International Journal of Education and Research Vol. 4 No.

11 November 2016

The Pros and Cons of Teaching a Small-Sized Class

By
Dr. Niveen Mohammed Zayed
Assistant Professor/ English Language
MENA College of Management

niveen_z@mcm.ac.ae

Abstract
It is well known that there are a lot of varied factors that affect the proceeding and succeeding of
the teaching process. One of these factors is the size of the class which, in this paper, refers to the
number of the registered students in the class, not to the space given to the students in the
classroom. This paper discusses the pros and cons of teaching a prominently small-sized class.
Unexpectedly, the researcher found that this experience is not associated only with the
advantages- pros; she found that this experience has some disadvantages- cons as well. The
advantages of teaching a small class are mainly the easy management, individualization, and
communication, and the disadvantages are mainly the lack of varied ideas and attitudes and the
vulnerability of cancelling. In conclusion, the researcher believes that the creative instructor can
take the maximum benefit of the advantages and overcome the disadvantages.
Key words: cons; pros; small-sized class; teaching

Introduction:
Teaching is considered a complicated process in which many factors contribute its success or its
failure. Mondal (2015) points out seven factors that may affect the learning process; these factors
are the following: intellectual factor, learning factors, physical factors, mental factors, emotional
and social factors, teacher’s personality, and environmental factor. Mondal comments on the
environmental factor by saying that the condition in which learning takes place affects the
efficiency of learning. The environmental factor covers the aspects that are related to the physical
conditions needed to support the teaching and learning process, e.g., campus supplies,
equipment, and the size the of the classroom; in this paper, the size of the classroom refers to the
number of the registered students in each section of the course, not to the physical space
provided in the classroom.
Theoretical Review
Locastro (1989) found that the students prefer the class that has 10-20 students, and the
instructors prefer to have 19 students in each class. The instructors pointed out that having 39
students; problems began to show up, and having 51 students is impossible. On the other hand,
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the instructors pointed out that having 7 students in each class is uncomfortable and having 4 is
impossible. Locastro suggested a logical comprise by having 25 students in each class.
ACTFL (2012) states that:
“Since the goal of a standards- based language program is to develop students’ ability to
communicate, there must be opportunities for frequent and meaningful student-to-
teacher and student- to- student interaction, monitored practice, and individual feedback
during instructional time.
Therefore, while ACTFL recognizes the fiscal realities faced by schools and institutions of
higher education, ACTFL supports the recommended class size of no more than 15
students, made by both the National Education Association (NEA) and the Association of
Departments of Foreign languages (ADFL). Since the most important consideration in
determining class size should be pedagogical efficacy, ACTFL’s position applies to both
traditional and online classroom settings. Where larger class sizes exist, teachers must be
provided with additional support in order to maintain sound pedagogical practices.”
In fact, having a reasonable number of students in each class helps the instructor to apply
and implement Chickering and Gamson’s (1987) seven good practices in undergraduate
education that are the following: encouraging contact between students and faculty,
developing reciprocity and cooperation among students, encouraging active learning,
giving prompt feedback, emphasizing time on task, communicating high expectations, and
respecting diverse talents and ways of learning.
Research Question:
This paper aimed at answering the following question: ‘To what extent is teaching a prominently
small-sized class associated with pros and cons?’
Method
The participants of the study were eight male students, at the undergraduate level, who were
enrolled in English I course, which is one of the General Education requirements. And the
instrument of the study that was used by the researcher to collect the data is the observation of
the students during the running of the sessions and the indications and insights of the results of
the students in their formative and summative assessments; it is worth mentioning that the
researcher herself was the instructor of that course.
