Why Investigate Large Classes?

Richard Watson Todd

King Mongkut's University of Technology Thonburi

Abstract
This paper presents an overview of the literature on large classes in
English language teaching. It presents findings concerning the size of
large classes, the importance of class size, the problems of large
classes and solutions to these problems. The article also provides an
introduction to the other papers in this issue by discussing the
context of the research reported and the issues that prompted the
interest in conducting research into large classes.

Large classes are the reality for most English language teachers. Throughout the
world, and especially in developing countries, teachers are faced with classes larger
than the size they believe facilitates effective teaching and learning. And in many
situations, class size is growing. Pressure from increased student numbers and the
need for educational institutions to be profitable has led to a doubling of class size in
many schools and universities over the last few years, and the peak may not have been
reached yet. For many teachers, large class size is one of the biggest, if not the
biggest, challenge facing them in their work. Yet, the literature has all but ignored the
issue of large classes. Aside from one research project in the nineteen eighties and
occasional scattered articles, teaching large classes has not received the attention it
deserves. Focusing in depth on one situation, a university in Thailand, the articles in
this special issue of rEFLections attempt to redress the balance by finding out what
teachers think about large classes, by examining what actually happens in large
classes, and by investigating the effects of some efforts to ameliorate the problems of
large classes.

How large is a large class?

How many students need to be in a class before it can be considered large? Is a group
of 30 students a large class? How about 60 students? There are no easy answers to
these questions, since perceptions of class size are subjective and also depend on a
number of variables. A few patterns and key variables, however, emerge from the
previous research into this area.

Firstly, teachers rely on the largest size of class that they regularly teach when making
judgments concerning what makes a large class (Coleman, 1989c). In other words, if a
teacher is used to teaching classes of 20 students, he or she will often say that 30
students is a large class; but for another teacher whose regular class size is 40, a large
class might comprise 60 students. Despite these differences, teachers nearly always
end up teaching classes larger than what they consider is ideal.

Secondly, what is being taught influences teachers' judgments of the size of large
classes. At many universities for subjects other than English (and unfortunately all too
often for English as well), classes for lectures may consist of several hundred
students. Where the teaching involves the transfer of factual knowledge, such class
sizes may not be problematic (Obanya et al., n. d.), but for the teaching of English,
which requires the learning of complex skills, these massive lecture classes are likely

1
to cause a wide variety of problems. Similarly, within English language teaching,
most teachers would view the minimum size of what would be considered a large
class for teaching speaking to be smaller than for teaching reading (LoCastro, 1989).
The content being taught, then, must also be considered when making judgments of
the size of large classes.

There are many other variables which can also influence perceptions of the size of
large classes. These include the age of the students, the level of their studies, their
motivation, and the size of the room in which lessons are taught.

All of these variables make it impossible to definitively state how large a class must
be to be considered large. Nevertheless, there is a surprising amount of agreement on
the issue in the literature. Table 1 shows the numbers of students mentioned in articles
about large classes for English language teaching. A quick glance shows that all the
authors agree that large classes have at least 40 to 60 students. Although other
teachers may have very different ideas, these figures give us an image to grasp on to
when considering previous work on large classes.

Table 1 Some minimum sizes of large classes

Author Minimum size of large class

Barker (1976) 55
Chimombo (1986) 50
Dixon (1986) 40
Finocchiaro (1989) 65
George (1991) 60
Hayes (1997) 50
Holliday (1996) 50
Hubbard et al. (1983) 45
Li (1998) 50
Long (1977) 60
Nolasco & Arthur (1986) 40
Safnil (1991) 60
Samuda & Bruton (1981) 40
Touba (1999) 60

Is class size important?

Since most teachers teach class sizes larger than they consider ideal, we might
conclude that most teachers think that large class sizes have adverse effects on
learning. There is, however, a lack of research evidence showing that large classes are
prejudicial to learning (Allwright, 1989a, 1989b).

