ABSTRACT
The phenomenon of large classes in mainstream primary, secondary and higher education has been discussed for more than a century now, particularly in well-resourced contexts. However, discussion of large classes is now becoming increasingly noticeable within the literature of ELT, mainly for the following reasons:
The phenomenal spread of English around the globe (Graddol, 2006; Copland et al., 2014).
The demand for quality teaching (Buckingham, 2003; UNESCO, 2005). Quality teaching is normally found to be a challenge in large classes.
The promotion of communicative language teaching (see Thornbury, this volume), with its focus on student-student interaction for increased language learning opportunities within the ESL/EFL classrooms, and the challenges in organising and managing ‘interactive’ teaching for a large number of students.
The ‘education for all’ movement, which has led to increased enrollments at the primary level without a concomitant increase in resources, particularly in developing countries (see O’Sullivan, 2006; Nakabugo, 2008; Sawamura and Sifuna, 2008; Kuchah, 2013; see also Enever, this volume, for discussion of primary ELT).
In addition to the phenomenon of large classes, there is also increasing evidence in the ELT literature, from a variety of educational contexts in the world, which indicates that a large proportion of teaching-learning of English takes place in ‘difficult circumstances’ (West, 1960; Maley, 2001; Benbow et al., 2007). This, unfortunately, has not been given sufficient attention in the discourse of language pedagogy. The focus in this chapter will therefore be on teaching English in large classes in difficult circumstances. We begin by defining the two key terms: ‘large classes’ and ‘difficult circumstances’. In the next section, we outline the major issues surrounding teaching English in large classes within the kind of difficult circumstances we describe. This is followed by a brief discussion of ways of developing good practice in large classes, including the role of teacher education programmes and teacher research. Next, contemporary policy debates on class 528size are presented and their implications for decisions about class size discussed. Finally, recommendations are made for future directions in pedagogy for and research into large classes.