Perceptions And Difficulties Of Students In Efl Large Classes: Grade 11 Students In Focus
| dc.contributor.advisor | Tsegaye, Anteneh (PhD) | |
| dc.contributor.author | Girma, Yirgalem | |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2020-11-12T07:06:11Z | |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2023-12-05T13:48:11Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2020-11-12T07:06:11Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2023-12-05T13:48:11Z | |
| dc.date.issued | 2013-06 | |
| dc.description.abstract | The major objective of the study was to assess students' perceptions towards EFL large classes in terms of its instructional, psychological and social aspects and their perceived challenges. To this end, two preparatory schools were selected owing to their convenience for the study, the researchers' familiarity with the situation and the serious situational constraints related to EFL large class size with special reference to grade eleven. To achieve the purpose of the study, a descriptive research method was employed because the main objective was just to gather information about students' perceptions and their perceived difficulties. Likert-scale type questionnaires and semi-structured interviews were employed to gather adequate data from the student respondents, but only open-ended and close-ended questionnaires were distributed to eight randomly selected EFL teachers to confirm data obtained from their students. The instruments were piloted before the main study on 20 students and some modifications were made on their grammar and wordings, but six items were rejected. Out of 1545 students, 155 were selected as samples through simple random sampling technique and ten of them were voluntarily selected and interviewed. The data collected through Iikert type questionnaires were analysed through descriptive statistics like frequency, percentages and means. Data gathered through interview were analysed through descriptive statements. The data gathered through questionnaires were substantiated by the data obtained through interview. The findings revealed that most of the student participants had a clear picture of the situational challenges and benefits of EFL large class. The majority of the respondents' perceived large EFL class negatively in general. Most of the student respondents perceived the instructional and psychological aspects negatively, but they perceived the social aspects positively and favourably. It was also found that the majority of them believe that learning in EFL large class affects their English learning negatively because of its constraints. Most of the student interviewees expressed their opinion that class size matters beyond quality of teaching and their teachers too! The findings indicated that the perceived difficulties of most of the participants were: lack of continuous assessment, getting immediate feedback, avoidance of practical skills (writing and speaking) focus on usage than language use, low active student involvement, less students learning, problems of rapport, no use of teaching aids,failure of teachers to effectively various use active learning and motivational strategies, lack of motivation, concentration, confidence and student-teacher interaction. The results revealed that EFL large class related constraints can be alleviated through changing style of teaching fiexibly, class size reduction, effective use of teaching strategies, and use of competent and potential EFL teachers, communicating and working cooperatively with students. Finally, it was suggested that EFL teachers should be provided conferences and special training regarding how to teach large class, change their approach to EFL large class and their own as well as their students' negative perceptions towards such classroom situation! | en_US |
| dc.identifier.uri | http://etd.aau.edu.et/handle/123456789/23209 | |
| dc.language.iso | en_US | en_US |
| dc.publisher | AAU | en_US |
| dc.subject | psychological and social aspects and their perceived challenges. | en_US |
| dc.title | Perceptions And Difficulties Of Students In Efl Large Classes: Grade 11 Students In Focus | en_US |
| dc.type | Thesis | en_US |