Part of the reason for this lack of research evidence is the difficulties in actually
showing that large classes adversely affect learning. In conducting research into the
effects of class size, there are simply too many additional influential variables that
could affect results. For example, we might try to compare the learning of some
students when they are grouped together in a large class compared to when they are
split into smaller classes, but the language points they will be learning will necessarily
be different in the two situations. Alternatively, we could compare the learning of two

2
different sized groups of students with the same teacher, but how can we control for
the differences between the students?

In fact, within the research into large classes, at least two factors have been identified
as more important than class size: the quality of teaching (Obanya et al., n. d.) and the
kinds of activities used (Kumar, 1992). It would therefore seem that teachers perhaps
should not be too worried about class size.

However, even if large classes are not directly prejudicial to learning, they throw up a
whole host of problems and challenges for teachers that smaller classes do not. These
problems are still a matter of concern.

The problems of large classes

The vast majority of the literature into large classes falls into two kinds. Firstly, many
books and articles simply list potential problems with large classes; and secondly,
there is a wide range of suggestions, especially teaching techniques, for how to deal
with these problems. The problems of large classes typically mentioned in the
literature are summarised in Table 2.

Table 2 The problems of large classes

Problem Reference
Learning
• Less effective learning Coleman (1989d); Ur (1996)
Management/Activities
• Discipline Coleman (1989d); Dudley-Evans & St. John
(1998); Hayes (1997); Li (1998); LoCastro
(1989); Nolasco & Arthur (1986); Peachey
(1989); Sabandar (1989); Ur (1996); Woodward
(2001)
• Absentee students George (1991)
• Organising activities Harmer (1998); LoCastro (1989)
• Reliance on lectures and drills Coleman (1989e); Hubbard et al. (1983)
• Avoidance of some activities McLeod (1989); Peachey (1989)
Physical/Practical
• Space Coleman (1989d); Nolasco & Arthur (1986);
Peachey (1989); Woodward (2001)
• Discomfort Hayes (1997)
• Students can't see/hear Long (1977)
• Noise LoCastro (1989); Nolasco & Arthur (1986);
Woodward (2001)
• Timing Peachey (1989); Sabandar (1989)
• Time for student presentations Watson Todd (1999)
• Provision of materials Coleman (1989d); Dudley-Evans & St. John
(1998); Nolasco & Arthur (1986); Peachey
(1989)

3
Affective factors
• Achieving rapport Harmer (1998); Holliday (1996); Hubbard et al.
(1983); LoCastro (1989); McLeod (1989)
• Impersonalisation Carbone (1996d)
• No sense of community Hubbard et al. (1983)
• Teacher discomfort Coleman (1989d)
• Intimidating atmosphere Harmer (1998)
• Learning names Dudley-Evans & St. John (1998); Hubbard et al.
(1983); LoCastro (1989)
Interaction
• Few opportunities to speak Coleman (1989d); Hubbard et al. (1983); Ur
(1996)
• Giving attention to Coleman (1989d); Dudley-Evans & St. John
individuals (1998); Hayes (1997); Peachey (1989); Ur
(1996); Watson Todd (1999)
• Focus on the action zone Shamim (1996)
• Increased use of the mother Dudley-Evans & St. John (1998); Woodward
tongue (2001)
• Less interesting lessons Ur (1996)
Feedback and evaluation
• Monitoring LoCastro (1989); Peachey (1989)
• Giving feedback Dudley-Evans & St. John (1998); George (1991);
LoCastro (1989)
• Assessment Coleman (1989d); Dudley-Evans & St. John
(1998); Hayes (1997); Sabandar (1989)
• Marking load LoCastro (1989); McLeod (1989); Peachey
(1989); Ur (1996) Watson Todd (1999)
Miscellaneous
• More mixed abilities Dudley-Evans & St. John (1998)
• Getting feedback from Hayes (1997)
students

To some extent, the problems listed in Table 2 confirm the premise that large classes
are not prejudicial to learning. While ten authors highlight the problems of discipline
in large classes, only two claim that large classes lead to less effective learning. It
could be argued that any detrimental effects of large classes on learning are not
directly the result of class size; rather, they may be due to knock-on effects of the
other problems. For example, if receiving corrective feedback is a crucial factor in
learning (Han, 2002), then the difficulties of giving useful feedback in large classes
could be one real cause of any adverse effects on learning of large classes.