Results and Discussion
Each institution of higher education has its own policy regarding the size of the classes; such a
policy has to take into consideration the importance of communication between the instructor
and the students as it is the most radical factor in the communicative approach in teaching. The
policy of MENA College of Management regarding the class size reads as follows: the maximum
number of the students in the General Education courses is 40 students, the maximum number of
the students in the IT related courses is 20 students, and for the other courses, the maximum
number is 30 students. These items of the policy reflect the maximum numbers of the students in
each section which means that a smaller number of registered students is definitely allowed to be
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in the class; within this context, it is worth mentioning that there is no policy to control the
minimum number of students allowed to be in the section.
The researcher was assigned to teach English language I, which is a general education course, to
eight students whose major is Human Resources (HR). At the beginning, she thought that it would
be so easy task to teach only eight students, and that all the experience would be full of
advantages only, but while the classes were running, she discovered that there were some
disadvantages of teaching a small-sized class.
Starting with the white side of teaching a small class, the classroom management was an easy task
as the number of the students was a few, and the researcher was on full control over the class; the
researcher was able to control all the aside chit-chat among the students, and she was able to
control the use of the smart phones and visiting the social media during the running of the class. In
fact, using the smartphones inside the classroom is a problem that is faced by the faculty
members, in the higher education institutions, as sometimes the instructor is unable to see his
students especially at the back side, but when the number of students is small; they will be facing
the instructor directly, and accordingly, they can’t use their mobile phones. All the literature that
presents and discusses the class room management e.g. Sakamoto (2012), Linsin (2014), focus on
the obstacles and solutions that are related to a large class size only; and the small class size is
totally excluded from this dilemma.
Besides, the researcher had a great chance to focus on each student; especially when she needed
to individualize the teaching process. For example, in one of the assignments, the researcher asked
the students to write a narrative paragraph, but one of the students was unable to construct well-
structured sentences; she had the chance to focus on this particular student and to teach him the
structures of the sentences. Zahorik (1999) says that small class size is so promising in the
individualized instruction. The researcher was more aware of the strengths, weaknesses, interests,
and talents of each one in the class. For example, the researcher was aware that most of the
students were so interested in camel racing, so she adopted this theme a lot in her examples and
sentences.
Moreover, the researcher was able to apply easily and smoothly the six characteristics of the
communicative language teaching that are identified by Brown (2001); the characteristics are the
following: 1- introducing the whole components of the communicative competence: grammatical,
discourse, functional, sociolinguist, and strategic, 2- focusing on the pragmatic and functional use
of the language, 3- focusing on fluency as well as accuracy, 4- equipping the students with the
skills needed to use the language in varied contexts outside the classroom, 5- identifying the
learning styles for all the students, and 6- recognizing that the teacher is a facilitator. The chance
of communication in that small class was to its maximum; as each one has enough allocation of
time; the students were more encouraged to speak up and express their ideas in front of a small
group rather than a large group; the students had good chance to participate and to be engaged in
the class. The students were encouraged to do their presentations without any embarrassment as
the number is small; they didn’t face the panic of presenting in front of a big audience.
Furthermore, because the number was small, the instructor was able to grade and mark all the
assessments, and to give detailed feedback to the students directly in the following session of the
assessment. The feedback was given in the format of oral discussion with each student apart;
definitely, the students benefited a lot from the formative feedback. Race (2001) emphasized that

