have large classes in our high
schools.
3-Undesirable Effects of Overcrowdedness
4-Solutions and Recommandations
3. The argument
The main contention defended in this
paper is that conditions under which my
colleagues and I teach English are
unfavourable.Therefore, implementation
of any teaching strategy would lack
objectivity and credibility.
4. 1-What is a large / crowded class?
class management, student discipline, classroom
equipments, facilities, staffing...etc
“We do not have a rigid interpretation of how
many students make a class large. What is being
taught and what resources, accommodation and
facilities are available all have to be taken into
account” Alan Jenkins and Graham Gibbs. Teaching Large Classes
in Higher Education: How to Maintain quality with Reduced Resources,
2013, p.16)
5. A large class is /means
- too many students in a very small sized class
-too many students to learn their names by the
end of the semester
- antithesis to ‘normal’, ‘small’ and ‘regular’ class.
“in such crowded classes, the teacher cannot pay
individual attention to the learners. In such
situations, the teacher cannot do full justice to his
duty and work.” M.E.S Elizabeth (Methods of
Teaching English, 2004,p.41)
6. 2-Do we have large classes in our high
schools?
-Students in the majority of the classes I teach
exceed 40 students.
-The number attains 56 in some classes
“I would not consider crowded a classroom which
consists of 60 students in a high school”. Elhbib
Elmalki
-I teach 225 students , different levels (common
core and 2nd baccalaureate students) the largest
class contains 47 students.
7. 3-Undesirable effects of overcrowdedness
The first self-evident effect is noise
“a large class is a noisy class” to use Julia Thompson’s
terms
noise in large classes has an adverse effect on the
orderly productive classroom teachers and
students want to have
Students lose concentration and fail to understand
their lessons.
cheating
8. -Testing large classes is time-consuming
In a large class, the teacher cannot easily
recognize the names and faces of his/ her
students
Not all the learners have the opportunity
to speak and have immediate feedback
from their teacher since one hour is not
pedagogically enough to cover 52 students
in a class
11. 4-Solutions and recommandations
-Unclog our schools:
1-the immediate creation of other institutions
in cities and forsaken areas of Morocco.
2-more and more teachers should be
recruited in parallel
- Teacher would consider it a luxury to have
a maximum of 20 or 25 students in a class.
12. “the smaller classes are the preferred
option for our students [because] a
positive discipline climate and a
pleasant learning environment are
impossible in overcrowded classes.” Julia
Thompson . Discipline Survival Guide for the
Secondary Teacher,2011.p77
14. To conclude
There is of course a substantial relationship between
the size of the class and the quality of education
teaching overcrowded classes is possible but teaching
them effectively and pedagogically covering crowd of
students in very determined amount of time (one hour
session for each class) taking into account their racial,
ethnic, and educational background is, to put it
moderately, a nightmare and quite foolhardy.
15. References
-Elizabeth M.E.S. Methods of Teaching English. Discovery
publishing house, 2004.
-Heppner, Frank. Teaching the large College Class: a Guide Book for
Instructors with Multitudes. Market Street, San Francisco, 2007.
-Ministre de L’éducation National, 2000, Recommandations
pédagogiques et programmes de l’Anglais dans l’enseignement
Secondaire.
-Thompson G. Julia. Discipline Survival Guide for the Secondary
Teacher. Market Street, San Francisco, 2011.
-Gibbs Graham and Jenkins Alan. (ed). Teaching Large Classes in
Higher Education: How to Maintain quality with Reduced Resources.
Routledge, 2013.