Even if we place little emphasis on the direct learning effects of large classes, the
problems listed in Table 2 are daunting. The sheer number of potential problems as
well as the variety of problem types would challenge even the most experienced and
competent teachers. It is therefore not surprising that large class sizes are a matter of
so much concern for teachers.

4
Perhaps because the problems of large classes are so worrying, it is easy to overlook
the fact that there may also be benefits accruing to large class size (Coleman, 1989c).
These might include the facts that students can be safely anonymous in a large class,
that students can make more friends, and that, from an administrative perspective,
teaching is more efficient in large classes. It seems clear, however, that these potential
benefits of large classes are vastly outweighed by the problems. We therefore need to
look at the suggestions in the literature for solving the problems.

Solving the problems of large classes

Perhaps the majority of the literature on large classes concerns suggestions for how to
solve the problems. A selection of these, matched with the problems they attempt to
solve, is given in Table 3.

Table 3 Suggested solutions to the problems of large classes

Problem Solution Reference

Management/Acti
vities
• Discipline Use routines Finocchiaro (1989); Nolasco &
Arthur (1988); Sarwar (1991);
Woodward (2001)
Use student leaders Harmer (1998)
• Organising How to run drills Barker (1976)
activities How to run role-plays Byrne (1988); Haozhang (1997)
How to use minimal Dobbyn (1976)
pairs
How to use story-telling Carbone (1996a)
How to give lectures Carbone (1996b); Coleman (1989e);
Dion (1996); Felder (1997);
McKinney (n. d. b); Obanya et al.
(n. d.)
How to run groupwork Heath (1982); Hubbard et al.
(1983); Nolasco & Arthur (1986);
Samuda & Bruton (1981)
Physical/Practical
• Space Organise seating Finocchiaro (1989)
Affective factors
• Intimidating Play background music Haozhang (1997)
atmosphere
• Learning Various techniques (e.g. Carbone (1996d); Duppenthaler
names name cards) (1991); Nolasco & Arthur (1988);
Nunan & Lamb (1996); Obanya et
al. (n. d.); Sarwar (1991)

5
Interaction
• Few Eliciting choral Finocchiaro (1989); Harmer (1998);
opportunities to responses Long (1977)
speak Use pairwork and Coleman (1989e); Dion (1996);
groupwork Dudley-Evans & St. John (1998);
Harmer (1998); Long (1977);
McKinney (n. d. b); Obanya et al.
(n. d.); Safnil (1991); Touba (1999);
Woodward (2001)
Feedback and
evaluation
• Monitoring Use peer monitoring Duppenthaler (1991)
Student-student Dudley-Evans & St. John (1998);
consultations Ur (1996)
• Giving Give feedback in plenary Chimombo (1986)
feedback
• Assessment Use self-assessment Dudley-Evans & St. John (1998);
Hargan (1994); Obanya et al. (n. d.)
Use peer assessment Dixon (1986); McKinney (n. d. a)
• Marking load Use portfolios Dixon (1986); Watson Todd (1999)
Limited editing McKinney (n. d. a)
Use computer marking University of British Columbia
(1992)
Use student leaders Finocchiaro (1989); Harmer (1998)
Unspecified or
global problems
Use project work Obanya et al. (n. d.)
Use e-mail, discussion Carbone (1996c); Desmet (1997);
boards and the Internet Gillespie (n. d.); McKinney (n. d.
a); Plane (1996)
Team teaching Dudley-Evans & St. John (1998)
Use assistant teachers Safnil (1991)
Share resources between Obanya et al. (n. d.)
institutions

Despite the wealth of suggested solutions, a large number of the potential problems
given in Table 2 remain unaddressed. The majority of the suggestions focus on
problems of management, running activities and evaluation with the other types of
problems largely unsolved. This may be because some problems, such as physical and
practical problems, are intractable, but the paucity of suggestions specific to large
classes for affective and interactional problems is worrying.