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feedback is crucial in all the learning contexts as it develops the competence of the students.The
final marks of these eight students were as follows: one got ‘A’, three got ‘B’s’, and four got ‘C’s’;
the researcher believes that the students would have achieved less grades if they had been taught
in a large size class as the group showed a very poor performance in English language in the first
week of the semester, but because their number is small, the researcher was able to focus on each
particular student and to identify his weaknesses. In light of this, each student had the chance to
develop his English language skills through the running of the course, and the course learning
outcomes were successfully met.
Chen (2016) pointed out many advantages of the small classes; one of them is that teachers will
have time to cover additional and supplementary material and activities.
Hatfield and Media (2016) pointed out that intimacy is a prominent advantage of teaching a small
classroom. The researcher does agree with this point as she was able to build friendly relationship
with the students during the semester.
In brief, the advantages of teaching a small class are the following: it is easy to manage the class,
to individualize the instruction, to communicate and interact effectively with the students, to give
prompt and effective feedback, to improve and enhance the academic achievement of the
students, to cover more supplementary material to the course, and finally to create the positive
and encouraging atmosphere to the students.
Shifting to the negative side of teaching a small-sized class, the researcher missed the variety of
ideas, questions, suggestions, and comments; the limitation of the number affected negatively on
having a variety of attitudes and norms. Another issue is the group work inside the classroom; the
researcher did not have the flexibility to form and change the groups according the student’s
levels and interests. Besides, the normal distribution of the grades cannot be easily and clearly
traced in the small class. Finally, when some of the students did not attend the class, the
researcher was obliged to cancel it.
In fact, the researcher’s observations, on teaching a small class, are in match with Schreiner (2016)
who identified the following disadvantages that are related to teaching a small class: 1-
attendance issue: in a small class, the absence of one or two students is a problem as they consist
a high percentage of the students; the matter that impedes the progress of the study plan; 2- lack
of diversity: a small class doesn’t provide the students with the chance to be exposed to a diverse
setting; 3- overly rapid work completion: in a small class, the tasks are achieved quickly, preventing
the students to take their time to explore the topics; 4- fewer activity options: the small number
prevents the implementation of some activities that require a large number of students; and 5-
increased student anxiety: some of the students feel more relaxed if they are taught within a large
class; such students feel anxious being within a small class. Within the same context, the formal
site of English Club (2016) presents the following challenges of teaching small classes: 1- Timing:
the contents of lessons are covered quickly, so supplementary material is always needed to be
prepared, 2-Distractions: pairs are distracted easily because they can hear everything around, 3-
Attendance: missing classes can affect the progress of the planned lessons, 4- Fillers: extra
activities are always needed in a small class, 5- Boredom: the small class is usually not vivid, 6-
Anxiety: shy students do not feel okay in a small class, and 7- Activities not always suitable: some
activities need a large number of students. Besides, Stratford (2016) pointed out that teachers, in
small classes, do not vary the teaching methods. Away from the educational concerns, Hatfield
and Media (2016) pointed out that cost is one of the disadvantages of teaching a small classroom.
The insights of the above mentioned disadvantages go with Locastro’s (1989) results which
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emphasized that having seven students in the class is uncomfortable, suggesting the number 25 to
be the model number of students in each section.
In brief, the disadvantages of teaching a small class are the following: it is not easy to vary and
enrich the ideas inside the classroom, nor is it easy to form the groups in order to conduct the
group work. And the class in this context is so vulnerable to be cancelled.

Conclusion
It has been noticed that teaching a small-sized class, at the undergraduate level, has its own
advantages and disadvantages. One would say that despite the fact that there are pros and cons
for teaching a small- sized group, it is more manageable to teach a small group than a large one
which is really associated with radical disadvantages. Teaching a small group will really be an easy
task if the instructor focuses on the advantages, which are many, and tries to overcome the
disadvantages, which are a few. English Club (2016) gives the following techniques and suggestions
that help the teachers to overcome the shortcomings of a small class: fillers, review often,
encourage confidence, change the dynamics, and ask for feedback. Finally, teaching a large or
small class, the creative instructors make the whole difference in both contexts.

References:
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Retrieved May 2, 2016 from https://www.actfl.org/search/node/class%20size
Brown. H. Douglas. (2001) Teaching by Principles: An Interactive Approach to language Pedagogy.
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Chen, Grace. (2016). Smaller Class Sizes: Pros and Cons. Retrieved September 5, 2016 from
http://www.publicschoolreview.com/blog/smaller-class-sizes-pros-and-cons
Chickering, Arthur and Gamson, Zelda (1987). Seven Principles for Good Practice in Undergraduate
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English Club. (2016). Teaching English to Small Classes. Retrieved September 5, 2016 from
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manage-large-class-sizes/
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MENA College of Management: College Catalog. (2016). Class Size Policy.

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Mondal, Puja, (2015). Seven Important Factors that May Affect the Learning Process. Retrieved
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