ABSTRACT
This research
work was designed to assess the influence of class-size on teaching and
learning of English Language in Senior Secondary Schools in Enugu Education
Zone. Four corresponding purposes of the study and research questions guided
the study. The researcher adopted the descriptive survey design in the research
work. The study was conducted in Enugu Education zone of Enugu State. Enugu
education zone comprises schools in Enugu North L.G.A, Enugu East L.G.A, and
Isi-Uzo L.G.A. The population comprised thirty one (31) secondary schools
spread along the three (3) local government area that made up Enugu Education
Zone. The sample was one hundred (100) senior secondary school teachers drawn
from ten schools from the population using the random sampling technique. The
researcher selected ten teachers from each school. The instrument used for the
collection of data was structured questionnaire and it was administered to the
teachers face to face. The data collected were analyzed in tables side by side
with research questions in chapter four. Mean statistics was used for the data
analysis. Findings showed that large class size affected both the teaching and learning
habit of teachers and students respectively. It has negative effects on the morale
of teachers, it did not permit effective assessment of the student’s
performance and finally it affected the use of instructional materials in
teaching and learning of English Language in Senior Secondary School in Enugu
Education Zone. Measures to be adopted for effective teaching and
learning of English Language in Enugu Education zone are to decrease the number
of students in the classroom, engage
students in challenging activities where individuals or groups compete with one
another. Workshops
and seminars should be organized for teachers of English language periodically
to enhance and improve their classroom efficiencies and government should make
provision for more language instructional materials such as language laboratory,
conducive and serene learning environment for the purpose of optimizing the
teachers and students output in English Language.
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
Background
to the Study
With
the abolition of slave trade in Nigeria at the beginning of the 19th century,
British Colonial interest shifted to agricultural production from exportation
to Europe. During this period, precisely in 1842 and 1846 {2009 Britannica
encyclopedia} the first missionary stations were established in Badagry (near
Lagos in the South West) and Calabar (in the South-East) respectively. Then
evangelism grew sporadically to produce the first generation of students who
were made up of mainly children of slaves whom the village communities thought
they would not miss much. As the British Colonial government felt the needs of
African who were literate in English language, who would serve both trade and
colonial interests, the missionary therefore in 1880s was officially ordered to
teach English language in their schools. As time goes on English language became
a language of concentration for reasons such as: it was financially rewarding
to study English language more than any of the indigenous languages;
certification became conditional upon passing English before any recognition or
consideration is given. However, this development and the need to learn English
as a Second Language {ESL} necessitated the establishment of the first state
school in Nigeria in 1899. It is undoubtedly obvious that English language in
Nigeria has an enormous importance so much that for over a century now, it has
continued to enjoy the pride of place in all spheres of the nations endeavor –
educational, business, communication to mention a few (Ogbonna, 2008).
English
language today has gained constitutional recognition to have served as an
official language and even gaining the advantage of being the First Language
{L1} over the Mother Tongue {MT}. Despite all the importance and position of
English language in the country’seducational system, English language still
suffers set back in its output. This has been ascertained and established by
various examination bodies, government, education planners and individuals. It
is highly pathetic and embarrassing that a secondary school graduate could not
write an error- free sentence. Some of these students are eloquent but their
reading and writing are nothing to talk about (Opeola, 2007), some of this
issues that can cause this set back are teachers teaching method, poor study
habit of students and large class size.
Badures(2006)
opined that class size is the number of students or individual in a particular
classroom.He also opined that number of the students required in particular
class should be below 40.Any class that has a total of 40 and above students is
large class. The effectiveness of class
size on students’ achievement and
motivation, and its synchronous relation to teaching process and teachers'
workload, attitudes and motivation, is probably the most written about but however a least
explored topic in the educational field. Yet, there is no consensus definition
in literature to what constitutes a large class as material developers,
teachers and students in different parts of world have various perceptions of
what frames large, small or ideal classes. According to Hayes (2007) there is
no numerical determination of what shape a large class as teachers’ perceptions
of large classes differs from one context to another.
Badures (2006) believed that regardless of the number
of students in a class, it is a teachers' perceptions towards the class size in
a certain context with particular tools and facilities which are provided that
make classes either small or large. Hence, we can say that large classes are
those with a specific number of students that teachers cannot handle and
resources are not enough to facilitate the teaching and learning process and
can pose insurmountable problems for both teachers and students. Mulryan-Kyne
(2010) also shares that view and points to a large class as "a class that
is too large for effective teaching to occur". Brown (2001), on the other
hand, believed that an ideal class should not exceed 12 students. In another
word, a class should be big enough to offer variation and allow interaction and
small enough to provide students with opportunities for participating and
receiving individual attention.
Finn (2003) revealed that class size has
great effects on students' social and academic involvement in the class and on
the teachers’ personality as well. That is to say that students in small
classes, on contrary to their peers in large ones, are always under pressure to
participate in class activities as “they are on the frying line”, by being more
visible to the teacher and may be called upon at any time to answer questions
or to participate in a class activity" (page. 346). On a similar view,
Resnick (2003) claimed that smaller classes elevate students' achievement as
teachers in such context pay greater attention to each and every student,
leaving students with no time to either be destructive or distracted by any
means. Consequently, students in small classes encounter continuous pressure to
engage in various activities and become active class. On a similar view,
Normore and Ilon (2006) conclude that classes of a small size positively
influence the teaching process as they encourage students and teacher
engagement, allow students to be more cognitively engaged, offer ample time for
teachers to cover the whole materials and provide safe school environment with
fewer misbehaved students.