A second worrying aspect of the literature on solutions to the problems of large

classes is that the suggestions are almost entirely presented simply as teaching tips.
While the suggested solutions may be very useful for teachers faced with large
classes, there is an almost complete lack of research into their effectiveness. They
therefore remain tentative suggestions rather than being proven techniques. The lack
of evaluation of these teaching tips is symptomatic of an overall dearth of research
into large classes.

6
What to investigate in large classes
The main previous research into large classes is the Lancaster-Leeds Language
Learning in Large Classes Research Project conducted in the nineteen eighties which
produced twelve project reports. In setting up the goals of the research project,
Coleman (1989b) posed a series of questions to guide research into large classes:
• What are teachers' concerns?
• How large is 'large' (from both teacher and student perspectives)?
• How widespread are large classes?
• Why do large classes exist?
• What are students' concerns?
• How can data be collected in large classes?
• What actually happens in large classes?
• How do teachers modify their behaviour in large classes?
• How do learners cope with large classes?
• What learning takes place in large classes?
• Do students learn the same things in large and small classes?
• Do they learn in the same ways?
• How can the problems of large classes be solved?

Unfortunately, the majority of these useful questions remained unanswered in the

project. Most of the project reports concerned questionnaire surveys of teachers'
beliefs on large classes, which, while useful, were firstly limited, and secondly
criticised in terms of the questionnaire design, subject selection and data analysis
(Oladejo, 1992). Overall then, the project was somewhat disappointing.

Since the Lancaster-Leeds Project, serious research into large classes for English
language teaching has been minimal. Indeed, only three research reports stand out.
Kumar (1992) examined the effects of class size on interaction; Holliday (1996)
compared the contrasting approaches of native speaker and Egyptian teachers in large
university classes; and Hayes (1997) reported data from a project to help teachers in
rural primary schools in Thailand cope with large classes.

The upshot of this lack of research is that, of Coleman's questions listed above, only
the first two have been satisfactorily answered. While this collection of articles does
not attempt to provide answers to all the other questions, we do hope that it may give
at least partial answers to some.

The thirteen questions above fall into three main categories. The first five questions
concern either basic data about large classes or participants' beliefs about teaching and
learning in large classes. Such information can be gathered through surveys, of which
the second article in this collection is an instance. The next seven questions all
involve analysing what actually happens in large classes and require descriptive
investigations of classroom teaching. The third article examining the discourse of
large and small classes provides some evidence for these concerns. The final question
also focuses on what happens in the classroom, but, instead of being descriptive,
evaluations of attempted solutions require interventions in the teaching/learning
process. The final two articles in this issue examine two attempted solutions.

7
All of the papers in this collection concern large classes, but they also form a coherent
collection in another way. The papers all examine the situation of large classes at
universities in Thailand, and especially King Mongkut's University of Technology
Thonburi (KMUTT) where all of the authors work. Although such a specific focus
means that the generalisability of the findings reported is unclear, it does allow the
findings of the different chapters to be compared producing a richer picture of large
classes in one situation than a collection of papers from many different situations
would produce. To gain the greatest benefits from a collection of papers concerning
the same situation, we need to know more about the situation.

Thai universities and KMUTT

Thailand is a country of approximately 60 million people which has undergone very
rapid economic development in the last quarter century. In common with other
countries in a similar position, educational development has lagged behind. Much of
the education system still follows very traditional patterns with rote learning the norm
in many English classrooms, and what teachers consider large classes are common at
all levels of education (Watson Todd, 2003; Wiriyachitra, 2002). Most classes within
the public education system have at least 30 students with perhaps the majority having
50-60 in a class. While such class sizes have been the norm in secondary schools for
some time, a rapid expansion in the provision of tertiary education has meant that
there has been a particularly noticeable recent growth in class size at Thai universities.

