Dear Kang,

I strongly believe so as individual attention can be given for each student and each student can benefit more out of the teacher. More hands-on activities can be afforded by the teacher in order to sharpen each of the four language skills.

Regards

Dear Kang

The empirical study on the subject suggests that  students  perform better in small classes. increasing class size adversely affect the student learning in the absence of effective control.  It will have strong impact on  their long term  human capital formation. It is believed that more  individual attention on  student will give more  benefit to  students. However teacher student ratios depends upon

The instructional methods employed in the course

The delivery mode like  digital, print, in-person

The learning environment such as . size of the room, speed of student internet connections

Level of experience and expertise of the teacher

Level of students’ skills  

The pace of the course

Caring these factors will  definitely improves the learning environment.

I agree that smaller classes lead to better instruction and better learning.

Of course, that must be balanced against institutional considerations.  At my school, but example, a class with less than 8-10 students enrolled may be considered for cancellation before the semester begins.

Notably, one of the requirements for launching a language program is what is called environmental analysis. Within this activity, class size is a factor of  great consideration. The rate of classroom information exchange is considerably enhanced when the class size is reduced. In point of fact, teacher/student or student/student interactions are remarkably  increased. However, class size is only one factor among many other variables which equally have an overriding significance in language teaching. Good luck.

I strongly believe that the smaller the class, the more useful the lesson will be. There is enough research on the issue that reducing class size has a positive impact on students' achievement. Also, in small classes, students can get to know each other better. it is also important to reduce class size as the teacher can easily tailor their class instructions based on the students' needs more individually. Last but not list for sure that, learning is enhanced through small size classes and therefore students not only can learn more in small classes, but they will also learn faster. 

Regards, 

Dear All,

If there is enough research evidence that classes with smaller amount of students will be better, what are the reasons that many countries do not reduce the size of classes in education? This question should exclude the issue of money.

So Why?

Khang

class size can be an important factor, but not necessarily that muchhh....Although the amount of activities and time for each and every student can increase in small numbers, we shouldn't forget teachers' role in motivating d students 2 participate more in classes, based on my own experience as a teacher 4 more than 15 years, and mostly with class size of over 40....teachers' management iz more important, i personally enjoy crowded classess :) 

Dear Khang, 

That is true, but I think to do that, it is impossible to ignore the issue of expenses.

I think it often does come down to expenses, but also that of the time requirements of the educators. Most institutes would not see it as feasible to run a whole bunch of smaller classes rather than one big class, unfortunately.

Dear Ben,

Thank you for your information! From your points, I would continue to ask in 2 cases:

(1) large size class + improvement of teachers' skills

(2) small size class + teachers have to improve because teaching is more challenging although it is good for learning

Which one will be more expensive in a long period in a nationwide scale?

Thanks again,

Khang

Gains associated with small classes are stronger for the early grades and language classes, Especially when the class size is reduced to less than 20 students.

10-15 a good numbers.

Every student needs to be teacher for him, and needs a chance to practice, observation & care .."Where are you NOW & What do you NEED?".

Of course, This can't be achieved with more students only if the teacher feels activity and focus between more students, That isn't a problem 20+

I agree and I have many research articles about the positive outcome of smaller classes in Languages and the improvement of students. However, looking at Khang's questions we have to be cautious. Usually the new universities established which are for profit institutions cram a large number of students together and demand teaching embetterment, which is tough because of class control, class attention, students'-centered learning etc... However, as for the second option smaller classes and teacher development, it is costlier but pays off as required by accreditation demands. So, the cost is really averaged over long term benefits.

I am firmly attached to the idea of small classes. Working in such classes might be useful in different levels as following:

1- giving more space for students practice of foreign language.

2- increasing students and teacher interaction.

3- teachers' management of class and monitoring will be easy, purposeful and insightful. 

Therefore, I recommend that foreign language classes capcity should not be more than fifteen to ensure that learning will reach the level of expectation and touch the quality we intend at the end. 

Small classes help improve the quality of language learning in many ways, including much time on task activities, more opportunities to practice language skills, effective feedback from teachers, better grades, etc. The following article might help.

http://www.ncte.org/positions/statements/why-class-size-matters

Small classes are a means to enhance the ratio teacher - pupil attention. This might provide a basis for quality improvement. But lets not forget there are other means of enhancing teacher-pupil attention. 

No doubt!

Small number of students in a class simply means:

1. More time

2. More practice

3. More feedback

4. More improvement  (in students' skills and teaching method), and

5. More benefit in all of its kind!

Dear Zainab

Let me add that the instructor's responsibility for continuous improvement becomes a challenge especially if the group of students in class is creative and consists of fast learner and even more if they are good at critical analysis.

Dear Colleagues ,

Thank you very much for your contributions!

I am highly appreciate that. I need to ask for more experience from you. If a province (or a state) decides to limit the class size to be smaller, what sorts of thing should we consider for spending money on (of which is other than spending on hiring the teachers)? and what should be cautious during the process of this change?

Khang

Dear Hussin Jose, that's true, which make it more challenging for 'lazy' teachers and more interesting to 'active' teachers! 

Yes, that's true. As my colleagues said.

Hi All,

Yes a agree with reducing size or number of student in class in order to get good achievements as many studies showed. Reducing class size to increase student achievement is an approach that has been tried, debated, and analyzed for several decades. The premise seems logical: with fewer students to teach, teachers can get better performance from each of them.

Some researchers have not found a connection between smaller classes and higher student achievement, but most of the research shows that when class size reduction programs are well-designed and implemented in the primary grades (K-3), student achievement rises as class size drops.

That means there are strong correction between the class size and performance of students. For more see the reference below

http://www.centerforpubliceducation.org/Main-Menu/Organizing-a-school/Class-size-and-student-achievement-At-a-glance/Class-size-and-student-achievement-Research-review.html

Absolutely true Zainab, not only for lazy instructors but also for the so many instructors teaching part time in many universities at the same time!

Hi

To me, yes smaller class size can positively influence student achievement. However, there are many other factors influencing student learning, and a good teacher (as the most important factor influencing student achievement) can compensate for many of them including this factor.

Hossein 

Hello,

To a certain extent only.  The point here is 'language' classes.  Apart from individual attention, personal supervision of activities etc.  group activities, peer learning, role play, intraclass communication are necessary for improving language competency.  With more students in the class (>15) more communication patterns will evolve.  A variety of inputs will be available for performing various tasks.  Of course too large a class is not suggested; but definitely more than 15.  

uma

since we are talking about language classes, I think the number of students should be taken into consideration during the learning process. The optimal aim of language classes is to prepare students to acquire the new language which means that the instructor should provide them the efficient situations and opportunities to practice the language. therefore, it is a must to take the students number into account precisely when we talk about learning a new language. It is a simple formula; less number of students means more opportunities to practice the language, consequently, leads to better education.

Hi 

Absolutely yes.  The number of students effects directly on the quality of learning.  This is simply because the focus of teacher will concentrate on limited number of students. In addition, the students' response will be checked one by one because of the availability of time .

Liqaa 

Whether it is english or engineering quantity of less students improves quality education