Al-
Jarf's (2006) opined that some teachers hold negative views against large
classes as they believe having many students in one class can cause some
problems that affect them and their students. Some commonly comments heard by
teachers are: there is no communication, the class is out of control, lack of
individual attention and difficult to set effective group activities. Other
teachers always emphasize that it is impossible to concentrate on all students
and therefore not enough reinforcement will be made to encourage all to
participate in different activities. Participants in Al- Jarf's (2006) study
commented that "due to the size of the class they do not have enough time
to pay attention to each student or give every student a chance to speak and
participate" (Kennedy, 2006). In words, such context makes some students,
especially the shy or weak ones to be neglected or left behind. Kennedy &
Kennedy (2006) shared similar view as they believed it is difficult to overcome
all of what occur in class when the number of students exceeds a certain limit.
On
the contrary, teachers in small classes are able to pay great attention to
their students and the benefit from the presented activities is considered to
be high. From that, we can say that it is abundantly evident that English
teachers encounter great challenges when teaching large classes as they
encounter difficulties in knowing all students in the class, having time for
all individuals or presenting effective activities and therefore many students,
especially the weak ones, tend to lose concentration. Another problem which is
borne out in the words of the teachers, and hinders the learning process in
large classes is identifying and controlling students who tend to distract
their classmates from concentrating on the lesson.
Lazear
(2003) assumed that if a student misbehaves and begins disturbing the class,
the teacher has to attend the disturbance and control the noise. Such action
from one student or more in a large class will block the learning of that
moment and demolish the capability of others to learn. Pedder (2003) confirms:
in larger classes, more time is needed for non-academic activities related to
administrative and organizational procedures and to the management and control
of discipline. Reductions in the quantity of learning opportunities constrain
teachers from achieving the necessary pace, depth and breadth of curriculum
coverage as class size increases (Pedder, 2007). Noise level of some students
is also considered to be a problematic issue as it will produce disturbance and
prevent their classmates from learning. AL-Jarf (2006) recorded that
"large class sizes inhibit small group activities and individualized
instruction, because of the noise level and lack of space in the classroom).
Admittedly, some researchers have found that classroom noise is a result of
students' boredom, vague instructions of activities presented in class and
teachers' low voice (Harmer, 2000; Lacastro, 2001 and Zhang, 2008).
Statement of the problem
Despite the importance of English language in
our society, it still suffers set-back in all our institutions of learning, the
secondary school is not left out of this language trauma. It has been
discovered that most complaints by students and teachers of English language is
the alarming rate which the class-size increases. The truth of the matter is
that the first curriculum priority is language. Therefore, English language as
far as Nigeria is concerned provides a connecting tissue by which all other subjects
are pursued. It is as a result of this that the researcher needs to throw a
search light on this subject matter to ascertain the fact if truly class-size
affects teaching and learning of English language. More so, it shall be known
at the end of this research, the ways by which teachers of English language can
teach their subject effectively in an over-crowded class.
Nevertheless,
a strong willingness to investigate the influence of large classes on English
language teaching according to teachers' perceptions made the researcher
undertake this study where the main theme of this study is to list the problems
Nigeria secondary teachers/students encounter when learning English in large
classes. Therefore, it is the researcher intention to draw on a selection of
studies from different research to, firstly, examine the study main goal which
is the influence of class size on English teaching and learning, secondly,
provide personal examples culled from actual experience, thirdly, recognize the
issues of concern to English teachers facing these large classes and finally,
furnish some recommendations to facilitate the teaching and learning process.
This is because Observations have revealed that most of our classes in
secondary schools have not less than fifty students; this is an indication that
for each of the classes, there would be the challenges of the classroom
management, classroom control, classroom maintenance and deviance for the
teacher.
Purpose of the Study
The main objective of this study is
to find out the influence of class-size on teaching and learning of English
Language in Senior Secondary Schools in Educational Zone.
The following research purpose have been
outlined for the study
1. To find out ways class size affects
teaching and learning of English
Language in senior secondary schools in Enugu
Education zone
2. To examine the effectiveness of policy
guiding teacher-student ratio in teaching English language in senior secondary
school
3. To examine how effective is the use of
instructional materials in an overcrowded classroom environment.
4.
To determine the measures to be
adopted for effective teaching and learning of English Language.
Significance
of the Study
The study when completed would enable
the teacher to know the dangers associated with over-crowded classroom. It
would assist the government and education planners on recruitment and
supervision of teachers bearing in mind the expected teacher-learner ratio. The
study will assist in providing a guide in the realization of one of the core
objectives of Nigeria education which is to make Nigeria one of the
technological advanced countries in the world.
Scope of the Study
This research work focuses on the
influence of class size in effective teaching and learning of English Language
in Senior Secondary Schools located in
Enugu Educational Zone. This research
work has been limited to identifying the influence of class size in effective
teaching and learning of English language in senior secondary schools. The
study discloses the relationship between class size and instructional materials
used in teaching and learning English Language in Senior Secondary School in
Enugu Educational Zone. This means that
class size affect the use of instructional materials in teaching and learning English
Language in Senior Secondary Schools. Also
in this study the importance of cognitive field leaning theory and system
theory in teaching and learning process cannot over emphasized.
Research Questions
1. In what ways does class size influence
teaching and learning of English Language in Enugu Education zone?
2. How effective is the policy guiding
teacher-student ratio in teaching English language in senior secondary school
in Enugu Education zone?
3. How does class size affect the use of
instructional materials in teaching English language in senior secondary school
in Enugu Education zone?
4.
What are the measures to be
adopted for effective teaching and learning of English Language in Enugu
Education zone?
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Item Type: Project Material | Attribute: 54 pages | Chapters: 1-5
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