There are 24 public universities and around 50 private universities in Thailand. For
nearly all degree programmes the medium of education is Thai and students studying
majors other than English are required to take English for three semesters. Most
English courses involve 60 contact hours over 15 weeks, but there is a lot of variation
between universities in teaching techniques and course objectives.

KMUTT is a public university which has recently gained autonomy in its decision
making. Although there are no English major students at the university, there is a
well-respected and active School of Liberal Arts which provides English language
support courses for students from other faculties. A few years ago, the faculty
implemented a new task-based curriculum for all language courses which now consist
of a series of large-scale tasks, each taking several weeks to complete (see Watson
Todd, 2001 for details). In the same period of time, there has been increasing pressure
on class size. In 1999, average class size was 34, but by 2001, this had increased to an
average of 40. This growth in class size has meant that some teachers are facing
classes considerably larger than those they taught just two years before. At present,
the faculty is managing to keep the pressures on class sizes under control, but there
are serious threats that, in the near future, class sizes may start spiralling upwards.
These facts, we believe, make KMUTT an ideal situation for conducting research into
large classes.

Research into large classes as teacher development

Faced with such increases in class size and with the threat of further increases in the
future, the staff at the School of Liberal Arts were deeply concerned about potential
adverse impacts on teaching quality as well as detrimental effects on their
professional lives. Rather than simply sit quietly and try to make the best of a bad
situation, the staff decided to initiate a series of research studies into large classes, of
which this collection is the outcome. There was, in fact, an implicit goal behind

8
conducting the research. Because of our concerns with the potential adverse
consequences of teaching English in large classes, we hoped that our results would be
able to persuade administrators at the university of the folly of continuing to increase
class sizes for English. In this way, we wished our research to have wider social
effects, and thus, although on the face of it the research consists of a survey and a
discourse analysis among other research methodologies, all of the papers could also
be considered action research.

Action research originated in the area of social psychology, where the key purpose of
action research is to have a social effect on practice in the situation in which the
research is conducted (Day, 1999). In other words, action research is research aiming
to lead to change. Such change can involve several possible focuses, including
changing theory, changing institutions and changing teachers (Edge, 2001). In hoping
to influence the university concerning class sizes, this collection is aiming for
institutional change. In addition, there is a second kind of change that is crucial to this
research project, and that is to change the researchers.

One crucial feature of action research is the need for the researcher to engage in
reflection as part of the research process. This feature means that action research is a
key means of promoting teacher development (Burns, 1999; Wallace, 1998). Indeed,
some action research may be conducted with teacher-researcher development as the
prime goal of the research (Woods, 1996). While perhaps not the prime goal of this
research project, teacher-researcher development was nevertheless given a heavy
emphasis.

The teachers who conducted the research and are the authors of the articles in this
collection are experienced, well-qualified and competent teachers. However, despite
their academic backgrounds, they perhaps needed to do more research than they had
previously conducted. One purpose of this research project into large classes,
therefore, is to help the faculty staff to become more capable of doing quality
research. It was hoped that having many teachers involved in different studies as part
of one project would provide a motivation for the teachers to actually complete the
process of conducting and writing up their research (a common reason for the lack of
published research for many of the teachers). In addition, a system of research
mentoring (see Maneekhao & Watson Todd, 2001) was set up to provide any support
that the teachers felt they needed.

This collection provides concrete evidence of the success of the project in stimulating
the teachers to conduct and publish research. Whether it also achieves the implicit
goal of persuading the university to cap class sizes for English at a reasonable level
remains to be seen. Many of the results in the papers were not what we expected. At
this point, we would like to invite you to read the papers to consider what the
challenges of teaching large classes are and whether classes of, say, 40 to 50 students
really do have adverse effects on the teaching and learning process in English
language classrooms.

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Richard Watson Todd has been working at KMUTT for fifteen years. His research
interests are wide-ranging.

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